We’re just over halfway through the third season of SYFY’s Van Helsing, so we thought it would be a great time to chat with a fan favorite, Jennifer Cheon! The actress, whose recent TV credits include Colony and The Drive, plays badass Sisterhood leader Ivory, who recently became a Daywalker and made all of her Sisters Daywalkers as well. Jennifer discussed with us what that change meant for Ivory and for herself, the relationship between Ivory and Scab, and what that crazy “snip snip” scene was like.
Jennifer joined the Van Helsing cast in the second season playing a villain, so she has been pleasantly surprised by how much fans seem to love Ivory. “It’s been really surreal, man,” Cheon tells us. “I mean it’s a dream come true, and that’s not even an exaggeration. Just the type of love that the character has gotten, and you know she’s technically a villain, it’s just been really exciting to see the change and see how many people are team vampire. I love it!” And fans definitely love Ivory and Jennifer, tweeting lots of fan art daily!
So far this season we have seen Ivory go from a being normal vampire to being a Day Walker, and Jennifer was definitely happy about the change. Along with not having to do night shoots, Jennifer also loved the freedom it brought her.
“It’s been really freeing,” she says. “I was kinda given the opportunity to shed like the snarling and the voice that she had at the beginning, just to try and ground her a little bit more and give myself more flexibility for other characteristics to come through so people don’t see just like [makes snarling vampire noises] you know, vampire type thing. So that was really exciting for me.”
Now that the Day Walkers have been introduced, the humans really have to be on guard 24/7 to survive. “What it does, it heightens everything, the storyline. Humans thought that at least during the day they had time to get away, or they had time to come up with alternate plans, but now they don’t.”
It’s been pretty obvious that Ivory and Scab (Rowland Pidlubny) have a deeper type of relationship than we see between most vampires. It’s more than loyalty or servitude type of relationship, but not quite romantic. “I love it so much! Because it’s not necessarily like, ‘oh look at them, they’re in vampire love,’ you know what I mean? It seems more real than that. Cause you know some relationships and chemistry you have with another person, you can’t quite define it.
“It’s not romantic yet it is romantic because you care that much,” she continues. “It’s just something that is special, and I love that we’re not really sure which way it’s going, but it’s morphing into something really special. And that’s what I love! It’s kind of a little bit of a mirror of Rowland and I.” They have an awesome relationship and have crazy conversations about their characters and their own lives with one another.
The last time we saw Ivory, Scab had voluntarily given up his manhood to join the Sisterhood before Ivory lead the Sisterhood to kill Scarhead and “snip” several other male vampires. Jennifer was surprised, but really liked how the scene with Scab turned out. “I thought it was dark and twisted, yes. But it just showed that loyalty that Scab has, unlike any relationship I’ve ever heard. But it was just so beautifully shot.” She even loved it so much that it’s probably her favorite shot of the season due to the scenery and lighting and the way it was shot from a crane. “I know I may be a little biased, but I think it’s my favorite shot of the season, I’m not gonna lie.”
Ivory taking out Scarhead was a huge move for her and builds her army tremendously. “That was a pretty big moment, because she took out Scarhead, who was the leader of the Day Walkers. She’s building this army, and y’all just gotta wait and see what she wants to do with this army, and it’s a pretty big one. And now she knows about Denver, so things are really heatin’ up for the humans.”
Van Helsing airs Fridays at 10pm on Syfy.
