Executive produced by Rafael Casal and Daveed Diggs, who also starred in the film in addition to writing and producing it, the half-hour Starz original dramedy Blindspotting follows Ashley (Jasmine Cephas Jones) after Miles (Casal, who’s also the series showrunner), her partner of 12 years and father of their son, is arrested and sent to prison. Finding herself in the less than ideal position of having to move in with Miles’ mother (Helen Hunt) and half-sister (Jaylen Barron), Ashley just wants to be left alone to raise her child how she sees fit, but that’s nearly impossible to do when everyone has their own opinion about how she’s doing that.
During a virtual junket for the poetic Oakland-set TV series, Collider got the opportunity to chat 1-on-1 with Cephas Jones about her reaction to finding out that her character from the film would be brought to the center of the story for a TV series, getting to help build her character’s backstory from scratch, the strong bond between Ashley and Miles, getting to perform some of the dialogue in verse, and how they’re always talking about new ideas for possible future seasons. She also talked about the first time she took the stage to do Hamilton, as part of the original cast, and what that show has meant to her.
Collider: I love this show and think it’s just so artistic. When and how did you find out that this character that you played in this movie was going to now be the focal point of a TV show and what was your reaction to that?
JASMINE CEPHAS JONES: I got a call from Rafael [Casal] and Daveed [Diggs] about three years ago, and they said, “We wanna continue this Blindspotting world, but we’ve already told it from Miles and Collin’s perspective. We’d love to continue it six months later, and do it through Ashley’s perspective.” I just got really, really excited and was honored that they trusted me with this role. I got to really be creatively involved in a way that I’ve never been involved in a project before, and really start from scratch and start from the beginning, and really create an arc for Ashley and really dig into who she is as a woman and how she handles these situations.
Does it feel less scary to do something when you have at least some idea who the character is because she already existed or does that actually make it make you a little more nervous about taking her and making her evolve into something else?
CEPHAS JONES: Even though I played her before, you didn’t get a whole deep sense of who Ashley is, as a person. A lot of it was just really centered around Miles and what he was going through, so it was almost like I was starting from the beginning and starting new with who she is. The show navigates her without Miles and how she handles situations without him. It was fun starting from scratch with who she is and creating this backstory with her. We’ve been through so many edits and revisions and drafts of Ashley and all of these different scenarios that she goes through with these different characters. It almost felt like I was doing something very brand new with the same character.
How would you describe the relationship between Ashley and Miles? How do you think she sees him compared to how he sees himself?
CEPHAS JONES: You have to realize that they’ve been together for 12 years. They grew up in the same neighborhood. Ashley’s backstory that you find out is that she had a very hard upbringing and she had an abusive parent and her mother passed away. Miles has been there through all of that, so there’s a huge loyalty and love that they have for one another, and they have a son. It was really important for Rafael and I to make sure that people understand there’s a deep love and a deep history there. It’s going to take everything to tear them apart. We really wanted to make sure that the situation with him being in prison doesn’t tear them apart. In the end, their love is strong enough to survive something like this.
Ashley moves in with Miles’ mother, which is probably not ideal in any situation. What do you find most interesting and challenging and complicated about that relationship between Ashley and Rainey?
CEPHAS JONES: It’s pretty insane, what’s going on. Helen Hunt plays Rainey, and Helen Hunt is a legend. She’s absolutely amazing. It was like a masterclass, working with her. There’s a bit of tension in their relationship because Ashley takes a lot of pride in who she is as a mother, and has worked really hard to get Miles and Sean out of that neighborhood specifically and away from their past, and now she has to move back into this place that she’s worked so hard to get out of. She’s in somebody else’s home, that is his mother. So, you have the two mother dynamics and a generational gap over how raising a child should be. Rainey has this older, hippie and different way of how she raised Trish and Miles, and Ashley has her own way of raising Sean. You have that tension under Rainey’s roof. Ashley’s really aware of wanting to keep grounded and wanting to keep her ideals and her ways together, but also knowing that this is not her house, it’s Rainey’s house. It’s that constant struggle of what to do and what the best decision is and how to hold her ground as a mother in how she wants to raise her son in a house that is not hers, and still respect Rainey as the elder.
