Wizard World St. Louis 2016: Elizabeth Henstridge Panel

Bam Smack Pow presents a transcription of the Elizabeth Henstridge panel from Wizard World St. Louis 2016!

Warning: Spoilers ahead if you are not caught up on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D.

Hey folks, it’s me again, I promised you more coverage of Wizard World St. Louis 2016 and here it is! This is a transcription of the panel featuring Elizabeth Henstridge who plays Jemma Simmons on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D.! Someone also videotaped the entire panel so I’m including the YouTube video as well. Be sure to watch til the end (or just skip to the end) to see Elizabeth do what she calls the Kevin dance!

So “Maveth”, what was the process like for that, going in and acting by yourself for almost three quarters of the entire episode? What was that like for you?

They told me about the potential idea of it happening and I just didn’t, I did not think it was going to happen ever. So I was like “yeah, yeah, sure, sure” and then it came there was a script and I was thinking “no this is not going to get past all the different levels that it needs to, like all the producers and all the different Disney execs”, you know. I just thought great idea but too brave I thought kind of, it just brand new. So then I got the script and I thought “well let’s learn it you know just in case” and then all of a sudden we were on set and we were shooting and that was it so I mean I was very flattered to be given the opportunity and to be trusted with that kind of challenge.

Um but it was great, I mean the hardest thing I’ve ever done for sure. I take my hat off to Clark Gregg who’s our lead and just carries the show and I had to carry an episode; I called him and was like “this is a lot of pressure how do you deal with this every week?” cause being further down the call sheet I’m kinda nice nestled in there with my best mate Fitz, it’s easy we come in and go out, where as this was all day everyday. It was awesome. We shot a lot in the desert around L.A., kind of went on a little group trip, stayed in a hotel, a very strange hotel. Um there was a heat wave in L.A. at the time so it’s 110 degrees F and no shade. We’re moving very quickly most takes, most scenes we just did one or two times from the different angles so it was fast but it was good. I have never been so nervous for anything to come out because we shot it in daylight and then they changed it to be blue so nobody had any idea what it was gonna look like we’d never done it before. Um the director’s cut was twenty two minutes over so tons of the story came out so just, I mean I was a ball of nerves before that came out.

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Going off of “Maveth”, where would you say that your character is at now, with Will and with Fitz and with everything else that’s going on? Where do you think Jemma is at with all of that now?

Sorry for spoilers if you’re not up to date but Will did not make it, and she knows that and I think that was really the only, the final obstacle between Simmons and Fitz getting together or trying to build their relationship in a positive way. Um so now that she knows he didn’t make it she’s like um, they’re in a good place right now. I mean this is Marvel and it’s Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D. so who knows how long people can stay in a good place. I did a round of interviews with Jeff Lobe last weekend, the head of Marvel television, and it was interesting and also kind of soul destroying to hear him kind of keep dropping in lines to journalists going ” it is Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D. so who knows what’s gonna happen” so now I’m really scared but so far they’re in a good place.

When did you guys find out what was going to happen with Ward and how did you as a cast react or how did that effect you that suddenly for you cast of good guys, somebody you started the show with is now your bad guy?

Yeah it was crazy! Um, Brett found out the week before we found out, so he didn’t know from the start that he was gonna be Hydra, um otherwise he wouldn’t have taken the part I’m guessing. So he found out the week before and he was kind of like “what is wrong with Brett is he tired today or something?” but he was nervous about how we would feel and then the week after they told us, they told the rest of the cast all together and I wasn’t working that day so they told me on my own, but they all went into my trailer and they told them and I mean it’s so silly because it’s not real but we were all annoyed at Brett and we wouldn’t speak to him. Because we did everything together and all our days were, we did so much ensemble stuff in that first season and so we were all in it together all day every day. So it was hard to get over. And from that point we never really… I had had a handful of scenes with Brett since then so it’s kinda sad that I don’t get to work with him that much. And I’m just starting to get over it but his character keeps getting worse! So I don’t know what to do anymore! Good question thank you.

Before I go I want to take the time to thank Wizard World, and especially Abby Ferguson in their media relations department. This is the second year in a row that Eric and I have personally interacted with Abby over the course of the con and she and all the Wizard World people have always been very friendly and accommodating to help us get the best coverage of the con that we could. So thank you Wizard World, and thank you Abby, I look forward to hopefully working with you next year! Check out Wizard World’s website to find an event near you!

I will be back later in the week with more Wizard World St. Louis 2016 coverage like transcriptions of the Daredevil panel and Luke Cage’s Mike Colter, so be sure to visit Bam Smack Pow often!

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