Tomorrow People: Talking Not-So-Telepathically With Peyton List (Cara)

The Tomorrow People is certainly to be a popular choice for The CW, especially as it follows the network’s highly-rated Arrow. It also has an advantage in that it is based on a well-loved classic series, the original Tomorrow People, which aired here in the United States in the 1980’s.

At this year’s Comic-Con International in San Diego, we spoke with the actress who once played Lois Lane’s sister, Peyton List, about playing the role of Cara Coburn, the female lead of the show and one of the main Tomorrow People, a group of young people with special abilities who are hiding from ULTRA, a government agency that is trying to wipe them out. Cara has assumed a leadership role among the group. “She’s a bit strong-willed, but she believes whole-heartedly in what she’s doing, and she cares very deeply for the people that are like her, and keeping them safe and protected,” List says to describe her character.

One hope for the Tomorrow People lies with Stephen Jameson (Robbie Amell) – a character that Cara has reached out to telepathically before the events of the series premiere. “[Cara] starts to sense him, and she starts speaking to him, reaching out to him, seeing if she can make a connection. But what we learn very quickly is that these powers have different strengths, and her strength with the telepathy can be stronger with one person or another, and with Stephen, it’s extremely strong. They can sense each other very easily and communicate with each other very clearly. That creates a bit of closeness,” she says.

Stephen’s origin story isn’t the only one that will be told in the series; we will also see the origins of the characters and how they came to be where they ultimately ended up being. “That’s what we’re going to get to see,” she reveals. “We know that there’s story there. They didn’t go to high school in the sewer. They got there somehow, and we will learn their backstories very quickly, and see why they are the way that they are, and why they’re hiding, and what they stand for, really,” she says. One thing that will be explored is how Cara and John (Luke Mitchell) first came to know one another. “That was something I was very curious about, because when you just start off with the show with people already together, you don’t know how they got together; they’re just there together, and happy. So, we will be exploring when he broke out; what his story was when she came into the picture, and how they became close, and that’s what’s kind of fun. There is no real beginning. We hopped just right in the middle. You can go backwards; you can go forwards. There’s a lot there,” Peyton says.

As mentioned before, The Tomorrow People has inspiration both in the 1970’s TV series and a 1990’s remake. List reveals she didn’t watch the original Tomorrow People before playing the role of Cara, who is loosely based on Sammie Winmill’s Carol. “When we did the pilot, I really just focused on the script that we had, and trusting that the people that wrote it took what they were taking from the other one and bringing something contemporary and fresh to it. It was fun after we got done the pilot, on the computer just looking up YouTube and looking at the clips. It’s kind of fantastic. The clothes alone! It’s just… you’re like ‘wow. Seventies!’ But it was very interesting to see; very cool, and they had so many good ideas. You can go anywhere. That’s what exciting about this show, is that we can pull from that,” she says. As for reactions from original series fans? List says that so far things have seemed very positive.

“I feel like people are excited to see a remake. I think it’s been enough time that they’re interested to see ‘just what would you change? How would it be in this present day?’ But so far, it’s been really good. Everyone’s been very, very nice, and excited, and be like ‘Hey! I can’t wait to see it! I loved the original!’ So hopefully, we have enough tying into the original that they have some fun with that stuff,” she says.

The Tomorrow People begins October 9 on The CW. Read more about the show here on KSiteTV and if you’d like to see video of this interview, well, here you go: