Taylor Hickson Talks Motherland: Fort Salem Season 3, the Impact of the Show, and More

Taylor Hickson has captivated audiences with her spellbinding performance as Raelle Collar in Freeform’s Motherland: Fort Salem.

Set in an alternate America where witches ended their persecution three hundred years ago by cutting an agreement to fight for their government, Motherland: Fort Salem follows three recruits who go from basic training in combat magic to early deployment.

For three seasons, Taylor has brought audiences on a journey with Raelle as she discovered love, struggled with grief, and found the power in her voice.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to catch up with Taylor to chat about the final season of Motherland: Fort Salem, the impact this story and character has had on audiences as well as herself, the final day of filming, and more.

PC: Season 3 of Motherland: Fort Salem is airing now. What can fans expect from this third and final season?
Taylor: This is a tricky question for me. At the very beginning of shooting, we were block shooting [episodes] one and two, which means we were intermittently shooting scenes from both episodes; we were jumping back and forth between scenes from each episode in the span of a day. Halfway through shooting, I got into a car accident with my driver. Someone hit us. It was a really nasty car accident that gave me a pretty bad head injury that put me out with memory loss and such.

Motherland worked extremely hard. They had to basically change the trajectory of the story and adjust the story arc so that I had time to heal because I was still quite insistent on coming back to work. I don’t think I understood the gravity of my injuries at the time. I was adamant about coming to work. We had just started, and every moment is so precious because we knew that this might be the last season we have. Of course, I wanted as much time as possible with our team, and that wasn’t allotted for me when the car accident took that from me.

Motherland gave me the time to heal, but in order to do that, they had to shift around what they were doing. That really changed the trajectory of the story. From episodes three to six, I don’t know much of what was going on. I wasn’t able to read. I wasn’t able to go on my phone. I basically sat in the dark for about a month and a half before I started doing things again. As I gradually got back into work, that was my focus. Something that I promised myself was to watch this season as an audience member. I thought it might be a bit more authentic considering my character is removed and in her own story arc at the time because of what happened when we were shooting. Wherever my character is in the story, they peppered some into the episodes that I wasn’t present for. I will be as much surprised by the show as the audience will be. It should be a very interesting watch.

You know the tone of Motherland; if you look away for ten seconds, you’re missing something. I’ll be holding onto my seat like everyone else, but I can ensure you that in the true spirit of Motherland, it will twist your heart each possible way and keep you on the edge of your seat. Pay attention, because thanks to Eliot Laurence’s beautiful, giant brain, if you turn away for a second, you’ll miss an important detail.

PC: You’ve played so many powerful female characters throughout your career. Who have been the women in your life who have shaped the artists that you are today?
Taylor: Wow. That’s a big one. With Motherland, I’ve had the privilege of working with so many spirited females. Taking a seat and watching them work has been a highlight of my career. It taught me a lot about myself and what femininity means to me. It taught me the absence of my own femininity and how attached I was to the idea of masculinity and the way that I approached the world in conversations and in a business space. I think that I was very attached to the narrative of masculinity in the way that I approach most everything—my environment, my relationships. It taught me to be a bit more intuitive. It taught me to listen more. It taught me to watch and observe and look inward for wisdom and validation. These are really important balances to have.

As much as masculinity is important, the balance of both is key to living a happy, gracious, grateful life. That’s something that a lot of females on Motherland taught me, especially Amanda Tapping. Having her as a leader and our director/producer for the last two seasons has really allowed me to paint the image I want to see myself in over the next however many years of my career. Her footsteps are those to be watched very carefully. It’s very admirable to watch her work and to watch her give the shirt off her back for the people around her. That’s how much she loves the craft and that’s how invested she is. That’s how much she loves people and collaboration. That’s something that I want to see myself do. I admire her so greatly that way. She just sent me an email today, so I was thinking of her fondly, but it’s a great question. There have been so many.

PC: Beautifully said. From Season 1, we’ve seen this beautiful transformation with Raelle as she’s discovered her voice and power. As you’ve lived and breathed this character, have you been able to draw any parallels with your own respective journey?
Taylor: Oh, absolutely. I’ve walked alongside this character for four years, so that’s double the amount of time I spent in high school. The release of this show and moving into a different chapter in my life has felt like a graduation to me, more so than high school ever did. It was much more transformative for me than high school ever was. High school felt like it held me back, and Motherland really pushed me forward. It’s funny how much art imitates life, as we all like to say. Much of what happens in the world of Motherland mimics and mirrors what’s happening out here in many different ways. You can really connect the dots if you look. There are a lot of similar messages in what we see in our politics and our everyday lives or our interpersonal relationships and intimacy between friends and partners. It touches base on all of those things.

