The second season of the Sacred Lies anthology series will feature a new cast and a storyline that draws inspiration from a story collected from the Brothers Grimm, The Singing Bone, as well as real-life murder cases. This season of Sacred Lies follows Elsie (Jordan Alexander) as she searches for the family she never knew after being abandoned as a child. The search leads her to her father, Peter (Ryan Kwanten), an inmate who may be guilty of more than the crimes he’s currently incarcerated for and Harper (Juliette Lewis), a telemarketer turned arm-chair detective with an obsessive hobby of searching for unidentified murder victims. Kristin Bauer will recur as Elsie’s foster mother, Shannon.

I had a chance to interview Jordan Alexander and discuss the surreal nature of working with some of her heroes.

Sacred Lies streams every Thursday at 12 pm PT / 3 pm ET on Facebook Watch!

LRM Online: I’m pretty excited to speak to you about Sacred Lies. Your character Elsie is like, Oh my gosh. She needs to be hugged with this roller coaster of emotions that she gets put through.

Alexander: Seriously.

LRM Online: How did you do it? How did you just go with all these changes and surprises? I mean, when all she really wants is be loved and find her true identity really.

Alexander: Yeah, I think it was a lot. It was definitely an emotional roller coaster of a character to play because I feel like I really want to make my characters real. I want to make them real to myself and also the viewer. So definitely I’m imagining as though these things are happening to me and so that I have an authentic reaction to them and it was really hard. And also it isn’t just a fiction. This is quite possibly someone’s experience with the foster care system and falling through the cracks like that. So that made it an even more of a heavy topic to be addressing.

LRM Online: I agree. That’s actually one of the things I wanted to discuss because you are opening that feedback in reference to the foster system that kids unfortunately end up landing in and how some of them even abuse it. So it’s definitely a good topic to open. But speaking of the series though, how did you get involved? Were you a fan of the original, the first season or how did you get the role of Elsie?

Alexander: So I actually hadn’t seen the first season when I first heard about this show. But as soon as I got the script and I saw how amazing… Or I got my first audition really and I saw how amazing the writing was and the storytelling and the creativity behind it, I went back and watched everything. I’ve watched it twice actually. It was a very, very enjoyable series. And the imagination of Raelle Tucker, the show runner and creator is just, it’s so magical. And so it’s nice to live in that. So no, I actually hadn’t heard of it before and I auditioned for it and was lucky enough to be able to be a part of it.

LRM Online: So what was it like working with Raelle Tucker, I mean as a show runner? I mean she’s done some awesome work like example True Blood that a lot of people are a fan of.

Alexander: Yeah. Absolutely. I mean myself included. She’s just incredible and I feel like she created a most perfect set ecosystem. It was such a positive and creative and collaborative experience whether you’re interacting with her or the writers or the people behind the camera. It was just a really great project to be a part of. And I feel like that came from the top down. I feel like that came from her.

LRM Online: Did she have involvement in the casting part and so did you get to interact with her during that time?

Alexander: She absolutely did. I think I had done one audition and then I was already hearing her name and then I did a Skype callback with Scott Winant, one of the directors. He directed two episodes of this season and Raelle with her as well. So it was really interesting to get that feedback in real time and they give me little adjustments and tell me more about the story. And so it was so fun even to just have that experience in a callback setting, which is usually pretty stressful. But I felt like it was magical and I really enjoyed it. And just hearing about their art and their passion and seeing that from them.

LRM Online: So what was that moment? Can you share when you were like, you got the role?

Alexander: Yes, so Raelle and Scott had actually been championing me, which I am eternally grateful for. So I knew that I had allies with them, but there’s a lot that goes into someone being cast. And so it was still very much up in the air. And when I got the call, I was sitting with my sister and she’s very… Both of my sisters are very invested in this. So we just started jumping around and screaming and she’s videotaping me. Yeah, it was amazing. It was… My life completely changed. It was great.

