Stella Maeve – The Magicians

By starrymag | March 27, 2019

By: Lisa Steinberg

 

 

Q) I’m loving this season of “The Magicians” and the incredible layers that continue to be added to each character and the series.

A) Thank you! Thank you so much. We have another year to shoot. I’m like shocked and amazed. Our fanbase is kind of great. We continue to be Syfy’s number one show and people really seem to like it. We’re doing something right, you know?

Q) Julia has really become a beacon and her character has resonated and is so relevant, especially a few episodes ago when she tells Penny 23 that we’re not defined by our traumas and we don’t have to be a victim.

A) It’s really true. It really is a lot about perspective. My boyfriend and I had this conversation the other day. We were just talking about the things that happen in your life are sometimes unavoidable and we don’t get to choose what happens to us. Most of the time we are powerless in that sense. It’s more about what we do after the fact, how we pick up the pieces and how do we want to lead our best life. Because things happen that are out of our control, then where our powers come in as humans, nonhumans, Gods, or Julia’s or anybody is what we do after the fact and how do we choose to lead our best lives or how choose to exist on this planet. That’s how we’re defined.

Q) We also have this broad scope with the #MeToo movement, feminism in our current political climate, fighting for female rights in the workplace, equal pay, etc.

A) Oh yeah, totally! Sera Gamble, one of our showrunners, I’ve known Sera long before the show and I will continue to know her long after the show. She’s not just a boss and colleague, but she’s a friend. And I’ve known her many, many years. When we started this five years ago it was before the #MeToo movement and so it’s nice to see the evolution of where she started and where we started, the evolution and how it’s progressed and how far it’s come. Now, she has a new show on Netflix called “You” and she’s been doing all sorts of things and it’s just been great. It’s great to see that has been a steady progression and not a digression. I think I’d be lying if I said I don’t think that she was the catalyst for this thing moving forward. She’s awesome! Then, my mom said to me (and she’s in her 60’s – I think 63 years old), “I’m really happy to have gotten to see this in my lifetime. I’m really happy to have gotten to finally see this happen, to finally see that things are starting to change. I’m just really happy I got to see it in my lifetime.” She went to the Women’s March in New York. It’s just a cool and really great thing. I feel like “The Magicians” was doing it before the movement and we’re continuing to do it in it. It’s just such a cool thing to really feel like it’s actively a part of it – not something on the sidelines or subjects in it. It’s great!

Q) We saw this vulnerable bedroom scene between Julia and Penny 23. I know before you hadn’t worked or interacted much with each other on screen. Then, we get this bedroom scene that is sort of tender and honest between the two. Talk a little bit about that evolving relationship that has to come out organically because of the circumstances they are both put in.

A) It’s really honest and humorous. It’s really the second time that Sera has put Arjun [Gupta] and I in a romantic partnership. We did a pilot many, many years ago where we played boyfriend and girlfriend. So, I guess they must like our chemistry. [laughs] I think there is just something really human about it. It’s nice to see Julia being used as a sexual being again after having the rape and having gone through the millions of things she’s been through throughout the five years of this show. It’s really nice and really interesting to see that this woman is still sexy and that this woman can still fall in love. She can still have every human emotion that everyone else can. Just because she’s endured some awful things doesn’t mean she is incapable. I think that was something that was really important to me, Sera and for the show to convey as well. If you’re raped or endured sexual trauma you don’t become this shell of a human. You don’t become this inanimate object. You’re still a woman. You’re still sexy. You’re still beautiful. You still can be intimate with someone. You can still get deep with somebody and open yourself up and share yourself. I think that to convey that message was essential for everybody out there and I think we did a really good job of that. I know I was really happy as the actress as well to see that in the writing like, “Oh great! We get to explore this side of Julia.” For so long there was nothing romantic at all happening for her and they always toyed with Julia and Quentin (Jason Ralph) with is it going to happen or is it not going to happen, which was kind of the “X-Files” with Mulder and Scully. They continue that, but we don’t really get to see her viewed as like a sexual being or as a woman, you know? So, it was nice to play with that and nice to read that they put that in there. I was really happy. I was like, “That awesome! We can show that these things happen and guess what? You can still be intimate with someone afterwards.”

Q) The relationship Julia has with Quentin is also ever evolving and seems to consistently spin on its head. Julia’s face was pretty telling when Quentin and Poppy were “pregnant” and how that really played out for her.

