‘The Magicians’ Season 2 Preview: Stella Maeve Talks Importance of Telling Rape Survivor’s Story, Julia’s Beastly Bargain

Warning: This article contains what some might consider spoilers about Season 2 of The Magicians.

Stella Maeve needed her relaxing December sojourn to Tulum, Mexico, something fierce after wrapping Season 2 of The Magicians, which premieres on Jan. 25 on Syfy, and sorting through the mental, emotional, physical, and magical battlefield that is Julia Wicker’s life.

After being rejected by Brakebills, seduced by the underbelly of hedge witches, and sexually assaulted by Reynard the Fox, a trickster god who killed and ate her friends, she ruined her other friends’ plan to kill the Beast and save the Narnia-ish land of Fillory by hijacking their nemesis and the weapon that can kill him.

“Julia’s life is superintense, and I want so badly to do the storyline and the character justice. It isn’t always easy,” Maeve tells Yahoo TV. “It is such a hard thing to play, and she is such a tough character to truly sink into. Also, summer in Vancouver lasts about two weeks. I hate the cold. [Last year] we had 38 days of consecutive rain. It was a world record. And it isn’t even the rain. I don’t mind the rain. I mind the lack of sunlight. It is great for Julia, awful for Stella.”

But don’t get it twisted. Maeve is not complaining about her gig. Quite the opposite. “I was so excited when we found out we were getting a Season 2. I am energized by the important stories we are telling and am honored that I was entrusted to bring Julia’s complicated journey to life onscreen. So much good, meaty stuff happens with all of the main characters. I think fans of the show are not going to be disappointed in the least.”

Given her sensitive storyline, there is another group she hopes is not disappointed — real-life survivors of sexual assault. “If telling this story can make even one victim feel a little less alone, it would mean the world to me,” she says.

Maeve chatted more with Yahoo TV about what Julia has planned for the Beast back on Earth, using art to imitate life’s tragedies in hopes of helping survivors heal, her secret desire to sing, and one of her favorite sets from Season 2.

Yahoo TV: I think some viewers were surprised at how dark and isolated Julia became after being rejected by Brakebills. Then it got even darker and even more real when her group accidentally drew the bloodthirsty attention of Reynard and he ended up raping her.
Stella Maeve: Good sci-fi and fantasy use fantastical situations to represent real-life issues. It really is all a metaphor for what we all go through as humans. Unfortunately, we live in a world where terrible things like rape happen, and it is important that we represent the aftermath as accurately as possible. With situations like this, it is too real and too important to handle flippantly. But Julia is intense, and it can be hard to be on a show about fun fantastical magic and magic lands and schools, and yet my storyline usually does not coincide with that. It can be hard to bridge the gap. But it is something that I can’t take lightly. And neither are the writers.

Where is Julia at when Season 2 begins?
We pick up immediately where we left off. You get to see the reality of Julia and the ways she is going to try to deal with what Reynard did to her. She wants revenge more than anything else at first. She wants him out of her boyfriend’s body. She wants to stop him from killing and eating anyone else. The way she is going through the stages of grief is probably not normal. She is reacting viscerally. It’s very easy to say we would take the high road or we wouldn’t be fueled by revenge or destroyed by something like that happening to us. I think the truth is most humans wouldn’t be able to do that immediately. We are impulsive and emotional and reactionary by nature. As much as I’d hope to stay calm and keep a stiff upper lip, I feel like I’d more likely explode before I could let it resonate. I think healing is a process, and it takes time. I like that we get to watch what she does with this.

She finds an unlikely sympathizer and ally in the Beast.
Julia, for the first several episodes, teams up with the Beast and makes an unlikely bond with him. It shows their journey together. They don’t trust each other, and she certainly is only partnering with him at first because she sees it as her only option to find and kill Reynard, but she comes to find out that they are both survivors of sexual abuse. He went through what she is going through. Then it becomes a reflection. They’re nearing one another.

Suffering a similar trauma is a huge similarity that cannot be ignored. They get each other in that way. It is nice to see a character as complicated as the Beast. In our minds, he has only been a villain and is this awful person who is the catalyst for all these terrible things happening. But over the course of their partnership, he gets humanized, and suddenly you find your feelings toward the character fall more squarely in a gray area. Only time will tell if she will take his advice on how to get over it.

I appreciate when a villain’s softer, more vulnerable side is exposed.
Me too. It gives you the opportunity to be empathetic toward the character in a way you never would have been in Season 1. He turned into this villain because of the horrible things that were done to him as a kid. He was wounded, and we learn what he did to become the Beast. He’s also still awful and evil. He made a choice to fight his personal demons by basically becoming one. There is a moral to that story. Bad things happen to people all the time. Most do not spin out of control and become supervillains. We all try to take the high road, but we aren’t always successful.

