The next entry in our Midnight, Texas Set Visit Diaries is Parisa Fitz-Henley. She tells us about Fiji having greater control over her powers in Season 2, her character’s thoughts on the newcomers in Midnight, and some possible trouble in paradise for Fiji and Bobo.
Read our conversation below, and if you missed them, check out our previous entries with Arielle Kebbel (Olivia Charity), showrunners Eric Charmelo and Nicole Snyder, and Jason Lewis (Joe Strong).
Midnight, Texas returns tonight at 9/8c on NBC.
It’s great that Fiji and Bobo are still an item, although it may come at somewhat of a cost to Bobo.
Things get dangerous for him the deeper the relationship gets. Taking into account what happened last season and what we know about why Fiji is so traumatized around relationships and what can possibly happen, she’s understandably terrified of what could happen to him now. So we, we find them exploring, but also discovering that things might not be so great. Fiji’s got to use everything at her disposal to see if she can remedy the situation.
In Season 1, we learned that Fiji’s powers are connected to her emotions. Does being in a relationship cause any quirks in her craft?
Fiji is much more competent in her craft now that she knows that the limits have been moved. As far as she knows, she’s not endangering anybody so she can really feel free to explore things. I think it goes beyond her sexuality. It’s not, “I had sex, I can do anything now!” That was very representative of the limitations she placed on herself out of care for other people, and she’s having an opportunity to explore what it’s like to not have limitations, or at least to push them out of the way.
She doesn’t feel like she has to control her emotions anymore. She feels really safe now in her usage of her emotions. We start the season with Fiji feeling really safe and secure and fulfilled. She now has everything with her best friend and the love of her life. She’s able to really explore the gamut of emotions in the relationship, but we will see that there may be challenges with the relationship.
In our conversations with your castmates, it sounds like the writers have really upped the stakes this year.
There’s one script that I read and had a hard time talking about afterwards because I felt so bad about the stuff that was happening. The writers have consistently shocked me with what happens, and also with how grounded and real it feels. You are going to see a lot of things that are new for Midnight and new for Fiji. One of the things that’s really important to me about Fiji in particular is that she’s always exploring herself, and we get to see that when you really look at yourself, you might see some things are not great.
With everything going on in Midnight and in Fiji’s life, where does your character go when she really needs to talk?
Olivia is [Fiji’s] best girlfriend. She’s her ride or die. I want a spinoff like a web series that’s Fiji and Olivia.
Traditionally, in Wicca and witchcraft, practitioners are healers. Now there’s a self-proclaimed healer in Midnight. Is there friction between Fiji and Kai?
Fiji is suspicious. [Kai and Patience] very much represent big city, commercial, fancy [interests]. Fiji is here for the people, and she doesn’t think they are necessarily there for the people. It’s for “special people.” Fiji — and especially if you’ve read the books — she’s a sweetheart, but she can be salty. She can get petty. You’re going to see some little things where she makes it known how she feels about stuff. One you’re trusted, you’re welcome [in Midnight]. Fiji’s watching to see if these people are trustworthy.
In future seasons, what would you like to see for Fiji?
I’d love to see Fiji travel the world. She’s felt like she had to live a life that was enclosed in a way [for her] to be safe. It’s self-imposed. She’s a bit of an exile. When you look at her in Season 1 and you meet her aunt, you realize that she just modelled herself after the person who she thought was the best example of a human being. Fiji is this young woman who’s living like somebody a generation ahead of her, living in the town that was her aunt’s town, running the business that would’ve been her aunt’s. Seeing Fiji broaden her horizons is something that interests me.
In the books, Fiji’s sister is introduced at one point. Not only is she a skeptic of Fiji’s powers, she’s also just really mean. Is that a character you’d like to see on the series at some point?
I would love to see more of her family. One of the things I’ve thought about a lot more this season — especially as she opens herself up to this relationship with Bobo — is where are her people? Why is she so alone? We know from the books that not everyone in her family is open to witchcraft and Fiji identifying with who she was born as. I would be interested to see more of her family, and more of Bobo’s family, too. My dream scenario [is for Fiji and Bobo] to get married. That would be one hell of a wedding.
One thing that genre shows tend to excel at is the concept of “found family” and how so-called outsiders are coming together and creating their own families. Jason Lewis told us that in Season 2, the people of Midnight are a family.
They are, and there are challenges. The more intimate you are — with anyone in any way — there are more challenges. In the first season, the danger was always external. This season, the danger is internal. All of our relationships are going to be heavily challenged. It’s so fun. I can’t wait for you to see it!
Photo Courtesy of NBC
