[Editor's note: The following contains spoilers for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Episode 2, "The Star-Spangled Man."]
When Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) — and the audience — first sees Karli Morgenthau (Erin Kellyman) in Episode 2 of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, it's easy to assume that the young woman is a hostage of the anarchists trying to pull off a heist. But that's an assumption which gets Bucky knocked on his literal ass by the super-powered leader of the Flag-Smashers, whose underground group wants the world to return to what life was like during the Blip.
Following the premiere of Episode 2, Collider spoke with Kellyman about how the experience of making the show compared to making a film, what she was told about her character going in, and why she didn't have a hard time understanding where her character was coming from.
Collider: To start off, how much did making this feel like a movie to you?
ERIN KELLYMAN: It felt completely like a movie. It didn't feel like a series, at all. I've done a lot of series in the UK, and it didn't run like that, whatsoever. It ran exactly like a movie. It just felt like we were filming just this really, really long movie which was great.
Was that all exhausting or did you kind of get into the rhythm of it?
KELLYMAN: I kind of got into the rhythm of it. It was difficult. I feel like the most difficult days was when you ran from day to night. That was tricky, because then you'd have like a week of night shoots and your body would go nocturnal and then you'd have like a day to recover and then be back on it. That part was tricky, but the rest, it just felt like a good time. Didn't even feel like work. It was a lot of fun.
Awesome. How much were you told about your character going in? Because Marvel is known for being pretty secretive.
KELLYMAN: They are pretty secretive. I was actually quite lucky in that Kari [Skogland] and [executive producer Zoie Nagelhout] had told me quite a bit about my character. Actually, even before we got the job, I remember FaceTiming them and Kari was saying quite a bit. Ad I was thinking to myself, "Well, should I know this much?" And then she said, "Oh, I should stop now. Hopefully, everything works out and I can tell you more." I was like, "Ooh, okay." But yeah, I was quite lucky. They spent time with me and told me about my character and her backstory and stuff.
Karli has a very strong political viewpoint, which feels appropriate because this is a show that digs into those sorts of issues. What do you think of her personal political beliefs, and how much do you agree with them?
KELLYMAN: I think her political beliefs are pretty good. The thing that she's referring to when she's saying that the world was better during the Blip is the fact that when 50 percent of the world's population disappeared, the 50 percent that remained had to stick together. And there was a unity there that lacked before. And that's what she was referring to, and that's what I agree with — who wouldn't want more unity and more peace? And you'll see more of that, more of her speaking about that throughout the series.
It's nice to have a villain where you can really empathize with them.
KELLYMAN: Yeah, exactly. I feel like there's a lot of layers to her and I think it's important to be able to, for me, personally as an actor, to relate to somebody. If I am playing a villain, then I need to at least understand them, so I'm not just lying.
Taking on a role like this, there's always going to be like something unexpected that you have to learn how to do. For this one, was there anything that you were like, "I never expected I'd have to do..."
KELLYMAN: I feel like the stunts is a big one. I did so much training, but I was still like, I don't feel like I completely understood how much your body would go through in order for you to do stunts on TV. I didn't really think about that too much before, but yeah, they train you hard and often.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is streaming now on Disney+.