Continuing OMFGTV‘s “Runaways” coverage to prepare for season 2’s December 21 premiere, series star Brittany Ishibashi (“Grace and Frankie,” “Emily Owens, MD”) took time from her busy schedule to discuss with us her character of Tina Minoru and her mindset going into the new season.
“Tina has always been incredibly focused and efficient,” Ishibashi began. “She doesn’t waste time or energy. Once she knows what she has to do, everything that’s not essential falls away. Some of her methods might seem a little brutal or harsh.”
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She also went into the complicated relationship between Tina and her daughter, Nico, and explains that they haven’t always had the healthiest relationship. “It’s kind of always been fractured,” she says. “In the beginning, she was always focused on Amy and Nico was a blink in Amy’s shadow.
“But I think their relationship gets stronger in the sense that Tina starts to see Nico’s free spirit and how alike they both are. I think Tina realizes that there is something beautiful in seeing herself in her daughter. I think there’s that moment that every parent comes to where they realize their kids are going to spread their wings and you’re never quite ready for it. And obviously with the Minorus, it’s more complicated because it involves the Staff of One!”
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“I feel like from Tina’s point of view, I’m testing Nico a lot more to see if she’s ready to hold the Staff,” Ishibashi continued. “I feel in my heart that she does have it, but I don’t know if she’s mature enough to handle it.”
A major component of Tina’s journey in season one was discovering that her husband, Robert, was having an affair with Janet Stein. With that, Ishibashi delved into Tina and Robert’s relationship going forward. “There’s so much going on with Tina and Robert, especially in the world they’ve put themselves in,” Ishibashi said.
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“I think what they both realize is that they both lost their families. We both lost our daughter, we’ve pretty much lost our other one and now we almost lost each other. For Tina, family is the most important thing. So she knows she has to get back to the heart of it. But Tina does not like being around Janet! I don’t believe in her, I think she’s worthless! You don’t lock the three of them in a room together! (Laughs)”
Ishibashi also touched on the impact that Amy’s death had on Tina in season one. “The pain of Amy’s death is just too overwhelming for Tina to bear. She puts up these incredible defenses and pushes everyone away when she should be doing the opposite. Robert tries so hard to fix it. From the outside, you can see why he found Janet.
“But they both realize that if they’re not careful, they could lose Nico as well. Their journey is trying to figure out how to get her to come back and for the family to heal again, if that’s even possible. And obviously, once they discover the truth about what happened to Amy, that creates a lot more tension and fractures in Pride.”
Al 13 episodes of “Runaways” season 2 will premiere on Hulu December 21.
