The eight-episode HBO Max streaming series The Flight Attendant follows Cassie Bowden (Kaley Cuoco, who’s also an executive producer), a flight attendant whose life is such a mess that when she wakes up in a hotel with a dead man (Michiel Huisman), she has no idea what happened and has to start trying to put her life back together. Without all of the pieces to the puzzle, she turns to friends (Rosie Perez, Zosia Mamet) and family (T.R. Knight), but also finds her life in danger, making the situation more than she ever could have imagined.

During this 1-on-1 phone interview with Collider, actress Michelle Gomez (who plays a mysterious business woman named Miranda) talked about the roller coaster thrill ride of this series, how much she knew about her character going into this, the Cassie-Miranda dynamic, what most impressed her about co-star Kaley Cuoco, and why you’ll be screaming at the television by the end of the season. She also talked about embracing playing the villain, what she most enjoyed about her time as The Master on Doctor Who, and her favorite memories of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.

Collider: This show is so fun and unexpected, and I’ve had such a great time watching it. I also love that I still don’t quite know what to make of your character.

MICHELLE GOMEZ: That’s good. I’m really happy to hear that because I just feel like, the longer you keep people in that state of suspense, the better. That’s really what The Flight Attendant is all about. It’s such a thriller.

How much were you told about this character from the beginning? Did you have answers that we don’t get, as the audience, or did you have to wait to get those reveals as you read each script?

GOMEZ: I actually didn’t get that much upfront, which is a thing I’m finding is more common in television than I had realized. Because there’s so much at stake when you have a production, especially one that’s as big and as gorgeous as The Flight Attendant, and that comes at a cost. When the stakes are that high, at the beginning, I’d imagine that the showrunners and producers and the people that are really creating shows are trying to find a balance of performers that really compliment one another. It really goes in your favor, as an actor, if you have a good chemistry with some of the other performers. At the beginning, maybe they weren’t quite sure who Miranda was and where she was headed. And then, as the show went on, they had their endpoint for the story, but the characters within the story got more fleshed out and more developed. I was happy that Miranda, along the way, comes more into the fray.

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Image via HBO Max

It seems like with certain characters, it might be extra challenging to not know where they’re going or who they are — but with a character like this, it seems like it might almost work to your advantage, because she is somebody who needs to be a bit mysterious.

GOMEZ: You know what? I’ll take what I can get and try to squeeze as much out of whatever’s on the page as possible. Hopefully, I’m making some good choices, along the way. Very early on, because I didn’t really have much of a handle on who Miranda was, I think that’s a virtue, or I made it a virtue, in that I could enjoy the enigma of her and the mystery of her. I could play with that, and dial it up or dial it down in and certain scenes, as to where she might be headed within the plot. I made a virtue out of being a little dark there for a minute. I actually really enjoyed that challenge, to fit into this huge jigsaw somehow and feel comfortable.

How was she originally described to you?

GOMEZ: That she was a mysterious, badass business woman who could handle herself. That was it. So, I was like, “Okay, right, but I have to try to make her into a person.” I set about making sure that she wasn’t just one color or one note, and she wasn’t just bad or a badass. There had to be some intrigue in there, as to who she might be, so I had to lay that groundwork down and make some choices, along the way, that were unexpected. It couldn’t just be, “Here comes the baddie?” but maybe, “Here comes the baddie, but who is she and why do I like her?” That’s what my goal was. That’s where I pitched it.

I love the dynamic that you developed with Kaley Cuoco’s character and there’s some really fun moments of bantering between the two of you. What did you most enjoy about their dynamic?

GOMEZ: I really loved those moments and I loved that Kaley was so open to having fun. Let’s put a pin in this conversation about me for a moment and talk about Kaley’s performance because she is absolutely mind-blowingly talented. I’ve been knocking around for awhile now and she just stopped me in my tracks. There’s a scene in Episode 7, where we get a really close insight into her past and how we’re all products of our past and we all ended up being the way we are perhaps because of what happened before. My God, that girl deserves every award out there. It was unbelievable, it was powerful and it was heartbreaking, and she still manages to do it with a light touch somehow. She’s amazing. That’s Kaley. So, it was all down to her just letting us have fun and find those moments that were really authentic. A lot of it was on the page, but there were certain times when we would pop off the page and find those really authentic moments that just happened on the day and that we couldn’t have scripted or rehearsed. She gets all of the credit because she basically just invited play and provided a forum where all of us, as actors on that show, could just feel comfortable. When you’re comfortable and you stop pushing and trying so hard, it just becomes a lot more natural and enjoyable to watch.

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Image via HBO Max

What was your reaction when you learned how the story would play out? And once you got the answers, what was your reaction? Was there anything that you were particularly surprised by?

