Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with Siren’s Rena Owen

Rena Owen has always known her purpose in life was to be a creative. But being a biracial woman living in the ’70s, acting wasn’t considered a viable career, so Rena made the pivot into medicine. But her passion for her craft never wavered, and Rena soon found herself enrolling in drama school, defying society’s expectation of her.

Since then, she’s continued to blaze a trail in film and television with projects that include Shark in the Park, Adrenalin Junkies, Shortland Street, The Gloaming, and most recently, on Freeform’s Siren.

Pop Culturalist caught up with Rena to chat about her career, what fans can expect from Season 3 of Siren, and how her character found her purpose.

Career

PC: You’re an actress, producer, and writer. How did you discover your passion for the arts?
Rena: It happened during my childhood. Being creative is something that you’re born with. Every single one of us is born to be good at something. During our youth is when we discover what we like, what we’re made for, and what we don’t like. For me, personally, I was born to be dramatic. [laughs] I was hyperemotional and hypersensitive. Sensitivity is a quality you’ll find amongst most creators. That’s a quality you need in order to be a creative or an artist. That heightened sensitivity gives you empathy and insight.

I started performing in school. We used to have a Maori Club. My father is Maori, and my mother is Caucasian, and I grew up in New Zealand. In the Maori Club, we did traditional singing, dancing, and entertained tourists and dignitaries who would come to our school. I really loved performing. I was first published when I was eight years old. I entered a poetry contest for children under ten, and I won! I won a whole five bucks. [laughs] That was a lot of money in the ’60s. Then in high school, I was still an active member of the Maori Club, and we toured around colleges.

The principal at my high school watched a performance we did, and he saw something in me. He went to the head of the English department and said, “I think you should audition that young Owen girl. She has something.” So I did an audition, and I got cast in my first-ever stage role, which was as Bloody Mary in South Pacific. I did a great job, and I was promoted to the lead role of Calamity Jane in Calamity Jane the following year.

As a teenager, I knew I had found my place in the world. I knew that I had found the thing that I loved, and that excited me. That was something I really wanted to do. I wasn’t cut out for the nine-to-five or to sit behind a desk. I loved the performing arts. I never forgot the buzz I got making the audience laugh or cry. I will never forget that feeling.

Unfortunately, by the time I finished high school, it was the end of the ’70s. Being an actor wasn’t considered a career. I think around the world, the arts are not really considered a real career. And for me, I’m biracial, so I didn’t see anyone like me on my TV screen or in feature films or on the stage. But also, as a woman at the end of the ’70s, my career options were I could be a secretary, a teacher, or a nurse. I applied for teaching and nursing, and because I did well at school, I got my qualifications. I moved to the city and pursued a nursing career. I did that for three and a half years, and I qualified as a general obstetrician nurse.

I moved to London, which was my first overseas experience. I had aspirations of going to med school in London and becoming a doctor. I got there, and I did what most people at twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three would do when they get their first taste of freedom in a big city. [laughs] Eventually I ended up going to drama school. I remember my father saying, “It’s a shame about your medical career.” But I had chosen. I had lived a bit of life, and I knew that I still had the passion to act and to be a storyteller. I knew choosing the arts would be the more challenging career—never knowing where your next job is, never knowing if you’ll get paid to do it—versus a secure job in teaching, nursing, or in the medical field.

I’m glad I had the courage to do it. I think there were a lot of people in my generation who did jobs that were deemed by society or by their parents as good jobs. But they never followed that passion in their heart, so they were never fulfilled. It still happens today, but I think our youths are growing up in a world where they’re encouraged to be their unique, original, authentic selves. I really like to think that. I think I’ve seen that in our Siren fans.

I remember we did our first upfronts in LA at Disney Studios. Our boss had a daughter who was thirteen or fourteen. She came up to me and said, “Helen is my favorite character.” That really surprised me because my experience was that young people didn’t like or weren’t interested in older people. [laughs] So I asked her, “Why?” She said, “Because she’s real.” I think that’s reflective of the youth who are growing up now: they want realness.

Siren

PC: Siren is a series that tackles a lot of timely and relevant social issues. Does that add a different pressure or weight to the project?
Rena: It does! I think it’s one of the reasons why we’ve gone on for three seasons. Not a lot of shows make it past Season 1. We’re exploring the uniqueness of these mermaids as top-level predators. It brings excitement, uniqueness, and originality. It’s set in a very identifiable, small coastal regional town, and we humanize everything, whether it’s the characters, the merpeople, the hybrids, or your local sheriff. It’s an identifiable community. It’s not far-fetched that people go, “I can’t even identify with this.” It’s humanized, and it’s brought into a day-to-day reality where people are dealing with real issues like gender identity and sexuality. And it’s on Freeform, a network that wants to represent all that is new and unique.

