Daniela Nieves (Save Me) and André Dae Kim (Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Locke & Key) star in Peacock’s Vampire Academy series, based on the bestselling books by Richelle Mead. Premiering on Thursday, September 15, 2022, Vampire Academy is set at St. Vladimir’s Academy, an institution populated by vampires – including the moroi (vampire royalty) – and guarded by dhampirs (half-human/half-vampires). Nieves stars as Lissa Dragomir, the last surviving member of the royal Dragomir bloodline. Kim plays Christian Ozera, a member of vampire royalty whose parents willingly turned into Strigoi (evil vampires).
Fans of Richelle Mead’s books know what to expect from Christian and Lissa’s relationship, while newbies only need to know Christian’s a bit of a bad boy and Lissa’s well respected among the royals. Teamed up for interviews at the 2022 San Diego Comic-Con, Daniela Nieves and André Dae Kim discussed getting into their characters, the source material, and wearing fangs.
Daniela Nieves and André Dae Kim Interview:
How much did you know about Vampire Academy before signing on to star in the series?
Daniela Nieves: “Not much. Personally, for me, I feel like I hadn’t even heard of the books before I did it. I just really went into it seeing the sides, the way they were, and the relationships between Rose and Lissa and Christian and Lissa. I just kind of did my take on it. And then after that, I realized it was a book series.
(Laughing) So, I got the book series, read them…I binged the first book in two days. I was obsessed, and I was like, ‘Oh my god, this story of friendship and this vampire world is so incredible.’ I’m so happy to be a part of it.”
André Dae Kim: “I was the same way. It was kind of a general audition and after booking the show I read the first book. I was like, ‘Okay, now I’m a fan. That’s great.’ And now I get to work on this show and be a fan at the same time. So, yeah, it was the same for me.”
Daniela Nieves: “And it was crazy too because after we booked it, I think we all started really feeling like, ‘Oh wait, this is like a thing.’ It got released that we got cast and I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, no big deal.’ And then soon there were like 50 edits of us with like, ‘Dragomir this…,’ and us making out.”
André Dae Kim: “Our faces photoshopped.”
Daniela Nieves: “I was like, ‘Oh, wow, these fans really love these books.’ It just feels like a responsibility and an honor to be like, wow, we are the ones representing that.”
André Dae Kim: “A little bit of a motivation to keep the essence of those characters while we are training.”
Was there anything that was really creepy where you were like, “Now wait a minute – that’s just pushing it too far,” from the fans?
Daniela Nieves: “Oh my god, you know what’s so funny is that we had this scene one time… I wasn’t in it, but I heard about the story and it cracked me up. Jen (Kirby) who plays Alberta, she’s absolutely brilliant, and she had her first scene with the Strigoi. The Strigoi are like the evil vampires and our makeup team that was run by Ana Lozano – who is amazing as well – they really intricately made them so scary that while we were on set it was like, ‘Okay, action!’ and she (jumped) and goes, ‘That’s quite scary, isn’t it?’ She started laughing and she couldn’t get through it because they were just so creepy and scary in person.
They had these black teeth, with the fangs and the red bloodshot eyes, and they are swinging at you too as they are trying to kill you…in the show. So, I’d say the Strigoi were like really scary.”
André Dae Kim: “Were you talking about the show or the fan art?”
Both.
Daniela Nieves: “Oh, like something creepy from the fan art. Oh my god.”
André Dae Kim: “Do you remember that fan edit that we got that was like deep fakes of our faces with the movie – the Vampire Academy movie? That wasn’t creepy; that was so weird to see our faces rendered onto other people. I was like, ‘How do people do that? It’s so crazy.’”
Daniela Nieves: “Or like people would – because obviously in the books she’s blond – so people would photoshop blond hair on me, but it just didn’t suit me at all. It’s like I know y’all want me to be blond so bad, but it just doesn’t look good.’”
Andre, you’ve been a part of big franchises before. How intimidating is it to be a part of something with a built-in established fan base?
André Dae Kim: “Yeah, it’s an established world too which can be scary, and I felt that way with Star Trek as well. There’s a core fanbase, there are established rules to this world, and coming in as like a newcomer can feel a little bit intimidating. But I’ll give full props to not only our cast but to our writing team Julie (Plec) and Marguerite (MacIntyre) as well because they absolutely made us feel so comfortable and so much like we had a place to be here, to play, but also to collaborate as well. So whatever nerves I had after meeting those two were just wiped away. And after meeting Daniela I was like, ‘Oh good, I’m in good hands.’”
Daniela Nieves: “Same here with meeting him. And, yeah, Julie and Marguerite obviously have done this and they are really great at what they do. I think having that was like a breath of fresh air and they definitely had a vision too. It was just incredible to be along for the ride and see it as well as an actor and be like, ‘Oh my god that’s what this is going to look like! What? This is the church that you guys picked out?!’ They really created a whole world top to bottom which was incredible.”
So how were the teeth?
Daniela Nieves: (Laughing) “I didn’t have to use the teeth too much, but I do use them a little bit. They were really interesting. The mold was that gummy disgusting thing, like when you make retainers – it was that. They just molded it to my canines.
There were a couple of different options, sizes, sharpness, and trying to decide what it would look like. And, ultimately, we went with really sharp options at the end and Julie really helped me with how to do the bite and how to tilt in a way that really looks good on camera and everything. And then when we finally got the final teeth, I guess it was a little too sharp and my feeder was like, ‘Hey just a little less…just a little less pressure.’
I was like, ‘Oh my god am I puncturing you and you’re bleeding out here?’
She was like, ‘No, no, no. It’s fine. It’s fine, just a little less.’
So, I definitely learned how to bite properly so for season two I will do it better.”
André Dae Kim: “You know what? I haven’t gotten a chance to show off my teeth, but I will say the teeth in the show look amazing.”
The vampires have special powers, including the ability to make fire. How do you visualize that and act as though you’re using your characters’ powers?
André Dae Kim: “That’s the great part about working on this show. I really wanted to have a little bit of agency over the magic. I didn’t want it to be just a set motion of set things, so there were scenes that were like everything that I envisioned now in the scene gets played out in the CGI.
I got to play with the fire, I got to throw it up in the air, I get to catch it, and I get to do stuff like that. And it was all allowed by Julie and Marguerite to play around with. I had a little bit of experience like you said with Star Trek and Locke and Key on working with things that weren’t actually there, which can be a little bit difficult because you’re expecting something to be there in front of you and you have to pretend like it is when it’s not. But it’s so much fun. There’s no kid who doesn’t grow up wanting to be a superhero shooting movies. It was a dream come true.”
Daniela Nieves: “I think the elements too…we have this whole selection of (elements) and I think Jeff and them created and showed us the different moves. We created moves for each element and all this stuff. Lissa doesn’t really get to play too much with her elemental magic because she’s not great at it, so I guess that’s part of it. But he (pointing at Andre) did a great job with really owning the fire and making us believe that he really is so good with fire, which is a whole thing of Christian’s is that he’s so amazing at fire. But yeah, it was a lot of fun.”
André Dae Kim: (Laughing) “I’m not like a pyromaniac or whatever. I just really thought about it.”
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