 Cassidy Freeman Talks About Season 10!
Article by Craig Byrne
Please do not repost this interview on other websites; instead just link directly to it. Thanks! Smallville Season 10 begins Friday, September 24 at 8PM on The CW!
The tenth season of Smallville is almost here, and as part of a Vancouver press tour, a group of journalists including KryptonSite's Craig Byrne were able to talk with the fantastic Ms. Freeman about her role as Tess Mercer on the show.
Even though it appeared that Tess was burnt to a crisp and died at the end of Season 9, Tess is somehow alive and well... for reasons we'll start to see on Friday night's episode.
Additional interview material with Cassidy will be posted AFTER the season premiere as it contains major spoilers. There are still some spoilers within, but nothing quite so major. For now, enjoy the interview! Questions are in bold; answers are not.
When you read the script for "Salvation," did you think that that was the end for you?
Actually, I read it, and I was like "Wow. Way to not let a girl know." And then literally, 20 minutes after I read it, Kelly [Souders] called and she asked "Have you read the final script?" And I was like "yeah, I just read it," and she was like "You're here. You're back. We would have called you. We would have told you." So, I thought for about 20 minutes that I was out of a job.
Was there any point where you were worried that you'd be with half a face for all of Season 10?
I was actually kind of excited that I would be in half a face all season, but then I remembered that I was on The CW, and that was never going to happen. I was excited only because it's fun to be kind of different and to not have to worry about looking really pretty all of the time. But yeah. The makeup hours would have been awful. I think me and Tina, who does my makeup, would have really started to hate each other after Week Two.
Is Tess going to continue to try to prove to Clark that she is on the side of good?
Absolutely. I think that help is going to come from Oliver, as well. I think they're going to realize that not only has she only done good recently for them, like in the finale, helping out and actually having the idea to help out before it even came to fruition. I think that they realize that they need her nonetheless. She's still the head of Luthorcorp. She still has a lot of power. She's kind of a key that they need.
How does it feel to be a part of something so iconic and so big going into this last season?
It feels really amazing. I remember being at Comic-Con and talking about it. I felt really emotional, because I feel super lucky to have been a part of this at the end. I can't imagine what people like Tom or even Erica and Justin are going through. But, to be a part of it, it feels really special.
Will we see more of Tess kicking butt this season?
You know, the beginning of this season has been really talky-talky for Tess. Very different for me. And I think I actually smile in one of the episodes in the first three. I know, I know! TESS SMILES. And genuinely. Not like in a "screw you" smile. But I do think, actually, in this coming episode ["Abandoned"] I have some physical stuff. I always know when Jacob, our fight coordinator, comes up to me and says "We have to talk." I know that's a good sign that I'm going to be getting physical.
Is there anything romantic planned for Tess and Oliver now that Chloe's gone?
Chloe is gone. GET OUTTA HERE, Chloe. He was MY man first! No. Romantically, no. I don't want to mislead you. It's not gonna happen, I don't think. At least not in the first half.
Is it possible for Tess to find a new romantic interest?
You know, someone's got to show up. All my romances tend to leave or be really evil Kryptonians. So I don't know. I think her relationship with [spoiler redacted until 9/25] is pretty important to her, and maybe she's going to start trying to create relationships outside of sexual ones, that mean something, which I think is a good step for Tess.
The fans are all crossing their fingers that Michael Rosenbaum might appear by the end of the season.
So am I, so I can smack him. I really am hoping. I wonder what it would be like for Michael and I to be on screen together. It would be super-magical for me as an actor, and also I think in the show. Having to come on the show and say "Lex appointed me and screw the rest of you."
I've never even met Michael, so Michael, are you listening? GET OVER HERE. It's about damn time! It would be incredible. I'd love it.
At Comic-Con you hinted that there might be a major revelation for Tess this season. Have the writers told you yet what that will be, and are you pleased?
[Pauses] I've known for some time what I am.
What can you tell us?
