Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with Astrid and Lilly Save the World’s Jana Morrison and Samantha Aucoin

High school is hard enough when you’re different, but when outcast BFFs Astrid (Jana Morrison) and Lilly (Samantha Aucoin) accidentally crack open a portal to a terrifyingly monster dimension, it gets a lot more complicated. It’s up to them to vanquish the creepy creatures and save the world, becoming the badass heroes they were meant to be. That is, if they can survive the horrors of high school.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to catch up with Jana and Samantha ahead of the premiere of Astrid and Lilly Save the World to talk about the series, the powerful women who inspire them, how they created the bond that we see on screen, and the importance of representation.

PC: To start, could you introduce us to your characters in this series? Samantha, do you want to kick us off?
Samantha: I play Lilly in the show. She’s very vulnerable. She’s very creative and very smart. She loves photography. She loves spending time with her best friend. She wears her heart on her sleeve. She’s a very insecure person. She relies on Astrid to lift her up and give her that confidence.

Jana: Astrid is the complete opposite. [laughs] As most best friends are. She is bold. She’s really smart. She loves science. She’s confident in herself, even though some people might not want her to be. She loves boys. She’s ready to go out in the world and see what she can get in a boy world.

PC: Jana, this is one of your biggest roles to date. Has anything surprised you about the experience? What’s been the biggest takeaway?
Jana: The biggest takeaway was the amount of work that goes into being a lead character. I’ve done background and I’ve done my one-liners and seen lead actors do their thing. That was something I dreamed of doing. So stepping into their shoes and now being a lead myself, I’m extremely grateful because I know this does not come for a lot of people, especially people of color.

I hope that’s changing now, and I feel like it is because there are so many more people of color in lead roles. My takeaway is to be confident in myself. They chose me for a reason and I got this.

Samantha: You do.

PC: Samantha, same question for you. You’re making your acting debut with this series. Congratulations, by the way. Did anything surprise you about the experience, and what was the biggest takeaway away?
Samantha: Thank you so much. My biggest surprise about this experience was the technical aspects of working on set. I’ve said this a couple of times, but I didn’t know what a mark was. I didn’t know I had to stand in a certain way or minimize my facial expressions due to what lens we were using. That was such a huge learning curve for me. It was definitely challenging at first because I hadn’t been on a set before.

But everyone made it so much easier for me. Jana was such a huge support. We had this amazing acting coach at the beginning, Catherine McNally, who gave us some pointers for on screen and for off. That was extremely helpful for me. I learned so much. I learned how to be very vulnerable on camera when there are a million people in the room. I didn’t realize that was a thing.

Jana: Me either! That was a learning curve.

Samantha: It was not what I was expecting, but I loved it. It was better than what I was expecting.

PC: Both of your characters are inspired by powerful female figures like Olivia Benson. For each of you, who are the women in your lives that have had the biggest impact on you?
Samantha: Don’t make us cry, Kevin.

Jana: I know! One of my biggest inspirations for me is my cousin, my áte Wendy. I call her my sister because we’re both half Filipino and half Icelandic. Growing up, she always supported me and my dreams. She was also someone people looked up to in the community. She was really passionate about helping the youth. She’s an inspiration for me and such an amazing person. It’s her son’s birthday today, so I just want to shout him out. Happy birthday, Lindell. Love you.

Samantha: Aw. I would definitely say my mom. She’s been my rock since day one. Both my parents have been. But with my mom, I feel like I can tell her anything. She’s always been so understanding with everything. I trust her with my life. I trust her with everything. I can tell her anything and there’s no judgment. She’s really a super mom in my eyes. She’s a superwoman. She’s a boss lady. I’ve always looked up to her, and I’ve always wanted to be like her.

PC: There are so many incredible one-liners in this series. How much of that is improvised? How much of that is written on the page?
Jana: We couldn’t tell you! We haven’t seen any episodes yet.

Samantha: Yeah.

Jana: I love to improv after the scene.

Samantha: She does.

