Stella Maeve Previews Julia’s ‘Magicians’ Nightmare and Possible Redemption

The plot thickens—and sickens—tonight on The Magicians as Julia (Stella Maeve) makes a stomach-turning realization about Reynard (Mackenzie Astin) that leads her into a nightmarish situation alongside a supportive Kady (Jade Tailor). It’s the latest twist to test Julia’s sanity and, according to her portrayer, it may also be a stepping stone toward a stronger, maybe even more magical Julia than we’ve seen before. Let’s hope so, because if anyone deserves a break amongst the Brakebills crew, it’s this one—and maybe Quentin (Jason Ralph), who winds up in his own crazy scenario after abandoning the fantasy world of Fillory.

So Julia seems to be a pain magnet. How bad is it going to get for her?
Oh god, it gets worse than you can imagine. I didn’t think it was possible…but yeah. It’s bad.

Given her penchant for poor life choices, she still has that offer from the Beast (Charles Mesure) to get rid of her Shade self and erase all of her pain.
Right. It’s as if somebody comes to you and says “Hey, here’s an opportunity to [shed] anything awful that’s happened to you, a golden ticket to literally wipe your mind of whatever abuse or whatever it is that you’ve been through so you don’t have to deal with it.” That’s essentially what The Beast offered her. In the beginning, she toys with this enticement and later we get to see whether or not she decides to take his offering. It’s so enticing! I mean, imagine, if you didn’t ever have to feel anything again? God, if it’ll stop her pain? Absolutely.

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But with the pain, there could also go her other emotions?
See, that’s the grey area which we will get to discover later in the show. It’s like, you won’t feel the pain anymore, but with that, you might not feel anything else either. So is it worth it? Is it worth relieving yourself of the pain and the hurt, but also suppress everything else that’s possible good?

Beyond all of that, where is she headed as far as her relationships with the others who are trying to save Fillory?
It’s cool because we do get to see more of Julia in Fillory, which is so much fun. I hope if we get a Season 3 that we get to really develop her there. We will get to see her interact with the people there. She’s got some things with Margo (Summer Bishil) and one of the last scenes we shot [this season] was Eliot (Hale Appleman) and Julia, which has never before been seen on the show. So I’m really excited to see how that comes out. It’s gonna be awesome. [Laughs]

And how do those two get along?
I think there’s a mutual respect.

I can totally see Eliot being like, ‘Oh, we should be best friends or something.’
Right, like ‘I hate you but I love you…I think.’ [Laughs]

Throwing Shade? The Beast offered to erase part of Julia’s soul.

Reynard—can the others forgive her for making a deal with the Beast that essentially led to Alice’s death?Oh she feels so terrible. And with Julia, you know, there’s already the self-pity and the guilt. This is a woman who’s struggling to love her self, struggling to find her identity and pseudo-hates herself. Now she finds out that because of her, [that pact] has caused death. She blames herself. But I like to think that these characters are empathetic. Anytime somebody breaks your trust, you’re wary. But, that being said, you can forgive. Forgetting is another thing entirely. Totally different animal. But forgiveness is definitely alive within this world and these characters.

Can you tell us if Julia factors into saving Fillory?
She might be a missing link. I think everyone has something to do with it, you know what I mean? I think that’s where we can kind of see these characters come back together again…Fillory depends on it. Magic depends on it.

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Has Julia come to grips with her feeling for Quentin?
I love that story because we never know where it’s gonna go. I don’t even know where it’s going! It’s just one of those relationships, I’m sure you’ve had them, I’ve had them, where there’s a sexual tension but there’s a best friendship and you love each other. Do you take it there or do you not? I think there are times where it’s like Julia’s into him and it’s unrequited. Or he’s into her and it’s unrequited. It’s like a balancing act and I think only time will tell. Ultimately, she just wants Quentin to be happy. And, I think, in this season we get to see that Julia believes her happiness is a lost cause. In fact, there’s a certain turning point in the season where it doesn’t matter to her anymore. She just wants him to have happiness because I don’t think she believes she’ll get it again.

The Magicians, Wednesdays, 9/8c, Syfy