Wade's jig is up. Last week on Trickster, Jared discovered that not only is his mother Maggie a witch, but that his father is a trickster. Now, he must grapple with the secrets Maggie never told him, on top of the fact he is a mythical being in his own right. Naturally, he has some questions for Wade about what that means for them in the long run, but according to Trickster star Kalani Queypo, Wade may not be so forthcoming -- at least at first.
Speaking to CBR, Queypo explained how Wade's twisting, turning nature drew him to the role. He teased that the series has just opened Wade up to discover more about himself, even as he forges a bond with his son Jared. He addressed the series' recent cancellation, calling it "unfortunate" while also urging viewers to stick with it. He also shared the questions he used to interrogate Wade's motivations, what he hopes fans take away from the series and more.
CBR: Unfortunately, we just got word that Trickster has been cancelled. How are you holding up?
It's bittersweet anytime there's an incredible loss. I think this is a big loss. This is disappointing, to know that something's not going to continue."It's like the way you deal with death, when something ends -- a life or something ends -- you have to look at it and, of course, process the loss, but then you also have to look at the life of it. You have to celebrate that, and it's bittersweet.
I'm so grateful to have had this opportunity to bring this really important story to life -- to bring my part to it, anyway. So I am sad, and I know I'm going to go through the grieving process on that, but I think I just cannot help but to have such gratitude and gratefulness to have been able to have this part that's so great, and we're in the middle of it! We're in the middle of it on The CW. So we get to do share.
I'm proud of it, and I wish that we had a different kind of news today, but that is the news and this is something that happens to many, many different shows. We might enter into a different conversation in the future, but as of right now, at this moment, we all just received this news, right? [laughs] It's fresh, it's unfortunate, but in a way, there's so many great fortunes that are coming out of it. It's something that's going to continue to be very insightful and I'm grateful.
Is there a message you would like to convey to Trickster's fans?
I mean, I think I would just say that oftentimes, we look at things with end results, and sometimes we look too far ahead of ourselves, instead of being in the moment, and I would just invite people to be in the moment of where we are with Trickster in the US. We're halfway through the show, and we're learning a lot about these characters, and to remain open to it.
I think, there a lot of feelings about, "Well, what does that mean, if I already know that there are six episodes, and when it ends, then that's when it ends." It's like life. You have to experience it and deal with it in the moment. So I would say, "Stay on the journey, stay with this story, and see where it takes you."
It's based on a trilogy of books. So we've got Son of a Trickster being emulated here with Season 1. Let's go along with the story. If you're on that roller coaster, enjoy it, and don't worry about the fact that the ride is going to end at some point. You know what I mean? So I would say that. Let's take the ride. Let's take this gift for what it is.
Which aspect of Wade's character do you relate to the most and why?
I would say, first of all, as Kalani, I think that acting is so interesting... You know how you walk into a situation and plan, "I'm going to say this and do that," and then you walk away from it and stop and you're like, "I can't believe that happened. I can't believe I responded in this way," or "I can't believe I was frozen! I couldn't say a word," or "I'm so surprised that this turned out as positively as it did, because I didn't think it was going to turn out that way." Sometimes, we end up doing really ugly things! Sometimes we do something heroic. I love a story that includes all of that.
So I think, for me, when I'm Wade, I love being the twists and turns and surprises. Here we are, we're in Episode 4 that's about to start, right? Now we come out of Wade really identifying himself as a Trickster. He comes and he creates a lot of questions for Jared, you know, about who Wade is, and so he reveals that he's a Trickster. So, for me, it was rich and complicated, and it's a long history.
He's very careful about what he shares with Jared, and he's getting to know him. One of his lines was, "I was getting to know you, in my own way." I think that really is the crux of where we find Wade, getting to know Jared, and then really, conversely, Jared is getting to know.
Then the big surprise is that Wade is getting to know himself, because now he's seeing himself in the context of somebody he's identifying as, "This is my son," and so what does this really mean? He's trying to figure out what's happening with Jared, and does he have the Trickster abilities? So he's trying to figure that out, and he's trying to figure out all the dynamic with his son.
