Emily Dickinson has made her bed, and she’ll lie in it.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Throughout season 2, the line for Emily between reality and imagination got increasingly blurry.
How did you make sense of that, and how complicated was that to portray?
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A lot more complicated than I thought.
There was a blurry line between myself personally and Emily in this season that I definitely found challenging.
Fame, in and of itself, is not something I have spent a lot of time thinking about.
So it was definitely challenging, but it made me think.
Episode 8, “I’m Nobody,” is perhaps the most surreal.
Emily explores the impact of fame and is able to observe others' responses to her poem.
There’s a lot to unpack there, but what would you say that Emily learns?
and she finds that she’s not getting any of that.
It sends her on a downward spiral of getting wrapped up and consumed by people’s opinions.
The mystery of who “Nobody” is runs through the season.
Did Alena keep it secret from you until you got to episode 8?
That was in there.
Whether it’s real or her imagination, she’s trying to figure out.
What was that like from a technical standpoint?
That’s always so bizarre.
Emily’s true love is Sue, but she also falls for Sam Bowles this season.
Do you think that love is true or more an infatuation with what he represents?
I would say an infatuation, whether Emily knows it or not.
I think she is in love with human connection, and in this series, attention.
She wants attention and when she’s given it by someone she feels wanted and seen.
He shows just enough interest in her personally and professionally.
It’s very complicated between the two of them.
What were your takeaways from the season?
It was what I believe it always has been.
I guess I just have a better idea of it.
Or at least know how to talk about it more so than I did before.
For me, it has always been about the work and the art.
Emily figures out it feels good to be noticed and recognized and praised and celebrated.
Maybe it was something as simple as it was something I wanted to do.
That was a dress I wanted to wear.
It’s so easy to get wrapped up in all of that.
She’s perfectly content with that.
Emily finally gets Sue back.
What does that mean for her?
Do you think that’s good or bad for her writing?
I guess we’ll see.
It could be one or the other.
It could definitely be both.
I want to think that it’s good.
They can’t seem to find that with anyone or anything else.
They are who they’re meant to be as individuals when they’re together.
She feels like she can take on the world when she has Sue by her side.
We will find out.
So what might lie ahead for her?
I have no doubts it’s going to be wild, as that is our show in one word.
