Rena Owen – Siren

By starrymag | January 24, 2019

By: Jessica Wolff

 

 

 

Q) What can you tease about the new season of “Siren?”

 

A) We’re pretty limited in what we can share. We are allowed to say, it’s already been advertised, that we have a whole bunch of new mermaids and a merman. New merpeople come to land, myself (Helen) and the trio Ben (Alex Roe), Maddie (Fola Evans-Akingbola) and Ryn (Eline Powell) have to take care of all these merpeople. There is this conflict between Katrina (Aylya Marzoif) and Ryn. Katrina was introduced in episode eight last year when she came to land with Donna (Sibongile Mlambo). Ryn and her had that big fight in (episode) nine. That was also the episode where Donna got shot. Katrina and Levi (Sedale Threatt Jr.) were established. Both are obviously back with three new mermaids and one merman.

 

All together there’s six and with Ryn there’s seven. There’s a lot of new merpeople this season and a lot of conflict between Ryn and Katrina. We’re just trying to deal with them and keep them hidden and safe. There’s a lot of other things that go on. We’ve still got the military angle happening this season. There’s other storyline, but I can’t speak on them right now.

 

Q) In the season finale, Helen revealed that she was a descendant of Charles Pownall as well as a mermaid. There were hints beforehand, but when did you find out the whole story and how did it affect your performance?

 

A) I knew from the pilot and I just asked them. A lot of audience members also clicked straight away from the pilot when they said, “It takes one to know one,” and that was a common line from a lot of fans. I knew just the way it was written, I felt oh my gosh she knew that Ryn is a mermaid and she possibly has a mermaid background. I asked our showrunner and they said yes. To the degree, I didn’t really find out what degree until the finale, but I always knew that about Helen.

 

A big part of her life and building her character as someone who had to hide her true identity was in order to survive and I had to keep a secret for a very, very long time. It’s quite a release for her, really, at the end where she can tell the truth. Ryn’s character picks up on Helen being a mermaid, with the skin condition in episode three ,and I believe it’s episode five where I can tell Donna she can trust me because “I’m one of you.” I knew the whole time that this was Helen’s heritage.

 

Ben did not know that I would be related to Charles Pownall. His father had always told the story that his great-grandfather, the original “OG” Charles Pownall, had an affair with a prostitute and a child came from that affair and that I come from that line. Not even his dad knows that she was an actual mermaid that he had an affair with.

 

Q) How will her revealing the truth affect her dynamic with the trio going forward?

 

A) I can’t really be specific with that, to be honest with you. They’re still the same dynamics. It hasn’t really made a big difference. Ryn always knew. Maddie always thought there was something. That hasn’t really affected the relationships between the trio and Helen, not at all. If anything, it has made them more united in wanting to save the merpeople.

 

Q) Will we learn more about Helen’s backstory this season?

 

A) You learn a lot more about Helen and Helen’s also learning this stuff as the audience learns this stuff about Helen. We haven’t quite crossed the bridge yet with the Pownall side, but I’m curious to see where that also goes in terms of, possibly…I don’t know if he will, but Ben knows that his great-great-great grandfather had an affair with a mermaid and he’s kind of doing what his great-great grandfather did. He’s very in love with Ryn and so is Maddie, very in love with Ryn. The trio remain to be the essential storyline in the series. Helen gets to go on a bunch of other adventures, a whole lot of new stuff about herself and her community and taking care of the new merpeople. A lot of mermaid wrangling is what Helen does.

 

Q) Is there anything you would love to get the chance to do on Siren that you haven’t already?

 

A) There’s a lot of things. I’d like to have some mermaid superpowers. I’m not sure how I’d feel about Helen being able to grow a tail. I don’t think she can. She’s 1/8 (mermaid) as she said in episode ten. So, can she grow a tail? That would be very interesting, there’s no talk about her being able to grow a tail, she’s got too much human blood. Who knows? Maybe if there was something I could do, I wouldn’t mind seeing what it was like to have a tail. Having said that, it’s very cold in Vancouver. It’s very cold. Eline, on the other hand, is so good at what she does and it’s like she was born in the water. It’s a lot of work for the merpeople to be underwater and to do all the tank work. I’d just like to have a tail and sit around, not really going in and doing all the tank work. It’d be interesting to see if Helen does get to explore some of her mermaid powers.

 

Q) Were you looking forward to working with anyone this season you hadn’t had the opportunity to in season one?

 

A) No, I’m pretty much working with the same actors in terms of our trio and Ted and Elaine Pownall, the parents. Gil [Birmingham], the sheriff…It would have been nice to do more with him, but he gets caught up in all the cop work and, of course, everyone knows Maddie’s mother comes back. I would love to do some more scenes with Susan (Garcelle Beauvais), but so far that hasn’t happened. There are a couple of new characters that come into play in season two in the first part and the latter part, but I can’t say too much about the new characters. They haven’t been announced and it would also expose storylines. I can’t really talk about those, but all the merpeople besides Levi, Katrina and Ryn are all new and I got to work with all of them. That was a lot of fun and they’re a very interesting, diverse group of actors.

 

In terms of people I’d like to work with, I’d love to get to do something with Susan Bishop and I’d love to do more with Dale Bishop, our sheriff. Though Helen avoids the tricky situations to do with the law, she’s been good at that – keeping her nose clean and out of trouble. As I said earlier, she’s sat on this secret for a very, very long time and she’s really had to protect that. There’s quite a few new people coming into play in the new season, there’s a lot of different things going on this season.

