We’re taking a unique look The Magicians 3×08 by reviewing the episode with actress Hannah Levien.

Levien plays Victoria on SyFy’s The Magicians. If you need a little help remembering exactly who Victoria is, let me take you back to season 1 for a refresher. During the first season of The Magicians Victoria was revealed to be a traveler. An extremely rare form of magician who can basically teleport across the multiverse.

Once Victoria discovered that Fillory was a real place, she gathered her Brakebills class and carried them off to an unforgettable spring break destination. The fun didn’t last long however. Victoria was captured by the Beast and held as ransom to lure in another traveler – Penny.

“V’s amazing. I mean, she literally blips around the universe, fearless. Teachers put this tattoo on her to stop her. She just cut it off herself.”

Eventually, she was freed by our magical gang of heroes, but not without a huge price being paid. Virtually all of her fellow classmates were murdered by the Beast at some point. The traumatic experience sent Victoria running and we didn’t hear a peep from her again until this season. But it’s during this week’s episode that we discover that she’s been busy rebuilding her life and finding a new sense of purpose.

Read on to learn more about Levien’s time on the set of The Magicians as well as her upcoming projects Siren and Colony.

I was really happy to see Victoria return this season. I was actually hoping to see her in season 2. I really wanted her to teach Penny about traveling and different stuff. But when did you find out you were coming back to the show?

Well, quite early into the beginning of season 3. I’m friends with some of the cast and some of the people that work on the show. I started hearing murmurings about, oh well you know Victoria is coming back… Well first I just started hearing like – I kind of heard this I kind of heard that – and then I think I was speaking to Arjun one night and he was like, ‘Dude. You’re back on the show! I read the script!’ And I was like what?! I haven’t even been confirmed yet! He’s like, nah you’re back in there. I was like, well I guess I’m just going to assume that all of that is right. Cause you just never know. Especially in television things move so fast. I work on quite a few different shows and sometimes it’s like, yup you’re in this episode! Then no, you’re not in it anymore, or the directions changed, or you’re in this one instead. You know there’s just so much that can change very quickly. But I was very happy to come back onto it and I really loved – yeah I just think it’s really fun that we saw Victoria in such a different way in season 1 you know? She’s been trapped in a dungeon, and has had her power completely taken away. I think what were seeing in season 3, she’s a bit more empowered now and self assured, she’s got her new gang going on… You know we’re getting a glimpse of her life beyond the tragedy of what happened to her and her class in season 1.

Yeah! That actually leads directly into my next question, which was, when we last saw her she kind of bailed on the group in Fillory. She seems like she’s she’s changed quite a bit and she refuses to leave with Poppy. So what do you think happened to her between season 1 and 3? Do you have any theories or…?

I think Victoria is a really loyal person. And I think she’s very brave and I think she really has a mindset of no one gets left behind. That’s why I do think it’s a tragedy that her classmates were killed in season 1 when she took them on this quest. Because I think she’s someone that would absolutely take a bullet for anyone of them, you know? But it happened to be that she was the one that got captured. The beast kills her friends basically to kind of punish Victoria in a sense. For trying to get into Fillory and all of that.

So with Victoria now… Because Poppy basically has sex with her boyfriend; Josh – when Trevor (Trevor Einhorn who plays Josh) and I talked about it, I don’t know if we ever see that a Victoria and Josh were ever ‘together together,’ but I think they were like, best friends that were sleeping together. It’s kind of what we figured out or what we kind of just invented. The two of us. And I think it was something everyone else in the class probably just respected and understood. But then Poppy – I found out she’d actually slept with him and you know. It was just like, during they’re fun time that I helped facilitate, with the class, traveling and everything… I just think the fact that a very good friend of mine – like a Poppy said that we were like sisters, she’s my best friend – would go and do something like that, it’s just so… You know Victoria would never do anything like that. So I think that’s what’s really fused this um, tension and frustration between me and Poppy. And it’s interesting too… I’ve just been reading a little bit about what the fans have been saying about Poppy and they keep calling her self interested. And I kind of think, oh that sounds kind of mean, but at the same time I’m like well…! Like yeah, I think we are seeing a little bit of that side of the character.

Oh yeah. I definitely think she’s self interested! Absolutely.

Yeah. At this point we’re seeing that. So I guess we’re just going to have to see if she evolves beyond that or what.

I’m interested to see – in terms of Poppy – if Victoria’s sacrifice makes an impact on Poppy. I’m curious about that.

Yeah… I’d be interested to know that as well!

Yeah no, you can’t say!! But it’s something I’ve been thinking about.

