Louriza Tronco – The Order

By starrymag | June 18, 2020

By: Lisa Steinberg

 

 

Q) When we last left “The Order” there was a mind wipe for Jack (Jake Manley) and all of the werewolves. Things seem to be just as intense in season two and the stakes even higher. How does The Order’s agenda evolve and take advantage of this vulnerable position the werewolves are in?

 

A) In particular for Gabrielle, my character, my assignment specifically is to look after Jack and to make sure that Jack doesn’t get his memory back. That’s my little thing.  It comes from also Vera (Katharine Isabelle), which it’s like a punishment to Gabrielle for all of the mishaps that happened at the end of Season One.  It’s sort of my punishment because Gabrielle hates Jack’s guts and to be assigned all of this time with him, Gabrielle uses it to her advantage and actually makes him her little passion project.

 

Q) Season one we really got to see a lot of Gabrielle’s cruel intentions, and I can only imagine with her being punished, those intentions intensify in season two with her penance.

 

A) She definitely isn’t afraid to speak her mind as you saw in season one, and that does not stop in season two.  At all.  Which is really interesting because when you think about it, Gabrielle is actually an acolyte. So, she is at the lowest rank in the Hermetic Order of the Blue Rose.  She feels so entitled to speak her mind at all times.  She’s just really, really outspoken and determined to have her voice heard.

 

Q) Gabrielle’s headstrong ways and attitude haven’t always been an asset to her. In season one she played by her own rules, whose does she follow going forward?

 

A) In the beginning of the season she butts heads a lot with Vera with Jack being her assignment.  She keeps feeling like she has to prove herself in The Order.  But I think what’s so great about season two is that we are actually going to see a different side of Gabrielle.  I can’t giveaway too much on that as to what exactly that’s going to mean.  She is a very complex three-dimensional character and I am so excited for everyone to see all of those parts of her in this season especially.

 

Q) The characters we see in “The Order” continually have such a gradient to them and a deep complexity. There is perpetually so many shades developing and twists when you least expect it. Where will Gabrielle color’s lead her this season?  I kind of feel like she’s a mood ring.

 

A) Yeah, yeah. Completely.  She is. I feel like that’s kind of a compliment to the writers because every time I get a new script…We get the script by episode, so when we start filming, I don’t know what’s going to happen to Gabrielle in episode five when we I am shooting the second.  That’s really, really fun for me.  Every time I got an episode, especially for this season, it always surprised me what they came up with for Gabrielle.  It’s a huge compliment to the writers because humans are complex and I feel like it’s great when they can translate that into a TV series that a character can also be complex.

 

Q) It has to be really rewarding to you getting to play so many layers for Gabrielle and keep learning about her as everyone else is at the same time.

 

A) For sure, yeah.  Like I said, every episode is a surprise.

 

Q) Gabrielle has seen so much of her actions as being for a greater good, but as season one progressed, she began to recognize that may not be the case and her actions can have consequences. What has been your favorite part of her evolution?

 

A) Just thinking of the episode where she takes various people in The Order and questions them about their knowledge on werewolves.  Kind of like you said, she thinks she is doing it for the greater good, and I think that reflects on maybe she probably didn’t have a great upbringing or she didn’t really have anyone to guide her growing up.  For her to feel like she is doing something good when in reality it’s not so great, she learned that by the end of that episode in particular when she was told to shut it down.  Then, she kind of bounced back off of it when she went behind Alyssa’s (Sarah Grey) back and went to Edward Coventry (Max Martini) about maybe Alyssa’s intentions within The Order.  I don’t know. She’s just bouncing back and forth I feel.  I think that puts light to someone whose very determined and strong headed and thinks she is always right and has a hard time putting her guard down and letting herself be wrong for whatever reason.

 

Q) Talk about the complexity of the core of these characters with how the writing really elevates their dimensions along with their moral compass?

 

A) Completely. I feel like in terms of every character’s own moral compass, I think the writers do a good job of that in the university where Jack and Gabrielle attend an Ethics class.  When I was reading that, I was like, “That’s such a cool way to reflect what is going on internally for each character.” Them trying to figure out who they are and what’s right to them.

 

Q) It’s very meta having all of the characters constantly questioning who they are, what they have been told, what they have been taught, etc.  

 

A) Especially where these characters are in terms of their age.  Gabrielle is a freshman at Belgrave University.  When you grow up a certain way and you graduate high school and you’re going into this next phase of your life a lot of people go through whether it be with friends or different clubs, exploration of who they are and who they want to be.

 

Q) Most of the show has a lot of dark elements to it, but there is this comedic element that has always been interlaced as well. How does that balance continue and keep the series steady?

 

A) It definitely has that blanket of comedy on top of the darkness of it all.  I would say from reading the scripts and filming it that the comedy actually kicks up a notch this season.  That’s also coming from someone who plays Gabrielle and is someone who kind of sees everything as really funny.  I just remember at Comic Con last year I went around telling people the show was a comedy and everybody was like, “Are you sure?”  I was like, “I think so.” To me it is. I actually just watched season one a couple of weeks ago for the first time in like a year and I was like, “Oh my goodness. It is not a comedy.” [laughs] I do not know why I went around telling people that. [laughs]

 

Q) Gabrielle and Alyssa haven’t always worked well with or been on the same side as one another. Will we see a new dynamic between the two as unlikely allies or evolve in any way?

 

A) To me, when I think about Gabrielle and Alyssa separately, if you really think about it they are both fighting for the same thing.  They are both fighting for a voice within The Order and they are both really strong headed characters because they get some sort of fulfillment within The Order that they don’t in other aspects of their life.  To me that confuses me, but also it makes me realize why they butt heads so much because they are super strong-headed and they are in stuck their own ways.  I don’t know why it’s so hard for Gabrielle to make friends with other women.  She should because I feel like if they were able to join forces and both put their guards down, things will get done better and faster for sure.  I don’t know.  We’ll have to see about that one.

 

Q) They are both so devoted to their convictions and if they ever really stripped things down and actually had a conversation, they would see there is more commonalities there under the surface than they see.

 

A) Completely. Ya’ll need to like go out and get a coffee together with no one around, but in broad daylight so that no one gets killed. Or get a pedicure or get a massage.

 

Q) You all are dealing with a lot of deep and stress filled stuff, just have a Girl’s Day and get it all out.

 

A) Yeah, have a Girl’s Day.  I’ll talk to the writers about it. [laughs]

 

Q) We talked about how Gabrielle is under Vera’s thumb and having to pay her penance with looking after Jack, is this more that Vera keeps an eye on her and controls her actions and intentions or she finds Gabrielle of a nuisance or is it more that she is trying to be a mentor?

 

A) I think it’s honestly just from a place of punishment for Gabrielle.  Obviously, Gabrielle didn’t do so great at the end of season one, in Vera’s favor anyway.  Vera is the new Grand Magus and she is capable to do whatever she likes to Gabrielle.  I think Gabrielle making Jack sort of her passion project or her little boy toy is her way of making the best out of a bad situation.

 

Q) Vera has a lot of shades of her own, and sometimes I question her own loyalties, allegiances and intentions as well.  

 

A) I guess we will never know within The Order, right?