Jana: So, I’m not sure what is improvised and what is scripted. But to be honest, most of it is scripted because the writers, Betsy [Van Stone] and Noelle [Stehman], are incredible comedy writers.

Samantha: But yeah, we did improvise quite a bit. We don’t know what was kept and what wasn’t. But we’ll definitely get a kick out of seeing those moments that weren’t scripted.

PC: There is great chemistry that comes off the screen between the two of you. How were you able to build a bond during the pandemic?
Jana: Honestly, I think it’s because we hung out all the time.

Samantha: Yeah.

Jana: We went to dinners together. We would go shopping together. We’d do best friend things, even though we weren’t best friends yet.

Samantha: We lived in the same building when we were shooting.

Jana: We were each other’s only friends at that point.

Samantha: We were in it together. I feel like that created a really strong bond and hopefully, that showed on camera. But when we first met in person, I was like, “This is a person I can trust.”

Jana: That’s really sweet because I felt the same way about you.

Samantha: But it was really amazing. I don’t have a lot of girl best friends, so it was really great getting to meet you and then getting to work with you and everything. We’ve literally been together ever since. The show wrapped and we got two weeks off.

Jana: She came to visit me at my home for two weeks.

Samantha: Yeah, for two weeks. We’re in LA now for a month together.

PC: You’re both triple threats. Can we expect to see you flex other muscles within the series? Is there any chance that we’ll see you sing and dance? Have there been any conversations about a potential musical episode in the future?
Jana: We’re gunning for a musical episode.

Samantha: We are.

Jana: Besides us, a lot of the cast are also triple threats. Kolton Stewart has musical talent. He’s on Broadway. He’s going to be in that new Disney movie.

Samantha: Disenchanted. He’s a singer and he has music out. Spencer Macpherson also sings. Olivier [Renaud], who plays Brutus, sings.

Jana: There must be a musical episode.

Samantha: Yes!

Jana: In the show this season, I feel like we don’t necessarily flex those aspects of us because we’re just getting started.

PC: There’s an empowering moment within the premiere episode where both of your characters take back their power from their bullies. For both of you, what has it meant to you to be a part of a series that’s pushing this message forward?
Jana: Everything. It’s something that I’ve wanted in my life—to have that representation and to be ourselves.

Samantha: I agree. Getting to be ourselves was amazing. Getting to feel the things that we would feel because we relate to these characters was really amazing. It means everything to us. We get to represent plus-size women, and we get to be there for younger girls in high school or whomever.

We feel like outcasts. Everyone in their lives has felt like an outcast at some point. That message is really important and we hope it resonates with audiences.

PC: With the show dropping on January 26, how do you plan on celebrating?
Jana: So many ways. We both celebrate in so many ways. Every day, we’re so grateful for each other and for this show. I’m definitely going to have a mimosa. I’ll be real. [laughs]

Samantha: We’ll be together and watch it together.

Jana: I kind of love that it’s not a crazy big premiere party because of COVID. Socially, I prefer a small group.

Samantha: Especially for watching the first episode and getting to see our faces on screen, which is going to be so strange and exciting. It’s going to be so strange to see my face on a screen. But I think that will be really nice to have a smaller group to watch that, for sure.

PC: What do you hope audiences take away after seeing it?
Samantha: I really hope that people take away that you don’t have to look a certain way to be a superhero. You don’t have to look a certain way to be loved or to be accepted. You are not alone in feeling the way you feel.

Jana: This show has so many different body types and ethnicities. We have an amazing actor named Michael [McCreary] who has autism, and he’s autistic in the show. It’s a beautiful thing. He’s hilariously good.

Samantha: He might be your favorite person on the show.

Jana: He probably will be your favorite person. Let’s be real.

Samantha: I really hope people take away that body neutrality should be prevalent.

Make sure to follow Jana (Twitter/Instagram) and Samantha (Twitter/Instagram). Watch Astrid and Lilly Save the World every Wednesday at 10/9c on Syfy.