What do you feel like Ashley wants for herself and her son? Does she have bigger goals and dreams?
CEPHAS JONES: Yeah. I think she wants a nice house and to give Sean the best schools that she can. In the season, you’ll understand that Miles and Ashley had a rough life. They got into fights. They weren’t surrounded by the best people. Ashley really had to grow up very quickly and fast when she had Sean. That changed her perspective on how she wanted to raise Sean and give him the best life. In the beginning, everything that you’re seeing with all of these characters is what she doesn’t want. She’s tried so hard to get away from this life that we’re experiencing, and now she’s going back to that.
I love the dialogue and I love when you get to do the verses in this. It’s so musical and artistic. What is that like for you? Does it come naturally, or is it challenging to do?
CEPHAS JONES: The verses were very, very challenging. I didn’t wanna make it feel like a performance piece. I wanted it to flow. I don’t wanna come off as me trying to be a rapper, and I’m not a rapper. The more that we dove into it, we realized that we wanted to treat it more like Shakespeare monologues, so I had to really analyze these heightened verses in the way that I would analyze a script or a Shakespeare monologue, and break it apart and make sure that there were thoughts in between each idea and line, and make sure that there were beats, so that I didn’t sound one-note. There was a lot of hard work going into those heightened verses, for sure, but it was super fun. It’s one of my favorite things that Ashley does in the show.
One of the things that really stood out to me in the first four episodes is that you get to smash up a hotel room. What was that like to shoot? Is it fun to get to do something like that, or is it more technical than we would expect?
CEPHAS JONES: It’s both. It’s very technical, in a way, having to hit the right spots, and make sure that it’s this part of the racket and not the other, and you’re doing this verse and you have to remember the lines. You also have to emotionally be super available and open and make sure you get it right. It was a crazy day. We were running out of light. With those scenes, most of the time is decorating the set after it’s been demolished. There were a lot of technical things that came through it. I only did two takes in each room, so I had to get it right. Gladly, I got it right. It was a whirlwind of a day, but it was very therapeutic, by the end of the day. That scene really represents being misunderstood as a woman and being mistreated in the workplace. That was the cherry on top of everything that Ashley was going through. It was one way that she released herself. A lot of women have felt that way in their lifetime and they don’t get to do that, so I was like, “This one’s for them. This one’s for us.”
Have you had conversations about what this show could look like, going forward? Have you talked about long-term plans for other seasons?
CEPHAS JONES: Oh, yeah. Me, Diggs and Rafa are in a group text and we always text each other. Rafa and I literally created a whole episode the other day, of what could happen. We constantly share ideas and think of what we wanna do in Season 2. We have a good idea.
Do you know what’s next for you? How are you looking at projects these days? How are you trying to figure out what the next step is?
CEPHAS JONES: I’m really just living in the moment and want to celebrate that we made an amazing, creative show in the middle of a pandemic. I have a lot of my own projects that I’ve written and created, and I’d love to write my album in July. There’s a lot going on in this brain of mine.
Hamilton was a sensation on stage, it went on to have a successful tour, and the movie on Disney+ was a big hit. What do you remember about your first night on stage with that show? Is it something you were able to actually fully experience, or was it an out-of-body experience?
CEPHAS JONES: It was definitely and out-of-body experience, for sure. Hamilton was a whirlwind of a ride for two years of my life and one of the most amazing experiences I’ve ever had. Out of that came a great family of people that are so talented and that I love so much. That show is super special. We worked really, really hard in that show. The whole experience felt like a concert every night. It was amazing. I’ve been really blessed to work on really amazing projects in my lifetime, that mean something and hopefully inspire people. I love that show. It’s a huge part of my career.
Blindspotting airs on Sunday nights on Starz.