Freeform’s Siren took a bit of a break in the story department with its underwhelming installment, “Life and Death,” which focused on the birth of Ryn’s baby and the death of her surrogate, Meredith. Now that we’re almost halfway through the mermaid drama’s third season, we’re ready to share more of our interview with Auntie Helen herself, Rena Owen, about what else we can expect for the rest of the season.
In the two-hour Season 3 premiere event, Sarge (Hugo Ateo) reunited with Helen to send her an important message that “war is coming.” As fans of the series remember, his character was killed off in the mid-season finale of Season 2. Rena reveals that at the end of that season, showrunners Eric Wald and Emily Whitesell were looking into ways to bring Sarge back.
“Not in a soapy way, but in a way that makes sense and what’s relevant,” Rena tells us. She goes on to say that she knew they were aspiring to bring him back, but it was the way he was brought back that surprised her. “It’s very clever,” she says. “[Our showrunners] are really quite ahead of the times in a lot of ways.”
When asked if we’ll see more of him on Siren, whether through a vision or in the spirit world, she answers with a high-pitched “Maybeeeeeeee????” followed by a laugh. She does point out one of the snippets shown in trailers for the new season in which she embraces Sarge’s face. So, yes, “we are going to see a bit more Sarge.” And unfortunately, because he is dead, they aren’t able to have the kind of relationship fans were hoping for in Season 2.
Though war is coming for Ryn and her tribe, which is also keeping Ben (Alex Roe) and Maddie (Fola Evans-Akingbola) busy, the New Zealand actress tells us that Helen has a “pretty cool story line going on” that is not necessarily directly linked to the war, but part of a similar theme.
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“The audience is going to be really, really excited about her future storyline,” she says. “She’s tapping more into the folklore. We’ve seen her with Eliza (Georgia Waters), learning more of the mermaid language, learning more about mermaid culture. She’s tapped in to this spirit realm. That could lead places.”
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With Elaine’s increasingly accelerated mobility issues coming close to a full cure, as well as a few new-found skills (abilities?) her care team are discovering, it’s no wonder Ben has a fascination with mermaid stem cells.
“It’s not what happens to Elaine,” she warns, “it’s what someone does with that information” that we need to worry about. Is the marine biologist experiementing on himself because he’s concerned about his mother, or does he have other, more sinister plans?
Other tidbits from our interview:
• Tia (Tiffany Lonsdale-Hands) brought some much needed action and deadly kills to the season (the opening moments of the season premiere alone are perfection!) Rena says, however, that the show will not get too violent or gorey, so fans don’t need to be worried about the show getting too graphic.
• Xander (Ian Verdun) has some really, really, really great stuff coming up. So be sure to watch out for that!
• Everyone will have their own little storylines, but they will all connect near the end of the season.
• Rena has “everything crossed that the show will return for another season.” Until then, she suggests that the best way to help the show while at the same time curing your self-isolation woes is to binge watch the show! Catch up or re-watch on Hulu or Freeform.
• Lastly, Rena Owen tells us that the last three intallments of the season — episodes 8, 9, 10 — are “crazy, scary good!” Adding that the season finale “goes out with a bang!”
Siren airs Thursdays at 10pm on Freeform.