WILMINGTON, NC. We're finally reaching the end of the interviews I conducted during my time on the set of FOX's “Sleepy Hollow.”
I've saved Lyndie Greenwood for last not because Jenny Mills is anything less than awesome. Anybody who can pull off a Sarah Connor-style intro is worthy of respect and Jenny has proven to be a valuable, if frequently underused, piece of the Revolutionary War/Apocalypse Scooby Gang.
No, I held my Greenwood chat for last just because it became a little truncated because we were summoned down to a makeshift nightclub to be extras in a “Sleepy Hollow” scene that I'm already apologizing for in advance. Whether I should be apologizing to viewers or to the editors who had to cut around me remains to be seen.
It's still a good conversation as Greenwood discusses Jenny's muscular introduction, her psychological state and some of her genre favorites. It isn't even slightly spoiler-y, so don't worry.
“Sleepy Hollow” avoided any kind of World Series preemption and its next episode airs on FOX on Monday, October 27.
HitFix: Jenny obviously spent a lot of time in a facility, so even though we know that she's not crazy about certain things, that's still got to linger in her mind right? Like she has to have some issues right?
Lyndie Greenwood: Mmm-hmm. I think it contributes a lot to her lack of finesse. I mean she doesn't have the social cues that a lot of people have. She cuts to the chase and she's doesn't have that filter that I think comes from living normally amongst other human beings. I mean it doesn't make her crazy, it just makes her – it would be efficient except it can lead to bumping heads with other people.
HitFix: How much of that is sort of the confidence in sort of just being right?
Lyndie Greenwood: Well, you can be right and know how to relay that to people in a way that isn't confrontational. She doesn't have time for that.
HitFix: But then there's also sort of has to be some of this inferiority of having grown up and people not believing all of that, so how is that manifesting itself?
Lyndie Greenwood: Yeah, I don't think that she has that so much. She knows she's right because she did also, you know, she has gone a lot with Corbin in the past and done a lot of like research on her own and trips on her own and she was in a institution for quite a while but she also lived a very rich life outside of that proving to herself that all of this was right and has met people in her past that also know that she's right. So it's not just the institution.
HitFix: Sure. How much do you feel like you know about those years with Corbin?
Lyndie Greenwood: Not enough. I can't wait to see more. But little bits and pieces are coming out.
HitFix: Well, it feels like that's practically a spin-off all it's own or it could be.
Lyndie Greenwood: It definitely could be. I think so too. Absolutely. I think that those years were extremely rich. She has a wealth of knowledge and it would be rad to shoot in all those locations.
HitFix: Give me some background about what you know sort of where she's been and what she's seen?
Lyndie Greenwood: Well, I just know for sure that she helped Corbin acquire different artifacts from all over the world. I know that she met people along her journey like Nick Hawley, who were doing the same thing. She was a relic hunter essentially. But the specifics of like what artifacts or where, I don't know any of that yet.
HitFix: But you feel like she has this is sort of whole Indiana Jones past.
Lyndie Greenwood: A little bit. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
HitFix: Your character had the great sort of Sarah Connor introduction last season with the push-ups. How fun was that as sort of a way of introducing a character?
Lyndie Greenwood: It was great. You know what, that scene was added. It wasn't even the first scene I shot. The first scene I shot I believe was in the cabin with Crane and Abbie and Abbie and Jenny they're holding their guns at each other. It's sort of this standoff thing. It might have been the first scene. So anyway they went back and added a scene to that episode, which was the episode before. And I just thought it was great. I mean who is this mysterious woman? I loved “Terminator” and I was like, “Are you serious? I'm really getting to do chin-ups in an insane asylum right now? Like okay. Let's just hammer them over the head with the Sarah Connor references,” but it worked. I thought it was still really cool.
HitFix: Well, I was sort of wondering on that, was that something that was in the script like Sarah Connor or does your mind to go to it immediately?
Lyndie Greenwood: That was one of the only things I got, one of the only bits of descriptions I got about Jenny when I did the tape to audition was she's a Sarah Connor-type. And I was like, “Well, that's a little vague but I guess I got you. Tough, maybe tank top.” But yeah, that was one of the only descriptions that they had given me.
HitFix: Now, talk a bit about the relationship with Hawley's character.
