“SurrealEstate” Exclusive: Tennille Read Breaks Down Megan’s ‘Devastating’ (But Not Real) Death; Talks Working With Co-Star Tim Rozon
On the latest episode of SYFY’s SurrealEstate, viewers were introduced to a very interesting type of demon in the form of Catherine Owens (guest star Elizabeth Saunders). The demon, known as a Watchmaker, is said to be one who does very bad things in the same way in a very precise order. While in prison, Catherine is able to kill her victims out in the world in ways that make it look accidental. The cause of all the deaths have one eerie commonality: gruesome head injuries where they are impaled through the eye.
The team at The Roman Agency discover that the Watchmaker’s victims were all potential home buyers who had toured the Owens house. With a guest book provided by Rita Weiss (Alison Brooks), they find that one of the names on that list — and the next in line to be killed — is Luke Roman’s (Tim Rozon) new boo Megan Donovan. It’s a race against the clock to get her to safety within the confines of the office. But when she secretly leaves the building, her tragic fate was signed, sealed, and delivered… But not really.
In an exclusive interview with PopWire, Tennille Read discusses the scene where Roman and his crew orchestrated Megan’s fake death to outsmart the Watchmaker, which ultimately lead to her satisfying demise. We mentioned that when Megan “died,” we were very much concerned! “Aww, that’s good to hear!” she says with a laugh. “I’m glad that was worry and it wasn’t like, ‘Wow, it’s about time.'”
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When initially going through the script for the episode, titled “Roman’s Six” (written by Duana Taha), the Indo-Trinidadian Toronto-based actress says she was reading it with her morning coffee. “Honestly, when I got to that part [where Megan dies], I dropped my computer on the bed and I cried,” Read tells us.
“Even though I knew deep down that they wouldn’t be killing me off for real, there was a part of me that was like, ‘But what if they did?!’ I immediately just sped read the rest of the script — and obviously her death is not real — and I remember reaching out to George Olson, the show’s creator, and was like, ‘WHEW! That was close!'”
When the med student plunges to the ground and is turned over on that pool of blood, we couldn’t help but think how beautiful she looked! “You. Dead. Gorgeoussss!!!” we said to Tennille. And during that overhead shot, it almost looked as if she had a slight smile on her face.
“That day was incredibly cold and damp,” Read shares on filming that scene. “In that shot of me lying on the pavement on the sidewalk, I had about 5 hot water bottles packed behind me so that I wouldn’t feel the coldness of the cement. Everyone was making sure I was ok. From the fine people in the wardrobe department, to [Melanie Scrofano] who directed that episode, I felt very taken care of.
“It’s funny that you say that I looked like I was smiling because I was probably grimacing just a little bit from the discomfort,” she says with a laugh. “[That scene] really does throw a curveball at the end of that episode.”
The revelation that her death was staged came as a relief to us, the fans, Tennille and her character Megan — and that’s thanks to the agency and Luke Roman, who spearheaded the plan. The blossoming relationship between Luke and Megan (‘ship name “Romanovan”) on SurrealEstate is one that fans have loved seeing flourish on the show. On working with her co-star, Read says that it’s been “fantastic” working with Tim Rozon.
“I had heard so much about him from friends who had worked with him before,” she says. “They all said that he’s a great guy, and it turns out, he is. It was such a stroke of luck because we didn’t have any chemistry test going into the show; part of that was because of the pandemic and being in person was not a thing that casting was doing at the time.
“It was a surprise and a relief to be able to have that kind of chemistry with someone, especially these two characters who go on to have a romantic relationship,” she continues. “He’s such a generous scene actor to perform with, and just like a normal dude. It was great. We could just hang out and then hang out with the cameras rolling.”
We’ll get to see much more of Luke and Megan hanging out in the next few episodes, even though she still remains cynical and skeptical about Luke and his work in his agency — but maybe not for long. “Megan being Megan, she’s still very curious about it, and allows herself to go down the rabbit hole of what Luke’s line of work is really about,” Tennille Read says. “We later get to see her lose herself into the world of the paranormal.”
SurrealEstate airs Fridays at 10pm on SYFY.