We’re just halfway into Siren‘s inaugural season and already the mermaid thriller has dropped its first big twist. Why was Helen Bristol Cove’s only believer in mermaids? How does she have such vast knowledge of the sea creatures? Why is she being so protective towards Ryn and Donna? The answer? She’s a mermaid herself!
It was during the final moments of last week’s episode, “Curse of the Starving Class,” where the mermaid antiquities shop owner revealed to her new house guest that “I’m one of you.” And after that bomb dropped, we had to get on the phone with her portrayer, Rena Owen, to get all the scoop about that big moment.
“I knew [about it] when I got the script [for the pilot],” Owen tells us about when she found out Helen’s secret. “When I first got the script, I read it and I knew straight away. I thought, ‘Oh, this woman is connected to the mermaids.’ And the telling thing for me was when she sees Ryn and she has this moment of shock.”
Owen, an international award-winning actress, reveals that there was a scene that had actually gotten snipped from the pilot that revealed Helen’s secret very early on. “What had actually got cut out of the pilot that originally was in the script, is Ryn starts speaking to Helen in mermaid, because she recognizes her as a fellow mer-person,” Owen says.
“And also the way that [Helen] had this whole shop, the whole antiquities store about mermaids, that she had a disdain for the fantastical fantasy parade because she believes in the whole thing, and also when Ben comes to the store and she give him the whole family history. So I knew from reading that first script.”
Rena goes on to say that when production started on the pilot, she had confirmed with the key creators, the writers, producers and showrunner, and they had informed her that, ‘Helen definitely has mermaid in her history.’ “So it wasn’t a surprise for me,” she says.
“If anything, the great thing about that is it guided and informed my performance, and because I knew this knowledge that no one else knew, it help me to create a more interesting, more complex character that had a really big secret.”
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So why has Helen been keeping the existence of mermaids a secret? Rena says that like anything, it’s a case of self-perseverance and protection for herself and the others. “I mean she’s not going to go out and say, ‘Ryn’s a mermaid!'” she explains.
“So why would she go out and say, ‘Hey, guess what? I’m a mer-person!’ You keep these things hidden, safe, and protected until there’s a change in consciousness or until they ever get into that point in the series where mer-people just became part of normal life.”
Whether there are more people in Bristol Cove who secretly know about Helen’s history, Owen says her character has yet to discover that. “If we get to go to another season, which would be fantastic, that could be something that be developed.”
She also shares that when Helen makes her big proclamation, on the script, it said ‘This is the first time she’s ever said these words out loud.’ “So it was an emotional, vulnerable moment,” she says. “It really felt like Helen coming out of the closet.”
Now that the revelation that Helen is one of them is out in the fandom, Rena says she’s “thrilled!” She shares that when the first trailer came out, she read a lot of the comments on social media and a few people had already figured it out. “A few people said, ‘That lady, that woman, she’s a mermaid.’ A few of them could tell from the interaction.
“Someone said it takes one to know one,” she continues. “A few picked up on it, but they still couldn’t be sure. And then in episode 4, when Helen is helping Ryn with her skin condition, she sees the same skin condition on her leg. For a lot of people, that moment just confirmed it, but it wasn’t until those words came out of her mouth, that now everyone knows.”
As for the fan response, Rena says that it’s amazing that the Siren Squad is loving it! “I’m just thrilled that people are digging Helen the character and even more so now that she’s a mer-person,” Owen says. “And you’ll get to find out more specifics about her actual history later in the series.”
The series continues with tonight’s all-new, heart-pounding episode, “Showdown.” When we last saw Ryn (Eline Powell) and Donna (Sibongile Mlambo), the two were separated after the latter was shunned by her sister when it was decided she would stay back with her human friends. Feeling betrayed, Donna fled and was forced to fend for herself.
When the siren sisters do reunite in tonight’s episode, Owen says that viewers won’t quite know how it’s going to go down. “It could go either way,” she teases. “They could start another fight. You wish for the best.” Hopefully they won’t end up trashing poor Helen’s apartment.
Living on land, Ryn is constantly learning from everyone and everything around her. In “Showdown,” Helen shows Ryn something new. And without giving anything away, Owen says that whatever it is, “It’s a new way of being close and connected to Ben and Maddie.”
With Aldon Decker (Ron Yuan) on the hunt for Donna and even managing to find Chris all the way in Alaska, he has finally made his way to Bristol Cove. Should the mermaids be worried? “No,” Owen says defiantly. “I think Decker should be worried! [laughs]”
Siren airs Thursdays at 8pm on Freeform.
