Netflix’s latest offering Fate: The Winx Saga, which premiered last January 22, is a reimagination of the Italian cartoon series The Winx Club. The new series gives the audience a more mature group of fairies, going out on a journey of discovering their strengths and weakness.
The 6-part series centers on give witches — Bloom, Stella, Musa, Terra, and Aisha — who attend the fairy school Alfea. There, they learn to master their powers and experience love, while protecting their world from creatures called the Burned Ones.
We spoke with Abigail Cowen (Bloom), Hannah van der Westhuysen (Stella), Elisha Applebaum (Musa), Eliot Salt (Terra), and Precious Mustapha (Aisha) in a roundtable interview a few days after its premiere. Here, they talked about their characters, their favorite scenes, and their hopes for a potential season 2.
Check out the highlights of the interview below:
Photo courtesy of Netflix
How did you make sure that your characters feel both fresh and familiar to fans of the original material?
Abigail Cowen: I definitely wanted to pull some major things from the original Bloom. I also wanted to incorporate my own twist to it. By that, I mean staying true to the new script and respecting the writers in that sense, because they did have a vision. Brian had a vision as for who he wanted Bloom to be.
At the end of the day, I decided that I was going to have fun with this. As much as she was going through such a hard time, dealing with all these crazy, insane emotions — the anger, the rage, and all of it — I did want to have a fun time. I wanted it to be somewhat lighthearted because that’s how the original is. I also kind of let myself come through in the character a little bit. Sometimes I would throw my own mannerisms and hope it would work out. I feel like that’s how the original Bloom is. She’s fiery and full of energy.
Elisha Applebaum: I watched one season of the animation, realizing that she’s very different. She’s got a completely new power [in the series]. A lot of my research was done by meeting someone I knew who had headphones and would wear them all the time, and trying to understand why they will and why Musa would do that same. It was very fresh, because animation Musa is quite different from live-action Musa, so it was a lot of finding out new things and doing my homework.
Photo courtesy of Netflix
Unlike the other girls, Terra is actually a new character that was only introduced in the series. How did you approach her as a character?
Eliot Salt: I think I was quite lucky that I was able to build the character within the script and with how I saw her. I like to do a thing where I just have the character in my head for however many weeks before filming. I go and order a coffee, and I’ll be like, “Well, what would Terra want?” “What would she be thinking if this happened” on the tube, back in the days when we could get on the tube. I do a lot of things, but I think that’s the one I find most useful.
How was working with the rest of the cast? How did you build that chemistry that we see from the five fairies?
Hannah van der Westhuysen: It was such a joy! From the moment we met, we clicked and just hit it off quickly. We did loads of organized fun. That was really our thing. We really explored Ireland together and hung out. Even if we had spent 12 hours on-set together, we go home, and then have a cup of tea or a glass of wine in the evening. We didn’t want to leave each other alone.
Elisha Applebaum: We became a proper family, yeah.
Photo courtesy of Netflix
What was the most fun scene to shoot? What was the most difficult?
Precious Mustapha: My favorite scene actually didn’t make it into the show, per se. But it’s that scene where it’s all five of us, and we shot it at the beginning of filming. It was when me, [Elisha], Hannah, Abby, and we’re walking out in front of the school, but on the grounds. I just remember it being so sunny, and everything was so beautiful. That when I properly took it in. I was like, “Wow, we’re doing this!” We were just having the best time because the sun was out. It was just so nice.
Eliot Salt: I loved all the scenes with all five of us, especially when we were in the Winx Suite. Those are my favorite ones.
The hardest scene [to shoot] was definitely the Stone Circle scene. I’ve forgotten about this until recently, but it went dark because it took us so long to film. And the bugs started coming out because we were right near the waterfall. We had to stay really still, obviously, and the bugs were going in our mouth, in our nose, all over our hair. Eve Best, who plays Miss Dowling, had a film of bugs all stuck to her hairspray in her hair. It was horrible.
Photo courtesy of Netflix
What’s something from the set or your character’s closet that you’d like to keep?
Hannah van der Westhuysen: Oh, Yes. I want that red Valentino bag at the beginning. I could definitely keep it. If someone gave it to me, it would be hard, but I’d take it.
Precious Mustapha: Yeah, Aisha wears this poncho and it was a random costume. And I was like, “Oh, this is a bit rogue.” But then put it on, and I was like, “I love this!” Yeah, we need more. She’s a poncho girl.
Photo courtesy of Netflix
If you get to decide what happens to your characters for season 2 of Fate: The Winx Saga, what would you want the show to explore more on?
Abigail Cowen: I would love for Flora to come in! I mean, I would welcome any new [character]. The more, the merrier, [so] let’s get people in! But I would definitely love to see Flora, for sure.
Elisha Applebaum: I want to explore her past life and her family life. I think it’s really interesting to know what happened to her mom and why it happened to her. But I also want to explore her powers more, because she didn’t really get to fight throughout the whole series. She was a bit of a lost cause.
Hannah van der Westhuysen: I think it’s time that Stella stands up to her Mum, for sure. I’m also really excited to see friendships run deep and more barriers to come down. It’d be really lovely [for that to happen to her] with characters that she’s struggled or had hardships with, like Bloom, Terra, and Aisha, eve. [I just want her to have] moments she has with Musa, of letting them in and realizing that that’s a safe thing to do. It’s a really nice example for people watching to see the joys of letting people in, and being vulnerable.
Precious Mustapha: I’d love to do more scenes with the girl. In the show, we follow the girls individually or two girls at a time. I think it’d be really nice to develop this female friendship. For my character, specifically, I’d love to know why she’s at Alfea, her background, and why she is the way she is.
Eliot Salt: I’ve thought similar. I thought about developing all of our relationships, and there are so many ways that could go and how they could become more complicated. I’d quite like Terra to have a successful romance because she was so let down in the first series. I feel like she deserves it. Obviously, I’d love to see more characters, too, like Flora.
Photo courtesy of Netflix
Fate: The Winx Saga shows how each of the fairies grows and learns more about themselves and their powers. Was there anything you learned from the show that you wish you had known, too, when you were at their age?
Abigail Cowen: When I read the script, I immediately related to what these girls and guys are going through at this age. I feel like I went through the same thing as them when I was 16 or 17. I was very insecure, angry, and I was trying to figure myself out in the world. At that age, I didn’t want to stand out. I just wanted to fit in.
I think that this show does a good job of portraying the good, the bad, and the ugly [aspects of] teenage years. It’s showing young men and women that it’s okay to sit in it. It’s okay to go along in your own journey, and to dig deep into who you are. Your difference is also your superpower, or what makes you unique is your superpower.
I think that this show does such a great job of relaying the message to the audience about accepting yourself for who you are and what makes you different.
—
Fate: The Winx Saga is now streaming on Netflix.
Homestream image is courtesy of Netflix.
