We’ve been watching Rayna Cruz slay vampires on The Vampire Diaries for most of season 7. We spoke with Leslie-Anne Huff, the actress who brought Rayna to life, about her character and her experience on the show.
Whether we were wondering who, or what the huntress was, considering the true purpose of the phoenix stone, or speculating whether or not Rayna had the mythical doppelganger status, we’ve been trying to figure Rayna Cruz out ever since we met her in The Vampire Diaries season 7.
Leslie-Anne Huff took a break from watching Beyoncé’s “Lemonade” (she’s just as captivated as the rest of the world) to give us some insight into her very complicated character. Read on to find out what Leslie-Anne had to say about the puzzle that is Rayna Cruz, the Salvatore brothers, and even what Rayna listens to when she’s on the hunt!
Hypable: We saw the huntress at the very beginning of season 7, but we didn’t see your face until quite a while after that. Was it you in those early scenes as well?
Leslie-Anne Huff: Actually, no. I think the writers and production had this character in mind and they, for whatever reason, were teasing it for a while. So that wasn’t me. That was some amazing body double that they used because I think they were probably still trying to figure out, you know, what is this character, who do we want, what is this gonna become? I actually watched some of those episodes when I did get the role and I was like, “okay, that’s what I’m supposed to look like?” *laughs*
Hypable: So you had to, kind of, step into what they had painted already in terms of that character?
LAH: Right, which was so fun. It’s like, the more information you have, the better, so it was so fun to step into something that had so much anticipation around it!
Hypable: One of my favorite things about your character is the phoenix symbolism that came along with the sword, and the fact that you emerged out of fire. People were calling the phoenix stone the “hell stone,” but that was somewhat corrected when Henry said “it’s meant to free you to be reborn as your true self.” What do you think? Is it a liberation thing or do you just want to make the vampires pay?
LAH: I think it’s a combination of the two. I think Rayna, herself, wants to make them pay, and just believes that she’s carrying on her father’s legacy and freeing the world of vampires, who, in Rayna’s heart, are essentially evil, and they’re killers and murderers and that’s why she wants to rid the world of them.
Then, I think in combination with that, the greater story of the phoenix stone and the hell stone is to make people come out better, because when they’re in the stone (and we saw Damon and Stefan go through this), they’re supposed to realize something about themselves and make themselves better and achieve some sort of redemption.
I don’t think Rayna had any intention of the stone exploding and spreading everyone back out into the world. As we saw from what happened in the episode where Stefan’s body was taken over, some of these vampires did not learn their lesson in the hell stone and, perhaps, Rayna was right!
Hypable: So, let’s say Damon went into the phoenix stone and came out an entirely changed man. Do you think Rayna would take pity on him at that point? Or, would she still want to get him back in the stone?
LAH: That’s a great question. I think Rayna is a discerning person. We saw that with her relationship with Stefan, and her being compelled to try to help him because she’s seen that really, deep down, he’s not as bad as some of these other vampires. I think, there’s some wiggle room for Rayna to be convinced. I don’t think it’s very large wiggle room, but I think, as we saw with how she felt, and dealt with Stefan, that there’s a little bit of room for redemption if Damon could have proved himself.
Hypable: What do you think it was about Stefan Salvatore that made Rayna feel like he was above the rest?
LAH: Well, as we saw in the episode when he went off on that adventure with Valerie, it was almost as if Rayna was there with him the whole time, because she has a connection to the vampires that she’s marked. So, he had that scar on him, and it connected them, and it was almost like a hive mind kind of thing.
She was seeing what he was seeing, seeing what he was doing, and seeing him fall in love with Valerie. Even though she was introduced as a cold hearted killer *laughs*, she’s not just that. She’s a person who has had a romance before, and wants love and goodness for people. I think she saw flashes of that with Stefan.
Hypable: You mentioned the love interest that she had, and The Vampire Diaries fans love a good tortured love story! Do you think that Rayna could ever make it work with a vampire and if so, do you think there’s a specific vampire on the show for her?
LAH: Well, before the sword was destroyed, I don’t think there was any way she could have made a romance work with a vampire, just because, as she says, she can’t resist the sword. She’s compelled to do its will and destroy the vampires that come into her path. Now that the stone is gone, I think, again, maybe there’s a little bit of wiggle room. But who, on the show? I couldn’t really comment, because there’s so many great choices! *laughs* That’s Leslie-Anne, the actress talking, not necessarily Rayna.
Hypable: Maybe Rayna would go with Stefan, even though he’s kind of a hot commodity at the moment!
LAH: Maybe, because she’s had a soft spot for him before. But yeah, who knows! I kind of like the idea of a powerful woman getting her choice of whoever she wanted.
Hypable: You have gotten to do a lot of awesome things as Rayna, speaking of powerful women. You’ve done things like riding a motorbike and sword fighting. How much of that have you gotten to do and what kind of training did you get for that?
LAH: I got to do quite a bit of it! They have such an extraordinary stunt team over there at The Vampire Diaries. There were people who trained me, coordinators, and stunt performers. I mean, that stuff is not easy. They taught me so much.
