Mr. Robot, the critically acclaimed USA Network series starring Rami Malek, Carly Chaikin, Christian Slater, and Portia Doubleday, airs on Wednesdays at 10pm ET/PT. With Mr. Robot currently airing its second season, the cast of the Emmy-nominated dramatic series turned up at the 2016 San Diego Comic Con to discuss the show, and during our interview with Carly Chaikin she said she’s excited for people to get to see a lot more of Darlene and learn more about her story. “It hasn’t been easy for everything to be so militant in that way and taking control, and kind of navigating and almost wanting to go back to old behaviors. And now that we finished filming and I watched season one, it’s crazy to see how different I was that I forgot. I just recently watched it and totally forgot how it used to be because I’ve been living in this new world for so long. It’s been the amazing role for any dramatic actor that you could want, just being able to play all these different layers and masking things,” said Chaikin.
“We get to see so many different layers to her that we didn’t last season. There’s a big vulnerability and fear going on in there, but trying to mask it with having the confidence of we did the right thing,” explained Chaikin. “We’re all wearing masks and what we are trying to portray is different than how we actually feel. So, it’s been great to have all those layers to play with.”
Most actors on television shows don’t necessarily know their character’s arc far in advance, but with Mr. Robot the actors are in on the secrets and know what will ultimately be revealed well in advance. “Last season before we even started I knew that Elliot was my brother. I knew about Christian…we knew all that stuff. But we did get each script right before we’d start filming, and so this season block shooting and doing them all at once we were able to get all 10 scripts at once. Which I now don’t know how we would have done it without having all of that information because it so impacts things you might find out later which impacts who you are,” explained Chaikin. “If we don’t know that, it changes a lot.”
Watch the full Carly Chaikin interview for more on Darlene, her motivations, becoming a leader, and how she feels about Elliot:
[Interview by Fred Topel. Article written by Rebecca Murray.]