That’s been one of my favorite things about Motherland; how expansive it is that way. It’s hard to have a show that really hits the nail on everything. It really reached into every pocket and had something to say about the political standpoint or the emotional standpoint of all the topics that we do touch base on. We don’t shy away from the heavy stuff. That’s one of my favorite things.

We got to explore grief, death, and heartbreak. I had broken up with a partner, and at the very same time, my character was breaking up with her love interest. There were so many things that paralleled. Also, navigating the loss of someone who is a parental figure or pivotal in the way that you are growing, taught you how to be, how you stand, and how you embrace the world. I lost my grandpa. I lost two of my friends that I went to high school with that were very dear to me over the span of creating the last few seasons. You see all of that in there.

All of the other girls were navigating their own journeys and hardships too; so much of it is real. We really had to be there for each other or else it would fall apart. Just like the characters do, if we don’t communicate and speak with each other and we aren’t honest about how we’re feeling, we don’t lean on each other, and we don’t ask for help, the dynamic crumbles. That’s something that our characters really taught me for sure. It’s okay to ask for help. It’s okay to rely on your team. It’s okay to connect and show the ugly, scary parts of yourself. We saw each other hungry and angry, mourning and grieving, and at our happiest too. We saw all of the ugly parts of each other. It’s a bond that’s hard to break once you let it happen. Fortunately for us, it was the organic way.

PC: Some of my favorite moments with you and your character are when we see her at her most vulnerable, which is often with her parents. You bring so much nuance and strength in those moments. As an actress, how do you prepare to get into that mindset for those scenes in particular?
Taylor: It’s definitely situational. I know every actor has an approach to bringing those vulnerable moments to their characters, and everybody’s so different. I’ve changed my tactic depending on what the situation is or what I’m going through in my life at the time because sometimes you can try and pull on past grievances. If you’re doing really well in your life, sometimes it doesn’t work. The emotions don’t want to budge because your brain knows that it’s not real, but your body doesn’t. When you’re pushing your body through the reliving of these traumas, your body can’t shut it on and off, like you’re going to work. You can logically tell yourself that, but your body will take it home with you. There’s a natural resistance when you’re feeling good about yourself. That doesn’t come so easily, so there are different ways to pull that out.

I lucked out that a lot of the times that my character was feeling very vulnerable, I was also having a raw moment in my life. I was grieving or going through heartbreak. I was able to pull from that as my character and myself were in parallel at that point. But I mean, there have definitely been times where I think if you can’t connect something from your physical and present life that the best option is to be present and connect with the person in the room. When you’re speaking to them, listen to their response, even though it’s written and predetermined. Just listen and be observant—that’s a lot more interesting to watch as an audience member.

My character often doesn’t say a lot, but she’s a listener. We’re very different that way, but that’s something she taught me. I think listening triggers the empath in all of us and the intuition. I think just tapping into connection, femininity, and bonding that way will bring it to where it needs to be. If you focus on the other person and let go of whatever is going on that you’re resisting, then it’s easy to get there.

PC: You’ve shared in the past that you came onto this project like any other, as an artist who wanted to create, and you never imagined the impact that this character and story would have on audiences who get to see their stories represented on screen. What has it meant for you both personally and professionally to get to play this character? How has she impacted the way that you look at future roles and characters?
Taylor: I’ve spoken to this a lot, but it’s completely shifted the trajectory of my life and the projects that I consider. Also, it’s inspired me to write screenplays with messages that feel important to me. I’m not sure that they will ever go anywhere, but it’s important to invest time into the structure of the content you want to see. If you’re not seeing it, then why can’t you make it? Who says you can’t make it? That’s how things like Motherland materialized. Someone really believed in the message enough and needed to be able to share it, and look what it’s brought us. It’s a family that I can take with me. Everyone on this show, we can all take with us far past this experience. It will never be a dying thing. It’s finite, the story exists.

The message is out there, and it can only be shared further. We were really, really fortunate that way with the people that we’ve attracted to our show, how invested they are, and how much they care. It’s really shown me the impact that storytelling with gravity has in the value of people who aren’t seeing their representation on screen. It’s made me completely rearrange the idealism I had and where I wanted my career to go.

