Anna Pigeon has been the most fun series of the summer. That starts with star Tracy Spiridakos, who’s embodied the title role with charisma and charm. Alongside her, Tricia Helfer has given a winning performance as Anna’s older sister and surrogate mother Molly Pigeon. The two of them are a wonderful double act, because they complement each other so well.

Ahead of the USA show’s season finale, Tracy and Tricia connected with TVBrittanyF.com to talk about how they shaped Anna and Molly’s rapport across the season. They also spoke about the differences between their past well-known roles and these characters. Plus, what would they love to see in the recently announced Anna Pigeon Season 2?

Brittany Frederick: You two have built a great relationship between Anna and Molly, but how did you accomplish that when your characters weren’t in the same place for a majority of Season 1?

Tracy Spiridakos: Tricia’s a rock star, is what it is. She’s amazing, and we’re very lucky that she came to play with. She’s so incredibly lovable and talented. We didn’t get to play together very often, as you got to see. She was always on her own until Episode 9. We got to meet very briefly at the beginning of the of the season, and then didn’t get to play.

But Tricia’s just an incredible actress, and and made it feel like we had this all this history and this wonderful relationship put together. I think that I credit Tricia with so much of that.

Tricia Helfer: You’re very kind. I credit you because you were the one that got off a plane and came to meet me on your one night before filming. It’s hard not to have chemistry with Tracy, because she’s just so welcoming… Just to hear everybody’s adoration, the whole crew’s adoration of Tracy, I knew that working together with her was going to be a breeze and was going to be fantastic.

She’s so dedicated to the character and the role, but also just an incredible number one—where she is so welcoming of everybody. She knows that it’s a collaboration, and it takes everybody working together to get out a good final product. And the crew just adored her, so I knew immediately that it was going to be fun working with her.

So when you did get face-to-face screen time in Episode 9, what was that experience like? Did you take the same approach to that episode as you did to the scenes you shot separately in Episodes 1-8?

Spiridakos: What was really cool to see is Tricia and I, at least from how I felt, we kind of fell into this. We had really great chemistry right away, and we fell into the sister role quite quickly when we saw each other. I think maybe just from from the history of the season thus far.

But what I thought was really interesting was the way that some of the scenes ended up coming out—I felt like I became little sister in our dynamic, just instantly, and it wasn’t something that was put on, and it wasn’t something that was thought through. It was just in the writing, and it was in our chemistry and our dynamic, and it was really cool to see how it just came quite naturally when we got to do the scenes physically together. From my perspective, at least.

Helfer: Absolutely. Because when we shot, you’re shooting with a script supervisor talking… I didn’t get to watch your side of the conversation. So you are kind of going in blind in many ways. You just have to trust the writing, and I think that’s where the great writing [comes in], and having the team of Sonia [Hosko] and Morwyn [Brebner] and Lea [Thompson] and everybody there to go okay, well this is how it was played. Or if you veer off into something that they think doesn’t match, then they will bring you back together.

You really do have to rely on the team when you’re doing these scenes separate, and waiting till literally the second to the last episode to actually meet in person, when you’re trying to play these characters that have such a rich history together. They’ve been this incredibly bonded sister pair for their entire lives. I think it comes down to really a lot of the team, the producers and writers and directors helping you.

Tracy, you didn’t have a huge break between your years as Hailey Upton on Chicago PD and stepping into Anna Pigeon. What was the biggest difference in terms of shedding one long-running role, and starting to build another character you can hopefully play for just as long?

Spiridakos: I think the biggest difference for me between Hailey and Anna is Anna, I can see the light in her. I feel like there is a little bit more of a lightness to her, and she can be a little sarcastic and a little funny. She’s in a moment of grief right now, but I can see who she used to be before she went through that grief—whereas I think Hailey was a little bit more intense and a darker kind of character.

But I think the way that it comes in for me in day-to-day is particularly with the tactical stuff and with all the kind of cop stuff. If I go into a room and I’m clearing a situation. I go into Hailey right away. I have that familiarity in how to do it properly—but Anna doesn’t do that very often. That’s not where her training was. Her training was focused on providing first aid and being aware of of an entirely different scenario, and so [I’m] allowing Anna to maybe be a little bit nervous when she’s clearing a house or she’s going through the room. She doesn’t do this every day the way that Hailey did it every day, and she has a different response to that. That’s the biggest thing for me, is the lightness in Anna, and then tactically the difference in how they would approach different scenarios, and allowing Anna to be nervous and not know what to do in different scenarios.

