Exclusive Interview with Gatlin Green of Heroes Reborn

Young, yet talented, actress Gatlin Green is perfect in her role as Emily on NBC’s Heroes Reborn. Her character is sweet, charming, and brave and befriends teenage EVO Tommy. Together they bring some sweetness and light to a show that could otherwise be incredibly intense. It turns out Emily isn’t the only one that is sweet, charming, and brave. Gatlin is too! Continue reading to find out more about Emily and Tommy, everyday heroes, and what makes Gatlin just a little bit nerdy!

What can we expect from Emily in the upcoming episodes that maybe we didn’t get to see so much of during the premier?

I think definitely what we can expect from Emily, and not even just from Emily, but from the whole show, is that it’s going to get deeper and maybe even darker and more intense. There’s going to be some more drama and excitement. I like to call it a rollercoaster of chaos that’s about to ensue, I guess you could say, so Emily gets pulled into a lot of that. We’re going to see Emily step up and kind of embrace the action with Tommy, which is exciting.

Well, that’s awesome! What was it about Emily that made you want to play this role?

I always love having the opportunity to play, kind of, the light in the darkness kind of character, somebody who is optimistic and happy and there to make someone’s day brighter. That’s always a fun character to play and I think it’s pretty true to home. I hope that I’m that kind of person, so it’s not too hard to act, so it makes it fun and easy. I also love the kick butt part of Emily, which I think you will see soon, or just at least that she’s not going to cower in fear. She’s going to be there for her friends when they need it most. I think that’s what drew me most to the character.

That’s cool. So you may have kind of just answered this question: You’re on a show called Heroes, so would you give that role of a hero to Emily even though she doesn’t have any powers?

Yeah! I like to say that even though Emily doesn’t have superpowers, I think it’s a power in and of itself that she’s keeping up with everybody that does. It’s a scary place out there but still she’s ready to kick butt and keep up with the people who have powers. I think she’s a hero!

I absolutely agree, so I’m glad you said yes! So why do you think Emily decided to keep Tommy’s secret rather than share it or run scared?

I think Emily is the type of person to step up to a challenge, to something a bit intimidating. She was like ‘I’m going to make this work.’ And I think she’s super compassionate and empathetic with Tommy. She connected with him and wants to make his life easier and be a source of comfort and just give him a bit of normalness, help him feel normal as much as she can. So, I think it was compassion and empathy, like I said. I think that’s what made her stick with Tommy and try to keep his secret.

So, if you could have one of the powers of the other EVOs on the show, what power would it be?

Well there’s a lot you haven’t seen yet, so I have to be careful about what I say.

That you can tell us (Laughs).

Okay, can I say one from the original show?

Oh, sure!

This is kind of a double-edged sword. As an actor I wouldn’t want to be a shape shifter because I wouldn’t get to act as much, because all these other characters would come in. There was that character, and I don’t remember her name, she was a shape shifter, so she could shape shift into different people, which would be really cool. But I also just thought of another power I would love to have is like a communicator, someone who could speak all these different languages, even maybe talk to animals. I think that would be really really cool, because I love languages, so I would love to automatically be able to communicate with everyone.

That’s fun! Those are good. Heroes Reborn, obviously it’s based on the past show. What is it like being on a show that already had a large following. Did that make it more intimidating stepping into the role or just more exciting?

I think it was a little bit of both, because, you know, you do have the pressure . I mean everybody has the pressure, the writers, the actors, everybody. We have to make this show include what the people loved about the original show and then also make it new and different and exciting and darker. We have to bring these different story lines and characters in that we want to make sure that people fall in love with too. So, it’s super exciting because we hope that we are going to have those dedicated fans that stick with us and kind of pop over and join us again for this new Heroes Reborn. We also want to make sure that it’s a show that new people want to see. It’s scary and it’s exciting!

I feel like that’s the best kind of role to have, though.

Yeah! You’re always on your toes.

So, there are several different story lines happening all at once, at least right now, on Heroes Reborn, so what makes Emily and Tommy’s story special?

I would say that what makes Emily and Tommy’s story special is Heroes always tries to make, and actually, I think Heroes is super successful at making the show, whether it be the first one or this one, relatable to people. I think people love the young, budding relationship. I think what’s happening right now in our society, in real life. There is this huge idea and movement toward younger people doing awesome stuff and it doesn’t matter how old you are, you can be an everyday hero. Anybody can be a hero, like the show says. I think Emily and Tommy’s story line is super important to relate to that idea, that no matter how old you are or how scary the world gets, we can still come out on top and power through it, and, you know, be awesome!

I had a fan ask this question, so I want to make sure I get it in here. She wanted to know have you ever had a funny or unexpected or a weird experience with a fan before?

I wouldn’t say super weird, but kind of like an interesting coincidence. One day I was walking around Toronto with one of my best friends Jessie, she’s just, I love her. Anyway, shout out! (Laughs). We were walking around and I was coming home to my apartment and I saw these two girls and like a mom, or I can’t remember if it was a mom or an aunt, but they were walking right in front of my apartment. I was going inside and they stopped me and were like “Uh, Gatlin?” And I go “Ummm, oh my gosh, I recognize you from Twitter” and they ended up being my Twitter followers and they ended up grabbing a picture real quick. I was not expecting that at all to be literally right outside of my apartment. But, yeah, I haven’t had anything too crazy yet.

Since our site is called Talk Nerdy With Us, what is something you nerd out on or what makes you nerdy?

Alright, alright! I would have to say either Dr. Who or Spiderman. Both of those I get super nerdy about. I mean, okay, here’s the difference though: I don’t have the brain capacity, I guess you could say, to memorize everything and I am on my knees, congratulations to those people, because that is something I am jealous of, to be able to watch all of the Dr. Who episodes and be able to like remember all of the facts. I think that is awesome. I don’t have that ability, but I still love Dr. Who and I still love Spiderman. Both of those things I will get super pumped about if we get into a conversation about them at any point of time.

That is awesome! I love that! Gatlin, thank you again and I’m excited to see the next episode!

Me too! It’s the first time we see them. We see them episode by episode, so I’m pumped too!

 

Watch Heroes Reborn on NBC, Thursdays at 8PT/ET!