Aurora Perrineau
Aurora Perrineau
on “Westworld” and what’s next
At first glance, Aurora Perrineau is a normal American actress. Dig a little deeper than that, you might find that she’s followed in the footsteps of her dad, Harold Perrineau, also a very talented actor. And if you’ve read l’Odet for a while, you know that we love working with her long-time boyfriend Michael Vlamis, also a talented actor. What a powerhouse group of people! I think by now I’ve watched almost everything Aurora has worked on — and she’s become one of my favorite actresses to watch. It’s fulfilling to make connections through l’Odet and then root for these people and their careers from afar. I previously interviewed Aurora before she could talk about her role on Westworld, so we decided to hold off on a feature until she could speak about it. If you watched the show, you’d know that in its most recent and final season, Aurora’s character was revealed to be the all-grown-up daughter of Caleb, portrayed by Aaron Paul. Their reunion was one of the best parts of the season. Below we chat casually about Westworld, and a little bit about her upcoming project KAOS, a Netflix original. That one is still very much under wraps, but hey! I’ll take what I can get. And hopefully we can dig a little deeper with Aurora once that show premieres. ◇ 2023
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Cariann: Well, okay, so it's about a year till KAOS comes out, right?
Aurora: Sometime in 2024!
Cariann: Is it a Netflix original?
Aurora: Mm-hmm.
Cariann: Does Netflix make those in-house?
Aurora: Yeah. The people behind this one — this company called Sister — they did Chernobyl and then they did Power of the Dog and then they did this British show that a lot of people don't know about on HBO called Landscapers. They're the company behind it, and then Netflix is the studio and the distributor.
Cariann: I ask because my screenwriting partner and I have been trying to figure all of this out since we wrote that pilot — there's this whole family tree of companies that doesn't make any sense.
Aurora: Never does!
Cariann: And there isn't much information out there. And for us writers, next steps aren't clear at all either. Agents don't accept unsolicited submissions, production studios don't accept unsolicited submissions. And we were talking to a production studio this week, actually, and basically realized if we ever wanted to do something with [our script], we could only do it through Disney because Fox owns the rights to the original character and Disney owns Fox. So we had been talking to this studio that we love and they said Disney would never have someone from an outside party do it. We were like, "Okay, great. Back to the drawing board." Got to talk to Disney, I guess. I’m calling up the Mouse. [Laughs]
Aurora: Yeah, it's difficult. A24, for instance — we'll do a movie with some random company, and then you'll look at their next movie and they've done it with another random company. I did an A24 movie 30 billion years ago, but the company behind it was Scott Free, which is a production company and they only did two movies with A24, and then A24 went and did movies with these people. I guess it's finding the distributor possibly, and then being like, "Okay, do they have connections with Disney? Can they figure out how to get the Disney Studio on for this?" Do you know what I mean?
Cariann: Yeah. Totally.
Aurora: Yeah, I don't know. Roswell, it's CW, but the production company was Amblin. And Amblin does very random things. It's like, okay, they did an alien show, and then they go and do an Oscar-y movie. They're all over the place, and so it's just finding whoever would distribute it who also has a connection with Disney and could put them on as that, but it's very weird.
Cariann: Right. Yeah. I was wondering how Carina [Adly MacKenzie] must have done that to create a show that's a reboot. But maybe it was because she was already working for the CW!
Aurora: I think it was that, but it was also because of Julie Plec. Julie Plec had such a great relationship with CW, obviously, because of The Vampire Diaries and all those things, and Julie Plec is the person that brought Carina onto the [TVD and The Originals]. I think that's how that worked.
Cariann: Well, yeah, it's a bummer because I can think of people that have done this sort of thing before, but not with intellectual property that's not theirs. You know?
Aurora: Yeah.
Cariann: It makes sense that Jenny Han is the showrunner of The Summer I Turned Pretty because she wrote the book. She wrote the screenplay, and she can do that. But yeah, if me and Kass, if we wanted to be writers and/or showrunners one day, it would probably have to be for something that was our original idea. We probably wouldn't be able to use someone else's IP [to make a reboot].
Aurora: It would be hard. It would be hard unless you've already been doing it, and then they're like, "Oh, we're going to put you on this project even though it's someone else's thing, blah, blah, blah, because this person hasn't shown run before, but you have." But that would be hard. You could always make it different...
Cariann: Yeah. We'll see. It's been fun, though! Writing a script, I mean.
Aurora: Look, everything else will be easier after this, so there's that.
Cariann: Yeah, that's true. I'm going to start working on some other stuff, I think.
Aurora: Listen, yeah, just have multiple things to go off of, but working on the whole show is great!
Cariann: Yeah. But anyway, this is supposed to be about you!
Aurora: Look, we're talking about both of us. I like it.
Cariann: I need a coffee. Okay, so Westworld! We never got to talk about that [in our first unpublished interview] since it was very under wraps.
Aurora: I know, I know. [Laughs]
Cariann: Now can you talk about it?
Aurora: Yeah! I'm going to a wrap party tonight for it, randomly. We wrapped in December of 2021.
Cariann: Whaaaat?
Aurora: I got the email and they were like, "Can you make this date work?" I was like, "Yeah, I think so." They're like, "Can you let us know soon?" I was like, "Yeah, okay, I can make the date work." And then they're sent out this invite and... I don't know.
Cariann: Is it like an ‘end of show’ party maybe? Since there isn’t another season coming?
Aurora: We never had a wrap party on set, so maybe that's part of it.
Also, we got taken off of HBO, so there's a new streaming service that's going to be taking us on. And that happened right before they talked about this wrap party thing, so I don't know if maybe they're like, "Look, we're going to be on this new thing." But very strange, very strange.
Cariann: Wait, Westworld is not on HBO at all anymore?
Aurora: No. It was always the plan: do five seasons and done. They had a set plan, and this whole new season was going to be in the park and all this cool stuff, and it was going to really round out the whole show.
Cariann: That's a fucking bummer.
Aurora: It's a real bummer.
“I just loved the experience and I loved the character and I loved the show. I also hadn't had that kind of an experience on set with a cast and crew where I felt really respected from start to finish... I finally felt seen as a creative and respected at the same level that I respect other creatives.”
Cariann: Well, that's a bummer. Okay, I wanted to ask, because I might've already asked you this, but how did you get involved in the first place with Westworld?
Aurora: Just an audition. I got a self-tape. I want to say it was the week after Prodigal Son got canceled, so me and Michael [Vlamis] were on a little vacation. And, I only tell this story because I think it's hilarious — I was completely sunburned because we were in Palm Springs and just laying out all day. I got this tape, I just knew that they were like, "Oh, think of Mad Max. This character lives in the desert." And so I'm just sunburned across my whole face, and I'm like, this is perfect. I live in the fucking desert. And then I did it and didn't hear anything for a couple weeks, and then they just called and they're like, "Oh, yeah, you got the job." And that was literally it. Honestly, one of the easiest casting processes ever. It was really nice, because normally it's self-tape and then four more freaking auditions. That was honestly it.
Cariann: In the audition process, were you working with the director or the showrunners?
Aurora: Oh, I was by myself. Me and Michael. Michael read the scene with me, and then that was it. Normally it would be you send in the tape and then you read with the director and producers. I think for KAOS, I probably had four auditions because it was by myself, then with the directors, producers, and then, I think, maybe one more time. Then I had a chemistry read with the other actor. But [Westworld] was literally one and done. I think because they were established, the show's been established, and it's been around for a long enough that the creators know what is right for the show, so they don't need to see 500 iterations.
Cariann: Yeah. Okay. And I remember last time we talked, you were saying that you had never connected to a character like you connected to C. And you got a tattoo for her?
Aurora: I do. I have it right here, just a little tiny C.
Cariann: So cute. I was wondering this whole time because you couldn't say anything about it, so I didn't know what the tattoo was. And I've just been dying to know this entire time. [Laughs]
Aurora: I got another one for my new show right here, too, so I need to stop getting tattoos for projects, I think.
Cariann: No, I love it.
Aurora: They're all little, too. But yeah, no, I got that tattoo a couple days after, or maybe a week after wrap. I just loved the experience and I loved the character and I loved the show. I also hadn't had that kind of an experience on set with a cast and crew where I felt really respected from start to finish. Most of the time, there's elements that you like about things, and you're like, "Oh, well, that part was cool," or, "The cast was cool," or, "This producer was nice," but [Westworld] was like, everybody is working together and really respectful. I felt like people actually would listen and wanted to hear what I had to say, as opposed to just go do this job, and if you had a question about a scene, ba humbug. Talk about it another time with your therapist. I think I just was like, "Ah, this is the kind of stuff I've been waiting to work on." I finally felt seen as a creative in that way and respected at the same level that I respect other creatives. I think it was a whole mixture of all those things.
Cariann: That must have been a really good feeling. Kind of a next step in your career as well.
Aurora: Exactly.
Cariann: It's like, you'd hope you'd get to that point at some level.
Aurora: At some point, yeah, you hope. And being on HBO had been a dream of mine for forever because my dad, his big show was on there 800 years ago, Oz. He was super young at that time, and it was when The Sopranos was happening and Oz was happening, they felt like the first two real HBO shows, so I'd always had a dream of doing an HBO show, to have a cool character and be like, "Oh, look, daughter and dad on this network." That was a big thing for me.
Cariann: Yeah, that's cool. And you got a premiere, right?
Aurora: We got a premiere in New York, and that was super, super fun. My whole family was out there at the time because dad was working out there, so it just worked out that they all got to come. And Michael came with me. That was really fun.
Cariann: I loved all the promo stuff they were doing. They had the people in the [robot] costumes.
Aurora: Yeah, those freaked me out! [Laughs] One of the producers has multiple photos of me hiding behind things. And I'm playing this really tough character, but I actually don't like looking at this creepy man in the white suit.
Cariann: No, yeah, they were terrifying.
Aurora: Yeah, no, I did not like it. Also, they don't talk to you, obviously, because they're doing their job and they're acting in those little suits. But the promo was cool. And they did stuff on the Highline in New York, which was cool. And, yeah, they really went all out, which I really respected. As someone who watches the show too, I enjoyed that, so it was like, maybe other people who watch a show are enjoying this too. I thought it was fun.
Cariann: Yeah. What kind of response did you get once the episodes aired? Specifically the pretty emotional ones like those scenes between you and Aaron Paul.
Aurora: The response was really great. I want to say Prodigal Son was definitely more family and friends that would respond to it because those are the people that were watching it, but this was family and friends were watching it, and I felt like the response was great and people were seeing me in a very different light. But it was also people industry-wise that I have liked that have responded to seeing me in the show. That was a really cool feeling because you always want your peers to like you — recognize you for what you're doing and then maybe want to work with you in the future. I think that was a response I hadn't had in the past.
And my mom is hilarious — she cried watching an episode, so that's a big win for me. It was nice. It was cool to hear people that were fans of the show that I'm friends with seem to at least like what I was doing with the character and didn't think I was completely fucking the show up, which was my fear.
Cariann: Literally would've never happened.
Aurora: You never know!
Cariann: Well, I loved it. I loved watching it. And I loved watching it as it aired, too. I was so excited at the finale because I was like, oh, I think Aurora's going to come back next season. I was like, that’s my friend!!! [Laughs]
Aurora: [Laughs] They're very secretive, so it was like… I think I'm going to come back… but I don't know if I'm going to come back. But there was a scene, I think it was episode six, where I get scanned by that machine thing; Jeffrey [Wright]’s character scans me. And that was the day that it was like, oh, they're at least leaving the door open so that if I die…
After that happened, I was like, oh my god, they're going to kill me at the end of this. That must be what's happening. But it was like, if I die, I've now been saved to this giant organism thing. That was the day that I thought maybe I could come back. And that would've been super exciting because I just want to be a cowgirl so bad. Put me on a horse! Put me in the old West town! That would've been cool. [Laughs]
Cariann: That would've been really cool.
Aurora: Yeah. But who knows, maybe I would've not been a cowgirl.
Cariann: I think there's still lots of time for us to find you a cowgirl role.
Aurora: There's got to be. I rode horses for 14 years. Somebody let me use it for—
Cariann: Wait, really?
Aurora: Yeah.
Cariann: Gosh. Well, it's such a cowboy time right now! 1883 and Yellowstone.
Aurora: It's such a cowboy time, so I'm waiting. I always throw that out. When [roles ask for] ‘special skills,’ they clearly want to know if you can fight. But I'm like, "I can ride horses."
Cariann: That's pretty good, though, to know!
