Pop-Culturalist.com

Jonetta Kaiser and J. August Richards are two of the stars of the must-see new series, Vampire Academy.

From executive producers, Julie Plec and Marguerite MacIntyre comes a story of friendship, romance, and danger. In a world of privilege and glamour, two young women’s friendship transcends their strikingly different classes as they prepare to complete their education and enter vampire society. One as a powerful Royal, the other a half-vampire Guardian trained to protect against the savage ‘Strigoi’ who threaten to tear their society apart. That is, if Royal infighting doesn’t do the job first.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Jonetta and J. August about Vampire Academy, what audiences should know about their characters, and more!

PC: Could you introduce us to your characters in this series and what attracted you to this show?
Jonetta: My character is Sonya Karp. She’s Mia’s sister and Victor’s daughter. She’s a librarian at St. Vladimir’s Academy. She has some power. She goes through quite a journey that I can’t talk too much about. You’ll have to watch and find out.

What drew me to this project was fate. I’m a huge Julie Plec and Marguerite fan. I’ve watched her in Vampire Diaries, so that was it for me.

J. August: I play Victor Dashkov, her dad. I’m a royal Moroi vampire, which means I’m the head of one of the twelve royal families. I have two daughters who are adopted. Because of that, they’re not given royal status. My character is also a politician in this underground world of vampires that has existed for centuries. He is deeply passionate about bringing equality to this world. That’s what really drew me to this character and show. I thought it really had something great to say, as well as the fact that it’s super entertaining. We’ve got fight scenes, romance, moments of pure heart and adventure.

Jonetta: Gowns!

J. August: Beautiful gowns.

Jonetta: Gowns and crowns.

PC: Sonya has such a rich history in this book series, and you tackled that with so much nuance. How did you create the space for yourself to dive into those emotional arcs and her backstory?
Jonetta: I read all the books as a kid, so I was already a huge fan. As far as the emotional arc, Sonya is the odd girl out. I was a shy kid growing up. I was instantly able to tap into that.

J. August: I have to say that this young lady brings it. She really embodies this character. We had a lot of great scenes together. I just looked into her eyes, and I could see what she was bringing to the table. It was so profound, and it made it so easy to perform.

PC: Vampire Academy is being adapted from a really popular book series, and these characters are beloved by so many. What’s something that you wanted to make sure was translated from the page to the screen? What’s something new that you brought to your character?
Jonetta: That’s a really good question.

J. August: It is. For me, I wanted to make sure that I brought a very individual interpretation of this character. The things that I connected with this character on, I connected with deeply. We had these sets and locations that were centuries old, like the one you see behind us, Olite Castle, where we did most of the shooting in Spain wearing these costumes that were made specifically for us and by hand by Sonia Grande. She’s an Academy Award-winning costume designer. Standing in those places in these costumes really informed who the character was. The spirit of the books lives in the show. I can’t wait for fans of the book to see our show.

Jonetta: I do think from page to screen each character is being honored. They’re given their proper justice.

Make sure to follow Jonetta (Instagram) and J. August (Twitter/Instagram). Watch Vampire Academy on Peacock today.