EXCLUSIVE: Shantel VanSanten Opens Up About Season 2 of For All Mankind
Tomorrow, February 18, AppleTV+ will release the second season of their hit show, For All Mankind. The new season picks up almost 10 years after the finale and a lot has happened to our characters during that period of time.
To help shed some light on what’s to come this season, we sat down with one of the stars of the show, Shantel VanSanten. During the chat, VanSanten talked creating Karen’s backstory, what’s to come for Karen and Ed, and so much more. Check out our interview below.
On how she created Karen’s 10 years of backstory between Season 1 and Season 2: “I lived with this human basically in my bones for the whole first season and went through quite the journey. It was such an anxious feeling, waiting for that first script to come, because I wondered what they were going to include, where we would be, how I got there.
So once I got the script, I actually have a journal for Karen and I started journaling. I created memories. I filled in some gaps, some mundane, some not. Things she would have explored doing, how she processed grief and loss. I think it was a task to try to connect where we left off to where we pick up and fill it with tons of memories. Hilariously enough, I can’t reveal who, because it’s a spoiler, but one of the people that Karen interacts with in Season two did a similar thing. This person actually kept a journal and created memories as well. We shared our memories together and took them on as something that was very real. It was pretty cool to experience that with this character that I get to interact with.”
On what this Season will bring for Karen: “A lot of things in Season one happened to her and she was tightly trying to hold onto herself, the program, and what she knew for it all to eventually fell apart. In this season, I feel as though she’s a little lost, I think things that rang true for her once, don’t quite make sense anymore, and she’s trying to fit puzzle pieces where they don’t belong. It’s such a human experience.”
You can read the rest of our interview below. Don’t forget to check out the premiere tomorrow and tell us what you think?
Photo credit: AppleTV+
On what she learned this Season: “I learned a massive amount of forgiveness and to not judge, because we all make some mistakes along the way. We trip and we fall and we dust ourselves off and we try again. I think that’s something that is tough to play. It’s tough to play these very real moments, and to not judge a character or allow your judgments of a situation to bleed into it.”
On what she thinks Karen learned this season: “I think for once, Karen is learning to try and live in truth and what rings true for her and her struggles, rather than shoving them down or projecting them. It was difficult but I also think, once again, her storyline is a necessary part of unfolding a human experience. Something that a lot of people can relate to and maybe people carry shame or guilt for, but ultimately is part of a lot of people’s human experience.”
On Karen and Ed’s relationship this season: “In Season one, you see Ed and Karen, and they’re this great unit. They function just fine and they are in each other’s orbit. They tell each other what they need to tell each other and then deal with things on their own. This season we explore the two around each other and the things they’re not saying, but they know the other is feeling. The way that they navigate after being married for this many years and going through this much, the relationship and the marriage and what it means. It’s just beautiful.
I watched the movie The Marriage Story, and I thought going into this season when I saw it, there’s a bit of that in this season. I think that it’s another chapter for Ed and Karen, and we really see the effects of what they’ve been through and their loss and their grief for themselves and for their family.”
On what the main purpose of this is this season: “It’s about all of the tension happening in the world, of course. But on a very small level within each character, the tension of what’s happening, the push-pull, the dance we play between communication and what our truth is and in what our heart longs, and the disguise that we’re wearing and not speaking about.
I think that every character plays a different part of showing that. Of showing, do we actually change? How do we find our truth and how do we fight for ourselves in that truth? I think our show has the backdrop of space and the discovery and exploration, and now this season it’s ramped up, but I feel that way about all of our characters too. I thought because space got crazier, maybe our lives would settle more and instead it just feels like it’s a metaphor for what each of us is struggling with.”
On how’ Karen’s relationship has changed with Tracy this season: “I have two best friends that I’ve had since I was 14 years old, 21 year friendships, and the way that they’ve evolved and the times when we were closer and further part and what was happening in our life. And, I think that way about the relationships in the show and how we grow together and come apart. How sometimes life dictates that, sometimes our own choices dictate that.
I think Tracy and Karen are friends for life, that never changes, but they’re both in very different seasons. I think they’re in seasons of self this season, more than in seasons of other, where I think they were in the first season. They were almost, if you will, a little bit like husband and wife, more than her and Ed sometimes [in the first season]. They had their own shorthand, they had their own way of raising their families or handing a kid off. There’s an intimacy that still exists in having those types of friendships that will always be there. I don’t think you can go through what they went through without being lifetime friends. But, it’s interesting to see them both in different places this season.
On who helped inspire her portrayal of the character: “I wish I could say that it was one particular astronaut wife, but to be honest, I watched so many interviews of them. I read excerpts from books and to be honest, the craziest thing is I pulled mainly from my grandmother. Because at the core, externally, Karen can have all of the clothes and the look and the things that are the program, but what beats in her heart was what I found most true to my grandmother, which was to raise a family. To provide, to wear the pants, but not let the man know you’re wearing the pants. All of these wonderful qualities that my grandmother possessed that us as modern day women, I think sometimes we don’t appreciate. We’re in the era of independence and growth and we can take over the world. I think all of it is beautiful, but I think there’s a role that still exists for some women who just like to provide and nurture. There is such bravery and beauty in that role.
On her how her grandmother’s grief helped her connect to Karen’s grief: “My grandmother lost my uncle. He passed away when he was 14. It was a complete tragic, utter upheaval in their family. And I have her old diary and I read a lot of journal entries where she wrote about it. I really clung to those to understand how she moved on from it, the pride that she took within her family and the role that she played as being a wife to a husband who ran a farm. For me, there was something very grounding and connecting to that, even if on the external you had NASA overbearing and all of that. I like to ground characters a little bit more so people can really relate.”
*This interview has been edited for length and clarity