“SurrealEstate” Exclusive: Tennille Read Talks Megan Donovan, Working With Director Melanie Scrofano, & Teases Upcoming ‘Devastating’ Episode
As the ambitious and grounded-in-science med student on SYFY’s haunting and humorous SurrealEstate, Megan Donovan has certainly caught the eye of the warmhearted and compassionate Luke Roman (Tim Rozon) — and viewers alike. Not only is the real estate firm owner linked to the haunted homeowner due to their budding relationship, but his ties extend to her home, as 11 Maple Valley Road houses a really big part of Luke’s life.
In an exclusive interview with PopWire, the very lovely Tennille Read (“Workin’ Moms“) discusses what it was like working with the fan-favorite director, filming with the rest of her co-stars, and previews her character Megan’s upcoming big episode, “Roman’s Six,” written by Duana Taha. Plus check out an exclusive sneak peek below!
“I describe her as very smart, kind yet cynical, and skeptical,” Read tells us of her character Megan. “She’s a very pragmatic person. She’s in med school right now and she doesn’t totally believe in ghosts and the paranormal, but she’s being sort of forced to confront that belief at the moment.”
Confronting that belief will partly come in the series’ upcoming installment, which is directed by Wynonna Earp‘s Melanie Scrofano. “Roman’s Six” is the second of the two episodes the actress-turned-director helmed for the SYFY series — the first being the previous episode, “Ft. Ghost Child.” On working with the much-beloved Scrofano, Tennille shares that she had a great experience.
“[Melanie] is such a collaborative director to work with,” says Read, who was not in the first episode directed by the Earp star. “She comes from an acting background and just knows how to speak to actors and get what she needs from them. It was a delight to be able to collaborate with her on some of the scenes and figure out some pretty intricate sequences together, especially in this upcoming episode. She has such a good eye for piecing those things together. It was a delight.”
Not only was this the first time the Canadian actress got to work with Scrofano with this episode, but it’s her first time working with the rest of the cast all at the same time. “It was cool to be invited into the Roman Agency and do scenes within the office environment,” Read says.
“Since most of my scenes prior to that had been with Luke at Megan’s house, it was a new dynamic to enter into, and I had a lot of fun acting with the rest of the team. I also loved seeing how they embodied their characters and lifted them off the pages of the script. Everyone is so perfectly cast!”
Fans of Read’s character have been curious for more insight into who she is. In “Roman’s Six,” the actress reveals that we will get to learn a little bit more about Megan’s background. “We get to see a nostalgic side of her that we’ve never seen before,” she says.
“We get to also see her and Luke at a further stage of their relationship, one where they’re more at ease. They still have that kind of banter and humor; I guess the difference right now is that she’s on the same page with him about what’s going on for him and his past regarding his mom.”
As for the episode as a whole, she says that we will get to see something that the show does really well. “That’s swinging the pendulum of emotions and the journey that the audience gets to go on,” Tennille Read teases.
“This coming episode is one that goes from humor to something creepy and spooky to something that happens that’s kind of devastating, and then swinging back to humor again. The audience goes on this wild journey with us. We get to see some pretty cool, suspenseful stuff go down.”
SurrealEstate airs Fridays at 10pm on SYFY.