Tricia, what Tracy’s talking about is also right in your wheelhouse. You’ve been the hero, particularly in an underrated show called Killer Women, so is there any part of you that’s wanted to be more involved in the action on Anna Pigeon?

Helfer: Of course, because I’m a tomboy, and I love doing roles like that. I do see a lot of comparisons between Killer Women and Anna Pigeon in some ways. Obviously, very different [characters], but I love doing that action stuff. But you don’t have to do it all the time, and it’s kind of nice not being the one getting beat up and sore the next day. [Laughs.]

Because I wasn’t around when all that was going on, I [was] less itching to get into it… But I’m sure if I was on set watching Tracy do it, I’d be a little bit like okay, Molly can get in there. [Laughs.] Take off her high heel and hit somebody over the head. Take out her her prescription pad and go okay, Anna, you’re going to need this painkiller. I love doing that kind of stuff, but it is fun to get to see somebody else.

When you look back on Season 1 of Anna Pigeon, what are your proudest moments? Do you have scenes that stood out to you from a performance standpoint?

Helfer: I’ll say something very silly, but as a crazy cat lady, I’m proud of myself for not completely just forgetting about anything else in the scene and just playing with [Anna’s cat] Piedmont. [Laughs.] I did at one point though, when the door was left open, there was part of me that went to shut the door, because I don’t want the cat to get outside. And then I had to remember that I’m in the scene. Molly’s in the scene. I can’t do that.

Spiridakos: I love that. I think for me, there’s so many. I feel really grateful. There’s a lot of really cool, fun moments and fun scenes. All the cave stuff was really different and really fun. There were so many different challenges within that episode, just being in the cave, being on my own, and the mental struggle that that I got to go through. Eventually having that kind of eruption when Zach [appears]—Anna seeing him and the eruption, breakdown moment was a fun challenge and it was really cool. I enjoyed that episode a lot.

Now that USA has renewed Anna Pigeon for Season 2, what about looking forward? Are there aspects of your characters that you want to explore next season?

Spiridakos: I’m really excited to go horseback riding again. That’s I’m very excited to to get back with Joker, who I’ve missed. Joker was the horse that I got to ride on. And then just getting to to see everybody and [to] get to act with everybody again. I don’t have any one specific wish. I do really want to get to act with Tricia more. We had a wonderful time in [Episode] 9, and so getting to play with her would be high on my list.

Helfer: I definitely would like to like to be at the park a little bit more. Like to know more about the the the situation with Zach and see more New York flashbacks, or understand what happened there. Hopefully there can be some resolution for Anna, and she can move on from the trauma of that.

What have the two of you taken away from your Anna Pigeon experience thus far? Do you have personal favorite memories, or things you love about the show just as fans?

Helfer: I actually have not seen the episodes, because ever since it’s aired, I’ve been on set every Friday night. I have not been able to watch the episodes, but the love triangle is interesting to know about. I’m going to have 10 episodes of binging when I get finished with this film. But I think every a lot of people are going to want to know about the love triangle because she’s got a good relationship with both of them [Jesse and Stanton]—albeit how much she pulls back.

Spiridakos: For me, there’s not just one moment. I think the biggest thing for me is this cast. We we all have really great chemistry with each other, and we all really enjoy working with each other and really love each other. And so I’m excited to to get everyone back together and just get to see the gang back together again. When we’re in the ranger station, we really just laugh all day long. We make fun of each other. We tease. We’re poking at each other. I’m falling most of the time, because I’m very clumsy.

Helfer: On the the one or two days I was at the ranger station, you just completely dropped out of frame. So I can attest she’s telling the truth there.

Spiridakos: Yep, true story. [Laughs.] And so there wasn’t any one specific moment. I loved watching all the episodes and just seeing everybody. You could just see everyone’s chemistry with each other, everyone getting along. I loved seeing Zoe and Jesse develop this really wonderful friendship, and Zoe giving Jesse advice on how to handle Anna. It was a really wonderful dynamic all around. Everyone got to play with each other in different ways throughout the season, which I really liked.

Anna Pigeon airs Fridays at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on USA. Photo Credit: Michelle Faye/Courtesy of Versant Media.

Article content is (c)2020-2026 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. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.