The anthology series, Side Quest, which is the first spinoff to the popular Apple TV Plus series Mythic Quest, contains four standalone episodes meant to explore different parts of the original universe. It follows the lives of supporting characters from the original series as well as employees, players, and fans of the game.

The third episode, “Fugue,” which recently premiered on the streaming network, follows Sylvie, played by Annamarie Kasper, a cellist who dreams of joining the Mythic Quest Orchestra. When her dreams come true and she goes on tour, she finds that the reality is not as she imagines. The episode explores her struggles and ultimately rediscovery of her love of music.

Kasper recently spoke with SciFi Vision about working on the spinoff, her own background in music, and more.

Read the full transcript below.

SCIFI VISION:   Talk a bit about her journey, just overall, for people who haven't seen it.

ANNAMARIE KASPER:   So, Sylvie is this really passionate cellist and has this lifelong dream of joining the Mythic Quest Orchestra. And it finally happens, and she gets to go on tour, and then it ends up being maybe not like she imagined. I think we all have kind of big dreams, and sometimes, when they come true, it can be really hard when it's not how you think it's going to go. So, we watch her kind of really struggle with that, but, ultimately, you kind of come out on the other side and rediscover her love and her passion for music and such. So, yeah.

SCIFI VISION:   So what was it about this that made you want to be a part of it?

ANNAMARIE KASPER:   I mean, I love the world of Mythic Quest. It's such an amazing show. And then the standalones are just so special. I think there's a reason they're so loved by so many people. So, getting to not only be a part of the Mythic Quest world, but to have my own standalone episode was just like, it doesn't get better than that. It was really, really special.

SCIFI VISION:   Now, I'm assuming you - I mean, I don't know, maybe you can, but can you play the cello? Or is that all? Yes, I can.

ANNAMARIE KASPER:   Yes, I can. So, that's me really playing. It's me really playing, and then I also went and recorded the cello parts as well. So, yeah, I grew up playing cello. It was kind of before I pivoted to more acting, I studied cello in college. So, it was a huge part of who I was for a really long time. So, it was super fun to get to tap into that world.

SCIFI VISION:   That's really cool. I did not know that. Well, I was going ask you what your prep was in that respect, so what was your prep other than the music, since you already knew how to do that?

ANNAMARIE KASPER:   Yeah, I mean, we still had some music prep too. So, I worked a lot with TK, our composer, who's an absolute genius and does really incredible work in this episode. So, we did prep with that. Then, you know, building out this world of Sylvie, creating who she was, really mapping out this journey that she went on, the up and the down, working with Katie, our writer, Todd, our director, to really bring it to life.

SCIFI VISION:   Was there anything that you found difficult with her to connect with?

ANNAMARIE KASPER:   You know, what was so great about playing Sylvie was we had kind of this huge thing connecting us, which was this history with music and cello. So, it was actually really - she's definitely the character I felt most aligned with. It felt like we almost had many parallel elements of our lives, because we did this thing so passionately and had this deep love for cello and for music. So, it's actually so cool, because any parts of her that I didn't quite get, I was really able to tap into pretty easily through finding a shared kind of cello connection or music connection, which was really nice to have.

SCIFI VISION:   You said you studied the cello; did you ever perform in front of an audience like that, on a stage that big?

ANNAMARIE KASPER:   I did. I played I played for quite a while. I never had a quite a spiral like she did, thank goodness. I was lucky. I kind of got out before it got too deep or too serious. Yeah.

So, I did play for a few people a few times. So, it was kind of easy. I think I there's always like a little bit of stage fright, no matter how many times you do it or how much you've done it. There's always kind of that like nerves that kick in. So, it was easy to kind of touch into that.

SCIFI VISION:   Talk about working with the cast.

ANNAMARIE KASPER:   Incredible cast. I mean, Esai Morales, an absolute legend. So, it was such a dream to get to work with him. He's such an incredible person. So good. It made it so easy to be terrified of him, because he really, I mean, you'll see in the episode, he's absolutely phenomenal.

And then Asjha [Cooper], who plays my my friend, we had never met before the show, but now she's become one of my really, really good friends. So, that's another wonderful thing that came out of this is I got a great new friend out of it. We had so much fun. Just across the board, incredible cast, incredible crew. I could not have asked for a better team to work with.

SCIFI VISION:   What have you learned about yourself since this experience, or how has it changed you?

ANNAMARIE KASPER:   It's a really good question. You know, I think I think this was like a really big undertaking. This role was definitely kind of my biggest undertaking thus far. I think what was fun about [it was], as Sylvie was going through this huge thing, I was also going through this huge thing. And I think it was really cool to get to get to tackle that and learn that I can really take on a project in a role like this. So, that was a really cool thing to learn about myself.

SCIFI VISION:   So, you said before that you want you liked Mythic Quest before this. Are you a gamer?

ANNAMARIE KASPER:   I'm not so much. I've played games, obviously, but, I kind of got into Mythic Quest just because I heard it was a great show.

And I think that's what's so cool about it, is you don't have to be a gamer necessarily to enjoy and love it. But then what's also been cool is now that I've kind of become a part of this world is exploring and learning about kind of this [other] world that I'm new to, but like super excited to now be a part of. So, I'm taking recommendations if anyone has any that they're that they're into. Let me know.

SCIFI VISION:   I was going to say I'm more I'm more a casual gamer. I'm not the best. I enjoy it, but I'm not the best.

Since you had seen the original, obviously, it's a different series, but what surprised you the most coming in, that you didn't expect, just overall?

ANNAMARIE KASPER:   Well, I think what was interesting about this episode is it's totally different than Mythic Quest in general. And I think what was so cool to see was how this very like lighthearted comedy was able to lend itself to kind of like a, you know, I hesitate to say darker, because it's not like, you know, dark, heavy, but…a more serious tone and story. But I also think that it served it really well, because we're so invested and in love with these people. So, it makes it easy to kind of care about all these side quests and journeys that these people go on.