Earlier today Hypable got the chance to participate in a conference call with Nicole Beharie, who plays Abbie Mills on Sleepy Hollow. Check out what she had to say about this season’s finale airing on Monday!

‘Sleepy Hollow’ became a fan favorite, what is it about the show that’s drawn in so many viewers?

“I think the show hit the zeitgeist. It managed to strike a nerve with so many people, and I think the success of the show is about the audience. People are open and ready to make that journey and looking for a fantastic but mysterious kind of drama. I think the show has a lot of elements and demographics that open it up to a much broader audience, so I think [the success] is about that audience because [the show] is really kind of outlandish, and we’re zany and all over the place and you never know which way we’re going to turn and it’s really the audience’s engagement with us and they’re sort of coming along make the whole thing live.”

When you started, how much of the plot did you know in advance?

They gave us an outline of the options to know where it’s going, but I basically asked at the beginning for information I need to know that Abbie would’ve known, like when they’re uncovering things about her past. But as far as what was going to happen with each monster or level of fighting the apocalypse, I didn’t really wanna know that, I wanted to discover as we moved along. Each writer brought something new and and even if we sort of knew where we wanted to go, we didn’t know exactly how it come to fruition. I didn’t really know, but I couldn’t have imagined, for the most part, by any means what we ended up doing. And I can tell you now that from the pilot to the finale it’s drastically different and Abbie has changed so much and grown so much. It’s a different world now and I love that it keeps changing and evolving.”

Biggest challenges as an actress on the show?

“It just happened so fast! We finished a week and a half ago or two weeks ago and now it’s out there. We started in late July/August and we’ve just kind of been going ever since and didn’t have much time between shooting and the air dates. Keeping up with it and staying energetic and committing to some of the bigger, crazier moments had been so fun.”

Do you think Abbie and Ichabod are on the same side at the end of the season or will we see a rift between them?

“I definitely think that there are challenges on the way for every character, but I think for the most part they are on the same side. There are a lot of tests coming up, I’ll say that, and with those tests, more challenges about the definitions of what the character is and who they are as a person.”

A lot of people think Abbie and Ichabod should be together, but a lot also root for Ichabod and Katrina. What’re your thoughts on that?

“It’s hard for me to speculate myself because I’m doing this every day and I’m highly invested, but I will say that question made for some really interesting comments and things. I know Abbie, personally, isn’t really thinking that way. They have a massive job and undertaking. Trying to save the world is a big deal and trying to keep it clean and out of trouble.”

Is there room for romance on the show? There hasn’t been a lot, but you can’t really make out when a demon starts coming.

“Exactly! Like when the sandman shows up: ‘Thanks for saving me, [Ichabod], now let’s make out.’ They move so fast on the show, by the time you have a moment to blink or bat your lashes, there’s something dragging you through a portal of doom or something. There isn’t time for romance, yeah, and Ichabod is looking for his wife and Abbie wants him to be happy. I do think there’s potential that Abbie can have some things going on. She’s finding her future and I think there could be relationships there.”

What was the audition process like?

“I read the script and I kind of thought it was outlandish, but fun, but kind of intriguing. I had other auditions that I put my first priorities on because I didn’t think they would cast me in this. But then things came around and I met with the creative team and fell in love. They were telling me about their vision for the show and the pilot at the time and how they saw Abbie and they sort of gave me a past to interpret her as I felt, and I went in for a test read and the very next day actually I found out I got the job and then I did a chemistry read with Tom.

“And I had no idea who that person would be, because I’d only read the Washington Irving piece, and so even though I read our pilot, it didn’t necessarily mean an attractive, tall English man. I thought he was going to be someone gangly and nerdy. I had a vision and then Tom walks in and I was like, ‘What the hell is going on?! What’s this?!'”

How was working with John Noble?