Lyndie Greenwood: Well, they know each other from the past. I think they were many different things to each other. Who knows on what level. They're buds, they're cut from the same cloth. And we'll see how it goes this year with this added complication.
HitFix: What sort of mode do we see Jenny in this season? Like is she in an action sort of badass mode?
Lyndie Greenwood: We're seeing some of that. Yeah. I mean the first episode for sure you see some of that for Jenny. She's got to escape from a warehouse. So you see that she's capable of doing that. And you see another side of her too with the introduction of Hawley sort of that she is a woman and she's got a past that way as well. But there's not been too much exploration besides that so far. But there's more happening in the second half of the season, there's sort of tidbits now to build up for later.
HitFix: How much did you know upfront about… [She immediately starts shaking her head.] Nothing at all?
Lyndie Greenwood: Nothing. Nothing at all. I was really thrown into this role and sort of just not told much. I don't know if it was a strategy, but in the end I kind of enjoyed it because life is kind of like that; you don't know what to expect. And not knowing, it's kind of exciting in a way. I mean it's a bit exhausting as well, but it was exciting.
HitFix: But you still in real life know what your real backstory is. [She agrees.] So how quickly did they start building in – how quickly were they able to start sort of giving you those details?
Lyndie Greenwood: I mean I basically only knew what the audience knew and I filled it in for myself to make of the scenes fuller. Because I think in some ways Jenny, they didn't want to tie Jenny down to a certain history just yet, they wanted to see how it played out a little bit, I think. That's what I'm going with. And now that the whole season has gone by, a few episodes into the first season we started to really sort of flush her out a little bit more and now we know where she's coming from. But yeah, there's still a lot of mystery as to what's going on in the future.
HitFix: What did you base your own sort of filling in the gaps on? Like what were you imagining?
Lyndie Greenwood: Well, I mean I knew that her and her sister had grown up together and then had been sort of ripped from their family and that Jenny had told the truth and Abbie had lied and that created a rift in their relationship and Jenny was forced to go into this institution, sort of in and out of institutions. And that's really all I needed to know to relate her to her sister and whatever scene they threw at me for the first season. I mean I'm kind of a vibe-y actor anyway. I don't need to know too much in my head to be able to do a scene and be true to the scene.
HitFix: And do you and Nicole have similar sort of approaches? How were you guys able to find the dynamic between Abbie and Jenny?
Lyndie Greenwood: Well, I really like working with her because we play nicely together. We give a lot to each other, whether it be her close-up or mine and we try and find it in the scene. But I've never actually asked her about her approach, her preparation. That's a good question I'd like to know. I don't know.
HitFix: This is a crazy world, the world on this show. How well do you feel like you sort of have to sort of understand the logic of this world to play with in it?
Lyndie Greenwood: I'm used to suspension of disbelief. I love genre television and I love sci-fi and horror and I read a lot of comics and a speculative fiction. So I think I'm used to like just accepting the basic rules and having fun within that. I'm not really someone who likes to nitpick and destroyed my own fun. But I think we do a good job of establishing the fact that these are the laws of this world and that we're going to work with in this world. We don't tend to break our own rules too much I don't think.
HitFix: What are some genre favorites of yours?
Lyndie Greenwood: Well, my first dogs name is Ripley from “Alien” and my second dog, who I just got a couple of weeks ago, her name is Arroway from “Contact,” Ellie Arroway. But as far as what I'm into right now, I've been reading “Saga,” which is like the best comic book/graphic novel I've ever read. There's three!
Also…
*** Interview: Matt Barr on his still-mysterious 'Sleepy Hollow' rogue
*** Interview: 'Sleepy Hollow' co-star Katia Winter on getting to know Katrina in Season 2
*** Interview: 'Sleepy Hollow' star John Noble on Season 2 and what drives War, Henry and Jeremy?
*** Interview: Nicole Beharie on 'Sleepy Hollow' Season 2 and North Carolina summer heat
*** Tom Mison on 'Sleepy Hollow' Season 2 and an odd 'Silence of the Lambs' comparison
*** 'Sleepy Hollow' star Orlando Jones on Captain Irving's legal woes and interacting with fans
“Sleepy Hollow” airs Monday nights at 9 p.m. on FOX.