GOMEZ: Not that I was particularly surprised, but I’m just so proud to be in something that’s so incredibly crafted by (show creator) Steve Yockey. The thing that continued to really surprise me along the way was Kaley’s performance. It’s a bit like being on a roller coaster and you really want to get off it, but you can’t because it’s fucking excellent. I think the thing that’s going to be most frustrating, is that it’s only eight episodes. As an audience member, I want to see more. The way Steve has tied it all up means that anything is possible at the end, in terms of moving forward. There’s good resolution for the end of this season, but you definitely want to see more. I hate watching anything that I’m in, but I can’t not watch The Flight Attendant because it’s so fucking good. It has you on the edge of your seat. You’re literally gonna be screaming at the television.

How do you think Miranda would describe herself, and how does that compares to how Cassie would describe her?

GOMEZ: She is in full receipt of her power and abilities, and she’s no nonsense, all business, and takes no prisoners. She seems to have a heart under there somewhere that Cassie seems to have reminded her of. I’d love to know what Miranda’s backstory is. Why did she end up like this? Why is she so good with a knife? How can she kill a man in a heartbeat? She looks like she works in a bank or a school. I just love that there’s nothing about her that looks particularly extraordinary, but you wouldn’t mess with her.

She has an air of scary to her.

GOMEZ: But that’s just my face! I know. Long may that continue.

You’ve said previously that you’ve come to be comfortable with being perceived as the villain. How did you get to that place? At what point did you realize that you could actually just have a really good time with playing characters like that?

GOMEZ: There was years of rejection, years of bad performance theater years, and a couple of decades of just banging on the door and nobody would open it. I took my knocks along the way, but then I was like, “Wait a minute, I’ve got a couple of strengths.” I have a comedic bent, but I also look scary as hell. The truth is that my face doesn’t really define who I am underneath because who I am underneath is pretty goofy. I have fun. I’ve got this really serious face, but I’m a total goofball. I’ve had a good long career and I’ve ticked all of the boxes from 20 years on stage in the theater to doing film and doing television. You pick up skills along the way, and I’ve learned how to have fun with how I look and make it grounded in the performance. A lot of the time, it’s down to the script, so I’ve been really lucky to have worked with some amazing people. I’ve just leaned into how I look, to be honest. I think casting directors are relieved. For a minute there, I was trying to squeeze a square peg into a round hole and I was going out for all of these parts. I’m never gonna play somebody called Allison, but give me Madam Satan or The Master or The Shrew. Miranda is probably one of the most real character names that I’ve ever had in my career.

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Image via Netflix

With as much as I love your character on this show and I love your character on Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, you were fantastic on Doctor Who. How do you feel about your time on Doctor Who? Do you wish that you’d gotten to spend more time playing The Master, especially opposite Jodie Whittaker?

GOMEZ: I was a Doctor Who fan, first and foremost, before I was even on the show. Even on the show, I was basically just a nerding out. You should have seen me trying to act with a Cyberman or some Daleks. I was just like, “Oh, my God! Oh, my God!”

It was a three-year reign of being The Master with my Doctor, Peter Capaldi. When you’re The Master to one particular Doctor, I just couldn’t imagine being that with anyone else. If they were to ask me to come back to do something in the future, I’m sure I would jump at the chance, but there was something really magical and really special, during that time, with Peter and I. A bit like with Kaley and I, or with Kiernan [Shipka] and I. There are certain dynamics that spring up, that you could only dream of, and that doesn’t come up all the time. That was a really special time. And also, because Steven Moffat knew me so well, he wrote to my strengths. He basically let me fuck around. He put me in that costume and wound me up and let me go. That’s one of my top favorites, that job.

Is that a character where, if they found a cool way to bring her in, you would want to return to that character?

GOMEZ: I would love it, maybe for a Christmas special. You could have Missy popping in with some Christmas spirit, just to mess things up. I’d totally be up for something like that.

What did you most enjoy about your time on Sabrina, playing Madam Satan?

GOMEZ: The thing about Sabrina is that I’ve never been on anything that ambitiously huge, in terms of storytelling, its presentation, and its production values. It was awe-inspiring, what everybody brought, every single day. It was a long run. I think we shot for 10 months of each year, so it was a huge part of my life. Those guys are my second family. We made some great friendships for life. That’s the thing that I’ll take with me. It’s a huge family of ridiculously talented people. They provided us with this ridiculous world for us to play. My playground on the show, this year round, is phenomenal and Kiernan managed to push herself. Everybody was just gorgeous, everywhere I looked. And then, I was just there, fucking around in the background and having my wicked way. It gets pretty outrageous, this season that’s coming up, for a number of reasons. I don’t think the fans will be disappointed.

The Flight Attendant is available to stream at HBO Max.