Yesterday, MGM+ released the premiere of the eagerly-anticipated fourth season of FROM. In the episode, a teenage girl, Sophia (Julia Doyle), and her father, the pastor (Rhys Bevan-John), arrive into town. At the end of the episode, however, it is revealed to viewers that Sophia isn’t his daughter at all, in fact, she isn’t even human. She is actually a newly transformed Man in Yellow (Douglas E. Hughes), who hitched a ride with the pastor into the town pretending to be lost, causing him to have a seizure and crash his car into the sheriff’s station.

Doyle, in a recent interview with SciFi Vision, spoke about emulating Hughes in her performance. "I wanted to make sure that I stayed true to the performance that he kind of laid out in a way, or the blueprint,” explained the actress, adding that she did however also go beyond what the actor portrayed, using it only as a backboard.

In the episode, the actress is fantastic with her quick flip between sweet and evil, and she enjoyed doing both. “I will say that I love playing both sides, because it  keeps things interesting,” said Doyle. “Also, I do love playing with my eyes and the subtleties of that, but also I love playing creepy, and I've been waiting to get a juicy [role] like this where I'm able to be a creep, and that's very fun for me.”

During the interview, Doyle also spoke about the physicality of the transformation scene. “A lot of it was done on a blue screen, so they could get close inserts of my body,” the actress told the site, also explaining that she is double jointed.

Jumping into an ensemble cast in the fourth season was nerve-racking at first for the actress, but she quickly was welcomed as one of the group.

For more from Doyle, including the fan reaction, whether she watched the series at all before being cast, and more, watch the full interview and read the transcript below.



SCIFI VISION:   To start off, talk about playing her sweet side versus her evil side.

JULIA DOYLE:   I think it was just one of those things where it was really fun being able to fully dive into either sides of the pool, you know, like I had a lot of fun playing two different characters, and yeah, it was two-in-one. I love a good two-in-one.

SCIFI VISION:   Well, you're really good at switching back and forth pretty quick, that's for sure. So, let me ask you, I know obviously he's nothing like you, but did you at all like try to, I guess, think about any of Doug's performances as the Man in Yellow when you were doing your version?

JULIA DOYLE:   Oh, definitely. I wanted to make sure that I stayed true to the performance that he kind of laid out in a way, or the blueprint. And as much as I wanted to stay true to it, I also didn't want to feel like I could only express the facial expressions that he expressed in that specific scene. It was one of those things where it was nice to like have that as like a backboard. I was able to like - I know where I was shooting, but I also I could, you know, that wasn't all of him, or it, slash he, they, she.

SCIFI VISION:   [laughs] Yeah, I know. It's always like, do I say she? Do I say him? Not sure. Yeah, “it” is probably better. So, which side of it have you enjoyed playing more? Do you like playing both sides? It sounds like maybe you like getting to do both.

JULIA DOYLE:   Okay, I will say that I love playing both sides, because it keeps things interesting. Also, I do love playing with my eyes and the subtleties of that, but also I love playing creepy, and I've been waiting to get a juicy little role like this for, or not little, but like a juicy role like this where I'm able to be a creep, and that's very fun for me.

SCIFI VISION:   Talk about the actual transformation scene, sort of the physicality of filming that.

JULIA DOYLE:   Well, a lot of it was done on a blue screen, so they could get close inserts of my body, and, you know, I'm double jointed in real life, and I do contortion and stuff. So, to get those close shots and seeing like what looks weird and disgusting and stuff.

…And then I also went to look in a special effects studio, and they did a full body scan of me, and there's cameras at every angle, and I had a wig cap on and everything. It was fun.

SCIFI VISION:   So, had you watched the show before you joined the cast?

JULIA DOYLE:   Yes, I had watched season one prior. So, it was nice. I felt like I had a, like I wasn't completely blind to what I was entering.

SCIFI VISION:   What was it like though, coming in, in season four to join, you know, people have already been pretty close…So, yeah, kind of jumping in in the middle of that, what was that like?

JULIA DOYLE:   It was definitely nerve-racking at first, because, you know, it's like first day of school. You're like, “Am I going to sit at the cool kids table, or are they going to tell me to fuck off?” You know?

So, it was genuinely really nice that they were all really, really so kind and immediately added me to the group chat, which was great. And yeah, it's one of those things where like everyone gets along so well on set, but then also people do things, you know, when they're not working too, because it's also one of those things where it's like, since it is such an ensemble show, like, you know, you could not be working for like a straight week and you have a full week off, and you're like, “I'm in the middle of Halifax and all my friends are in Toronto. What do I do?” But it's really nice, because everyone's kind of in the same boat. So, we had each other, and they welcomed me into that.

SCIFI VISION:   Well, that's good. I don't know if you've experienced all of it yet, but what's the fan reaction been like for you? Because I keep laughing, because people were shipping her with Kenny, and I'm like, “Yeah, no.” [laughs] Especially when Boyd says she's fifteen. I'm like, “Yeah, no.”

JULIA DOYLE:   [laughs] That's something that I, honestly, yeah, like, I just remembered that too. She's 15. That'd be kind of fucked up.

But yeah, it's definitely been like, I was prepped ahead of time. Like I was told by all the, you know, cast and crew, like, “Oh yeah, [it’s] like a really, you know, passionate fan base. There's a lot of, you know, like you should check out the Reddit. There're a lot of things, there's a lot of information about the show, because there're a lot of theories about the show. And it's really interesting, because there's more than I thought would be out right now. Because there's nothing out right now, but apparently there's a bunch of information about me out already. So, it's cool.

SCIFI VISION:   Yeah, we spend probably way more hours a week talking about it than we should on our show. [laughs]

JULIA DOYLE:   [laughs] I mean, honestly, I was there with you. Like, like, you know, as soon as I booked it, I was then like, you know, trying to find out the theories and I was on the Reddit with everyone else being like, “Okay, what does this drawing actually mean? Wait, is that, wait, does this represent this person or that person? So yeah, I get it.