Tony- and Emmy-winning actress Mary-Louise Parker says Ms. Sigsby, the villain she plays in the MGM+ thriller The Institute, commits heinous crimes, but honestly believes this is for the greater good.

"She's able to justify that by saying, 'I'm going to save more lives than I will destroy.' It's a dangerous mindset when you're so convinced that you're doing something for the greater good of humanity and will stop at nothing. It makes her very dangerous."

The adaptation of Stephen King's novel of the same name wrapped up its first season on Sunday.

Throughout the season, Sigsby is seen running the titular facility with a handful of security and scientists, who torture gifted children and drain them of their extrasensory powers in an effort to predict and prevent catastrophic world events.

Helping the survivors are virtuous night knocker Tim (Ben Barnes) and well-meaning, but confused police officer Wendy (Hannah Galway).

Sigsby is last seen fleeing the destruction, setting up the story for Season 2.

"Everything is polarized and [leaders seem to be saying], 'This is the goal and this is who we want to protect and this is who we want to push away and this is who we want to demonize,'" Parker said. "I would hope people can draw a parallel between the two."

Sigsby is surrounded by ambitious associates who don't appreciate or respect her position.

Asked who Sigsby can trust, Parker replied, "Nobody!"

"And that's her downfall," she added. "She makes the mistake of trusting [people] and when you're in an environment where everyone's trying to jockey for the next space, anyone will throw you under the bus."

This marks the second time Parker has worked with director Jack Bender on a series based on a King story.

"His approach to the whole world was really from a point of, 'What would you do to save the world?' I think he wanted to create something that was deeply human."

One way he did this was to reveal Sigsby at home rocking out in a T-shirt while she cooked herself a simple dinner.

"He gave me the room in that scene," Parker said.

"I wanted her to look very different than she looks at work and to be not even able to put her food on a plate," she added. "There's no attempt at anything approaching self-care or even civility, like treating herself with basic respect."

The audience also sees cracks in her steely veneer when she comes up against Luke, who is not as compliant as the other kids at The Institute.

"His intelligence eclipses hers by a mile," Parker said, describing the actor who plays Luke as "a wonderful, young man, really, really sophisticated with a sense of awareness of who he is and not full of himself at all."

"He's just sweet and humble and watching him with Ben Barnes was really, really sweet. They're like besties. They're pretty adorable, the two of them together."