I think whenever we meet a character like that on any show that audiences do think, oh they’re self interested, oh they’re motivated by more of a sense of greed or power – I think we always perhaps want to see if they’re going to have a change of heart you know? Or a battle with they’re conscience or anything like that. In tonight’s episode I definitely think we see a moment between Victoria and Poppy where there is – I think Victoria – I think we really see in a particular moment tonight where the two of them just really prove how different they are.

Yeah! Yeah.

Victoria is someone, like I said, that just would never ever leave anyone behind. I think she really sees that… I think basically she’d like to hope that there’s a chance for her and Poppy to rebuild a friendship in some ways and I think we that that just isn’t a possibility, at this point in time.

Yeah. Very good. So my next question is, how do you think Victoria met Harriet? Do you think Victoria was actively looking for something herself, or did they just happen to cross paths?

Well I think Victoria is someone who has always pushed boundaries with her magic. Even at school. You know at Brakebills she was doing that. And I think now that she’s come out of that experience I think… You know, she would have taken some time to rebuild her confidence and all of that; but then I think with the changing times in magic and I think becoming much more dangerous in many ways, and all the experimental magic that’s out there, the kind of dirty magic in some ways, I think she would probably… You know, living in New York she probably would have been in some underground scenes and probably really trying to you know, rebuild a group. Because you know she lost a lot of friends at Brakebills. Trying to find her new identity as a magician. And I think that she probably would have gotten connected to Harriet through that. And Victoria loves a quest and I think she loves a mission and a sense of propose. Especially if she believes in what they’re fighting for. And Harriet played by Marlee Matlin, is such a great character. She’s so strong and Marlee Matlin is an incredible woman.

I was actually going to ask you what it was like working with her! Because I adore her, I mean, I have for years.

Oh yeah. I mean she’s incredible. I think it’s kind of naturally fitting that Victoria would be drawn to someone like Harriet. Even how we see Kady and Harriet; also as a team. Like Kady again is a very strong minded character and very fierce. You know, obviously she’s had a real tough time this season. But we know how strong her spirit is. So I think it’s natural that someone like Victoria would be drawn to Harriet as well. For those kinds of reasons.

But yeah. Working with Marlee Matlin I mean… I couldn’t have asked for a better squad of magicians to get to work with coming back into season 3. Of course you know it was awesome working with Arjun again and of course Jason Ralph. But then you know Felicia Day is in there and Marlee Matlin, and Jade Tailor… Like it was really awesome.

Marlee is just a brilliant woman. Like she’s so… Some of the sequences we shot were very challenging. And I just look at someone like Marlee and I’m like oh my gosh this woman is – she had a flight the next morning at like some insane hour to LA to briefly see her family and then go straight to New York to start shooting her new show Quantico. And I was just like, oh my god this woman is like, doing it you know? She’s doing it all. And just being so… You know on set, we had a translator there – her signer, sorry – there as well, who was absolutely wonderful. They worked together on I think The L Word years before too. She was just awesome and an absolute legend… And yeah, it was really inspiring. Marlee has such a strong personality, I think takes care of other people and you know she speaks her mind and she’s a total professional. Great actor. Just goes for it. So yeah, that was just wonderful and we had quite a bit of time together through some very long hours of shooting.

Yes! I was going to ask about the mirror bridge set.

What did you think of the episode?

Oh I loved it! Honestly this was my favorite episode of the season so far.

Really?! That’s so great! Why’s it your favorite?

I really liked the way it edited together for one. I liked the different contained yet overlapping arcs. And I really liked being able to see from different characters perspectives a bit. Especially Harriet. Especially your character Victoria. And shoot… What’s her name…?

Poppy?

No. Not Poppy. But that was very nice too. I’m sorry. I’ll think of it later. [I was trying to think of Sylvia played by Roan Curtis] But I really liked this episode a lot. And think fans will too. It kind of had something for everybody in it.

Yeah. I mean I’m just blown away by how much detail, and obviously the imagination, but yet the specificity that goes into the writing on that show. It really does blow me away and I remember reading that and being like, how are they going to fit this into one hour of TV?! Because there’s so much in here, it’s such an ambitious episode. When we walked into the set with the mirror bridge, like… We were just like, oh my god, this is nuts! It was so crazy!

Yeah, tell me about that! Like what the technical aspect of that was and what that space was like.

