Exclusive Interview: Lola Mae Loughran Talks In From the Cold and How She Helped Shape Her Character

Lola Mae Loughran is a rising young star who is captivating audiences with her breakout performance in In From the Cold. The action-packed drama follows an ex-spy who must juggle family life and unique shape-shifting skills in a battle against an insidious enemy. Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Lola about discovering her love for storytelling, In From the Cold, and how she helped shape her character.

PC: How did you discover your passion for acting and storytelling?
Lola: Movies and TV shows have always been a big part of my life. When I was a kid, I didn’t like going to school, so my mum would let me stay at home and we’d spend the day with movies we’d rented from Blockbuster. We watched reruns of shows that she’d watched when she was younger, so that world has always been a safe space for me. I’ve also always been a big daydreamer, and I’m good at retaining and recalling anything I watch, so often my daydreams would be me replaying the movies and TV shows that I’d watched. I’d imagine new plotlines and myself as different characters. Acting for me is a way of bringing my dreams to life, even if I didn’t realize that was what I was doing at first. I only started acting because my sister wanted to do it and I was six and wanted to do everything she did.

PC: Who or what has had the biggest influence on your career?
Lola: I’d say my family has had the biggest influence on my career—they’ve always had the utmost belief in me and my abilities and have always supported my choices. I can always go to them for advice and help when developing characters or trying to work out the best way to portray a character.

PC: Tell us about In From the Cold, your character, and what drew you to this project.
Lola: In From the Cold is a spy/thriller/sci-fi show that follows a kick-ass former KGB agent, Jenny Franklin, played by the phenomenal Margarita Levieva, who’s forced out of retirement by the CIA. I play Maddie Davis, who is Becca’s (Jenny’s daughter) best friend. They’re all in Madrid for a figure skating competition, so I went through ice skating training for the duration of the shoot. When I auditioned for the show, I thought the premise was really interesting before I even found out the twist at the end of the first episode! I also loved the strong female roles in the show.

PC: It was important to you that Maddie wasn’t an archetype that we’ve seen in the past. Can you tell us a bit about how you shaped this character?
Lola: I originally auditioned for the role of Becca, and then they asked me to play Maddie. I hadn’t seen a character breakdown from casting, and because of that, I had no set idea of who she was. I already knew that I didn’t want her to be the stereotypical “sassy” POC best friend character, and that notion became even stronger for me during the first year of the pandemic before we started filming. I remember seeing a lot of analysis and critique of this stereotype on Twitter and thinking that I didn’t want Maddie to be a two-dimensional character and that those types of “best friend” characters thrived when they were allowed to be more. When we started production, we all had one-on-one meetings with Adam [Glass], the showrunner, and he agreed with me on how I viewed the character. On the surface, she seems like she’s that kind of typical popular girl, but I decided that since she is best friends with Becca and also since she’s perfectly fine with some of the things that happen in the plot that Maddie is also kind of weird and it’s more that she’s popular against her will. I hope that the audience is able to see that.

PC: This is the longest that you’ve lived with a character. Has anything surprised you about the experience? What was the biggest takeaway?
Lola: What surprised me was just how much other people’s choices with their characters can impact your own, especially with the length of time we each had individually with our characters with the pandemic delaying filming for a year. The biggest takeaway was how attached you can get to a character—I am ready to defend Maddie at all costs, and I am excited to see where her story will go if we get a Season 2.

PC: With this being one of your biggest roles to date, is there a particular scene that you’re excited for fans to see?
Lola: I’m excited for them to see all the skating scenes as we worked hard on them and tried to make our skating look as natural and effortless as possible. I’m also very excited for people to see the last scene of the season finale—it makes my jaw drop every time!

PC: What do you hope audiences take away after they see the series?
Lola: That they’ve enjoyed the incredible twists and turns of this season and are eager for more; the kickass portrayal of Jenny by Margarita; and that parents have secrets of their own…

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

PC: Guilty pleasure TV show?
Lola: I don’t feel guilty about anything I watch and enjoy, but I’d have to say Teen Wolf; I was obsessed with the show when I was younger, and I still go back and rewatch it all the time. Another guilty pleasure TV show of mine from the last year or so has been Dawson’s Creek. I started watching it when I was in quarantine for the show, and my mum had watched it when it originally aired, so it felt like a way I could still feel connected to her while I was going to be away filming.

PC: Guilty pleasure movie?
Lola: I probably have three: The Mummy, Anastasia, and the live-action Peter Pan from 2003. To be honest, I don’t feel guilty about loving any of them! I even have a Peter Pan-themed tattoo!

PC: Favorite book?
Lola: Pride and Prejudice.

PC: Favorite play or musical?
Lola: My favorite musical since I was a kid has been Into the Woods, but my favorite modern musical is Hadestown. I wrote a research paper on it for my degree.

PC: A band or artist that fans would be surprised to learn is on your playlist?
Lola: Perhaps they’d be surprised to find Meat Loaf on there!

To keep up with Lola, follow her on Twitter and Instagram. Watch In From the Cold on Netflix today.

Photo Credit: Rhys Williams