Ahead of “Gen V‘s” second season, Jaz Sinclair confirms: fans will get to see a new side of Marie Moreau.
“Thinking about Marie in Season 1 versus Marie in Season 2, she does change. She does evolve. We’ll get more moments of lightness with her, for sure, but the circumstances are still intense,” she reveals at Monte-Carlo Television Festival.
“I don’t know if ‘happy’ is the right word, but in Season 1, Marie didn’t quite know how to be normal. She didn’t know how to be a teenager, because her experience was so extreme. Over the course of that season, and now in Season 2, she knows how to have friends, how to feel love – and how to tell jokes.”
In Amazon’s spin-off of “The Boys” – moving on in September following the tragic passing of actor Chance Perdomo last year – teen superheroes compete at the Godolkin University. There are mysteries to be solved and fights to be fought, but most of all, there’s a lot of growing up to do.
“I mean, isn’t that just the truth? Isn’t that what every kid experiences right now? It’s elevated with the superhero stuff, and then it’s political, and then they’re just trying to figure stuff out,” she says.
All “Gen V” characters are flawed, she admits, not just guilt-ridden Moreau. And that’s what she likes about it.
“They are always dealing with something and sometimes, they’re dealing with it badly. It makes it relatable. Watching superheroes who are perfect would be less interesting to watch. But watching a normal human trying to grapple with having superpowers? That’s why this show works so well,” she underlines.
“We’re rooting it in reality; rooting it in love, struggle, in ‘good versus evil’ and insecurity. I definitely work from the ground up in regard to Marie. I focus on her relationships and her pain, and then I add the superhero element on top of it. She feels a lot of shame. Emma [Meyer, played by Lizze Broadway] also feels a lot of shame, and so does Jordan. They have parts of themselves they hide away and then learn how to love each other.”
The show has also been lauded for its depiction of periods. Moreau is hemokinetic, able to control blood with her mind. Her powers manifest during her first menstruation.
“I love that scene. It’s obviously violent and terrifying, and awful [Moreau accidentally caused the deaths of her loved ones], but they didn’t shy away from her period. Are we supposed to be embarrassed of your blood, or of tampons? Every woman bleeds.”
“It’s amazing that we get to look at this ‘taboo’ subject and make it a little less taboo. When do you ever see anything period-related on TV? Almost never. It definitely had feminist tone.”
Accepting the Golden Nymph for Most Promising Talent at the fest, Sinclair said: “I know how badly I wanted to see people who looked like me on the screen when I was a kid. To get to play powerful roles like Marie Moreau, in the skin that I’m in, and to know that women across the world are seeing that power and resonating with it, means so much to me.”
She added: “There’s nothing in the world I love more than storytelling. Stories are timeless and through them we are able to tap into feelings and experiences we might otherwise have trouble understanding.”
She already dipped her toes into indie filmmaking in Amanda Kramer’s “Please Baby Please.”
“I want to do more of that. I love working with female directors and Amanda’s a wild lady. She’s a freaking rock star. It was weird and beautiful, and it allowed me to branch out professionally. I would love to get to do more character work and play some adults, you know?”
Directing and producing might also loom on the horizon.
“If ‘Gen V’ continues for five seasons, I want to direct [some episodes]. I think I’d be a good actors’ director. People tend to pigeonhole. They say: ‘I like you as that and only that. Do it forever.’ But we’re multidimensional and multifaceted, and capable of so many things. When I see an artist branch out, it makes me excited.”
Speaking of branching out – Sinclair is currently finishing a new album called “Selkie”.
“It’s a really good representation of my musical taste. It’s an honest exploration of heartbreak and rebellion, love and grief. And humor. Always a little bit of humor.”
The album, created with producer Jaron Crespi, is an “eclectic and multi-genre project that’s as sexy as it’s sad, hopeful and flawed. I’m a creature of contrast and this project expresses that well.” She’ll be releasing the songs this year.
But Sinclair will also allow herself more downtime than when she first drove across the country at 18 to pursue her dreams.
“Nothing could have stopped me,” she laughs.
“I think about this a lot now that I’m an adult and get scared of things. When I drove out there, I wasn’t scared. I was just thinking: ‘It’s going to work. I don’t know how or when, but there’s room for me.’ It’s funny because I’m so different now.”
“I have much more interest in living a full life, having deep relationships. I don’t think my identity is tied to whether others perceive me as massively successful. I hope for exciting things, but I also want to be happy,” she notes.
“Life is meant to be lived.”