Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
If youve just finished watching the first season of Amazons remarkable new seriesUndone, you probably have some questions.
I will offer no answers, she warns me, laughing, at the top of our conversation.
Her first encounter withUndonewas, appropriately enough, a little magical.
And reading it cold oh man, I was holding back tears.
Even the first time I read it.
It just felt like the universe or the powers that be just handed it to me.
I couldnt believe it.
I left her office shaking my head, like I lived through a dream.
[Spoilers forUndonebelow.]
For this show, it feels right to start by going back to the beginning.
What do you remember about your first meeting with [Undoneco-creators] Kate Purdy and Raphael Bob-Waksberg?
We had a two-and-a-half-hour conversation: our experiences with mental health, our own questions.
They walked me through the characters journey, the journey of the show.
He loves to investigate the dark side of life and how it coincides with the humorous side of life.
And thats exactly where I stem from.
I know for a fact that comedy and tragedy are one.
And they showed me a test they did, and I was so floored by the test itself.
And I thought,Rotoscope, wow, thisisthe only way to do this show.
What was the filming process like just the cast in a big empty room?
Ive never put that much of myself physically, mentally, spiritually into another project, ever.
But it was so stripped down because of the rotoscope process.
It was like performing in a black-box theater.
You have a bar scene?
Heres a high table and two stools and two cups.
There you go, theres your bar.
Okay, done with the bar scene!
Time for the bedroom scene.
Wheel in the bed!
Its so stripped down that it moves so incredibly fast, and we shot so many pages a day.
But what I loved about that is that it keeps you in the moment.
And because theres so much less to interact with, the moment iseverything.
See you in an hour and a half, and well do the other half of this scene.
This was nothing like that.
It was Well do the scene three or four times.
Two or three times.
And then well move on.
Or are the animators figuring that out once theyve seen the footage?
He would come over and say, Dont step there, because thats a piano.
Dont walk over there, because thats going through a wall.
Lets talk about the specific boundaries of Almas ability, which seems to be almost limitless at times.
Well …doesshe have an ability?
What do you think?
I never answered that question for myself.
And if I had, it wouldnt have worked.
For every scene, I had to walk through the script and go,Okay.
But you always want to be in the fluctuating space of that question.
The desire for answers.
And the silence that follows.
Thats certainly the feeling that hangs in the air after the season finale.
My answer to that is going to be very disappointing, which is: There is no answer.
But I would also posethistoyou: Is there anything more disappointing than actually having an answer?
Thats the last scene of the last episode, which is sort of a Rorschach test foryourbeliefs.
And perhaps that is mental illness gaining its strength.
Its a multipronged answer, and there are probably a few more prongs than that.
And how would you and I people who are not, potentially, schizophrenic how would we see this?
But I go back to saying its better not to have the answer.
I was really happy when people were disappointed with the last episode.
I was so happy!
Because to me, thats what the beauty of life is predicated on searchingfor answers.
If wed answered it either way, I think on the surface, people would have been satisfied.
But I think subconsciously if wed answered it either way, there would have been a death.
The death of the other side.
What about you, Scott?
In principle, Im with you.
To me, it felt like confirmation that Almas ability was real.
Its interesting, right?
Because that episode is from outside Almas perspective.
And Sam says, Wow, did you get all that from her screen saver?
She even knows the name of Nancys missing sister!
I wrestled with that scene.
I really, really did.
Because as I was performing it, Im going, This tips our hand.Wedidnt even know the truth.
On set, Kate would say, We dont know.
And I was the viewer, going, But, but, but!
And she would say, We dont know.
So I wrestled with that.
Or … she did some research.
Which is the most boring answer of all time!
But everyone gets tripped up on Nancy.
How could she know this womans sister had died?
It could have been a wild guess.
She could have done research.
And then theres this question I thinkyouwrote about: the gap in Jacobs memory of the accident.
Yes, I did.
Thats another one people are getting tripped up on.
I think theres a more concrete, two-pronged answer to that one for me.
Thats where the memory ends.
If its a schizophrenic break, shes creating an explanation to mend the trauma of losing her father.
That, potentially, is the answer.
Okay, I can buy that.
It talks about how trauma is embedded in our molecular structure.
Buried in places in our minds.
Wedocarry a world inside of us.
And not just our stories.
Our fathers fathers fathers stuff.
As a half-Peruvian woman, I wonder what Im carrying with me.
Thats when he finds out and says, You have to go back.
Ill probably get fired for saying this.
[Laughs]I recommend going back to the first two episodes.
When I look at them, Im like,This is very blatant.
This is very obvious to me.Based on my own assumptions.
Again, I dont even have answers; Im just an actor.
But to me, the first two episodes are very telling for whatIbelieve to be the truth.
There are many, many Easter eggs.
It just links perfectly, full circle, to the eighth episode.
And you see a lot of little …hintsin all directions.
And she is literally saying the same things that Alma says to Cassie in the first episode.
To me, that was very much, like, everything is connected.
Perhaps this is not the first time shes even gone through this cycle.
You also see [Alma say], Im not here.
Im two weeks from now.
Im at home with Sam.
And then there we are in episode five, and shes in the house with Sam.
There are many, many Easter eggs, and most of them are in episodes one and two.
You probably just sent everyUndonesuperfan scrambling back to their couch for a rewatch.
Ive seen every episode umpteen times.
Like any good superfan.
Look, this is the thing Im most proud of in my entire career.
For personal reasons, because I was working through …
I mean, my own relationship with both of my parents, through this show.
It seems likeUndonecame from a very personal and intimate place for everyone involved.
[Laughs]This is what I mean when I say this was serendipitous.
And inUndone, I just saw the opportunity to explore that.
Sort of like … reenactment therapy?
Reenact my life, and my relationship, through Alma and Camila.
And it brought a sense of accountability and empathy that I never really had before.
It really felt like growing up, when I was doing this show.
And it was really beautiful.
Episode six is particularly poignant in the way it shifts the spotlight to Camila, Almas mother.
Its very, very touching.
Because look, I did the same thing.
My father has passed.
And we all sort of glorify one parent.
Especially when theyre gone, its like, he wasthe king.
I mean, I love my father, and whos going to change that?
When I worked through it as Alma, I was doing the same thing.
It definitely changed my life.
As actors, were always trying to achieve that feeling, and I felt it every day onUndone.
It was very therapeutic for all of us.
We all talked about a lot of our experiences.
Oh God, Im gonna cry now.
That episode with Sam.Hoo.Its really special.
I literally get chills every time.
Thats Almas whole origin story having a community at the deaf school and being ripped from that.
Being Mexican-American and Jewish.
Being this person who rejects the notion of conformity in all respects.
And Sam is other.
And once she learns that, she says, Oh, I get it now.
And if we could just go, Oh!Thatswhy you did this unspeakable, weird thing.
You were afraid of losing me.
You werent being vindictive.
You were afraid, and thats heartbreaking.
I certainly hope so.
It could go on and on.
I want to know so much more.
Im just like you.
But at the same time, its beautiful the way that it is.
If they say, This is a natural conclusion, I would be like, I cant argue.
And thats also very beautiful.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
