Emily Beecham’s Into the Badlands character, The Widow, is an unliked and misunderstood character on the series — but maybe not for long.

In honor of the Into the Badlands season 1 DVD/Blu-ray release, we talked with some of the cast members of the show to discuss their thoughts on the direction of the series and their character’s journey.

Interview with Emily Beecham — The Widow on ‘Into the Badlands’

What do you think is the greatest challenge for The Widow to survive in a world like this, full of men in power?

None of the other rival barons like her for that reason because she is a woman. She wants to upend the whole system, so there are many elements to her that are not liked by the other people in power in the Badlands. In series 1, nobody really understands her, [they don’t] really know her yet or understand her motives yet, so she faces a lot of adversity with what she’s trying to achieve. She’s an idealist in the Badlands, and she wants equality because she doesn’t like the way the Badlands is run. So that’s a tall feat, a hard task that some people think she’s crazy for wanting to change. [She’s] a mixture of a strong idealist and a little bit of crazy [laughs].

Do you think The Widow has a true motherly affection for Tilda, or do you believe she’s just using her? Or maybe it’s a combination of both?

I think The Widow relates to Tilda because she [relates to her]. It was a long, difficult journey for the Widow to get to where she was, so she understands what Tilda has also experienced. They were both victims of abuse. She wants to mentor Tilda and help her see the good. And to see herself as a strong character who can be in control of her own life and not be a victim. So she has a motherly bond, but at the same time a friendship and she relates to Tilda. It’s a genuine affection, but The Widow also keeps her at a distance because that’s how The Widow operates in season 1. She doesn’t give an awful lot away about herself, which she probably feels might be a bit of a weakness, to show too many of her cards.

Can you talk a little bit about The Widow’s fighting style and what it was like to train for that?

The Widow fights real dirty. She likes improvisation with her fighting skills, so she’ll use any implements that are lying around. Master Dee Dee, who was our choreographer, he’s very creative and he pretty much creates [the fight sequences] on the day. So we’ll get onto the set and we don’t know what we’re shooting until he creates them there. The Widow uses a lot of inventive instruments as weapons, like ice picks and stiletto heels. She’s improvisational with her fighting like she is with her politics and lifestyle choices.

I love the scene in the dungeon where The Widow and Sunny are fighting with all those different weapons. Which weapon was your favorite and which would you like to use more often?

I really enjoyed that fight. I enjoyed using the hook swords, although they’re really heavy and my arms are slightly flimsy. It was really tiring using them, but I think they’re cool. They’re very useful, actually, because you can hook onto swords. I quite like that weapon. Visually, it was really strong. And there was a ball and chain as well. That was quite complicated because they get tangled very easily. That was a lot of choreography to not get tangled. And we used the katanas. I’m quite used to the katanas by now, so I’m getting better with them, especially in season 2. I’m working with katanas a lot.

If you had to pick one aspect of this show, either costumes, the world, weapons, fighting, etc., what would your favorite aspect of the show be?

I love the combination of all of it because I think it just makes a really unusual show, and I can’t really compare it to anything else. The whole flavor of the fighting, it’s kind of Crouching Tiger style. The costume is such a mix of periods, really. It’s very unusual, and it’s very high-stakes drama. I like the whole combination of all of it. It’s very unusual.

What did you learn from season 1 that better prepared you going into season 2?

Our fight unit is very guerrilla-style, so we don’t actually learn any choreography before. We just get used to the weapons and the moves. I’ve become a bit more comfortable with that. We don’t really know what we’re doing until we’re shown the choreography, about twice. We rehearse some choreographed moves about twice before we shoot it on the set. For the first season, that was a bit daunting, even though [Master Dee Dee and the stunt team are] so experienced, but we had no idea what the outcome would be. Doing season 2, you can just expand on that and play with the drama and make the stakes higher, and really go to town with it more. Let rip a lot more. There’s always things you want to change as an actor when you watch things, so now we have the experience to know that everything will all work out. It doesn’t matter if you fall over and it doesn’t matter if you get hit or you hit someone else, as long as nobody’s hurt, but it cuts together really well.

Stay tuned to our ‘Into the Badlands‘ coverage because more interviews with the cast are on their way!

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