The show shoots in Vancouver Canada. It was in this big warehouse downtown. They constructed this big pond. Like a kind of swimming pool; a dark swimming pool. And I think there were mirrors on the bottom of this pool. And then there was this bridge of, I guess it was a kind of glass; the platform that you see in the episode, that you can obviously walk across. And they were all able to light up. But we were still essentially, you know, out on this pond away from everyone. So it was really challenging because… I know in action films, I don’t think I’ve actually done an action film, but I’ve heard actors talk about how it’s like oh you’re actually quite far away from the crew a lot of the time. So you’re kind of getting direction sort of yelled at you or you’re getting someone running over and directing you and then running back. Like you don’t feel very… it’s a little isolating I’ll say that! But it was a great set. Like when we all… When me and Jade and Felicia, Marlee and Jason all first walked on to the bridge, I think we were just totally geeking out. There was this photoshop going on with us posing like we were in some sort of band from like Eurovision! The way it all lights up. It was very funny. I can actually probably send you one of those photos.

You should! That would be awesome!

Yeah! It was very fun. And then obviously the scene goes on and my character is bleeding and you know, potentially dying. It got pretty intense. And they basically had these two mirrors at either end, that then in stunts they explode, and that looked absolutely incredible. Like it just blows my mind what they can do.

Yeah. It looked very simple but in a way that you know that there’s a lot that went into making it look really clean. Does that make sense? Like, it looked very elegant. It was just shot really beautifully. There wasn’t a lot of frills but it just stood out because of that. I really liked it.

It looked beautiful on the night. This episode was DP’d by Elie Smolkin, who I worked with on the show in season 1 as well, and he’s just absolutely brilliant.

He is.

Like he does such an amazing job. Yeah. And that was a tough thing to shoot because – I mean any scene that has a lot of visual effects and then special effects stunts live, which a lot of The Magicians does, it takes a lot of patience and there’s a lot of moving pieces. And Elie is always, just very present and supportive of the actors and the cast and all his team – the camera team – I take my hat off to him because he does a fantastic job on that show.

Yeah I love him. I actually was able to do an interview with him as well.

Oh awesome!

He’s so generous.

Fun fact – So I also work as a screenwriter and I’m just finishing making a film [The Hunting Season] that we shot last year, and Elie actually DP’d that.

WOW! That’s so nice!

Yeah! So it was directed by Shannon Kohli who directed episode 4 this season of The Magicians as well. I met Shannon on season 1 of The Magicians and I started talking to her about this film I’d written, and it has a unicorn in it and she was like oh my god I want to read this script! So she read it and she’s like Elie you have to work on this! And amazingly he came and did it and he made that look absolutely incredible as well. So. Very talented young man.

Very talented. And I also like his show Good Behavior. That show is absolutely beautiful as well. He makes simple things look absolutely breathtaking.

Yes absolutely. And you know my film was independently funded. We did a big crowd fundraiser.

That’s awesome!

Oh yeah, thank you. Independent filmmaking is so challenging but it’s obviously so rewarding. You get people coming on board because they love film and they love supporting their tribe. I couldn’t believe what our team and Elie achieved with our minimal budget.

I’ll have to look into it! Has it been released or…?

We’re finishing right now. It’s in post production. We’re just finishing on color grade and sound. It’s challenging making films with… I mean that whole team has just been so busy working on so many other shows. So it’s definitely taken a while to get it finished. But we’re very excited that the end is in sight.

Yeah. I will make sure to keep an eye out for it. Because I want to look into that. But let’s go back to one more thing with The Magicians. You mentioned that you worked with Felicia and how Victoria’s relationship with a Poppy was really complicated and rich. And I was just wondering if the two of you had any time to discuss that – I know sets move really fast. So I didn’t know if you had any time to figure out how you wanted to play that off each other.

Well Felicia and I, we didn’t get a whole lot of time together. I was actually at the same time filming, gosh I think I was filming Siren and Colony, which are two other show that I’ve been working on, so I didn’t get as much time on The Magicians as I would have loved. To really sit down and have those conversations. But Felicia and I had actually met before through Supernatural.

Yeah! Wonderful!

Yeah! Which is lovely. And her baby is actually called Calliope which is my character’s name in Supernatural!

That is so amazing! That’s hilarious.

I mean she definitely did not name her baby after me. But I was like you’re kidding me! That’s so funny. Coincidence! Gorgeous baby too. But yeah. We did chat a bit about it. We just kind of went… Especially with tonight’s episode, we definitely talked about that moment where she leaves me on the bridge. That’s a powerful moment because – there’s so much in that you know? We were like sisters. And I think that’s such a moment of truth for my character. Of like, not only are you going to leave me dying on this bridge, you’re going to leave everybody. And Poppy makes that choice. And we did talk about that and what was behind it. We both acknowledged that what drives Poppy is very different to what drives Victoria. I mean who knows. Maybe Poppy… Maybe there’s a future there for things to get resolved. I don’t know, I can’t say yet.

