The premiere of Red Band Society – one of the Fall’s most promising new series – is only three days away, starting on Wednesday, September 17. While the series is populated by a series of talented teens, some heavy lifting is also done by the adults, led by Oscar-winning actress Octavia Spencer.
On Red Band Society, Spencer plays Nurse Jackson, a no-nonsense woman whose attitude can find her named “Scary B****” on her coffee cup. But, there’s a lot more to Jackson, as viewers will also see in the pilot. Why she does what she does will be explored on the Wednesday night FOX series.
“I think what you’ll learn about her as the season progresses is why she chose this line of work,” Spencer said in a press call last week. “You will determine whether or not she has a heart of gold or if she has a cold, cold heart, I guess. I don’t want to say too much, but I think that’s just enough,” she teased.
“You want to know why this woman is the way she is and why she chose to be a caregiver,” she added. “I think that the show of strength or what people think is strong is not necessarily the case. I think some of the strongest people are people who are quiet and not so brazen with their emotion. What’s interesting about Nurse Jackson is I think her strength comes a lot time in just her quiet moments. So, that’s what I like that you get to see a whole person and that I’ll get to grow with her as an actor. But, I think she’s just a very interesting character,” she said.
Spencer is offered a lot of projects, and Red Band Society was the one that really spoke to her. “What appealed to me about the project was the fact that it’s a very fresh perspective on a show set in hospital, and it’s a very fresh perspective on a show that’s centered around teens. The fact that she was a nurse might have been a drawback because I’ve played a nurse so many times. But, it’s a special project and it actually was the best pilot script that I had read. I had been offered so much and I just read that one and I just felt a connection to the work,” she explained.
You can see a trailer for Red Band Society below:
