SPOILER WARNING: The following contains spoilers for FROM Season 2, Episodes 1-4.
After a breakout first season of MGM+’s FROM, the town – and particularly the Matthews family – was left in a stressful limbo. I sat down with Hannah Cheramy, who plays Julie Matthews on the show, to get the behind-the-scenes scoop and her take on what lies ahead.
Kelsey Yoor: In season one, poor Julie had to kind of undergo a lot of forced growth, so looking back, what do you feel has been the biggest change for Julie going from season one into Season 2?
Hannah Cheramy: Yeah, I love how you say forced growth because, well, characters can just grow naturally. But it really is the people around her, it’s the circumstances that are surrounding her constantly, that have really made her become a bigger person, and made her become a more family-oriented person.
I think that that’s such a great dynamic within the show is that, you know, she starts off as the moody eye-rolling teenager, and that because of where she is and because of the loss her family’s already suffered – and that the loss that she feels she’s gonna have to go through with her parents – and then the house collapsing… It really does whip her into shape and she knows that like, listen, this is all I’ve got; my family is my life. I can’t lose these people. Like, that’s it, point blank.
KY: That’s very true. And as you mentioned, she does start off as a more stereotypical teenage role, but there’s been a lot of depth that’s come out from Julie having to go through these more horrible circumstances, including some very scary scenes. What has been the scariest thing that you’ve had to go through playing Julie?
HC: Gosh, I mean, just again, the beginning episodes [of season two], it was such a deep, deep sadness that I really had to tap into to get the emotion level to where it needed to be for her breakdown in the diner. And I really had to put myself in her shoes and the loss that she suffered and again – what she’s going through in that moment, and how suffocating just the town itself must feel. I think about it all the time, just like, while you’re in this big open space, I would just feel so claustrophobic, always like there’s just a pressure on my chest at every given moment, and I have to think about how Julie would feel about that, and I have to sympathize with how she feels. I really had to tap into a lot to get there.
KY: That’s very heavy stuff. It definitely comes across well. But also on the flip side, what’s been really fun to shoot this year? Has there been anything that’s been particularly a joy?
HC: Yeah, I think that this season is great. I got to work with some new characters that I hadn’t worked with previously and I got to work more with the Matthews family. And obviously, I just adore all the actors in the Matthews family! They’re just all so great. It’s just very fun on set, too. So Season2… I have lots of good memories and everything is just a great time.
KY: I also like going back to season one, the very different societal structures that they had. I’m just wondering if you were thrown into that situation, do you think you would pick the town or Colony House?
HC: So I have a little set answer for this, and it’s that if I came into town with my family or friends, I would choose the town for structure and stability. And I know that they wouldn’t open the doors or windows!
But if I came in by myself, I feel like I’d be very afraid to just be in a house by myself. So I think I would choose Colony House for the connections. I’m also quite an extrovert and I couldn’t deal with being alone all the time. I’d go insane!
KY: I very much felt the same way until I saw Kevin open that window in Season 1…
HC: (Laughs) Yeah, that set me off a little bit. I was like, maybe…?
KY: The whole show is such a rollercoaster. How much of where the story is going do they let you guys know as actors ahead of time?
HC: Nothing. It’s script by script. That’s it. We get the new script, we’re like, “All right, where are we going? Who’s dying?” So it definitely keeps you on the edge of your seat.
KY: It’s got to be fun learning it in real-time, too. Do you have any of your own theories about what’s coming next or what may be really going on?
HC: You know what, I saw this theory online the other day and it’s my new favorite thing: It’s that when everybody hit the tree, it was actually like they all died in a car accident or something! And that’s why everyone sees the tree and it’s now like this sort of purgatory, or maybe they’re all in a coma or something and you know, Boyd’s [played by Harold Perrineau] like, “wake up, wake up!” like that. That really stuck with me. That was a fun one! I don’t know if, I don’t know if it’s true, but…
KY: I mean it’s no crazier than anything else that would tie into Abby’s “waking everybody up” thing.
HC: Yeah, that’s really what pushed me over the edge of that. I was like, okay, I can see that. I could see that.
KY: Is there anything particularly relating to Julie that you would love to see happen for her character or any avenues you’d like her character to go down?
HC: Yeah, I’d love to see Julie step up within the frame of trying to escape the town. You know, she’s with her family and she’s gonna support them and stuff and, while she’s not gonna be the one to take charge and lead off into the forest, I think it would be, you know, working with Jade who’s trying to find the symbols and working with Victor [played by Scott McCord] who knows so much. I would love to see her do that because she did try to get things out of Victor in season one in his room up there at Colony House. So I think that that was an interesting, interesting arc for her character and I think that would be really cool.
KY: Your character was very relatable from the start and I feel like she is a great “everyman” to take us in and grow from there. What personally drew you to Julie and is there anything that you yourself have put in or pivoted her character a little bit?
HC: I mean Julie, to me, is very relatable. She’s obviously been through a lot to get her to the place that she’s at now. And I just think that if I was in this town, I wouldn’t be exactly like, “No guys, come on stick to the plan.” Like, I would also be like, “Dude, this sucks. I don’t like it. I wanna go do something if I’m gonna die.” I might as well, you know, take off and do something!
But I do also really – and especially in Season 2 – love how our family values are. Family is very, very, very near and dear to my heart. And I love that they took that direction with her character because I just feel the same. The Matthews family is so awesome. I just really like them!
From airs Sundays at 9:00 p.m. ET on MGM+.
Article content is (c)2020-2023 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram.
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