Violett Beane was a, well, quick fan favorite when she started playing Jesse Quick on The Flash, and pretty soon, audiences will get to see her on TV every week in a lead role on the CBS series God Friended Me which premieres Sunday, September 30 on the network.
We had the opportunity to interview Violett about her role on the inspirational new series. Enjoy!
KSITETV’s CRAIG BYRNE: How would you describe this series to someone who hasn’t seen it yet?
VIOLETT BEANE: I would describe it on the surface as about an atheist who gets friended by someone calling himself “God” on Facebook, and of course, he denies the request, and then eventually he accepts it – he’s curious – and he gets a friend suggestion, and that’s how the show is set up. He gets these friend suggestions, and then he ends up meeting these people, and figures out how they need help, and he helps them.
I play Cara Bloom who is an online journalist and actually one of the friend suggestions in the pilot, and Miles helps Cara to reconnect with her mom, and instead of disappearing after that, Cara decides to stick around and see where the God account takes them.
Did working on The Flash with Greg Berlanti have anything to do with landing the role of Cara?
I mean, it’s always good to have friends in places, but I don’t think the two were necessarily correlated. When I went in for the audition, it was with our creators, and they had never even seen The Flash.
Would you say that Cara and Miles are both characters who are in search of inspiration?
Yeah! I think everyone in their life is in search of something, and I think that for these two, their paths just crossed at the right time, and I think that’s kind of the whole premise of this show. It’s about being in the right place at the right time, and whether or not things are coincidence or meant to be.
Is there anything about Miles and his quest to find who is behind the “God” account that kind of wakes Cara up in a way?
Yeah. Cara is sort of the believer side of things. She comes from both a Christian and a Jewish background, and Miles is obviously an atheist, so for her… she doesn’t go to church every week, but she definitely believes in something higher than us, and she’s also a journalist, right? So she wants a good story.
For her, she doesn’t back down from the challenge that is Miles. She’s constantly trying to prove to him that everything is connected, and that it’s sort of their destiny, if you will, to help these people.
Will we be seeing more of Cara’s mother as the series goes on?
They reconnect in the first episode, and it’s not easy, but it’s something they both decide to do, so we will see how that relationship is able or not able to develop, based on all the time that’s passed, and if something like that is forgivable.
Will there still be room in your schedule to ever return as Jesse Quick on The Flash?
Yeah! Jesse is over on her Earth, but she’s not gone, so I definitely see a possibility for Jesse to come back.
What makes Cara different from any character that you’ve played before?
I think Cara’s probably one of the most inspiring people that I have played, because she’s had something traumatic happen to her, but she’s sort of made it her quest in how to give her purpose in life rather than slump her down and make her unmotivated. I think that is something we could all learn from, and I know I learn from.
Can you talk about the cast that you get to work with on God Friended Me?
Everybody is so fantastic. I am so, so, so pleased that I get to work daily with such talented people. Even down to our guest stars, to our day players…. I’ve been so impressed with everyone, and what everyone brings to the set.
Is this the first show that you’ve filmed in New York, and what is it like?
Yes. It’s pretty crazy. I mean, we filmed the pilot here in March, and in March it snowed three times, which if you know me at all, that is not a thing for me, but other than that… being on location, and meeting all kinds of new and different people… it’s kind of the heart of this show, and I think it’s important for the show to be here. It’s all about people’s backgrounds and how different everyone’s story is, and you will not find any more concentration of that than in New York.
Will we start to learn more about why the “God” account has picked these specific people, or is this something that will just be left in the background as a mystery?
Through the episodes that we’ve shot so far, we’re discovering what each person is able to bring to the series. With Miles — he’s a do-gooder, and he wants to help people, and I think he’s finding that he’s able to do that through the God account. With Kara — she’s a writer, and she is an investigator, and to her, helping people and getting to the bottom of situations is kind of what drives her. And with Rakesh — he’s a hacker, and he sees this code of the God account, and he’s mesmerized by it, so for him, he’s got to crack it. So I think there are all of these different reason why we’re doing what we’re doing, but that definitely will be something we get to explore.
What would you say to people who have followed your other work, for why they should check this show out?
I think that this series is something that you can watch with anyone, and it’s something that I think everyone will be able to walk away from feeling a little bit more uplifted. There are a lot of shows out there — and shows that I love — but they’re very dramatic, and they’re sad, and they don’t necessarily leave you feeling great at the end, and I think that this show, if that’s something that you want and need, which I think in the world that we’re in right now we do, then I think it’s perfect for that.
God Friended Me premieres Sunday, September 30 at 8PM ET/PT on CBS.
