Warning: Spoilers ahead for episode 9 of “Vampire Academy”
The strigoi have breached St. Vladimir’s Academy, and poor Mia Karp was a key piece of making that happen in the penultimate episode of “Vampire Academy.” And, according to series star Mia Mckenna-Bruce, the finale is about to bring “chaos.”
In fairness, Mia did not intentionally help the strigoi attack. She merely got kidnapped, and was used as a bargaining chip for the strigoi to free her recently-turned sister Sonya. This, of course, comes immediately after Mia finds out that her own father allowed Sonya to use her spirit powers to heal him multiple times, eventually leading the darkness to consume her, resulting in her turning strigoi. And on top of that, Mia’s got a budding relationship with Meredith to worry about, especially since Meredith keeps trying to spend time with her to no avail. It’s a lot.
“I didn’t really process how much she was kind of going through,” Mckenna-Bruce told TheWrap. “Everything was happening step by step, and then I reached a point where I was having a conversation with [showrunner] Marguerite MacIntyre, and then we both sat there and it was like, ‘Oh, my God, Mia has been through so much,’ you know?”
And now, Mia has to survive the night as the strigoi attack. Because, as it turns out, the real puppeteer here was none other than Tatiana Vogel, who will do quite literally anything to reign over the dominion. That includes stealing the stake that controls the wards, killing the Guardians protecting it, and allowing the strigoi in to massacre her people.
“It was chaos. It was organized chaos, but it was chaos,” Mckenna-Bruce teased of the nightmare to come.
You can read more of TheWrap’s conversation with Mia Mckenna-Bruce about episode 9 of “Vampire Academy” below.
Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
First and foremost Mia, I need to apologize. Because the first time you and I spoke at the beginning of this series, I did say I don’t know how much I trust Mia. And sure enough, she’s just a big old cinnamon roll. She’s a kind person who is cunning and knows what she wants, but she’s a good egg. So for the official record, my apologies, I misjudged.
No, it’s good because that’s what we want! We want from the offset it to be ‘Mia’s out for herself’ and then you realize that that’s not all there is to her!
She does make some interesting choices at times though, so before we get into it, let’s talk episode 8. There’s tension. There’s tension between Mia and Meredith. How hard was it for you to play this kind of fraught moment with Rhian Blundell? Because I know you guys love each other.
Yeah! Do you know what, it was so hard, because obviously, we filmed a lot up until this point of the unraveling of the pair of them. So then to reach this point where, as well as obviously Mia had so much going on, that it was a genuine — she hasn’t intentionally not seen Meredith or anything like that. So I think it was really genuine coming from Mia, but then also really genuine hurt coming from Meredith. So it was so hard!
She definitely has so much going on. This poor girl has lost her sister, and in episode 9 is finding out that her dad is low key a little bit terrible. These are some really, really emotional moments for Mia, and you have to really tap into this vulnerable part of yourself. How did you look out for yourself when you’re not filming, to kind of stay in a good headspace?
I mean, I had my dog with me in Spain. And I think that is always the answer to everything. (Laughs). But I mean, I didn’t really process how much she was kind of going through. Everything was happening step by step, and then I reached a point where I was having a conversation with [showrunner] Marguerite MacIntyre, and then we both sat there and it was like, ‘Oh, my God, Mia has been through so much,’ you know? From getting her hands scarred, and, you know, she’s got a really exciting part of her life where she’s falling in love, but also her actual life is falling apart. So it was kind of getting the balance right of everything is falling apart but at the same time, there’s one thing, which is Meredith, is keeping everything together. So it’s finding that balance, I think.
Well, then she gets kidnapped on top of everything else that’s going on her life. How terrifying are the strigoi on set? Because I have actual anxiety watching them on screen, so are they as horrifying in person?
Yes. (laughs). Absolutely. I mean, the guys that we have playing the strigoi are incredible. So, even when they’re just moving around set, they will move in a way that the strigois move. So you see them and you’re like, instantly, they look like monsters straight away. Even before we’re filming a scene.
I think they spend like seven hours or something like that in makeup getting all the prosthetics on as well. So it’s so realistic, what they’re doing to them. Seeing them in their makeup, the way that they do it, is — it’s so realistic. It’s unbelievable.
So tell me then about seeing your onscreen sister Sonya, seeing Jonetta Kaiser in her strigoi makeup. Because obviously, god it’s heartbreaking when Mia does see her for the first time. The scream, and just the absolute heartbreak there.
The first time I actually saw Jonetta in her makeup, I didn’t realize she was going to be in her makeup. So I just knocked on her trailer door, and she opened the door and was obviously as strigoi and I did, I really, I was petrified. And then I was in her trailer with her, we were just having dinner, eating dinner on set. And I just kept saying ‘I can’t look at you. I can’t look at you.’
And then of course, Sonya ends up being a piece of the distraction to launch an attack on St. Vladimir’s. What can you tell me about this, because this is clearly going to be massive.
I mean, these were, I think, my favorite scenes to film, because it was just this mass kind of energy. We were filming a lot at night, so it’s kind of everyone really gearing themselves up for these night shoots and making sure they had enough energy to get through the night. And it was chaos. It was organized chaos, but it was chaos.
And I got to do quite a lot with Dre, who plays Christian, we had a great time. So it was about keeping our energy at all times. But that kind of came quite easily because you know, when there was — I can’t remember exactly how many extras there were, but there was loads of extra, and they were all so good at keeping going. Even, you know, 3, 4 a.m. in the morning.
And that’s a friendship that fans really latched onto, between Christian and Mia.
Yeah! I love that because it was so unexpected as well. But then when you actually look at it, it’s like, well, of course! They’ve both kind of been through similar journeys in a different way. So it’s like, oh, actually, it’s a friendship that really doe make sense. And I mean, in real life, he is one of my closest friends ever. So we just always have the best time.
Episode nine of “Vampire Academy” is now streaming on Peacock.