I really wanted to lean into the discoveries that Wade had during these different moments, where it's like, "Oh gosh, I came into this with an agenda to figure out does this kid have the Trickster ability, and now what's happening is I'm opening up the history of my relationship with Maggie, my relationship with Phil," that history there. Then now, getting to know this kid and starting to create a bond that's started to take off with Jared.
He actually longs for that idea of paternal good. I don't know if that's a word, but you know, the idea of what it means to be a father and then relating that to his own father, and having that reminds him and opens up these parts of him. We start to get to understand who Wade is and that's what's so exciting is that it starts to unravel for him: his idea of family, his idea of father and son, what that looks like, and it's all affecting him deeply.
So that was a really long answer! [laughs] But so I guess the short answer would be the complexities of him and all the surprises that come up for Wade, as he gets to know his kid and he gets to sort of put into context himself. That's what he starts to reveal, and then on top of that, you get the added danger of the Ancients -- the character of Georgina -- that coming into play, with Edna, and what that means. That history starts to come out too, and then we see it all start to come out.
Wade is such a tricky character, no pun intended, in that he seems to feel really trapped by his own nature, all while trying to buck this cycle he's in. How did you find that balance in his conflict?
Yeah, I think that's the fun of it all, right? Playing into the conflict and into what that means. I think that, as an artist, I'm a critical thinker. You know, I'm a deep thinker. I like really examining what makes us who we are today. I think that it's so interesting to really look at somebody who has a very, very long issue.
In Episode 4, I think in the very first scene, one of the many questions that Jared asked is, "How old are you?" and Wade doesn't even answer that! He's forming his responses, as much as Jared can say them in a particular moment... like having the right conversation at the right time.
If someone's history informs the way that they are, right, and then we look back in our lives and we think, like, "Oh, how different I was!" Everything keeps changing, right? Now imagine if you're 500 years old, and how those things can continuously change. What you said was great: how do you buck this cycle? I really looked at, like, what does that mean to be that ancient? What does it mean to have life circle back and continue on, and yet, you're the constant? How do you change throughout that process?
So I really wanted to lean into, in this particular moment, in this part of the story that we're seeing Wade, how is he changing, and how is he looking back at life? So that made it so rich, so complex, and gave it a lot of options, right, in which I could disguise myself. It's the idea of how things can change so much throughout somebody's life, right, and then you have these other characters, like Jared, who are dependent on what I share with them.
What do you hope viewers take away from this series?
I hope that viewers take away, first of all, a big curiosity about this specific region, these specific people, the Haisla community and the story of the Trickster. I hope it piques their curiosity. I hope that people look on the screen and get to see themselves.
When I say that, it's multi-leveled, right? I hope that little brown kids are looking up at the screen and seeing people who remind them of themselves. I hope that people also see themselves in a universal way: "Oh, they remind me of myself. They're teaching me about a community that has the same struggles: looking for family, repairing relationships, looking at their environment, and trying to figure out who they are." It's a coming-of-age story. I hope that people get to have a fresh lens into what it means to be in this world at this particular time. I hope that people see themselves. I hope that it reminds them of people that they know, or it introduces them to people that they're really interested in.
I think that this is a really cool, fresh approach to stories. It's a specific community that is universal in their needs for family and relationships and environmental accountability and for the idea of the struggle of a blue collar kind of industrial community and what they experienced together, and then you had this deep history and Native mythos, and the supernatural occurrences and shapeshifting. It's super cool, and it's a fun way to dive into a world that we don't get to see on television. So I hope people get to experience something that's different and that's interesting to them, and it opens their eyes to other elements of the culture that's in North America.
Based on Eden Robinson's Trickster trilogy and directed by Michelle Latimer, Trickster stars Joel Oulette as Jared, Kalani Queypo as Wade, Crystle Lightning as Maggie, Georgina Lightning as Sophia, Anna Lambe as Sarah, Nathan Alexis as Crashpad, Craig Lauzon as Phil, Gail Maurice as Georgina, Joel Thomas Hynes as Richie and Jamie Spilchuk as Mr. Good. Trickster airs Tuesdays on The CW.
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