With Season 1 of the super-powered series The Tomorrow People exploding through its final episodes, Warner Bros. TV granted me some time to speak with the show’s lead female star, Peyton List. Fans know her as Cara Coburn, the steely driven leader of The Tomorrow People (I know her as Lucy Lane from Smallville because I’m a Superman nerd) with a troubled past and complicated relationships with two men that she fights with in their war with ULTRA.
Read on as she tells me about this Monday’s episode and teases an epic season finale on the horizon.
[spoilers ahead for the last new episode, Smoke and Mirrors]
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In the last new episode Smoke and Mirrors, Cara telepathically connected to Stephen in a, shall we say, “intimate” moment between himself and Hillary.
That’s a nice way of putting it. [laughs]
Have to stay family friendly! How much of her declaration that they are “losing” Stephen is out of a legitimate fear of him fully joining ULTRA or out of just jealousy of his new relationship?
I think it’s a little bit of both. It’s a little bit of jealousy that Stephen’s not looking to Cara as the number one woman in his life. Which makes her jealous, whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing. But also Hillary works for ULTRA. Her loyalty is not where Cara and John’s loyalty are and if Stephen is starting to maybe have some feelings or be very invested in Hillary, where does that leave them?
From the beginning our goal was to have Stephen as the spy in ULTRA and feeding us information so we can be better prepared to deal with them and keep us safe. Suddenly that seems to be shifting and that’s a very scary thing for Cara, especially as leader, because if she doesn’t have that information, it’s not enough to keep The Tomorrow People protected and safe.
Speaking of her leadership role, do you think Cara would ever willingly give over her leadership spot in The Tomorrow People, or would she always need to be top dog?
Well, I think Cara is very headstrong and stubborn and she always thinks she’s right. I think the idea of someone challenging her within The Tomorrow People who she completely knows and trusts, I don’t think that would be that big of a deal for her.
I think the idea that there’s somebody out there, now that we’re seeing the softer side of ULTRA – someone like Hillary, if she starts to have more sway over Tomorrow People whether it’s Stephen or others, that’s a very scary prospect for Cara. Because if they’re not people in the subway, Tomorrow People, she just doesn’t trust anybody and doesn’t trust anybody to make the right call for what she believes is the right thing. Especially for a choices that will keep everyone alive.
In Monday’s episode Modus Vivendi, it looks like many of The Tomorrow People are ready to call the war over and celebrate but Cara isn’t buying it. Can you tell us about her approach to this “truce”?
Cara’s approach is based on her track record and her past with The Tomorrow People. So many of the people that are living underground are getting restless and it’s a war that they thought probably would be over and done with. It’s something they may have believed in, but has dragged on and they’ve lost more people. They’re starting to look for the light at the end of the tunnel and when this truce comes along a lot of people want that to be okay.
The last time Cara thought everything was okay, it went horribly wrong and they lost people. I think she has learned, especially over the course of this last year, to be much more cautious. She usually makes a lot of decisions with her heart and she would ask questions first and think later.
We’ve come to see that she’s starting to try to process and make rational decisions, whether or not it’s what she wants to be true in her heart. So she’s very wary about ULTRA being A-okay and not the enemy anymore, because it’s just such a foreign concept and she’s not quick to trust anything close to that.
The trailer for the episode makes it look like the characters and the cast are having some goofy fun. Is that the vibe of the episode or are bigger more serious things going on?
We have our moments of levity, but this episode is very pivotal with parts of the story that we’re telling all the way through to the end. So I look at episodes like #16 (Superhero) with The Red Avenger that had some very fun moments and you see a lighter side to The Tomorrow People.
However, we are getting more information as it’s coming in with the final storylines, and as we move forward we’ve got to sort of choose our sides, and we’ve got Jedekiah saying one thing and we’ve got The Founder saying another, but for so long to us they were a united front.
The fact that they’re sort of splitting is hard for The Tomorrow People and the stakes just rev up a bit more. So it’s hard to have those carefree moments when you’re going “Okay, I think this if okay” but they’ve still got Jedikiah out there, and where does that lead everything? It makes you a bit wary to let down your hair. But you also don’t want to be completely against it, so you see them try. And trying is half the battle right?
Have you guys wrapped up the finale yet? I know you were supposed to finished filming very soon.
Tomorrow [April 11th]. Tomorrow is the last day. I can’t believe it. The last day of the finale. It’s going to be a massive, massive episode. But really, really exciting to shoot. I think what I enjoyed so much is that we’ve got so many questions answered in the 60 minutes that we have, so it’s kind of one thing after the next. It’s crazy.
Mark Pellegrino told me during my interview with him that “The entire universe will change.” Would you say he was accurate?
Quite literally yes.
So he might have actually been doing some clever wordplay there?
Yes. Yep!
Well now that you’re at the end of filming, is there anything specifically you’ll remember or that you’ll take away from your experience during the first season?
Absolutely. I think from the beginning of the season, it’s almost a different world they are existing in because so many things have changed. You sort of spend the first half of the season maybe believing your character is one way or that character is another, and then once you start to see where the writers are planning on going its just becomes such a ride. You evolve so much and how you approach your character evolves so much.
It’s kind of crazy, I look back on the season and I have such vivid memories of each episode and what that was like, and the funny things that happened while we were shooting it and the crazy reveals that we had. I will always remember fondly… me, I’m always the last to know everything, so I get to at least enjoy the fact that I see Robbie [Amell] or Luke [Mitchell] or Aaron [Yoo] running to hair and makeup going “Oh my god, you won’t believe what happened!” and you get so excited.
That’s probably my favorite thing looking back, being on a show that had so many big huge twists at the end – everyone was clawing to see the first drafts of the scripts and beat the other people that had them, because you don’t want to have it spoiled. But it’s always spoiled for me because I’m always the last to read it.
However, I get to enjoy seeing everyone’s excitement and the parts that they love. Especially in television, you get to see all these twists and turns of your character that you don’t see coming. I look back on it very fondly. It’s been a wild ride.
Any news on a renewal?
Well, I have not heard anything on the renewal. But that’s okay, because I’m always the last to know!
I’ve asked the other cast members that I’ve spoken this question, so I’d like to know your take on it as well. If you could have any super-power, not just the ones on the show, do you know what you’d choose?
I do like the teleporting idea. I think that might be the super-power to have. But invisibility would also be great, which I know sounds really bizarre. But hey, it would be awesome!
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The Tomorrow People airs Monday nights at 9pm, exclusively on The CW.