Aurora: Listen, I don't fall off! [Laughs]
Cariann: Maybe you should talk to Hassie [Harrison] about getting a Yellowstone cameo.
Aurora: Oh my God, I love Hassie.
Cariann: She's great in that show.
Aurora: She is great in that show. She rides horses over here in California, I think, too so I should just... Yeah, I'll just follow her to the Yellowstone set, show them.
Cariann: That's probably a really cool set.
Aurora: I bet.
Cariann: Well, I'm glad that I finally got to learn a little bit more about C.
Aurora: Yeah, C is cool. I loved her. I loved all the stuff with Aaron [Paul]. That was really cool. I was a little nervous! You build it up in your own head like because C’s whole thing is she has to find her dad. Then you're building it up in your head, like, what if me and Aaron don't have any chemistry? There would be nothing to do if that’s the case. Do you know what I mean?
But It was nice to finally meet him. And we met in a better situation where it wasn't on the day we had to do those [emotional] scenes. It was during a stunt rehearsal for our big fight sequence in the subway station. We met there and chatted a little bit. And then I felt better about it. And we actually shot the ending episode of us saying goodbye, before we shot them reuniting, which actually worked pretty well, because then I already had a little bit of a relationship with him. So when we did come together for the first time, it felt more electric. And it was a little sad because that scene was [originally] so much longer, but the episode was so long that it's just like, you have to cut things.
Cariann: Wait, which one — the goodbye? Or when you guys first reunited?
Aurora: The scene of them reuniting was probably double the amount of time originally. But it's like, there's so many characters, there's so many other storylines that have to all come together at one time that it got cut right in half. But on the day, it was so cool. It was a really cool experience.
Cariann: It was such a beautiful scene. I wish that it had been double the length. There was a lot going on!
Aurora: Me emailing, I'm like, "Please just send me the double?"
Cariann: Yeah, can I have the cut on disk? [Laughs]
Aurora: Yeah, I know you guys aren't allowed to do that legally, but can I just have it anyway for my own viewing purposes?
But it was a really cool experience. And working with him was great. I also got [to work with] the two clowns on set, which were Jeffrey and Luke [Hemsworth]. That was really the coolest part, I think, was just being introduced to a show that's crazy and scary and everybody's so talented, but then being put [into scenes] with those two made it much easier.
Cariann: That's good. Do you think going onto the KAOS set, is it the same level, you would say, to Westworld as far as how big the set is and the production is?
Aurora: We don't shoot KAOS on film, but I will say with the time and the money and all of that stuff — it is pretty similar. And it's only eight episodes, so we were there for seven months — to shoot a show for seven months for only eight episodes is insane! It did feel like that level to a degree. But I think because my role is so much larger in KAOS, I sometimes would forget how big of a scope the show was because I was like, "Oh, I'm just this goofy person over here doing this thing." And then I was like, "Oh no, this feels like a big one." And you never know how it's going to turn out. But it did feel similar.
But, although serious, because it's a dark comedy, there were so many characters and clowns, and everybody was pretty hilarious. The cast, though, was massive. There's maybe twelve [actors] that are main series regulars, but then we're having people come in for an episode or two episodes. I think by the end of it, the count was like 215 speaking roles or something. It was massive.
And you're always having people come in and out. I was there from beginning to end in every location except for Italy, but even when Italy was happening, I was still in Spain shooting stuff. I felt the revolving door of people coming in and out and in and out, and meeting all of those people. That is where you start to feel the scope of it. You're like, "Oh, this person's here for two weeks to be on set for a couple days." And they're just in and out, and I'm just still sitting here realizing how many people are coming and doing the show, it was so cool. Also my childhood crush and hero is in the show, and I acted a complete dweeb, couldn't even say hi to him the first few times. [Laughs]
“That was a really cool feeling because you always want your peers to like you — recognize you for what you're doing and then maybe want to work with you in the future.”
Cariann: Who was it?
Aurora: David Thewlis. He plays Professor Lupin in Harry Potter. I'm a Harry Potter nerd, so that was... someone clearly told him that I'd had a crush on him.
Cariann: OMG. They did?
Aurora: For sure. Yes.
Cariann: That's rude!
