“Runaways” Exclusive: Angel Parker Talks Catherine’s Ruthlessness, Alex’s Struggles and More!
Continuing OMFGTV‘s “Runaways” coverage ahead of the show’s season 2 premiere on December 21, series star Angel Parker spoke with us about her character of Catherine Wilder, her drive in the new season and much more.
Parker started things off talking about how she approaches playing a villain who is not necessarily a clear cut evil, but is doing things for understandable reasons. “I love playing that because a lot of villains, you assume that they have reasons for what they’re doing, but you don’t always get to see it,” Parker said.
“On our show, you get to see all sides of it. We get to show the decision-making and the hesitation. I actually like that they have the parents doing so much and you get to see why they’re so bad and why they’re so cruel and why the kids don’t know anything for so long and why it’s such a shock to them.”
RELATED | Parker also delved into the differences between the Pride as portrayed in the Marvel comics versus the show’s more sympathetic versions. “I did read the comics and they’re a little more one dimensional and very much drawn as villains,” Parker said. “But I think our show runners, Josh and Stephanie, wanted to make a show that could last and go for several seasons and the only way to do that is to have true character development.”
“I think it’s fascinating to go into the development of the villains and why they are the way that they are,” she continued. “Especially the fact that the Runaways start to become conflicted themselves on are they bad or not. We really do dive more into the kids and their trust this season.”
Following the season one ending of the kids running away from their evil parents, Parker went into how the loss of Alex affects Catherine’s mindset. “I think that Catherine is pushed up against a wall. She doesn’t do too well losing, she likes to win. That’s what brought her to this status in life. She’s a successful woman, a successful lawyer, a successful parent. And this season, she’s losing. She’s lost her son and that doesn’t sit well with her.”
“To find a woman pushed up against a wall like that, you don’t know how she’s going to respond,” Parker said. “I don’t think Catherine knows how she’s going to respond. There’s not much remorse. She knows, ‘I have to get my son back by any means necessary. I don’t care if I damage my relationship with him, I don’t care if I damage my relationship with Geoffrey. My son has to come home.’ She sort of puts the blinders up to do what she needs to do, but there’s always going to be repercussions for her actions that she hadn’t counted on.”
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“I see the reasons and I see that she’s desperate,” Parker said on her view of her character. “She knows that her husband has what she would consider weakness, especially when it comes to Darius. He has this connection to his past and Catherine only cares about her future and her family. She wants to shut that door. We don’t know much about Catherine’s past, but we know that if there’s an opportunity that’s beneficial to her, she seizes it.”
Parker also discussed Alex’s determination to bring his parents to justice and how that will affect both parties in season two. “(Alex) gets a little blinded by his focus,” Parker elaborated. “He’s actually very similar to Catherine. It’s an interesting turn for him. Is he becoming his parents? That’s every teenager’s worst fear.”
“The whole journey for Alex is finding his strength because he doesn’t have powers and Geoffrey knows that. When Geoffrey and Alex end up together in season two, he says, ‘I know you, you fly by the seat of your pants and you wing it. And this is not something you can wing.’ He thinks he’s got it all figured out, but so do the Wilders. Sometimes leaders make big mistakes.”
The entire 13 episode second season of “Runaways” premieres on Hulu December 21.