For the last seven years, audiences have ventured into the further with the Insidious films, created by James Wan and Leigh WhannelI with a clear love for the campy William Castle-esque creep shows of yore. But it's not the frightful visions or stylistic flourishes that have endured through the sequels and prequels, it's the intrepid psychic Elise Rainer who has guided the audience through the Further in all four films. Played with utmost warmth and goodnatured affability by "character actress" extraordinaire Lin Shaye, Elise has become the unlikely through-line of the Insidious franchise and with Insidious: The Last Key, she takes the lead in a film that dives deep on her backstory and what makes the lovable empath tick, traveling to her childhood home and her early encounters with the otherworldly.

With The Last Key arriving in theaters this weekend, I recently hopped on the phone for a chat with Shaye to talk about coming back to Elise and why the fearless medium has become the most valuable role of her wide-ranging career. We also talked about digging deep into the character's backstory four movies in, how Whannell's vision of Elise was different than the backstory she made up for herself, what franchise newcomer Adam Robitel (The Taking of Deborah Logan) brings to the equation as director, and why she's pickier about the roles she takes now.

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Image via Universal Pictures

It's so cool to see you get to take the lead role. How did you learn that this one was really going to be your show?

LIN SHAYE: Leigh told me. Leigh Whannell, who is the key to the kingdom. I mean, this whole thing has been so unexpected and I have so much gratitude, really, for Leigh Whannell and for creating the character to start with, and also for expanding it like he has. After the third one, which also was more about my early problems, basically, and when they agreed to do the fourth, Leigh just said to me, "It's going to be your story. We're going to do your sort of final backstory." I had an idea of what he had in mind in terms of theme or in terms of focus. I didn't know what the story would be at all.

I'm thrilled. I mean, it was hard to do because it's such an emotional piece, but it really was gratifying to discover who he thought Elise was. Because as an actress, I come up with my own backstory usually. Even if the audience never sees what that is, it sort of informs the presence of the character throughout the film anyway. My idea of who she was was quite different, actually. I sort of always saw her as an only child. Again, that was kind of how I ... That helped me create the emotional life that I had for her as an adult. But it's fascinating now to realize I've got a whole family. It sort of came with the territory.

I think the story is fantastic, and I think it touches on a lot of very important things as well as being an exciting thriller and horror film. The Insidious franchise deals a lot with family, which I think touches everybody in a certain kind of way. I think this film in particular has aspects that are going to make people think about their own relationships with mothers and fathers and children, etc. So without giving too much away, I hope everyone loves it. I do.

It's so fantastic to see a full-grown woman playing the lead role in a horror film and really becoming the heart of a franchise. That is so unusual.

SHAYE: Well, it is, and I'm glad. I'm not sure I'm full grown yet. I think I'm still cooking, I hope/ But you're right. I mean, this was a very ... It's actually, it's probably the most exciting time in my career right now. This is the most valuable character that I've ever played, in all kinds of ways. I'm so happy so many people are embracing the stories and Elise's presence and her vulnerability and her ethics, for which I have a sense of responsibility. Even when you play a bad guy, and she's not, but there's some message in there that people take away. I'm serious about my work as an actor and as an artist, and it's important for me to feel like I'm saying something that makes people think about their own lives in maybe a possibly new way.

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Image via Universal Pictures

Elise is a giver, and we're in such a world right now... it's all about me, me, me. I thought, it's not the We Phone or the You Phone. It's the iPhone. That says a lot. I mean, that really kind of encapsulates where we're at right now. It's all about me. Elise is not about me. It's about you. I find that very refreshing, and I think again sort of a little bit of a subliminal thought that maybe people will think of, that it's good to do things for other people, not just yourself.

How does playing a character and then returning to her over a series of years like this affect your process as an actor?

SHAYE: That's a really good question, because I've never really been part of a franchise before, and especially since we started at the end instead of the beginning. You know, the first Insidious, we never knew there would be any prequels of any kind. So in terms of actual process, it's sort of making sure you support the character and what you see of Elise in the first Insidious. I felt a responsibility to support with other elements of her cast to create the woman you see in the first one. It's kind of using ... It's like a puzzle a little bit. You have the picture at the end, and you have to make sure you put all the pieces together so you create that picture.

The first two films were directed by James, and then you had Leigh on the third, who was also there from the beginning. How was it working with a new director on this world and this character?

SHAYE: Adam Robitel, who is our illustrious director on this one, I think he did a fantastic job. I've known Adam for quite a while. We were not real close, close friends, but we were definitely friends. I met him when he was an actor on a film called 2001 Maniacs, where he played a Confederate redneck who had a sheep as a partner [laughs]. So that was how I met Adam. We became friends at that point, and I don't think he had, of course, any idea, none of us did, what was going to be coming in the future.

He's a really, really smart man, really generous of spirit, very upbeat, very eager to fulfill his job both as a director and as a continuator of the franchise. It was kind of a hard job in a way for him, I think, because he was the new kid on the block when we started shooting the film. So much had been laid down before him, and he needed to fulfill the aspects of the franchise while still creating something new and different from his vision. I really think he successfully did that. I think the film definitely has his mark on it, and yet I think he will give the viewers all the excitement that they look for in this franchise.