I’ve also started a company. I haven’t spoken so much about this yet. It’s still in the early works, but it’s relating to the stuff that Motherland has taught me and the people and our viewers and the family that we’ve created and what they’ve taught me through sharing experiences and being vulnerable and having a safe space to come to like Twitter where we can all open up that conversation. It’s completely changed my life and the way that I view the world, and also the way that I converse and the way I think.

I always admit that I was quite oblivious to the lack of representation because I always saw myself growing up on screen. I have blonde hair, blue eyes, and I’m White. I’m cisgender presenting. It was never something that I struggled with. It wasn’t until I started making friends in other communities and moving to a city that was far bigger and had more diversity that I began to understand the gravity of the absence of representation on screen and in media, and how much I want to incorporate that into my life’s work and what I want to see when I look back at my life and the impact that I’ve left. It’s certainly been a driving force in the way that I walk in the world now.

PC: Speaking of that company that you started. When can we get a little bit more news about it?
Taylor: Eventually, I’ll have to talk more about it, but it’s a product that I’m developing. That’s as much as I can say.

PC: You wrapped filming a couple of months ago. What was that final day shooting? Was it everything that you expected?
Taylor: Everything and nothing that I expected. You can’t part ways with four years. I refused to part ways with the last four years of my life or with the people and the journey that I’ve navigated with all of the old and new pieces of myself. I refused to part ways with it, but the last day of shooting was hard. Obviously, there were a lot of tears leading up to it. Funnily enough, I cried (of course) on the last day, but I think I really shared my fill of tears in the week prior, but on the last day I was very present. I felt very connected. I felt very accepting. I was really confused over the last week or so of shooting and not knowing how to say goodbye to this character or these people and what that meant or what it would look like.

I’ve never been good with goodbyes or commitment. I was forced to face two of these fears of mine that I don’t function well with. If I didn’t have that team that I did, it wouldn’t be as hard, but I also wouldn’t have been able to get through it the way that I did. We all really leaned on each other. We all let each other know how much we meant to each other.

I’m hoping to jet out to Europe in August so I can see Amalia [Holm] and then Lyne [Renée] is in New York. I love going there. Ashley [Nicole Williams] is a couple of hours away in LA. Jess [Sutton] is now here in Vancouver, which is awesome. She’ll be hanging out with us during the premiere. Jess will be here.

All I can say is I really refuse to part with this story. I think it’s so much greater than the little pocket we’re leaving behind. It’s really proven itself and how expansive it’s been with our community and our viewers.

It’s the ripple effect, and it keeps going and going. I can only hope that it inspires other storytellers the way that it’s grabbed me and other creators and artists. I’m trusting in the network and trusting in the path that we’re walking in the way that we’re meant to.

PC: I know you said you’re not going to part ways with these four years, but did you take anything on set as a memorabilia of your experience?
Taylor: Of course. I have this backpack, which is full of my uniform. I had to take my uniform with me. I have so much memorabilia—I have a whole box there—but I took a lot of costumes. I have my training props from when we were learning roping at the very, very beginning of our pilot. I have all our training stuff and our gloves. I held onto a lot of stuff. I have a lot of fan art and letters, and boxes of stuff that’s Motherland themed. I have an alter right there. You can turn to see it’s right there.

I have a witch altar. I have a lot of Motherland stuff on there. I have this one necklace that the girls made…actually, I have two of them. There’s a lot going on here. This was given by one of our Biddies; it’s a dream catcher. The same with this spirit feather. This was given to me by Kylee [Brown]. I have this little voodoo witch from where she’s from. This was given to me by one of the girls. It’s also about being a witch. I think Jess made this. We had nicknames for each other. I’m Fury. Ashley was Storm. Jess was something like Shiny. We called her Shiny. So, my necklace says Fury.

We have a lot of great stuff. I have my dog tag here. I have my medallion. Jess made this Funko—it’s a little mini me. I could go on and on and play show and tell, so thank you for letting me share that stuff because it’s my private sentimental things that I like to hold on to.

PC: The sisterhood that you formed with Ashley and Jessica radiates off the screen. Having spent the last four years with them, what’s one fun fact about each of them that fans would be surprised to learn?
Taylor: Oh gosh. We spent a lot of time challenging each other. This is probably predictable but Ashley breaks character the most. She’ll laugh. She’ll go full Ashley in a scene if something’s funny. There are a lot of bloopers of her. She loves making bloopers. Before the camera cuts, she’ll do something funny to keep the spirit alive in the room. We worked really long hours, and she’s definitely a big, bright, funny energy. She’s so much fun.

