{"id":2618,"date":"2015-04-14T16:49:21","date_gmt":"2015-04-14T16:49:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2015\/04\/14\/the-mary-sue-interview-sonita-henry-and-nick-willing-on-olympus-and-strong-women-in-sci-fi\/"},"modified":"2015-04-14T16:49:21","modified_gmt":"2015-04-14T16:49:21","slug":"the-mary-sue-interview-sonita-henry-and-nick-willing-on-olympus-and-strong-women-in-sci-fi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2015\/04\/14\/the-mary-sue-interview-sonita-henry-and-nick-willing-on-olympus-and-strong-women-in-sci-fi\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mary Sue Interview: Sonita Henry and Nick Willing On Olympus And Strong Women In Sci-Fi"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sam Maggs \/ The Mary Sue<\/em><\/p>\n

Syfy\u2019s newest offering\u00a0Olympus\u00a0premieres tonight, bringing us a fresh look at the classical Greek world of humans and the gods through Hero, played by newcomer Tom York. We had the opportunity to speak with creator Nick Willing (who you might know from Syfy miniseries like\u00a0Tin Man\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Neverland<\/em>) and star Sonita Henry about what this new take on old tales has to offer.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a 13-part series,\u00a0Olympus\u00a0<\/em>had to build a bigger, more epic and more sophisticated story than my shorter mini series,\u201d said Willing. \u201cAncient Greek drama is unique because it touches on the things that make us tick, universal dreams and fears which drive us as much today as they did 2,500 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

And much of this drama is brought to the screen by Sonita Henry, whose character Medea has had a not-so-great history (we find her sixteen years after she\u2019s killed her two children in a fit of jealous rage). \u201cShe\u2019s just very misunderstood,\u201d joked Henry. \u201cShe\u2019s an interesting character because, in some instances you can say she\u2019s the villain of the show, but she\u2019s a really powerful woman whose taking charge whichever way she can.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially in Ancient Greece,\u201d continued Henry, \u201cwomen, they had no power, they were basically treated as slaves with which to reproduce. That was it. Not that we\u2019ve traveled that far,\u201d she added with grim humor, \u201cNow at least we can work. We don\u2019t get paid as much, but now we can work.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Medea isn\u2019t one to be pushed around by the men in her life, despite her circumstances. \u201cShe has all the power,\u201d said Henry. \u201cShe allows the men to think that they know what they\u2019re doing, that they\u2019re the most important, but she is manipulating everyone there and playing everyone off everyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMedea is the villain we love to hate,\u201d elaborated\u00a0Willing. \u201cShe has an ugly past and is haunted by fearful ghosts, often reacting violently, but we may \u2013 eventually \u2013 find ourselves rooting for her, no matter how evil she becomes.\u201d\u00a0Olympus<\/em>, he added, also features two other major lady characters: Oracle, \u201ca sort of chaste wife to Hero,\u201d and Ariadne, \u201cthe sexiest woman in Hero\u2019s life.\u201d But despite their character descriptions, Willing reassured me that \u201cthey\u2019re not there for [Hero], they each passionately pursue their own defining agendas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Traditionally, genre television has provided women with pioneering and fiercely strong roles, and Henry has found that to be true over the course of her career. \u201cThe roles that are written for women in sci-fi are so much stronger, I personally feel,\u201d said Henry. \u201cThey\u2019re usually the ones that hold the power, the key, carrying the biggest guns. The woman is usually the smartest in the show.\u00a0I\u2019m very happy that that\u2019s the genre that I\u2019ve entered into. And also being mixed race, I think also lends itself to a futuristic take.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several episodes of\u00a0Olympus<\/em>\u00a0were directed by the (jokingly) self-styled Grand Empress of Sci-Fi, Amanda Tapping, and she and Henry bonded over what it\u2019s like being a woman with a career in Hollywood. \u201cIt\u2019s difficult,\u201d shared Henry,<\/p>\n

“When you\u2019re a woman in this industry, and you\u2019ve been in this industry for a while, you can either\u00a0get very, very jaded; or you can become a bitch, because you had to, sadly, just to deal with the crap that\u2019s thrown at\u00a0you. And<\/span>\u00a0[Tapping]\u00a0hasn\u2019t. She has the most amazing work ethic and and is one of the nicest people to work with. And we discussed a lot on set in between takes about women in the industry and how she is very happy she fell into sci-fi, and and the roles that are available to\u00a0us in that genre. It\u2019s fantastic.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We heart you, Amanda.<\/p>\n

Finally, I asked Willing and Henry how they\u2019d fare in the Ancient Greek world of\u00a0Olympus<\/em>. \u201cOh, I think I\u2019d do pretty well,\u201d Henry laughed. \u201cThere was definitely stuff I brought to Medea that I\u2019ve had to live though that I think helped with that character. I wouldn\u2019t do so well in the corsets, though \u2013 I\u2019m definitely more of a jeans and Doc Martin\u2019s kind of girl.\u201d<\/p>\n

Willing, too, think\u2019s he\u2019d be alright, saying he would be a storyteller, same then as now: \u201cNot with cameras and visual effects computers, but around a camp fire or in an amphitheater. Storytelling is not a job for me, but an obsession. I will always find a way of feeding that obsession wherever I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

Olympus premieres tonight on Syfy and on Super Channel 2 in Canada.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sam Maggs \/ The Mary Sue Syfy\u2019s newest offering\u00a0Olympus\u00a0premieres tonight, bringing us a fresh look at the classical Greek world of humans and the gods through Hero, played by newcomer Tom York. We had the opportunity to speak with creator Nick Willing (who you might know from Syfy miniseries like\u00a0Tin Man\u00a0and\u00a0Neverland) and star Sonita Henry … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Mary Sue Interview: Sonita Henry and Nick Willing On Olympus And Strong Women In Sci-Fi - Thunderbird Entertainment<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2015\/04\/14\/the-mary-sue-interview-sonita-henry-and-nick-willing-on-olympus-and-strong-women-in-sci-fi\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Mary Sue Interview: Sonita Henry and Nick Willing On Olympus And Strong Women In Sci-Fi - Thunderbird Entertainment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sam Maggs \/ The Mary Sue Syfy\u2019s newest offering\u00a0Olympus\u00a0premieres tonight, bringing us a fresh look at the classical Greek world of humans and the gods through Hero, played by newcomer Tom York. 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