During Season 2 of Netflix’s original series Fate: The Winx Saga, Headmistress Rosalind (Miranda Richardson) pushes the fairies at Alfea to their limits. As Bloom (Abigail Cowen) and her Suitemates – Princess Stella (Hannah Van Der Westhuysen), Aisha (Precious Mustapha), Musa (Elisha Applebaum), Terra (Eliot Salt) and Flora (Paulina Chávez) – begin to suspect who is behind a dangerous threat, they realize that their magic must be strengthened and unified to save the Otherworld.
During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider, Freddie Thorp (who plays Riven, Alfie’s resident lousy boy whose cockiness masks his insecurities) talked about getting to see a more sensitive side to Riven in Season 2, what he’s enjoyed about playing his character, the trio of Riven, Dane (Theo Graham), and Beatrix, whether he views Riven as toxic or misunderstood, playing such a physical role, the dynamic with Musa, what it was like to shoot the finale, and what he’d still like to explore in season 3.
When you were pitching Netflix or launching this series, how much did everyone want to know that it was a five-season or three-season series? Did anyone want to know your long-term plans?
The source material is extensive, so there is a lot of material that can be obtained from it. In my experience, having a rough idea of the final outcome is extremely helpful. Once you begin telling stories, you realize which characters work and which do not. Then, I let the story develop organically.
With regard to the source material, there are many things that fans are looking forward to seeing or experiencing. Last season we heard about the dragon’s flame. In light of the fact that there are so many iterations of Winx now that you are able to utilize, how do you choose what to take from the source material? What are some of the difficult decisions you must make?
YOUNG: This is a tricky book, but the source material itself has an embarrassment of riches in terms of mythology. We were trying to figure out what part fits into a YA world that is not necessarily a kid’s world. Additionally, we sought out and selected long tent poles from the cartoon.
How did that decision come about?
YOUNG: We always planned to bring her back for season two. We wanted to ensure that she remained in the world in season one. She was always part of the world.
Have you taken any of that into account? Are you like, this is what we want to do, trust the process?
YOUNG: I’ve worked on a fandom show before, which is excellent, and I’m here to plant my flag and say it’s fascinating having a passionate fan base on a show like this. There’s a lot of online chatter about things; yeah, they’ve got many opinions about stuff. They are driving the conversation.
Can we talk about that? Are we planning to do that? I think it would be fine.
YOUNG: It’s tricky because we have a live-action show instead of an animated one. I’ve been a Sailor Moon fan from back in the day, so I understand the makeover aspect of the transformation process, which is super significant.
If you did it, it would look extraordinary. If you don’t take action, people are liable to be mad.
YOUNG: And that was significant in season one. It was irrelevant because in the DNA of a show like this is the transformation aspect, the transformation process.
What are your most significant benefits from working with the streaming platform?
YOUNG: Not to toot my Netflix overlords’ horn too much, but I’ve loved working with Netflix. I have. It’s just been a smooth creative process and a positive, creative synergy of them supporting what we want to do on the show.
Can I ask quickly? We’ve heard what will happen with the fairies, but can you share what we’ll see with the specialists?
YOUNG: Of course. We’ve got brand-new uniforms. Specialists no longer use wooden swords to fight. I know they’re practicing with Anuranshe specialists at the beginning of the season.
We did see Silva getting some food. So what can you tell us about Silva?
YOUNG: Yeah, Rob, who is lovely and unique and is such a great addition to our world. He starts the season in prison in Solaria, and our girls break him out early in the show.