Nothing. I can say nothing about it! She's still going to be a mystery, and I think the part of that I love about Tess, is that she is complicated, and that she's human, and that you never really know. She's so wishy washy, and not in a flamboyant way. She just goes with what her instincts are, and sometimes her instincts are with what she wants, no matter what it means she's going to do, and sometimes her instincts are with wanting to help the team as much as she can. I think that she struggles with wanting to be wanted, and wanting to be liked, and wanting to have a family and have a friend, and sometimes that just goes by the wayside, and so do her morals.
Do I want her to be good? A little part of me does, but I think the bigger part of me doesn't, and I think the actor in me doesn't, because it's fun [to play bad].
Could you envision an ending to the show where she's this Mercy/Miss Teschmacher type character you were first introduced as, at Lex Luthor's side, choosing evil at the end?
Yeah. What I don't like about Miss Teschmacher is that she's kind of a ditz, so unless I fell out of a plane or something and hit my head real hard... real hard, since I said plane... I just realized what I said. She'd be dead. What I want, I think what's more important is that if Clark is going to be Super-good, then something needs to be counter that, and it may not be me. If it was, that would be cool, but something needs to counter that. You can't have me, and Lois, and Oliver, and Clark all like "yippydoodah!" What would happen then?
Is Tess going to be around the Daily Planet at all this year?
Absolutely.
Will she be the one who introduces Cat Grant in the beginning?
No, she does not, but Keri [Keri Lynn Pratt] is great. She's a really, really funny person, and a good actress, but no. But Tess is involved with the Daily Planet.
What is it like for you to be on a show with such a large fandom?
I don't see it a lot in my everyday life. I don't get recognized very often, I think because I look quite different on the show than I do in real life, but when I do, it's with so much love and appreciation, and I love that. Someone will just come up and be like "I know." It's like a secret, almost. They're like, "thank you."
I was in the airport going to a wedding two weeks ago. I hadn't slept in like two days, and I was waiting for my brother, Clark, to come off a plane from L.A.. We met in Chicago to go to Rochester, and right before he comes off of the plane with his girlfriend, this guy walks right up to me, and I thought he knew me, because I thought there were a lot of people from this wedding meeting at the airport. And I was doing the "Do we know each other face?" and he was like "Do you play Tess Mercer on Smallville?" I was like "YES I DO!" And he extended his hand and was like "Thank you so much." I was like "You're welcome so much!" It always brightens my day. I love it. I love that people love stuff. I think that there's nothing wrong in that.
If Smallville's producers came to you and said "We want to do a spin-off and we want your character as part of it," would you do it?
That's a really good question. The likelihood of that happening, I think, is quite small, so I think my answer is swayed by that. I think it would depend on what the spin-off was. I love playing Tess. I'm also excited as an actress to do something different. This is kind of the beginning of at least my little screen career, so I'm jonesing to do something - maybe do some movies or to play a different character, but I would definitely think about it for quite some time, because I've had a lot of fun with this crew.
Will we be seeing more of Luthorcorp?
I always kind of blend Luthorcorp and Daily Planet, don't I? I have two offices, though. There's nothing very Luthorcorp yet. It's always in the background, but not a lot.
What would you say is the overall arc or theme for this season?
The overall theme of this season... it's funny, because the first season that I was in, was introducing these new characters. I was recently rewatching [Season 9] with a friend and I realized how dark last season was. I'm watching and she's like "Zombies?" Everything's just really, really dark, and I feel like this season is more of a set-up for what's to come after in our imaginations, and the movies that we've seen, and the shows that have already been done, and so it's like a really beautiful launching pad of a season. That's how I see it, at least.
What do you feel is Tess's journey this season?
First of all, she needs to find some purpose. She needs to figure out where her true allegiances lie, and she needs to settle into herself a little bit. She's been washed around a lot. I think of her like on a ship, being thrown back and forth, and she doesn't know who to trust. She's always being betrayed, and she keeps tripping over herself and making mistakes. I think she needs to find her inner voice and find out what she wants, and then she needs to become that or do that. That's what I think her journey is this season.
Don't miss the season premiere of Smallville on FRIDAY NIGHT!
Return to the KryptonSite home page - Read Season 10 spoilers! |