I trained for three weeks, a little bit before I even got anything on film. I had to learn to use the sword properly. The phoenix sword is kind of a small-ish sword, but surprisingly, it’s heavy, and it’s hard when you’re not used to using only one arm for all of your movement! It takes a lot of training and they really supported me and taught me some really cool stuff. I did a lot of the fight scenes and choreography, but for things like throwing Rayna’s body around, I went ahead and let the professionals do the work.
Hypable: It’s always a special thing on The Vampire Diaries when one of the cast members, or someone really close to the show, directs an episode. I know Ian Somerhalder directed the episode where the phoenix stone was destroyed, which was a big one for you, and Julie Plec directed one of your episodes as well. Were there any stand out moments from working with either of them?
LAH: Oh my gosh, I mean, so many! It was such a gift to work with both Ian and Julie. It was a nice trajectory for me because first, it was Ian and then, it was Julie. Ian is just such a fantastic actor. All the directors on The Vampire Diaries are awesome, but to have a director who comes from the space of an actor’s mind is really such a gift, because he would really take the time to talk to me, and talk through like, “what is the character going through now and like, what’s she thinking and feeling.”
He has such a great way of just coming in between takes and saying “think about this” and “think about that.” Aside from being a fantastic actor, he’s just such a fun person to be around, so he made the days really fun, but while taking it very seriously, as he should. He cares so much about the show, and it just made it so great.
Then, Julie coming in and directing, I mean, truth be told I was little bit like, “oh, she created the show, she’s the boss, better be on my best behavior.” Then, she came in and was just so open and kind and sweet and again, knows how to talk to actors, because she’s just like that and she’s great. She has such a direct and specific vision for what she wants, and it’s so great to work with somebody who’s like that. She knows exactly what to say to get you there.
Hypable: Do you think directing might be something that you’d want to pursue in the future?
LAH: Right now I’m really working on my acting and I’m really focused on that, but I do, ultimately, just love story telling and love entertaining people. So if that’s somewhere that my path takes me creatively I would be honored. I think it would be so great to be in that position of creating, not just based on the one character, but based on the entire story.
Hypable: Do you have a favorite Rayna line or scene that you shot on the show?
LAH: Gosh, so many. Perhaps not the one where she was walking through the forest naked. *laughs* It was cold those days. So maybe, those weren’t my favorite to do. I loved that scene, escaping from the armory at the very beginning, when Rayna breaks through the glass and knocks Enzo and these huge guards over, with just the sheer power of her body force.
She just looks over her shoulder, down at Enzo on the floor and is just like, “yeah, *laughs* you can’t keep me caged in. You have no idea what I’m capable of.” I loved filming that scene, because for me, that was the true nugget of her power. She’s always the most powerful one in the room.
Hypable: In The Vampire Diaries season 7, episode 19, it seemed like Rayna had agreed to Damon’s plan to give her life to Bonnie. Do you really think that Rayna’s had enough, or does she have a little bit more fight left in her?
Related: ‘The Vampire Diaries’ 7×19 review: Lady and the vamp
LAH: I think she’s always going to have fight left in her. I think that last scene was more about all those names; just getting all of those names and voices and images out of her head. By doing that, it almost ran her ragged and that’s why she’s on the floor shaking and sort of just, like, spent.
I think at the beginning of this whole negotiation, Rayna’s attitude was like, “okay, you know what? Let’s see. Let me see what you can do.” Then, in the meantime, they were running around killing all the vampires on this “so called list,” when there were thousands more names left on that list. So, I think she’s always going to have some fight in her. I think she’s just spent. This is her life’s work that’s been destroyed and that’s gonna tear anyone down, especially someone as driven as she is.
Hypable: If they were to kill all the vampires on that list, would she be able to take some time off to, as she said, eat a cheeseburger and sit by the ocean? Or, would she be right back at it, even without the phoenix sword?
LAH: You know, I think that’s yet to be determined. I think that there’s always going to be vampires to kill, and the legacy that her father wanted her to carry on was to get rid of all the vampires…in the world. So, that list is the very important vampires that she’s killed before and who are hunting her, but I don’t know. Like I said, she’s always got some fight in her, so we’ll just have to see.
Hypable: Finally, I don’t know if Rayna has had much time to master the intricacies of an iPod, but if she has, what do you think are some songs that would be on her vampire hunting playlist?
LAH: Oh my gosh. I actually made a playlist for her when I first started shooting. It’s actually called “Rayna is a badass.” *laughs* There’s a lot of Lorde on there. “Bravado,” by Lorde. I just love Lorde, and there’s something so powerful about her voice that I really like!
There’s a song called “Army of Me,” by Bjork. It’s an older song, but it’s a really, really great song.
And…this might sound funny, but “Bitch Better Have My Money,” by Rihanna is on there. I don’t know how much of that is just Leslie-Anne loving Rihanna and how much of that is just how powerful that song is!
Thanks to Leslie-Anne Huff for taking the time to talk to us! Fans can watch her on The Vampire Diaries season 7, episode 20, coming up on Friday, April 29 on the CW at 8/7c.
Los Angeles based fans can also see Leslie-Anne exercising her comedic chops when she joins The Groundlings Sunday Company, beginning in May.