The actor explains how her character is processing last season’s trauma and moving forward.
Cinemax: Megan has been going through a lot this season. Can you talk a little bit about how she begins to process the events of the Season 1 finale?
Wrenn Schmidt: Her brain has compartmentalized what is safe, and what is not safe territory to actually explore what happened to her. All of those pieces are slowly put together at the beginning of Season 2 as she remembers what she did.
Cinemax: How has Kyle’s knowledge of Megan’s situation impacted their relationship?
Wrenn Schmidt: Their relationship is really strong. Kyle has a unique understanding of how these “things” interact with the world, and the type of destruction that they’re capable of. He knows it’s not the fault of the person who is being inhabited.
He’s a huge comfort for Megan in some ways, one that she doesn’t fully take advantage of, because she’s still skeptical of what happened to her. Anytime you’re faced with an uncertain reality, it’s safe territory to retreat back to firm ground, which is what Megan tries to do in Season 2.
Cinemax: Megan witnesses an exorcism in Episode 5, “The Common Good.” How does that affect her?
Wrenn Schmidt: I would call it an “affirmation” or “confirmation” that this thing that seemingly happened to her is real. And she witnesses it in a setting that is impossible for her to deny any longer. But as far as understanding it, Megan is still very early in her “demonic” education. For her, midway through Season 2, it’s still only happened to a handful of people. She doesn’t understand the scale of the problem, that this is happening throughout Rome, West Virginia, and possibly further. I don’t think she understands what it means until she witnesses an entity being touched by Amber.
Cinemax: In Season 1, Megan and Reverend Anderson had differing opinions on what was best for Kyle. Does their relationship change in Season 2?
Wrenn Schmidt: I think they’ve both made judgement calls without necessarily basing it on experience. Megan has always looked at the reverend as a “snake oil” salesmen with a self-absorbed quality. He’s insecure, needs a lot of affirmation, and she thinks he’s full of sh*t. And that comes from a place of wanting to protect Kyle.
From her point of view, he really screwed with Kyle’s head. But what’s interesting about Season 2 is that they become an unlikely pair. They’re allies all of the sudden; they’re starting to build a relationship. There’s a really beautiful scene in Episode 7 where Megan apologizes without apologizing and the rev admits to her that he now understands he has been full of sh*t. It’s a moment where they fully see each other in a different perspective.