Collider Ladies Night Pre-Party is all about giving you the heads-up on newer talent on the cusp of becoming very big and busy, and I’ve got a whole lot of faith that’ll be the case for Pretty Little Lairs: Original Sin star Chandler Kinney.
The HBO Max reimagining takes place within the existing Pretty Little Liars universe, but it focuses on five new characters living in a different town. The events of Original Sin unfold in Millwood, which isn’t all that far from Rosewood. That’s where we meet Kinney’s character, Tabby, a film-obsessed high school student who takes great pride in working at the local theater, The Orpheum. However, there’s also a growing darkness in Tabby’s world. Not only is she struggling with past trauma, but she’s also being targeted by an unknown assailant dubbed "A" who’s determined to make her and her friends pay for a sin committed by their mothers two decades ago.
With all 10 episodes of Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin now available to stream on HBO Max, Kinney took the time to join us for a Collider Ladies Night Pre-Party conversation so we could learn more about her journey in the industry thus far, her experience working on Pretty Little Liars and, yes, the biggest reveals of the final episodes.
Well before facing off against A, Kinney was an aspiring actor with a very specific idea of what “making it” looked like. She explained:
“Honestly, I was a big Disney kid. I loved Disney Channel growing up, I have to admit. And so I was one of those kids that would stare at myself in the mirror and do my little wand ID like, ‘I’m Chandler Kinney and you’re watching Disney Channel.’ So I always thought that that was the barometer for success. Once you make it and you do your Disney wand ID, no one can tell you nothing! But I also never knew if that was actually possible for me, especially when I really started working and I wasn’t in line with the Disney path. But then I got knocked into it, which I was really grateful for and I actually did get to do a Disney wand ID so I think in my 10-year-old mind, I’ve made it.”
What exactly was the key to making that dream a reality? Kinney credits working her way up in the industry. “I think some people join the industry and they get really lucky. Of course you have to be talented, of course you have to have the drive and the stamina, but some people, they get that big role out the gate, and that was not the case for me.” For Kinney, it was more about amassing smaller guest starring opportunities on shows like American Horror Story, The CW’s 90210, and one that made an especially big impression on her, Girl Meets World. Kinney explained:
“I did a little bit of Nickelodeon and then I did a couple of Disney guest star spots. So I did Girl Meets World, which was really fun because for me at that time, I was a huge Disney Channel fan, but that show in particular, there was something so grounded and authentic about it that I felt like, at the time, set itself apart from other Disney Channel shows. So to be able to be on that was awesome. [And] usually if you audition for a Disney project and you get it, that’s not your first audition with Disney, you know? So I really went through the ropes with them, but ultimately did get to be a part of a franchise and play a lead character, which was very, very exciting and rewarding.”
That franchise? The wildly popular Disney Channel film series Z-O-M-B-I-E-S. Not only has Kinney played the role of Willa in two Z-O-M-B-I-E-S movies at this point, but she also played the character in a series of shorts called Wolf Tales and even had the opportunity to voice an animated version of the character in Addison’s Moonstone Mystery and Addison's Monster Mystery.
Given the fact that Z-O-M-B-I-E-S has a very different target audience than Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin, Kinney took a moment to compare the two different performance styles, beginning with Z-O-M-B-I-E-S:
“I will say this over and over and over again; it is a family movie and that continues to ring true. However, the target is young kids and so when you’re speaking to young kids it almost feels like that kindergarten teacher, ‘We’re speaking like this so you can hear and understand.’ But we truly have such an incredible team, especially with Z-O-M-B-I-E-S. It does feel very grounded and I think that shows in all the performances. But with HBO Max, you’re not performing like with theater [to] the person in the back row. You’re performing to the person right in front of you.”
In fact, Kinney explained how director Lisa Soper's preference for macro lenses created an especially intense, intimate filming experience:
"She loved using these macro lenses and so there’s these beautiful shots specifically in her episodes which are 1, 2, 4, 5 and 10, you can see there’s a close shot of an eyeball or on the mouth. It really focuses in and almost interrogates the actor in a very intimate way, almost invasive way, which I think is the point, to make people feel uncomfortable, especially with a lot of the things that they’re experiencing. But with that, using a macro lens, everything is very grounded and subtle and real and as authentic as possible, which, honestly, I was so honored and so grateful to be able to have an experience like that because that’s something I always wanted, to just exist in front of a camera. I think sometimes you feel that pressure to ‘perform,’ but to just be able to simply exist in front of a camera was a beautiful experience.”
Kinney really does excel at simply existing in front of the camera in this particular role. Not only is she an ace at delivering a significant amount of film references in an exceptionally natural manner, but every single ounce of Tabby feels purely Kinney. And the same is true of every member of the Original Sin ensemble, for that matter. But, sometimes when auditioning for an ensemble show, you may read for a role that’s not the one you wind up booking. Given Kinney’s extensive dance background, I asked if playing the role of Faran was ever on the table for her. Here’s what she said:
“Originally I auditioned for Faran. That was my first audition and I was like, ‘I got this in the bag, man. I’m a dancer. I literally came out the womb dancing,’ like we discussed. ‘This is for me!’ Perri, I laugh, I cackle when I look back at my audition. I was so wrong for Faran. Zaria does her justice. She has the one-liners, she has the fierceness. I don’t know what my interpretation was, but it was not right! … She auditioned for Tabby and she has a very similar mindset too about it. She’s like, ‘Yeah, I mean, Tabby’s cool, but I really resonate with Faran.’ It worked out perfectly, but I sent in one tape for Faran and they said, ‘The producers really loved you and responded to your read, but they see you as Tabby,’ and so then I got the Tabby sides.”
Not only did things fall into place quite perfectly for Kinney and Zaria, but the same is true for Maia Reficco who plays Noa with an especially alluring sense of spunk, poise, and coolness. When asked for two Original Sin cast members with different approaches to the work, Kinney compared her own process to Reficco’s which well reflects how Noa carries herself while navigating the unfolding mystery in the show:
“Maia Reficco who plays Noa who is incredible in every sense of the word. She’s always extremely prepared, but when she’s on set, she doesn’t need to be running lines. I know sometimes I’m like, ‘What is that word,’ and I have to look at things, but she’s just [got a] very chill, cool, calm, collected approach to her work. Which is really fun to work with her because it’s easy to joke in between set-ups and takes because she’s already locked in it … If it’s a dramatic scene, someone like Maia can hop out of it and then jump right into it because her brain is wired that way, and she’s brilliant. Someone like me, if it’s an emotional, dramatic scene, I need to stay in that headspace.”
Eager to hear more from Kinney on making Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin, including what it was like to find out the true identity of A? You can watch our full 40-minute conversation in the video at the top of this article or listen to it in podcast form below: