Lisa Ryder as Hewes in Endlings. Photo courtesy/copyright of Sinking Ship Entertainment.
For five seasons, Sci-Fi fans followed Canadian-born stage and screen actress Lisa Ryder on her adventures throughout the galaxy as Beka Valentine, second-in-command of the sentient spaceship Andromeda in the syndicated TV drama Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda. On the big screen, moviegoers will be most familiar with her work as the kick-ass android Kay Em-14 in the outer space Friday the 13th sequel Jason X. Currently, Ryder can be seen portraying a calm, cool, collected and determined industrialist named Hewes in the new Hulu/CBC kid’s Sci-Fi TV series Endlings. The audition process for this role was a bit different from the actress’ prior experiences, and for one very unexpected reason.
“I was outside of Toronto working on summer stock theatre when the first audition for Endlings came through, so I had to put myself on tape and send it in to the producers,” recalls Ryder. “I can’t quite remember what I did in that first audition, but a friend of mine who shot it is a really good photographer. He did such a good job, in fact, that I think that’s why I eventually booked the role. I ended up getting a callback and had to return to Toronto. At the time I was Airbnb-ing my house out, so I thought I’d swing by there before the audition. When I got home, I found that my guests had had a rager the night before and my place was a mess.
“So I put on some rubber gloves, cleaned everything up, took the garbage bags to the dump, and then went to my callback. Funnily enough, I think that helped take any ‘curse’ off the callback, because I was way too busy to feel nervous,” jokes Ryder. “The actual callback was with [executive producers] J.J. Johnson [series creator] and Christin Simms, who are two of the nicest people on Earth. It was very low key and more like a conversation. Back then, I don’t think they really knew where they were going with my character. Hewes is enigmatic, but otherwise there wasn’t much else to go on in the script. J.J. and Christin explained that there was a mystery surrounding her, and while this was a kid’s show, they wanted Hewes to be real and kind of edgy. During our meeting, I also had the chance to learn more about their company [Sinking Ship Entertainment], which is a great company that concentrates on diversity as well as equality and are very much about promoting people within their ranks. So it’s been a real pleasure getting to work with them and trying to figure out what my character is all about and why she’s such a thorn in the kids’ sides.”
Set 20 years in the future, Endlings’ first season introduces viewers to the show’s four young protagonists, Julia (Kamaia Fairburn), Johnny (Edison Grant), Tabby (Michela Luci) and Finn (Cale Thomas Ferrin), all of whom live on a farm owned by their foster father, Mr. Leopold (Neil Crone). As the teens adjust to the arrival of a new family member, Julia, they have no idea that their paths are destined to cross with an alien creature on an intergalactic mission to save the last members of near-extinct species a.k.a. “endlings.” Shortly after arriving on Earth and adding Tuko, the last African elephant in existence, to its collection, the extraterrestrial experiences trouble on-board its retrieval probe. It is subsequently forced to release its precious cargo into the farmlands and nearby area in order to avoid any fatalities. This leads our young heroes to set out on their own mission to rescue this myriad of strange creatures, while at the same time trying to evade the local police, Tuko’s caretaker Abiona Maina (Oyin Oladejo), and the industrialist Hewes. Although she only had a handful of scenes to shoot for the show’s first episode, Ryder felt immediately at home and excited about the prospect of embarking on this new project.
“It’s interesting because we didn’t know what the final product was going to look like,” she explains. “A lot of the creatures and other effects were described to us, but we didn’t really have any idea of what we’d be working with. My first day of filming for Endlings was on this beautiful summer day out in Canfield, Ontario and at this farm where Mr. Leopold and his foster kids are supposed to live. I ended up talking quite a bit to the show’s cinematographer, who was turning out these gorgeous shots. The entire cast is very warm and lovely, and kids are extremely talented. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to work with them that much in the first season. Every so often I would have a few lines with them, but that was it. Hopefully in season two I’ll get a chance to be with them more.
“The first season of the show focuses heavily on the kids and each of their backstories,” continues Ryder. “As for Hewes, again, the initial acting challenge for me had to do with the fact that the producers weren’t quite sure where they wanted to take her. However, they’ve promised me that she’ll have more backstory in season two, which I’m thrilled about. In season one I tried my best to keep my performance truthful with what was/is a very enigmatic character. Why is Hewes like this? Is she truly bad? Maybe she is, maybe she isn’t. It’s tricky to be too specific when dealing with an open-ended and ongoing developing character.
“Some of my favorite scenes involving Hewes are later in the season and are where we end up in her lair, which is so cool. All this stuff goes down in what is basically an airplane hangar. It was beautifully lit and I almost felt like I was walking into a disco. Hewes has a posse, so it was me and a ton of extras. They shot a lot of my scenes in three days, which I love. It felt very much like being on the set of Andromeda because there was quite a bit of CGI [computer-generated image] and acting just past the camera. I tend to thrive on situations where a great deal is going on and you have to communicate with the camera operators. That to me is just plain fun.”
Besides her work on Endlings, the actress recently finished shooting the upcoming feature film Happy Place, which was directed by Helen Shaver and written by a good friend of Ryder’s, Pamela Sinha. “I’ve been Pamela’s friend throughout the genesis of this idea being developed into a stage play and then a movie, and watching Pamela develop as a screenwriter has really been quite amazing,” notes the actress. “It was just a day of shooting for me on the movie, but it’s a really special story and I had the opportunity to work with a special as well as talented group of women, including director Helen Shaver.
“Last year I put my whole heart and soul into writing, producing and starring in a play, and I just finished another theatre script. So at the moment I’m talking to people about producing opportunities for that. I’ll also be appearing in a couple of plays later this year, one in the summer and another this fall at The Tarragon Theatre [in Toronto]. I didn’t have much of a chance to audition for any TV or film projects last year because I was busy working on Endlings, and I’m really looking forward to audiences seeing our first season.”
Steve Eramo
Season one of Endlings premieres Friday, January 17th on Hulu.