I don’t know either but I think that happening to Victoria if it doesn’t have an effect on Poppy, then Poppy is a monster frankly. So I’m sure it’s going to have some sort of impact on her. In some way.

Yeah, exactly. I mean we don’t want Poppy to be a monster.

Yeah! I mean no, no. Preferably not! But ok then, at the end of the episode, like you said, it’s kind of a cliffhanger. So I know you can’t say anything, but like HYPOTHETICALLY if you did come back or if Victoria found a way out, what would be the first thing you’d want her to do?

I think. I mean. If Victoria came back, I think I’d really love to see her relationships develop a bit more. I would love to see like, where are things at with her and Penny? Where are things at with her and Josh? And I’d love to see… I mean I love where The Magicians is going but I also love the whole Brakebills part of things too. I’d love to kind of bring back a little more of the – that collective you know? We’re still Brakebills and we’re gonna set things right. You know that kind of, team work. I love the writing in season 3 for my character where, you know I do think she comes across empowered. Like we don’t necessarily see a lot of her but I love that the character is very direct. She says what’s on her mind. She’s only going to do something if she believes in it and if it’s safe for everyone. And I think I’d love to see that carry on into other storylines where she’s kinda taking charge and really part of a team and yeah!

I completely agree. And I think that’s part of the reason why I loved this episode so much. Is because it did feel like everybody was involved more. Which is really nice. You miss that. You kind of miss it when everybody goes their own separate way.

Yeah. Because there are so many different stories happening at different places in this episode it definitely brings them all together and I do agree with you. It’s like the band is back together! And also, if Victoria came back I’d also love for her tattoos to work! I want superpowers with my hands to happen again!

Yes! Totally! But now I want to ask about your other projects. Can you tell me anything about Colony and Siren or who you play?

I can’t really say much about Colony but I can say that season 3 is starting up in the spring. So that’s really exciting. I had an absolute blast working on that show. Again, it’s in that scifi realm, but so different to The Magicians. It’s a lot more… There’s no magic per say. You know it’s an action series with aliens and people turning against each other. It’s an incredible cast on that show. Sarah Wayne and Josh Holloway and Tory Kittles. I love spending time with them. And yeah! I’m really excited for fans to see Colony. I think it shows a very different side of me. I hope people are going to like it.

Nice! And Siren? I think you’re doing about 6 episodes of that?

Yeah Yeah. So Siren starts at the end of March. March 29 is the two-hour premiere on FreeForm that night. And we’re all super excited about it. It’s a super fun show and what they’ve created again with the style – like we were talking about with Elie and The Magicians – like what the team has done with styling, it’s really… It just looks fantastic. The imagination behind the creation of the mermaid characters on the show. Like if you look at any of the trailers or the bit of marketing material going around, I mean it looks so badass. I’m a big fan of fairytale and mythology and urban legends. Especially being modernized and put into the context of now. So I think they’ve done a really great job of that on Siren and yeah. I play a recurring character through that. I think my character is really FUN. Again I hope people are going to resonate with her. She’s a very modern woman. That’s probably all I can say about her. But yes. It’s an absolute blast. And again, fantastic cast. Led by some awesome women. Eline Powell, and Rena Owen, and Fola. Just awesome. And Tammy Gillis who is in Vancouver as well… Yeah it was a really great cast on that one. It’s just good to see some awesome female characters as well!

‘Six Short Stories About Magic’ – Six Short Questions for Hannah:

1). What movie can you watch at any time?
Umm… ET!

2). Favorite place to travel to or visit?
Australia. My home.

3). Ok so, something Australian that you wish was everywhere?
Aww. My family? And maybe vegemite.

4). Best food to eat in the middle of the night?
Ohh man. Umm… Oh gosh, I don’t know. Probably something with eggs. Scrambled eggs.

5). What is one thing that you wish you could be good at without any practice?
Probably skiing! I only learned like a few years ago and I’m not terrible. But like I just wish I was a badass! And surfer!

6). Would you rather be a traveler like on The Magicians or a mermaid like on Siren?
Oh my god! That’s so… That’s such a hard one! Ack! I’m gonna say a traveler because you can just get in and out of so many situations. Where as mermaids? It’s a little more challenging for them. As you’ll see on the show!

You can reach out to Hannah Levien on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram!