“But their latest project takes them somewhere entirely different from those worlds.
Jessica Szohr:Yes a lot.
And all of our characters [were different].
Anne Winters:Also, in the season, we were filming before you had the baby.
That was so crazy.
Then we got back, and everyone’s lives were changed.
So for me personally, and for Talla, there were so many changes and in all great ways.
What can you tell us about her?
I got the tip of the iceberg of that.
Hopefully, I was able to portray what I studied.
But this was a really fun character.
It’s very different from anything I’ve ever done.
And I love sitting next to Gordon [Scott Grimes' character] the whole time.
That was a blast; he’s the best.
Jessica:I need to add to her coming on.
It was really rad.
Even watching the couple episodes …
Anne:Thank you so much.
I haven’t heard this.
How Anne adjusted to acting on a sci-fi series
Jessica:She’s so good in it.
I know you’ve watched it and can agree, I’m sure.
I wanted to add that.
Jessica:It was a lot.
You had a lot to do.
Your storyline is crazy.
The dialogue is insane.
I’ll never forget, because we did rehearsals without his helmet.
When we were about to roll, I was like, “You know what?
I forgot my line.
I’ve never acted with a robot, but the eyeline is different.
He’s not really looking at you.
His eyes are up here and down here.
It was super strange.
I was like, “I got to get used to this.
I have a lot of interaction with Isaac.
We have a very big storyline in this so excited for you guys to see it.
Thank you, Jess.
What did you feel was the biggest adjustment for you being in this sci-fi setting?
Anne:Honestly, the hardest part was some of the dialogue.
I don’t know why, but it’s like a doctor show.
Everything that you say is so specific and sometimes not conversational, which I’m more used to.
Jessica:And pronunciations.
Not second first nature; second to us as actors.
So you want to get that flawlessly.
You’re totally right couldn’t agree more.
Anne:Seth [MacFarlane] is very particular, too, about the words and everything, which … We know what we’re talking about.
Jessica:I do.
It’ll be really fun for the fans to take this ride with Talla, for sure.
But yes, there are lots of changes for her.
Obviously, Charly is new, but do you feel like she changes throughout this season?
Anne:A hundred percent.
Actually, that was my favorite part.
She completely does a 180 in my mind as an arc for her character.
I’m excited for you guys to see it.
What is that like for you, with the storytelling as an actor?
But before then, we probably got every other episode, one or two episodes at a time.
Jessica:You’re very accurate to say mini-movies.
They really come across that way.
The visual effects, everything everyone brought every piece of the puzzle to the show.
They brought their A-game and beyond to make them look like mini-movies.
We had a lot of room to explore all different things on all different levels with Hulu.
We’d get the script, and we would do our table reads.
I don’t think we knew the ending.
We could literally sit with the writers or call them …
Anne:What about the table read?
I forgot we had the table reads.
Table reads felt like another life.
Jessica:But I didn’t know where Talla was going to end up from the beginning.
Jessica:I think so.
That’s what’s fun about TV, even though TV is changing.
I find that interesting and fun and challenging and scary.
But that’s all part of the journey of being an actor, too.
I enjoy it even though it is scary sometimes.
Don’t you agree?
Anne:I agree.
Jessica:The pandemic, like [Anne] said before, really changed everything.
Anne:It felt like, “Okay, now I have a movie in front of me.
I know everything.”
But normally, yes.
I understand what you’re saying.
A lot of times on TV, you do Episode 1 and then you do Episode 2.
You might have a scene or two that you change.
But in this, we were shooting some stuff from Episode 8 to Episode 2.
So we were shooting like a movie.
Anne:Since it was like each episode was its own story, it was challenging.
We would have different episodes a day of different scenes.
So it was challenging to remember, “Okay, that was that story.
This is this story, this happened before, or this happened after.”
There are a lot of layers to all of that.
Anne:I loved Season 3, Episode 1, actually.
I really am excited to have this show introduced in a new way.
[Episode] 1 is coming in hot.
It’s completely different.
Jessica:You’re like, “You’ve been waiting, and it was worth the wait.”
But there’s lots of cool stuff that goes on with everybody.
I’m excited for everyone to come on this ride with us.
We’ve worked really hard.
Anne:That’s one of my favorite things about this show, by the way.
Jessica:[It’s] not so narrow of a view.
Anne:It takes away your own perspective.
I think it’s brilliant.
How they balance comedy and drama
Anne:It’s funny too, obviously.
It’s not too serious, but it still touches on very serious subjects in a way.
It’s a very good balance of all of it.
And then it goes back into serious mode.
Jessica:His character somehow brought a little breath of fresh air or a little moment.
He was really good at that.
I did find it challenging.
Anne:They’re a great team.
But Jon and Seth worked so well together.
They couldn’t come up with a better duo.
“The Orville: New Horizons” Season 3 premieres on June 2 on Hulu.
This interview was edited for clarity.