PC: What can you tease about Helen’s arc this season?
Rena: Helen is an enigmatic eccentric that has lived with this secret all her life. She’s fiercely protective of this secret because she knows the consequences. That was her arc in Season 1. By the end, she was finally able to open to Ben and Maddie at the graveyard as they buried Donna.

That was the first time she’s ever been able to tell someone that she’s part mermaid. Season 2 was about exploring what that actually meant. And then we find out that Helen wasn’t alone—other hybrids existed in this community. Of course, the environmental issues came with a big storyline in the first eight episodes, which accumulated in the blowing up of the oil rig, which was a fantastic episode.

We have this audience that’s made up of teenagers, people in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s, and there’s something for everybody. I think that’s why we’ve gotten three seasons, and hopefully, we’ll have a fourth! There are so many stories to be revealed and explored.

I can’t say too much about Season 3, but by the end, you’ll be like “Oh my God! What is going to happen next?” Every season has left on a cliffhanger. At the end of Season 2, Ben had to make a split decision on whether to save the journalist. We see what happens if he saves him, but he leaves him to die. There are going to be consequences to that.

We’ve come a long way, but we’re still at a point where we’re not running around and telling everyone in Bristol Cove that we’re merpeople and hybrids. But there’s certainly an exposure that happens towards the end of Season 2. I can’t give you specifics, but the whole Bristol Cove community will become involved. A war is coming.

We also see in the trailer that Sarge is back, and we’ll see Aunty Helen under the water. That’s really exciting. It’s wonderful to have Sarge come back and have scenes with him again. Also from the trailer, we see that there’s a new top-level predator.

We see this highly sophisticated mermaid. Unlike Ryn, who we’ve watched from day one come onto land and learn the basics, Tia, this particular mermaid, speaks incredible English, she’s been trained, and is highly militarized.

In her opening scene, we see her pretend to be an airline steward. She boards this private plane and kills all these guys and jumps out in a parachute. Talk about a James Bond entry for a character. She’s going to create some havoc. She doesn’t like humans. She thinks they’re lowly people, and you’ll find out why she has so much hate towards human beings. They haven’t treated her well.

PC: Helen’s world really opens up towards the end of Season 1 when she shares the secret about her heritage. Which of her relationships has been your favorite to explore?
Rena: Helen’s first relationship was with Ryn. When Ryn comes to land and is walking down the street, she stops and sniffs out Helen. Helen is like, “Oh my God.” Intrinsically and instinctively she knows she’s looking at a real mermaid.

That relationship has had its journey. She’s quite dangerous and violent in the beginning. So she’s had to navigate this whole new dance with Ryn and get to understand her while at the same time educating Ben and Maddie about the species.

That’s evolved where Helen has become an aunty to Ryn. She’s always very supportive of her. It’s a very secure relationship that’s always growing.

In the Season 3 trailer, you see Aunty Helen say, “This child is your people’s hope.” You see Helen urge Ryn to take her back to the water. Otherwise, she may never be able to transform. It’s reflective of the dilemma that Ryn has faced and continued to face where she wants to be human. She wants to live on land, but she inevitably is always going back to the water because she’s first and foremost a mermaid.

Photo Credit: Freeform/Ed Herrera

PC: You’ve played Helen for three seasons now. Has anything surprise you about her journey?
Rena: I’ve been going through my paperwork while we’ve been in quarantine. I found the initial scene that I auditioned with for Helen. The writers described her as living through this hell as a hybrid. She’s lived with this secret and hasn’t been able to fully be her true self. They used the word “hell.” It’s been a living hell for Helen.

When I auditioned for the pilot, they had me do a scene where I first see Ryn and Ben comes and says, “Hey! You saw that girl? She’s one of the mermaids.” I’m reluctant to give him answers, but I do.

Then there was a scene that was never shot. It got rewritten. But this scene is at the end when Ryn has fallen in love with Ben. She’s torn because she wants to stay on land, and then there’s part of her who wants to go back to the sea. She says to Helen, “When I first came, I tried to kill him. This is our instinct. But we can change it. We can start a new story. I believe that.” Helen goes, “And what? You’ll have a life here with him? Have children perhaps? Half-breeds belonging to neither world? That’s a special kind of hell. Believe me—I know.”

I never got to say those words because the scene was rewritten, but it summed up the backbone of the character I created because it hasn’t always been a nice experience for her. It’s been very, very lonely.

After her mother passed away, she’s been lonely, living this secret, pretending to be normal but not being normal. It’s been a kind of private hell for Helen in terms of not being able to have a full life and come out to people. Ryn brings this permission to Helen to have this life now—to have a passion and a purpose. It’s been a lease on life for Helen. She’s loved that she’s finally got a place in the world. She’s been able to put all of her wisdom to use, and her life has not been wasted. The merpeople will always need someone like a Helen and whoever else works with her to protect them and provide for them.

To keep up with Rena, follow her on Twitter and Instagram. Catch new episodes of Siren every Thursday at 10/9c on Freeform.

Photo Credit: Freeform/Vu Ong