Is she totally lost to the rage?
No, absolutely not. Sadly it is not something that anybody ever gets over, but ultimately she is trying to pick up the pieces and move forward. At the moment, Julia’s at a crossroads emotionally. Where she goes from there is what we explore in Season 2. I have family members who are survivors, and I don’t think they would say they have put it behind them. I think you learn how to deal with it better on a daily basis. But she’s also got the Beast in her ear, and he chose a different path. It may impact where she goes. It isn’t my job to judge the way she handles it. It is just my job to bring it to life and do justice to her journey for all the women, men, and children who have been subjected to this kind of violence.

It feels like a big responsibility to play out a plot like this. Do you feel it is important for TV programs to tackle the big issues?
Yes to both. The whole thing is extremely important to me because this is a real thing that happens all the time, more often than it should. People should feel safe to talk about it. They should not feel at fault. They should be able to find the support and help they need. I strive to make a character they can relate to. This is a fictional depiction of that healing process, and I know it is just TV, but art is an amazing medium to use to talk about real issues and to help people feel supported. I think it can help empower survivors and help people feel more normal and less shame. It seems lately that society is in a better place because more people are coming forward and feeling safer to report and talk about what happened to them. It creates a forum for viewers to understand they are not alone. It also does the opposite for some people. It is a form of escapism for some people. They watch to not think about their problems.

This was an incredible opportunity for me as not only an actress but as a person who lives in a world where this happens. We were at New York Comic Con, and this really nice human came up to me and said, “My wife is a survivor, and your storyline really touched her, and she wanted me to thank you.” That meant the world to me.

Julia did what she felt she needed to do by taking the Beast and the knife, but when she did this, she ruined her friends’ plan, which could be seen as betraying them.
Me and [Jason Ralph, who plays Quentin] get asked this question a lot. We agree that we don’t think Quentin is angry with her. She was so blindsided by her pain, and also she saved his life technically. The Beast was about to go after Quentin, and Julia stepped in. Of course, she had other options. She didn’t have to leave with him. Maybe she could have killed him herself. We didn’t take it as necessarily a betrayal when we read the script. It was more of a quick decision on how she could survive and how to help her friend survive. Of course, in the process, she made a deal with the devil, and she does need his help with Reynard. No matter what, it is important to note that it was not an intentional betrayal.

Is all hope lost that they will ever forgive her?
I think everyone can be forgiven. But sometimes it takes a long time. We do get to eventually see them get a better grasp on Julia’s situation and why she did what she did. They play with their levels of empathy toward her throughout the season and if they are able to relate and to what extent. I’m very excited that Eliot and Julia have their first scene alone together, but it was not until one of our last weeks of shooting. I loved seeing the characters try to understand each other and show growth from the moment where they are so angry with her and feel she betrayed them and screwed up their plan. When you are open to confronting your traumas and when all is unveiled, that is how you heal and ultimately how you get back to yourself. But I think it is nice to let those things unravel slowly in terms of the show.

The Beast (Charles Mesure), as it turns out, has an annoying habit of singing all the time. Julia is not happy with him, but did you secretly want to join him in song?
[Sera Gamble, executive producer/writer] and I are not musical theater fans. She is the first person that agrees with me on this topic. I usually see musicals and think, “That’s dumb.” There are a few cracks in the system where I think, “OK, that’s brilliant,” like West Side Story and the original Hairspray. But usually, not a fan. But John McNamara [executive producer/writer] loves musicals, and so he has slipped a few numbers in there. Julia doesn’t do any singing, but Charles makes it look so fun, as Jason did in Season 1 in the psych ward scene, that I secretly wish I had a musical number. I have changed my position because when you are in it, you have a blast. I could do a Julia version of Janis Joplin. I think it really works for the Beast. It is a weird, awesome quirk in his personality, and I think it is a good example of the show’s ability to combine a sense of humor and darkness.

Can you tease a scene you can’t wait to air?
I love the throne room in the castle. That set is so beautiful, and a lot of pivotal things happen in that room, which is huge and elaborate. There are all these natural elements represented in the design. I think fans will really enjoy seeing that … and meeting all kinds of new creatures and people in Fillory, and learning about new spells, and seeing what comes out of Julia’s deal with the devil. I’m telling you, this season is good stuff.

The Magicians Season 2 premieres on Jan. 25 at 9 p.m. on SyFy. Season 1 is now streaming on Netflix.