A) I actually really enjoyed playing that moment. I don’t think it was written like that and I don’t think it was intended on being that way. It’s something that I do. It was in the books and has been a constant throughout the series. Of course, there are romantic feelings. Will it ever happen? I don’t know. Will either of them ever acknowledge that there are some feelings? Possible romantic feelings? Probably not. Maybe. Who knows? It’s a nice fine line to play with and continue on. I sort of feel like any friendship between a male and female at one point (or any point) there usually is some type of intrigue, whether it be on one party’s side, both party’s side or the other. At one point in time I feel like somebody had to have questioned it at some point. I don’t’ know. That’s just a theory and I think it works for this show and for Julia and Quentin. It just gave it layers and as actors and characters a deeper place to go to. It makes it more interesting.

Q) I do see these romantic flashes and maybe pangs of jealousy.

A) Definitely a pang of jealousy! Yeah! Yeah! There is that brother-sister, familial aspect, but he’d also be the perfect husband. [laughs] You’re the guy that I want to marry in a different timeline or another life.

Q) I love the way Julia’s wires in her mind working and how you portray her. You sort of constantly see the cogs turning in her mind through her eyes and expressions. How have you approached her evolution through her triumphs and tragedies, especially this season?

A) I feel like in every other season they’ve been kind of marked out and I’ve had a little bit of an inkling of what is going to happen with Julia. This year is kind of like the blind leading the blind. Nobody knows what is going to happen, but we’re all still along for the ride, the writers included and they’ve been honest about that. So, I guess I kind of feel like Julia’s always been type-A in the sense of being really great at school. She’s astute and she operates on a high level of intellect. I think that’s another thing that her and Quentin connect on and kind of bonds them, the fact that they are really, really book smart. They are really great at Mathematics and wanting to do the research. So, I think that helps in the five years of her doing her and that it has stayed with her. They both want to know more and the craving she has for knowledge is infinite, which I do share with her. I think that this season in particular I tried to play the comedy of it. I tried to give it levity. It felt like a bizarre mix of like an Indiana Jones mission and the last episode was almost vaudevillian. It was so bizarre with the dragon egg and it was like we were on an episode of “Angie Tribeca.” I feel like we’re sometimes in our own detective novella and it’s like this weird off beat dramedy show where we’re doing our own thing. So, a lot of the time I feel like there is a lot of things happening and Julia is just kind of along for the ride and you don’t have any answers. We don’t know if she is a goddess. She doesn’t know if she is a goddess. She doesn’t know what is happening. All she is doing is trying to run a marathon with the millions of things thrown her way and I guess it’s just about how she comes at it. In season one she came at it in a very human, practical astute and driven manner. Then, it turned to sadness and sadness turned to rage. In season two she became a goddess and season four it’s like, “Okay, I’ve been through every color of the rainbow and back. So, where am I now?” She’s along for the ride and kind of enjoying it and having fun. I think there is a levity here that is conveyed continuously trying to figure things out and trying to understand and have knowledge, but the stakes aren’t as high for her because I feel whether or not she gets her goddess powers back and whether or not the writers decide to continue on in that vein (which I hope they do for personal reasons) I think that she’s just sort of made her amends and that peace. With the other characters the stakes are so high in a sense of “Oh, we need to get magic back” or “We don’t have magic” or “I don’t want to die.” It’s all either fear based or motivational driven on a quest. With Julia she’s sort of made her peace with, “If I die, okay. If I can’t die, okay. If I’m a goddess, okay.” It’s becoming at peace with yourself. So, there is a level of acceptance, but her curiosity will never die. I just think there is sort of double acceptance, which therefore leaves room for enjoyment on this crazy, bizarre journey.

Q) With Julia not really having an identity, what are some signifiers that have stuck with her? I mean she started the season as Kim the architect and then became Julia again. Architects and goddesses have a lot in common in a sense that they are both builders/constructors.

A) I think all of them. Emotionally (I can’t speak for physically because that’s sort of a writer’s choice) I think it all stuck with her and I think that’s why she’s able to have that degree of acceptance. With comparing being an architect to the goddess they are both constructing things and building things – I didn’t even think of that. I don’t even think the writers intended on that. But if they did, kudos to them! That’s awesome. If you did, then that’s really astute and right on. I didn’t even think of that! I don’t think any of the stuff with Kim stuck with her because I think that was a cloaking spell created by Dean Fogg, but I think over the course of five years that the goddess will never leave within. It’s something that once it happened it’s a part of you forever. Just like any sort of trauma, it’s part of you forever, but it’s just about how you deal with that. I think the same thing with the goddess power. I don’t think she’s having an identity crisis. I just think she wants to understand. She wants to have higher understanding and it’s that hunger of wanting to learn. I think she carries that with her. I don’t think the goddess will ever leave her. Whether or not they decide to play into it, I’d still like to play into it.

