Boyd is trying to focus on helping Ava, but that also leads him into some compromising situations. For example, the scene where he takes his shirt off in the bar and Mara is examining his tattoos. At some point, Ava has to find out about things like that, and I almost fear what kind of repercussions Boyd might have to face when she does.
That’s the thing, when you don’t know the answers, your mind feeds you dark stuff, and you start to listen to it. Boyd’s on this journey to help Ava, but what is he really becoming? The general drive was to help Ava, but I think he taps into a darker place in himself. I watch it, and I think this is a man out of control. He’s not just doing this for Ava, he’s also on his own mission.
There’s not a lot of people in either one of their lives that is giving them much reason to trust them and to believe in them and to lean on them, so all they really have is each other. And now they don’t have that. It’s so sad.
As a viewer, it feels like we were sucker punched. Ava was about to be free and reunited with Boyd, and then after the scene with Danny Strong on Ava’s last night in jail… it was so unfair! Please tell me there’ll be a chance for Ava to get some payback.
Oh God, I sure hope so! [laughs] I can’t really tell you how it’s going to end, I can just tell you that I’ve had a lot of sympathy from the crew, and they’re rooting for me to get out of prison, too! [laughs]
With most of your scenes taking place in different locations this season, how has that changed the shooting experience for you?
I didn’t even know what was happening at the beginning of the season. I was just getting these little tine scenes, and I was like “guys, you put me in jail! What is the deal?” I was getting nervous and feeling isolated and alone, and when they moved me to this completely different location, I don’t get to see the office people that I see, or the cast members. So you just have to use it, you have to use this feeling like you’ve been abandoned, even though I know I haven’t.
All the research I’ve done on prison life and how you change and the isolation, it’s helped a lot. It’s kind of been a hard season for me to carry around in everyday life. I’m ready for this season to be over, I’m ready for something positive to happen for Ava. But as an actress, it’s been brilliant, I get to really sink my teeth in and live in this different world with this character and watch her change.
It seems like we’re in this period where television writers are creating these amazing roles for females, like Robin Wright in House of Cards, or Diane Kruger in The Bridge, or your own role in Justified. Would you agree that right now, television is more rewarding and offers more opportunities for actresses?
I think so. I also think that films, budget-wise, are getting harder and harder to make, so they’re only using top-tier actors and those are the only people getting the opportunity to play such rich, developed characters. Now TV is providing that for women, and I’m so happy to even be named in that category.
TV has really stepped up, it’s really gotten away from the formula and it’s branched out to become very individual. I love it, and in TV you get to nurture a character and really develop a character much more than you do in the film world, where you only have a limited amount of time.
With one more season to go, the writers have to be looking toward the end game. I’m sure you can’t spoil anything, but where do you hope Ava ultimately winds up?
I was asked this once before, and I really want Ava to survive the show. I think to kill her off would be such a tragedy to this character’s journey, that everything she ends up surviving – if she survives this season, I’m waiting for the last episode – it’s a credit to this character and the message that we’ve sent about her humanity.
I also want [Raylan] to have a conversation with Ava, and I want him to admit that he’s cut out of the same cloth that she and Boyd are. Just because he carries a badge, he’s really not any different than them. His whole issue with his family and his background and Kentucky and where he’s from, I think he needs to own it, that he is who he is because of it. I want her to walk away into the sunset, and I want Raylan to let her do it. I think that would be a very just thing to happen.
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Justified airs Tuesday nights at 10pm, exclusively on FX.