 

The audience will be really intrigued, the fans we have, and hopefully the show will attract new fans. Every character out of the five series regulars, they’ve all got some storylines going on, so there’s some really great stuff, Helen’s got some great stuff. The trio, they’ll always remain the central part of the story, but there’s a lot of interesting new people to play and a whole lot of new interesting storylines. We discover not just a lot about Helen’s story, but the story of merfolk, so that’s really fascinating.

 

We’ve just got some wonderful scripts and directors. We all feel very blessed as we’ve got a great cast and a great crew. We work in beautiful weather. Shame about the cold weather, that’s not going to go away anytime soon. We love our jobs and I love playing Helen. She’s such a great character to play. I’m just very lucky.

 

Q) What was your favorite scene or episode to film this season?

 

A) I can’t tell you that without giving it away. I’ve had a couple of amazing moments, but I can’t comment on them unfortunately. They would be scene spoilers, sorry.

 

Q) What do you think about the fan reaction to the first season?

 

A) We were thrilled. We really have great fans, just really genuine and sincere and passionate. It’s every actor’s hope and dream to be in a show that does well and garners a following, and we did. They’re really great and loyal. I do social media now and they create a lot of edits and animated shorts and photos. It’s really awesome. I guess I’m particularly pleased because I’m the old girl on the block. Helen is the old girl on the block and it’s a young adult show on a young adult platform. I remember thinking, “I hope they like the old girl,” and I’m really happy that so many of the youths really like Helen, really pleased about that.

 

I say to people that we wouldn’t have a job without an audience and it’s always going to be an audience’s prerogative to whether they like you or the characters or if they like the show. I was thrilled and we were all really excited. There’s so much I wish I could tell you that I can’t because they would be scene spoilers. All I’m going to say is that there’s some really great stuff that goes on in season two, all kinds of different things for every character. It’s been a wonderful ensemble and I think the fans will be happy with the outcome of the trio, but my lips are sealed. Audiences will want to see more and learn more about Helen, so they definitely get that. They still get a lot of action stuff. Obviously, a lot of action still takes place on the water, in boats and under the water. There’s a lot of kicking butt. Maybe one day Helen will get to kick butt. That’s something I wouldn’t mind doing. Helen can’t cross those lines. She’s somewhat to a certain degree a moral compass in Bristol Cove.

 

There are really good storylines. Everyone gets their personal storylines, Alex (Ben) with his parents and family and with me and discovering more about my heritage and discovering more things with my community that I never knew. And Xander (Ian Verdun) gets a lot of really interesting things to do and there’s a lot of storyline with Xander, personally and professionally, in terms of fishing as he’s set to take over his father’s industry. There’s a whole eclectic color that comes in with all our new merpeeps and they all have different skills and is a very exotic tribe of merpeople. They get to go on some really interesting adventures, and I think fans will embrace season two and be happy with the different things that go down for all the characters.

 

They certainly tell you what they like and what they don’t like and like I said earlier, that’s fan prerogative. That’s absolutely their prerogative, saying “Hey, I want more of this” or “I didn’t like that at all” or “I hate this character” or “I love this character.” I think everyone’s going to enjoy the new season. Last year before the Christmas hiatus, we shot eleven episodes and this week we came back to work with episode twelve. I worked all day Monday and Tuesday and today I was doing ADR and now I’m talking with you. We’re shooting twelve and we’ve got five episodes left to shoot this year and they’ll be screening them eight at a time, that’s what my understanding is. Like every good TV show, there’ll always be cliffhangers at the end of every mini-season and then they’ll take a break and screen the next eight.

 

The exact date, I’m not sure of. I just know that we premiere next Thursday and that’s really exciting. We all know it’s an endless game. You can’t take anything for granted. We can’t take for granted that we’ll do a season three. We can’t take for granted our fans. If it works out to be a success, hopefully good things happen. You’re blessed because that’s what actors want. They want a great character and a show that does well. We’re really close. We established a sort of family, really strong sense of family. Keeping everything crossed that fans will love the new season, and love the new characters, and be intrigued by some very juicy storylines, particularly concerning Helen.

 

Q) Are there any other projects you’re currently working on?

 

A) We can’t really. We can’t work on other projects as actors because we’re here. We have to stay here in Vancouver the entire time we shoot. Sure, we got to go back to LA for Thanksgiving and Christmas, but I can’t really work on anything else until we’re done shooting on season two, which is not until late March. We also have to wait to find out if we’re going to get a season three, fingers crossed, and what date they’d want to start a season three. Until we can kind of know that, then it’s really not so easy to take on other work.

 

I’m also a writer, so that keeps me kind of creatively occupied as well. I’ve developed a couple of screenplays that I’d like to get them moving this year. As a self-employed actor, you’ve always got a workload in terms of bookkeeping and social media is my new job. That’s what I discovered last year. We were back in LA when the show was screening and then we’d go to the studio to watch east coast time and live tweet the show. Social media became a full-time job for me last season and I plan on doing more social media because we want to promote our own show. I also have to stay on topic, my bookkeeping and all that. I had to do a big major catch-up at the end of last year and everything piled up.

 

I’ll definitely be staying active on social media and it all depends on schedule and who’s shooting on Thursdays and who’s not shooting on Thursdays that we can continue to tweet with the show as it’s airing on the east coast. We never know our schedule that far in advance. All we know is we’ve got our schedule for this week and until Wednesday next week. That’s all we ever know. Then, you get the new script and you get the new schedule. We only ever know where we’re going to be at about ten days in advance. I’m not sure who’s going to be free next Thursday and who’s working and who’s not to be able to sit and watch the episode and be able to live-tweet. Time will tell, but I think we’re getting very excited that we’re going to be on screen next week.