Q) I’d love to see Garcelle return because I love her character’s wisdom and advice she gives Julia, and just her incredible presence.

A) I love Garcelle [Beauvais]! She’s so much fun to play with. She’s so cool. We have such a good time when she comes. Every time she comes, we’re shooting out in crazy fields at like three in the morning in like the most insane weather you’ve ever seen. There are mud slides, thunder and lightning. We’ll be out in like a field or a top of the building or somewhere crazy. She’s in a beautiful white gown and she has five hours because she has to crush it on her other show and be a mom and just be the beautiful, wonderful Garcelle that she is. We’re always laughing. We laugh our way through all the craziness. She’s awesome. She’s such a great partner to work with and such an inspirational woman. I’m really lucky to have her in my life. I really do admire her. I think she’s fantastic. She’s such an asset to the show. I hope we get to have Garcelle back and Candis Cayne back. She’s wonderful as well. She was my other favorite to work with because she’s phenomenal. She’s another one of my icons and a person that I totally admire and look up to. She’s such a beautiful, kind and intelligent woman. She’s just got it going on and I love her. She’s an amazing person to have on set as well. She’s an asset!

Q) I wish we had more scenes of Julia in Fillory in the forest. Sort of the last we saw her there Julia was burning trees down.

A) I keep telling Sera, “Let’s have Julia be in Fillory doing her goddess thing. Her and Candis could be going on adventures. Put me in that world. That’s the fun! Let’s go there!” I’m trying to be in Fillorian gear! I’m trying to be in some crazy beautiful white goddess attire playing amongst the bunnies. Get me out there!

Q) Julia and Kady have had their moments since season two and the “Best Bitches” sort of broke up for a little bit. Recently we saw them maybe working their way back to “Best Bitches” status slightly. Kady is a little bit of Julia’s constant too since they went through so much together.

A) Yeah. I don’t think it’s comparable to Julia and Quentin’s relationship. I just don’t. I know that the fans would love that. I understand putting them together and I love that and I love that message, but I just think her and Quentin have a much deeper, profound, complex relationship quite honestly than any other characters on the show. The only other characters that I could make a comparison would be like Eliot (Hale Appleman) and Margo (Summer Bishil), but Julia and Quentin have known each other longer and they are kind of like a duo throughout these stories, these books. I think with Kady (Jade Tailor) and Julia as far as it progresses, I think because they’ve been through so much they can’t really go back. I know from Julia’s perspective there is no resentment. That’s life. Shit happens. Everything is all good. But I don’t know. It would nice to see a friendship reform, but I don’t know if it will ever be the way that was. Maybe it can be something better and different. Who knows? I hope.

Q) I love this unparalleled of fierce, but flawed females. They are complex and compelling, but also incredibly vulnerable. What do you think it is about the dynamic of these core women that they share that resonates with the audience with the way they are both written and portrayed?

A) I don’t know. I can’t speak for the other actresses or other characters. I don’t want to. Everybody is open to their own interpretation and I think that’s what is so beautiful about the show. I think it’s open to interpretation. I think Science Fiction, when done properly, is a great metaphor for life, humans, and for overall a blanket of needs. I think that’s what is so great about “The Magicians” is that people can sort of have their own takeaways and project whatever they think or like on to what is happening and take away from it what they will. I will say that getting to work with Brittany was so nice and it felt so empowering and supportive. It was wonderful. I’d love to do more of that. I’ve never worked with Summer on the show. We’ve never seen Julia and Margo working together so I’m interested to see if there is some sort of bond that was formed there. I’ve actually never even worked with Eliot, which is interesting as well. I’ve worked with Monster Eliot. [laughs] We’ve never see Normal Julia and Normal Eliot together. I think it shows just strong women. Julia, in particular, is a survivor. She’s got a need to go on. Throughout an underlying message is, “You know what? Even if you have been abused, you can still become a goddess.” You can still keep going. I think that’s important.

Q) What do you hope everyone takes away from watching this season?

A) I just hope everybody enjoys it and that everybody has a good time and that it keeps doing what it has been doing. To this day it shocks me. I can’t believe we’ve had five years. We’re doing something right and it seems as though people are connected to the arc that we’re putting out there. I only hope that I can help brighten someone’s day or help as a form of escapism and that it continues to resonate with the people it has resonated with. I hope people continue to appreciate and love and understand Julia. Through this form we can connect people, have them open up and make people feel a little less alone and afraid and be more vulnerable and be able to connect with others. Because we’re all in this together.