Fans of The Fosters are thrilled that the hiatus finally ends tonight, and Maia Mitchell joined me to talk about all things coming up for Callie. Read our conversation below, and tune in tonight at 8pm on Freeform in the US and ABC Spark in Canada for the winter premiere. (NOTE: THERE ARE SOME MILD SPOILERS AHEAD!)
Just before the hiatus, Callie finds herself in this scary situation. She’s opened up this Pandora’s Box in trying to prove Kyle’s innocence — even though most of the people in her life have persuaded her not to get involved — and now she’s in a car with someone who is likely a killer. Where do we find Callie when The Fosters returns?
Callie, in sort of the Callie way, has really put herself into a really dangerous situation. We left off in the car when she just got the information that the killer is a male relative of Martha, and she’s there sitting next to the only male relative of Martha. Her next move is to try and get out of the car. I feel that Callie is going to try and prove that Troy is guilty and fight even harder now that she has this affirmation of what she’s been looking for. She’s going to run with it and really use it as fuel to dig herself even deeper into this mess.
Toward the end of the return episode, there’s a scene where it’s very evident that Callie is trying to do what is right and what she thinks is just, but it potentially has catastrophic consequences for her.
Yeah. She decides that she needs to share this information with her parents, tell her moms what’s been going on and the extent of her involvement and come clean, and she needs their support because obviously this is dangerous. She finally gets to a responsible place where the audience is thinking, “Thank God she’s going to do what’s right, and tell the moms, and not try to tackle it on her own,” but as she’s trying to tell them, she finds out [about] Jesus. The mothers are saying to the children, “Please, we cannot deal with any more drama. You guys just need to chill out.” She feels that she can’t go to them, and she’s doing what she thinks is right but it could be a really bad move for her in the long run.
All of the kids in this family have issues at the moment, and it’s not just trivial things. How is that going to affect the relationships between the siblings in the upcoming episodes?
They all have a lot going on. Jesus is going to potentially be dealing with a brain injury, and Mariana has become addicted to her brother’s ADHD pills, Brandon is flailing all around the place with his heart in his hands, and Callie is potentially going to juvie, and Jude is experimenting with drugs and sex. I feel really bad for the mothers at this point because they have a house full of really experimental, hands-on children. But those kids always support each other. I really like the way those relationships are written and the dynamic between the children, especially between Callie and Mariana. They have such a strong, positive female friendship and sisterhood. No matter what happens, sometimes siblings can be quite judgmental of each other, but at the end of the day their family always comes together and supports each other. That’s what I really like about the dynamic between the children.
As you mentioned, Jude is on a bit of a rebellious path at the moment. Is Callie going to try to steer him off this path and persuade him not to make the mistakes that she did, or is she so consumed with everything else going on that she can’t get too involved?
It’s a little of both. We’ve seen in the last couple of seasons that she’s really let the moms be the more maternal figures in Jude’s life. Callie’s given them the reins, which is huge for her because she’s always been his caretaker. But you see her worrying about him and see them having conversations. She definitely does approach it in a “don’t do what I do. Please stay sane and stay on the right track and don’t react to things the way I have.” She definitely tries to impart some kind of backwards wisdom on him.
There was also some tension before the break with AJ because of Callie’s friendship with Aaron. AJ is jealous of Aaron and Callie said if she wasn’t with AJ maybe she’d be with Aaron.
(Laughs) That’s a dumb thing [for Callie] to say.
How much does that tension play into the rest of the season?
AJ is a pretty reasonable guy. He’s pretty amazing and gives Callie a lot of free passes. You will see them mend that but there is going to be an ongoing tension. Everything that Callie is going through puts a big strain on AJ, and he’s quite judgmental of her involvement in the case, and like everyone else in her life he thinks she should be staying out of it. It affects their relationship and I don’t think it’s as much about Aaron as it is about everything she’s doing with Aaron and her involvement in the Troy situation.
Photos Courtesy of Freeform
