Disclaimer: This FROM interview contains plots spoilers through season 3 episode 8.
Actress Elizabeth Saunders joined us for an interview to discuss Donna’s emotional well-being in the midst of FROM season 3. This season has brought more horrors, challenges, and devastation than ever before. Whether it’s food shortages or human-on-human murder, Donna stays busy as the leader and caretaker of Colony House.
NOTE: This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
LadyJenevia: One of my favourite Donna moments this season is when she tells Ethan in the kitchen of Colony House that Tian-chen loved him very much. Leading up to that moment, it felt as though Donna was cracking under the pressure of everything going wrong in the town. Can you share your perspective of that scene, and do you feel as though it was a moment that helped Donna to re-centre herself as this leader and caretaker of the Colony House?
Saunders: Yeah, that’s a great question. It’s like in life. I think she’s crumbling throughout this season. It’s rough what’s going on with the food. Then, when she sees Ethan and knowing what’s playing with him, that is that moment where an adult needs to rise above to hold a child and and let them know as best they can that something is going to be okay, or that there’s meaning to it. While doing that, that often lifts us while we do it because we’re taking care of the youth.
LadyJenevia: In rewatching FROM season 3 specifically to focus on all of the Donna scenes, I noticed that she does a lot of emotional labour for others. From your perspective of all the details and nuances of Donna’s inner workings, is anyone ever reciprocating and checking in on Donna’s emotional well-being?
Saunders: That…
No, I don’t think so. I think it crosses Boyd’s mind. I mean, we have a moment where he has no choice but to be there for her because she just cracks, the scene where they go upstairs and she just breaks down in his arms, but yeah, on the whole, no one’s really taking care of her.
LadyJenevia: Do you believe that Donna is conscious of the fact that people are not reciprocating that emotional labour?
Saunders: I don’t think she’s conscious of it, no.
LadyJenevia: Well that could be something interesting for the writers to explore in season four. I hope we get a season four because the season finale is really good.
Saunders: Oh, I hope we get a season four too! I want to know what happens.
LadyJenevia: A lot of answers and a lot of questions simultaneously being delivered to the audience [in the season finale].
LadyJenevia: You bring up Boyd and I would love to know, we see that Donna and Boyd have experienced a lot of ups and downs in their relationship across not just this season but all three seasons of FROM. What do you feel are the roots of their disagreements as well as their camaraderie with one another?
Saunders: They both recognise in each other that there is a good heart there. You know when someone is a stable, good-hearted person and you can trust them. They sense that in one another, but their backgrounds in life have brought them to really different places of how you function with with the problems we’re being presented. There is a respect there even even when we really disagree. It’s hard for me to say to Boyd, “I really think you’re wrong.”
LadyJenevia: There are a lot of [characters] clashing with Boyd this season so it’s not specific to Donna.
Saunders: There’s a lot of clashing but I think it’s always harder to clash with someone that you actually believe in and you do care for than to clash with somebody who’s just a dick.
LadyJenevia: I think they both know that their hearts are in the right place. I love that there’s always love there.
LadyJenevia: I’ve seen all of season 3 but I’m going to publish this interview after episode 8 is released. At that point, Donna knows that Fatima was the one who “got” Tilly. Can you offer an insight into Donna’s mental and emotional state upon learning this, given how close of a relationship she has to Fatima within the Colony House?
Saunders: It’s heartbreaking. Donna has a such a strong sense of what’s right and wrong that she really trips over it. It’s a painful thing. It’s like family betraying you. Donna wasn’t there. She knows what Fatima did but doesn’t know how much of it was of her own volition.
LadyJenevia: Right, definitely. Thank you so much for your time. Congratulations on another fantastic season. I have had so much fun watching it. I’m more invested now than ever so we definitely need a season 4 because I need to see what happens next.
Saunders: Thank you. Thank you so much, and I agree. We need a season four!
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Watch my full interviews with FROM stars Elizabeth Saunders and Corteon Moore here:
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