Exclusive Interview
‘The Body’ Cast Unpacks Season 1’s Ending Twist, Anya & Elise’s Romance and More
From spa nights and friendship bracelets to crafts and a Minions Halloween group costume, we can assure you that the cast of The Body is just as close off-screen as they are in front of the camera.
The Body came roaring into Netflix’s YA scene on November 12, introducing audiences to the dark and twisty Catholic school girls on the Lions’ Dance Team. During a new member initiation on Halloween night, the priest’s niece, Grace (Sofia Wylie), falls into a coma after being forced to take ecstasy. Soon, the team begins to fear that they have been dancing with the Devil, start claiming to have prophetic visions of Grace, and cause the town to fall into mass hysteria.
Following the explosive first season of The Body, stars Kristina Bogic (Anya), Sara Boustany (Elise), Geena Meszaros (Lisbeth), Shirley Chen (Maddie), Gabby Windey (Coach Miller), and Wylie (Grace) sat down with Swooon to dive into the series’ most complicated romance, top fan theories, and the shocking ending that had us running all the way back to Episode 1 for a much-needed rewatch. (Warning: The Body Season 1 spoilers ahead!)
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According to creator Quinn Shephard, she drew from the “universal tenets of the confused lesbian or confused queer girl experience” of her friends and her own life for Anya and Elise’s connection, which caused the entire writers’ room to shout, “Wait! I thought that was just me,” every time a new sapphic moment was discussed.
When it comes to Anya and Elise’s relationship, which crosses the line from friendship to intimacy during Episode 1, even though Anya has a boyfriend, the actresses who brought the characters to life assured us that there was unnamed tension lingering under the surface before they got physical. As Boustany put it, “I have a feeling that [the] first episode was the first time that ever happened, but obviously, the tension was there.” While they were just friends, before they started to come to terms with their sexuality, they “felt romantic towards each other in [a] very mysterious way.”
Bogic explained, “I think there’s a thing in girlhood where you are so close with your female friends that there’s a level of vulnerability and experimentation that feels welcomed and very comfortable in female friendships. I don’t know, just like knowing each other’s bodies in a way of like, ‘Oh, I know she likes this,’ or ‘This comforts her.'”
Later in the season, Anya and Elise begin to acknowledge their feelings for each other, with Anya moving to accept her queerness while dealing with her role in Grace’s condition, which isn’t getting better. However, Lisbeth’s persistent attention and manipulation get in the way of their connection time and time again. Instantly, this caused us to question whether Lisbeth is desperate for Anya’s friendship and the social conformity that comes with it, or jealous of what she sees Anya building with Elise because she has feelings for her, too.
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The cast, completely split on our theory, argued that their relationship goes beyond anything “stereotypical.” According to Meszaros, “Lisbeth has so much going on in her life. I don’t think she has the room for [romance], like mentally and emotionally.”
With care for both Elise and her boyfriend, Steven (Orlando Norman), whom the church believes could have a hand in Grace’s illness, and mounting pressure on all the Lions to confess what they’ve done, Anya ends up admitting to driving Grace home unconscious, despite Lisbeth’s hand in the act. However, in that moment, with the entire town worshiping her outside of the house, Grace finally opens her eyes. When asked if she remembers who she is, Grace chillingly responds, “I am God.” Could this mean religious intervention or something supernatural was actually afoot?
As Boustany put it, “I think Quinn [Shephard] and Gina [Gammell, showrunner] really left that up for interpretation to the point where they don’t even know. I think they did things to make it look, whatever it was, psychological [or] spiritual, but also with a lot of logic backing all of it. So it’s truly, truly up for interpretation.”
Netflix
“The hope,” Gammell told Swooon, “is that some people watch the show and are watching it through a supernatural lens, and people watch the show and are watching it through purely grounded scientific lens, and that there’s a lot of people who are in the middle with curiosity about both, or either, [with] an openness to like, ‘We don’t really know all the answers to life,’ and I think that the ending is definitely meant to be a continuation of that, and a tease and a setup of everywhere that we wish to go next season if we’re so lucky to get one.”
Watch our full interview with The Body cast and creatives above!
The Body, Season 1, Streaming Now, Netflix