LRM Online: That’s sweet. And go figure, I mean you said you were a fan of True Blood, right?

Alexander: Absolutely. Yeah.

LRM Online: Okay. And then here you are in Sacred Lies and then you have a couple of people like Ryan and Kristin that were originally in True Blood and now one of them plays your dad and the other one plays your foster parent. I mean, how surreal was that?

Alexander: It’s unbelievable. I really had to quickly snap out of my fan girl moment because you need to work with these people and interact with these people and treat them like people. But honestly behind the scenes, I’d think, “Oh my God!” So it was very exhilarating and fun, but they’re incredibly creative and just so warm and welcoming. I didn’t feel intimidated by them in the least. They just made this environment where I felt so at home and so able to create and be artistic. It was awesome.

LRM Online: I did get a chance to watch the first six episodes so I can speak with you and discuss this role. And I mean Kristin, it’s like her character is one of those where you’re uncertain but yet deep down you know she has a heart.

Alexander: Yes. She’s so complex and that’s the beauty of the writing. It’s so complex. They’re so real. They’re multi-dimensional characters and that’s what really drives this is the humanity of it all.

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LRM Online: And what was it like working with Juliette? I mean your character works with her together in this case to find out a little bit more about your true identity.

Alexander: Yeah. It was incredible working with Juliette. I had actually already flown out to Vancouver where we shot it before I found out that she was a part of it and I was standing there and I saw her headshot on the wall and I was like, “What?” And it was just an incredible moment. I was so excited and I just couldn’t believe that was happening.

And then meeting her, she’s just such a fun, creative ball of energy and she really made sure that everyone on set felt comfortable. Before my first day, she called me and just was like, “You belong here. This is where you’re supposed to be and what you’re supposed to be doing.” And I just saw it in the way that she treated everyone that she was just an authentically kind person. And it was really nice to be in her presence, honestly.

LRM Online: That is so sweet and so, so welcoming.

Alexander: Yeah, absolutely. I couldn’t believe it. She left a voicemail because I didn’t pick up the phone. I was doing something. And so then I had this voicemail of just her saying all these kind and encouraging things and it really set the tone. It completely set the tone for the whole shoot.

LRM Online: I bet that’s still a save to voicemail.

Alexander: Oh, very sacred. Sacred truth.

LRM Online: Yeah. Tell me about the scenes that… What were some of the challenging scenes that you had during the filming of this season of Sacred Lies?

Alexander: Yeah, so Elsie has a lot of super challenging things to go through, which then become a challenging thing to play. But I think just making sure that I wanted to at any given point, just tap into the reality and humanity of who she is as a character and make everything that she does because she’s a rather erratic individual, but it’s very understandable. And so I felt like I was challenged to make sure that all of those things that she was doing that seem crazy were coming from a place of truth and honesty and given what she’s been through, it was available to me to access that.

LRM Online: And going back to discussing the foster care system, what do you hope some of these kids that… Because this is aimed a lot also for preteen, what do you hope some of these kids take on the experiences? Obviously they’re not alone, but in reference to their circumstances that are out there in these homes?

Alexander: I think that it’s really important for them to realize that they’re not alone but also for them to realize that they are absolutely worthy of love and it is out there waiting for them. And unfortunately, there’s been a lot of roadblocks for them to be receiving that love, whether it’s unfit parents or some tragedy, it is a roadblock. And out there, there is someone waiting for you and you will find your family, whether or not those are biologically related to you or people that you create around you as your family and just knowing that you will find your people.

LRM Online: Those are kind words. I’m sure many of the kids will appreciate that.

Alexander: Yeah.

LRM Online: Well, thank you so much for your time, Jordan. I’m sure you’re going to have so many doors open after this. Your acting in this series was spectacular. And like I said, super humble, but super natural. And like I said, made the character, made me want to just hug her. Very likable.

Alexander: Oh my God. Thank you. I appreciate that.

Sacred Lies streams every Thursday at 12 pm PT / 3 pm ET.

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