Aurora: Because it was so obvious. He's an older man, he's married, and, obviously, I have a childhood crush, it's not like I have a crush now, but he was so nice to me all the time. I think he knew I was feeling uncomfortable. He would just try to make conversation, I'd be like, "Mm, mm-hmm, mm." He's like, "No, how's your day?" I'm like, "Mm." [Laughs]
Cariann: That would definitely be me. Yeah.
Aurora: Nothing coming out of my mouth. By the end, we had a nice actor-to-actor chat. But working with him, I think that also blew my mind. I was like, "Oh, this is someone I've idolized for forever," because after Harry Potter, when I grew up a little bit, I watched everything he did because I just thought he was amazing. He's also the villain in Wonder Woman, the first Wonder Woman.
Cariann: Oh okay, yeah, then I have seen him in a few things!
Aurora: But I think working with him and those kind of people, I was like, "Oh wow, this show is a similar level, it's just more British actors than Americans,” but that was the only difference I felt.
Cariann: And did you get to do a lot of comedy?
Aurora: I am more of the straight man in the show, but there definitely is some comedy. It's the similar tone to End of the Fucking World because the creator is one of the creatives from that show, and so it's very dark, it's very cynical. It's very my own humor where it's just sarcastic and really blunt. There are some people who are a little more your traditional version of, I guess, what would be funny, but a lot of it is people being really sarcastic and dry. And the comedy almost comes from how fucked up some of the situations are, where you're like, "Oh, that's not funny. But now I'm laughing because it's fucked up."
Cariann: Your character in KAOS, at least historically, is pretty dark in general anyway. I'll be interested to see what they've done with [Eurydice].
Aurora: Yeah. No, I'm excited about it. I can't wait to actually have more in depth conversations about the show because I think there's so many small details that the creator has done that are so smart. I think Charlie [Covell] is a genius. And just things that I didn't even realize until the show was done, and then people were like, "Yeah, did you realize this means this?" And I was like, "Oh. Just flew over my head."
Cariann: Well, keep those in your mind so that I can—
Aurora: Don't worry, they're written down.
Cariann: Okay, yeah, I do really want to talk to you about that when it comes out. But yeah, I loved Westworld, and I'm bummed that it's not getting another season.
Aurora: Same. Even if I wasn’t in this new season, I really wanted to see [the story] go back to the park. I wanted to just see the whole thing rounded out.
Cariann: Who knows what the future holds?
Aurora: There's a sick part of my brain that's like, maybe tonight they're going to say that a new streaming service has picked us up for another season. But at the same time, I think all of the other actors have a million other jobs lined up now so I would be the only person who's like, "I can come!"
Cariann: "I'm ready! I can do it!"
Aurora: Yeah, some deep sickness in me is like, yeah, they're going to tell us today.
Cariann: Well, it's weird that it's happening now. Stranger things have happened!
Aurora: I just thought I would try to speak it into existence.
Cariann: Well I looked like such an idiot talking to a producer today, so at least we’re both trying to speak things into existence. Manifestation is important.
Aurora: Why?! What did they say?
Cariann: It was helpful! Rejection is still informative. But fingers crossed one day I'll get something made that I wrote.
Aurora: It's going to happen. It's going to happen — you just gotta be persistent. That's literally all it is.
Cariann: If there's one thing I am, it's persistent. [Laughs]
Aurora: And I'm telling you that really is all it is! The amount of friends I've had who've thrown in the towel, I'm just like, "You just gotta sit there with it." And it sucks. But the people that make it, when people are like, that person's not that great of an actor, how are they here? I'm like, because they just kept fucking going, and then so eventually someone said, "Okay, sure!" And it just always happens — to great actors, to bad actors; it happens in every aspect of the field. It's just staying on it. That's literally it.
Cariann: I'm on my way.
Aurora: There we go!
Cariann: Well, thanks for talking to me again. I appreciate you being gracious with all the scheduling back and forth!
Aurora: No, dude, of course. And yeah, if you have any questions about neighborhoods, this, that, throw it my way. I've been here for 800 years. I also enjoy that stuff, so I'm around.
Cariann: Definitely. I'll take you up on that, for sure.
Aurora: Yeah. All right, dude. Good to talk to you. I'll talk to you soon!
*This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Interview By CARIANN HOPE | edited by Kass Ringo | design by Madeline Westfall | Photos By DAVY KESEY