Motherland: Fort Salem‘s Amalia Holm on Scylla and Raelle’s Arc, and Saying Goodbye to the Series

Holm: Because I haven’t watched anything [yet], it will have to be from what we shot. I did very much enjoy a scene in Episode 3 with Nicte, a little bit hinted at in the trailer, but it’s not what it looks like. That was a lot of fun, but that was mostly for me, like personally, because of the things I got to do in the scene, and to get to play with that part of Scylla that we haven’t seen at all before: Scylla in pure rage rather than strategic or terrorist-y stuff. This is more from the gut.

Paste: Without getting too much into spoilers, in the premiere we see a couple of times where Scylla’s worlds start to collide in really interesting ways. How will that dynamic affect her throughout the rest of the season?

Holm: I would say, in this season, Scylla is faced with just the fact that she has to grow up and be responsible for the people in her life. Like, a development for example from Season 2 where she recklessly took little Tiffany to take care of and then found a family for her and all that, which really worked out very well, but now she has a very strong bond with this little girl, and what do you do with that when you’re also a fugitive with your fugitive girlfriend and her new friends? And already in Episode 1, there’s a big challenge for her as she has used her contacts and her old friends to find a safe space for the fugitives, and when they’re not respected, that all backfires. Scylla’s caught in a little bit of a tricky situation. I would say that it plays out in the way that Scylla inevitably has to grow up in the season, and take much more responsibility, and try not to just be in her emotions all the time—which she’s about to learn much more about.

Paste: One of those moments for her is a cafeteria scene in Episode 1 specifically, which was so fun to watch, especially with all of those moving parts coming together. What was it like to shoot that scene?

Holm: It was a lot of fun, it was especially so much fun framing the scene. But group scenes on the day are always tricky because, just speaking from Scylla, on those days I’m glad I’m just a stupid little actor who’s not responsible for anything but myself because there are so many parts that need to work out in all those scenes. But Scylla meets someone from her past, and so the way that makes her feel and battling that with the way she wants to take responsibility for the way this all comes across to Raelle and the new friends and all that, is kinda complicating the scene a bit more for me as an actress. A common acting tip is, in a group scene, try to focus on one character and one person you’re always turning your energy towards, and that would be for me, throughout all of Motherland, always be Taylor (Hickson) and Raelle. So when this new person comes in, and just interrupts my energy flowing between me and Raelle, that is kinda what happened in real life as well. Because I had to take in this person, right, who’s from my past, but Melanie (Rose Wilson) was so wonderful to work with. This Vira character is a little bit of a whirlwind, and that was a lot of fun. I kinda wish there was more of it than what you’ll see, but I’m not gonna spoil too much.

Paste: And speaking of the connection between Scylla and Raelle, I know it’s a fan-favorite relationship—what’s it like to have played this incredible relationship?

Holm: Well, it’s been such an honor. You know, you never know what’s going to be a fan favorite or not, but it’s just been so nice to be part of a very dynamic relationship, where there’s so much space to play with things that me and Taylor just love communicating about. Just building that story together, you’re building an arc together. You get the scripts and of course you just read their lines, but other than that, we also dwell into “What does this mean,” and “who’s kissing who here,” if that stuff’s specified, or “why is it not [specified], what does that mean?” Because obviously we’re not with them all the time, but whereas maybe in Season 1 especially you would assume that “Oh, they’ve been sneaking off, they’ve been having some nights and moments to themselves,” because they’re getting to know each other.

In Season 3, all those things would be more I guess domesticated, or at least, getting to a completely new place in our relationship. All the scenes that we’re not seeing would’ve been very different, so there was a lot of talking about that to do. I was telling Taylor before I left Vancouver that like “I’m sorry, but I think I’m going to be jealous of your new on-screen love interest,” because she is—no competition—the absolute best love interest I’ve ever played with and I feel so much for that relationship, and I feel so much for Raelle. Like me, Amalia, has an attachment to the character Raelle, and Taylor as well, of course. So it’s going to be really, really weird to see any of the cast work on other projects because they’re, you know, they’re my coworkers; I feel a little bit territorial about it.

Paste: What’s it like to say goodbye to a show like this that has been so impactful and so incredible for its three-season run?

Holm: It’s probably like saying goodbye to… what else is like four-years running, maybe your college experience or your high school experience? Those things though I bet have much more negative things than this experience has had. It has been such a joy; no competition, the best job I’ve had. I don’t know, it’s gonna suck when I accept the fact [that it’s ending] because I still haven’t. I can’t really put words to that mourning because it hasn’t started yet. Catch me in August [after the finale], I’ll be a wreck.

Motherland: Fort Salem premieres Tuesday, June 21 at 10/9c on Freeform.

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