Yeah, I agree. It is very much an Insidious film, but it does feel like an evolution. It feels like something different. What do you think is the quality that he brings that's the Adam Robitel ingredient?

SHAYE: I think he brought a beautiful new atmosphere to the film in a way. The DP was also someone we hadn't worked with before, and the director and the DP are, of course, very key in the look of the film, in the composition of the scenes, and their discussions are usually the most intense on set because they are creating the picture. Adam was very trusting of his actors, which is greatly appreciated, of course. I think his ingredients are kind of what you see. I mean, there's sort of a different feel. There's a little bit of a murder mystery. It's got some mystery in it as well as the traditional venture into the further, which we've established in the other ones. I think there's an Adam Robitel stamp on this for sure, and I think he did a fantastic job, both in the pictures he created and with the actors.

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Image via Universal Pictures

Looking at your IMDB, it's kind of crazy how many things you have coming up. Is it that you're playing a lot of smaller roles? Obviously, this is a big lead, but how do you find time for all these projects and the way you work professionally at large?

SHAYE: I'm pretty much a yes person, but I must say I've gotten much pickier. I used to say, before you even had it out of your mouth, "Okay, I'm in." I didn't care what it was, where we were shooting it, how much money it was, any of those elements. I just, I love acting and I love getting the possibilities of creating new characters and different people. Some of them are small roles. Some of them are supporting. Not as much ... I mean, some of those things in my early ... I look at the IMDB and I go, "What was that? When was that?" I mean, it really is that sometimes I forgot. I forget what someone asked me about the other day, and I barely ... I had to really think hard about what it was, and they had to feed me key words to make me remember what the film was and who I worked with.

I mean, it looks busier than it maybe really is because, for instance, we shot Insidious. That was a six-week shoot. There's a lead-up to it for me emotionally and intellectually and physically as an actress. There's lines to learn. There's preparation in terms of just kind of getting yourself in mode to go to work. Then when it's over, you're tired. After this Insidious, I was really pretty exhausted, because it was a six-week shoot. I was in every scene, practically. I think I worked every day but two.

Then there's usually a lull or there's things come up. You read scripts. They're not interesting. I'm not interested in doing every horror script that comes along, and I get offered a lot of them, and a lot of them are inferior. They're schlocky. Where in the old days it would be, "Sure, I'll come in and do that." I have now kind of a reputation and a franchise to protect. I'm cautious about any horror, certainly supernatural things. I was asked to do a film where the character sort of becomes ... She's really a ghost. I go, "You know, I'm not ... I've already ... I'm not doing that." There's no reason for me to tell that story right now.

I actually turn down a fair amount of things, and the things I do get ready to do are ... I'm going to actually do a film with Greg Grunberg, who's a wonderful actor. Kevin Smith is in it. It's literally no money, I mean, in terms of what we're talking about, but actors are often very interested, of course, as we all are, in what we're being paid. But it's because it's fun and it's going to be a fun character. It's a comedy, so that's very appealing to me. And I love Greg. I was in a movie called Big Ass Spider with him that Mike Mendez directed.

I'm kind of still underground in a certain way, and in a really great way. Independent filmmakers have more freedom of expression often than doing big-budget, big studio films. Insidious is Universal and Sony, so that's pretty ... Those are big guys, but they trust the franchise and they trust Leigh Whannell, and gratefully, they trust me.

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Image via Universal Pictures

But there's plenty of downtime, too, where I play with my dog, and I have a horse, so I ride here in LA, which is really fun. I actually show my horse in an event. So I have other interests as well, but acting is my key interest. When the right project comes along, it's very exciting. I'm just getting ready to go to New Orleans, actually next week to work just a few days on a project called Gothic Harvest. Actually, Bill Moseley, who I've done a horror film with, we did 2001 Maniacs together, is going to be in it. It's a wonderful character and an interesting story about a curse being put on a family because of betrayal, so it's got a good story to it and I like the character. That's what makes me say yes.

So the yeses are not always right on top of each other, so there is time to enjoy the other parts of your life as well.

And you get to go to New Orleans, which is one of the best places in the world.

SHAYE: And I get to go to New Orleans Christmastime, which should be really interesting all on its own. I hope I come back. I mean, I hope they can find me is maybe a better thing to say [laughs].

With everything you've gotten to do across all those roles, is there something you've always wanted to get to do on film or a part you want to play that you haven't yet?

SHAYE: I don't know that answer. I think there's not anything I think of. There are sometimes true stories where I go, "Oh my gosh, that would be a fantastic character to play," but in general, and I don't read as much as I should, I'm embarrassed to say. I've never been a great reader. I'm a better hearer, a better listener than I am a reader some of the time. But I'm always looking for interesting characters that I see or read about, some of them real people. Sometimes people will tell you an idea. But I don't have anything pinpointed. I sort of don't know it until it's in front of me often, so I'm hoping that I get presented with a beautiful array of things to pick from, and I hope to keep going a long, long, long time. I love my work and I love being an actor.

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Image via Universal