Page 35 - Star Wars Insider #194

SWITCHING SIDES

03 Kaz aside for a little bit and have these private
conversations. Tam felt a little betrayed.”
To then have someone offer Tam the
opportunity to become the thing she’s always
wanted—to be a pilot—provided the writers
with a logical reason as to why she might look
elsewhere for a new group to align herself with.
It’s a compelling arc, and for a character to
willingly join the bad guys is new ground to
explore in the Star Wars mythology.
“Tam’s background—her grandfather worked
for the Empire—means that she doesn’t view the
Empire as bad,” Ridge adds about Tam’s view of
the galaxy. “They helped her family out, and in
04 her eyes, the First Order are essentially police

officers; law enforcement that she can get behind.
And then you have characters like Tierny, who
was very manipulative, and she recognizes a
weakness in what Tam is feeling. She was hurt by
her friends, so as far as Tierny is concerned this
is an opening to recruit her. It has allowed us to
bring more depth to these characters.”
For actor Suzie McGrath, Tam’s dilemma is an
incredible twist for her to perform. “It’s exciting.
We’ve never seen how a normal girl like Tam gets
recruited into the First Order before. For me, that
is really interesting.”
It also meant that her Season Two recording
sessions felt like she was working on a whole
new series, surrounded by the show’s cast of
allegiance to the First Order. At the end of the First Order characters she had not worked with
first season, convinced she had been betrayed on Season One. “I was on the other side, man,”

by Kaz and Yeager (Scott Lawrence), Tam was McGrath laughs. “‘Bye, bye, Colossus! I’ve moved
skillfully exploited and on!’ And working with Sumalee Montano, who
manipulated by First Order plays Agent Tierny, she can be chilling and
Agent Tierny (Sumalee “Season two is thrilling at the same time. Recording with her,
Montano) into becoming you feel it, and it’s a lot of fun.
a pilot for the other side. about surviving and “Another cool thing is that my character gets
According to Athena constantly being chased a costume change,” McGrath adds. “I think she’s
Portillo, this was a storyline the only person that gets to change her outfi t,
that “everyone in the by the First Order.” and it’s all shiny black. She looks so cool.”

writer’s room fell in love On the flip side, Tam’s departure into the
with” early on, and they Brandon Auman, head writer & executive producer First Order gives her Resistance family a lot
plotted it to play out over
the show’s two seasons.
Justin Ridge adds, “When we realized Tam 05
was going to join the First Order, we didn’t want
it to happen, but we knew it had to happen, and
it happened almost organically. What it’s given
us is an opportunity to gain more insight into
the First Order.”
In examining Tam’s trajectory, Portillo says,
“In Season One, Tam looks towards Yeager as a
father figure. She looks towards Kaz as a friend

and a brother. But then you have someone
like Rucklin (Elijah Wood) who, in Season
Two, is constantly telling her that they were
traitors. They didn’t include her in any of the
conversations where you would see Yeager pull

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