Jess and I had a bit of a book club going. We’d take turns recommending each other books and then Tony [Giroux] joined part way through. We’d all have these book discussions. It’s so interesting what each relationship gained and how there was a different facet of my personality split up like a little pie with each person that came on our crew. There were all these different pieces of my personality that flowed well with someone else…it’s been quite surreal.

Ashley and I were super goofy, but Jess and I could be really serious and we’d get into philosophy and stuff that you should be asking at 3:00 AM, but at 2:00 PM, where it’s way too early to be asking what the point of life is, but we’d go into that at lunch just for fun. It’s fun to see the dynamic and how we all had different parts of each other that we shared that made the dynamic work.

PC: You’ve said in previous interviews that this show has sparked new areas of your creativity. Have you ever thought about releasing a single? Potentially a debut EP?
Taylor: I don’t know if I’m going to get in trouble for hinting about this, but if you liked that scene, you’ll love some stuff in Season 3. I just got some good news about some of the music on Motherland today. Hopefully, they’ll release some more information soon, but I’ll leave you with those breadcrumbs.

I’m always thinking about releasing music. Music’s a very, very big part of my life. We were gearing up to shoot Season 1 after the show was picked up, and so many things were changing. We were moving so quickly. I had a lot less time to focus on music, and music was a really sacred part of my everyday/weekly ritual. It’s something I had a lot less time for.

I was talking to Eliot about this because he also shares an immense love for music. We share that affinity and he said, “The nice thing about music is music always waits for you.” That’s something that really stuck with me, and I’ve carried that throughout my career as an actor since. I’m trying to find peace in having to sacrifice a lot of the things you love because that’s part of the job. Sometimes it asks you to sacrifice where you live or your relationships. It strains a lot of that, so you have to love what you do because you give up a lot to be there.

That’s something I think that’s really stuck with me. I’ve written an entire album since. I probably have at least an EP or an LP worth of music, but I made a demo and I haven’t done anything with it yet because I’m my own worst critic and it’s not where I want to be. But my dad has really gotten into music production lately and we’ve built a studio at our house in Kelowna.

My dad and I are just playing around. Every time I go up for a weekend, we jam out. We play music and connect. That’s something I got to do for Father’s Day, which was really nice. But maybe something will come out of the woodwork with my dad, so fingers crossed.

PC: You’ve also been doing more conventions recently. You’ve got to do an acoustic set at one of these conventions.
Taylor: Oh, my God. I was terrified and tormented. I’ll share this horribly embarrassing story. I had age fifteen stage fright trauma come triggering back. We did this game of musical chairs where we had to do a style of a song. I think I sang Taylor Swift in the style of Eminem. It was a fun game like that. Everyone went and all of a sudden they were like, “Why don’t you sing for us?” I went, “Oh my God. What do I sing?” Demetria [McKinney] goes up and sings. How do you follow Demetria? She sings like Whitney Houston and then some. She’s so good. I got up there and I was shaking like a kid and I couldn’t sing. I froze and I was so nervous, but I felt in a safe space to do that and risk and share my embarrassment and accept it.

That says a lot about how safe I feel with the Motherland community. I’m not afraid to embarrass myself and do something scary. I sang “Book of Love”, and I was shaking. Everyone was cheering me on. They could see how nervous I was and how bad my stage fright was. Most people put their phones down and they were present with me, and they knew I was feeling scared. We all took the moment and connected. They applauded me for doing something that felt scary.

PC: As you look back at these past four years, if you could share a message with the fans and Raelle, what would it be?
Taylor: There is value in leaning on people. There is strength in asking for help. You don’t have to do everything alone. There are people out there who love you, who might not have even met you, but there are so many pockets either on the internet or in your community or places that will make you feel safe and accepted. It might not feel like it all the time, but my Twitter’s open. You can always tweet me. There’s an entire world out there with open arms; you just have to look in the right places.

But yeah, I don’t think I’ve ever felt so safe and loved as I do in this community. So thank you to everyone who has shared time with me or space or a Twitter thread. You gave me value. You made me feel like I had something to wake up for. I know a lot of people have shared the same sentiment with me, so thank you for being a family.

To keep up with Taylor, follow her on Twitter and Instagram. Watch Motherland: Fort Salem on Freeform every Tuesday at 10/9c.

Photo Credit: Noah Asanias