“It was fantastic! He’s just such a breath of fresh air and the voice of reason. We haven’t done a bunch of television, Tom and I, and he’s been giving us a bunch of pointers about what it means to be on series and how the first season shows are kind of finding their legs and I feel like the timing of him appearing on Sleepy Hollow is perfect because we are finding our legs and things are looking really good in the last three episodes and what better to have a pro to be around in that time? And he really brings it, too, and keeps the stakes alive.”

You said they gave you some leeway to play Abbie in your own, how does that differ from their vision of her?

I think the cool thing was that they were open [with Abbie’s character] and wanted to find someone real but could also live in the supernatural telling of the show. It could’ve been played differently, ’cause you know girls on TV. They could’ve sexed it up or tried to make her look too good, and I was just kind of like, ‘Look, she wants to get out of town and doesn’t care about what anyone else thinks and she’s had a hard life.’ She has secrets, and we’ve seen a little bit of that in season 1, but I think there’s more there, and with that there’s certain grounds we can have. There’s comedy, but it comes out in a dry way and even her cynicism in the beginning makes people think, ‘Does she like him? Is she being a bitch?’ but no, it’s like, ‘You’re crazy, I’m committing you.’ I think it helps ground things and we’re better for it actually.”

How is Abbie different in the finale or even the same from the one we met 13 episodes ago?

“The only thing I think is the same is that she knows she has a larger purpose, like in the premiere she knew she had a bigger purpose but didn’t know what it was, which is why she thought she had to get out of town. I think that’s the only thing that’s the same.

“Her mind has been completely blown open. She’s done things she couldn’t have ever imagined and she’s seen things and is like, ‘What’s going on in this world?’ Snd she’s understanding that what there is or what you thought there was is not all there is. She’s no longer cynical about what she’s doing. She’s in it.

“A lot of things have changed since then, including the ensemble. She started in a cop uniform and now it’s jeans and now it’s yoga clothes and she’s just getting more comfortable in her skin and thinking outside the box.”

This is a huge year for African Americans in TV and film. What are your thoughts on this barrier being broken down?

“I think it’s fantastic. I feel lucky to be around this time where people are opening up to having more diversity in their homes and being interested in these stories. The one thing I really love about our show is that it’s one of the most diverse shows in television, not even just ethnically but gender-wise. We don’t even really talk about it or make it an issue; there are little things here and there, like in the pilot they brought up slavery, but it doesn’t become an issue and we just hope that the audience gets to see, instead of colors, the history and people and their experiences. That’s all I’ve ever wanted to do as an artist and an actor and to be able to have that is the most humbling and fulfilling gift, to truly not be seen as a color and a demographic.”

If you can bring three items to the apocalypse, if it happened, what would you bring?

“I don’t know! Three items? My goodness. A coconut? They have electrolytes and stuff and are really healthy. You could put it in your hair and make oil, haha. Anyway, coconuts. A supernatural kit like salt and holy water and all that good stuff. Instead of having a cop belt, I’d have a supernatural kit. And I imagine that the monsters showing up are going to be pretty kick-ass, and I’m a tiny girl, so I think a weapon isn’t necessary. It’s just going to be wit, and a prayer, I guess. I need electrolytes and wits!

“That’s what I love about the characters. They have to be resourceful and think of things in the moment. They always bring guns and they don’t do anything on this show! I’m always like, ‘What are we doing with these guns, the guns don’t do anything.’ It’s all about being really open and curious and looking at the history but also taking that history and moving forward. I think that’s the conquering the apocalypse key, but I might be wrong, and if I’m wrong, I’ll just burn up and die.”

Is there anything on the show that creeps you out a bit?

You know, the last episode with the possession, like having something take over your person kinda freaks me out. You can go on YouTube and see videos of some small Argentinean town, I don’t know if they’re real or fake, but you can go there and see videos of possession and it freaks me out. I don’t know if it’s mental illness or, you know, whatever it could be. I don’t want to be around it in real life.

My family is West Indian on my mother’s side, and they have a lot of stories about that kind of thing and over Christmas we’d tell ghost stories about indigenous ghosts that have been in the family for years and years and possession would always scare me when it came up.”