Season Two, it’s time for a quinceañera! Sarah Cushing has her big day on the February 22 return episode of Superman & Lois (airing tonight on The CW) and KSiteTV spoke with actress Inde Navarrette about the big event in her character’s life. The episode is called “Girl… You’ll Be A Woman, Soon” and beyond the quinceañera, we’re going to learn more about Ally Allston’s backstory, and there may just be a cool fight sequence between Superman and… we’re saying too much! Here’s that interview:
KRYPTONSITE’S CRAIG BYRNE: Is it true that the writers of Superman & Lois reached out to you to be sure the quinceañera was authentic?
INDE NAVARRETTE: Yes. We were all on an email chain. They asked for my input. I went through YouTube videos, and I tried to find vlogs of young girls who are having a quinceañera to make sure what the vibe would be correct, because in every culture, in every town, it’s just a little bit different. I wanted to make sure it was very authentic.
What did you think of her dress?
Oh my gosh. We were in Costumes, and there were three dresses. There was a pink one, there was that one, and then there was another one. When we first we saw it, we just immediately knew that we can’t go with any other one. It had to be this one.
It was so heavy… it was definitely not the most physically comfortable for the two and a half weeks that we were filming. However, watching that episode, it just couldn’t have been any other one.
Was it cold to wear up there in Vancouver?
Yes. I had two pairs of stockings on, three kidney warmers… we had a shawl that I am wearing that’s black, and underneath it, the costume team sewed themselves a felt jacket to stick inside of my shawl, and inside of the jacket were hand warmers, and I’d be sitting in front of heaters… and there was one point where my dress almost caught on fire!
How is Sarah’s relationship with Jordan going at this point?
I think that Sarah and Jordan have this deep understanding of each other that they’ve had since the very beginning. Throughout life, people change and situations happen, and I think for right now, they’re just trying to be there for each other.
Might we ever see the girl that Sarah kissed?
I’m not quite sure! I haven’t seen that episode yet.
Can you talk about Sarah’s sexuality and how you wanted to be sure to tell that story honestly?
When I had a conversation with Todd [Helbing] in the last year about sexuality and what Sarah could possibly be going through later on down the line, [I told him] I really wanted to make a point that I want her to be comfortable, and I want for her to kind of figure it out within herself.
If you’ve notice in the episodes, there’s not a label. There’s not anything being thrown onto her. There’s an episode with her and her mom in the garage where she tells her that it’s a girl, and instead of it being “oh, you’re bisexual? What are you?” and having Sarah make that decision right then and there, everyone around her is allowing her the space to figure it out herself, and to not feel the need to be so correct at once, and kind of be a kid and figure it out whenever she’ll figure it out.
Is it safe to say that we’ll see a lot of emotions from Sarah in Episode 205?
It’s safe to say that we can and we will see a lot of emotions from Sarah, because becoming a woman and having a quinceanara is a big step in a girl’s life. A lot of emotions will be shown.
What would you like to see for Sarah in the future?
I’d like to see Sarah evolve. She’s very serious. She’s felt the need to kind of take care of herself by herself, and also kind of pick up for her family, and just kind of feel this big responsibility. I’d like to see her just let loose, and be not so serious, and just be a kid for as long as she possibly can.
In what ways might you be like Sarah?
I have the same face!
No, I feel very similar to Sarah, because I think anybody can kind of relate to the fact that as young women, sometimes we grow up really quickly because of different scenarios within our family, or within society, or within life. We’re just all kind of trying to figure it all out, and we may not make the best decisions, but then we take those lessons and kind of figure out where we want to go from there, and have a good head on our shoulders as much as we possibly can.
Is there anyone in the cast who you’d like to work with more?
Wolé [Parks]! We have never had scenes together, but I love him dearly as human. I would want to work with Wolé, Sofia [Hasmik], and I would absolutely love to work with Tayler Buck who plays Natalie.
What has been the best part of being a part of a show like Superman & Lois?
I think it’s the cast. It was very important for Todd to create an atmosphere on set where everybody feels comfortable to be creatively free. I think his hard work and dedication to making that happen is really paying off. It’s definitely the cast and crew that are on set.
In the coming next couple of episodes, there are some directors who are known for doing genre television like Elizabeth Henstridge and Amy Jo Johnson. Was there a different perspective from having people like that directing the show?
I would say yes, because their episodes are so particular and so specific, and they’re just done so incredibly well. It’s really a beauty to work with somebody who kind of has that specialty, because then they can cut through the fog and they’re able to give it to you straight.
Is there anything you would like to say to the fans who will be reading this?
I would tell the fans that are reading this to think about whenever they were younger, and if they had their childhood on television, what they would think, and to kind of look at Sarah through that perspective.
Superman & Lois “Girl… You’ll Be A Woman, Soon” airs tonight (February 22) at 8PM ET/PT on The CW. Take a look at some photos from the episode here!