Vagrant Queen premieres on SYFY this Friday, and it promising an exciting season full of action, adventure and camaraderie. Starring Adriyan Rae as ex-child Queen Elida, the space opera follows her exploits as a scavenger on the run from the rebel commander who gunned down her mother in front in of her.
That may sound like a dark premise to start with, but Vagrant Queen is much lighter in tone than one would expect. This is in no small part thanks to the quirky cast of characters and the ludicrous situations in which they find themselves each episode.
Aside from the talented Rae (Light As A Feather) herself, the series boasts comically excellent performances from Tim Rozon (Schitt’s Creek) as Elida’s deadbeat but well-meaning friend Isaac, Alex McGregor (Of Kings and Prophets) as warm-hearted mechanic Amae, and Paul Du Toit (Inside Man: Most Wanted) as the single-minded villain Commander Lazaro.
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Vagrant Queen’s Relationship Chart, According To Adriyan Rae
Previously, the Vagrant Queen herself shared how she obtained the role of Elida and what aspects of the runaway monarch made her such a worthy heroine. But what about the cast of ragtag team members and bloodthirsty villains surrounding her. The Illuminerdi asked her a few questions about the other series regulars, as well as Elida’s own relationship to ruling, and here’s what she had to say.
Can you talk about the dynamic between Elida and Isaac? It’s nice to see a platonic bond between a man and a woman at the center, regardless of how often he tries her patience.
Adriyan Rae: Right? Very platonic. He’s just my buddy. And we have our history; I met him and we actually became good friends. We were good friends, and then he betrayed me. And I haven’t really gotten over that. But as time progresses, you see that she does – and even when she hasn’t gotten over it, in the midst of not having an apology for him doing what he did, she’ll still risk things that most people wouldn’t to make sure he’s okay. That just speaks to the amount of loyalty that she has.
But their dynamic is hilarious, because it’s a dynamic of familiarity but at the same time, he irks her spirit. It’s like a brother-sister type thing. You love them, but they get on your last nerve. You won’t let anybody else hurt them, but you’ll punch them. It’s that type of dynamic, and I think that’s what makes it so fun.
I got strong romance vibes from Elida and Amae. Not having read the comics, I don’t know if it’s canon, but how do you think they view each other and how does their dynamic develop?
Adriyan Rae: Well, Amae is not in the initial comic. In the new one, a character has been created, which is really cool. But I think that their dynamic is unfolding. Relationships take trust; intimate relationships take so much trust, and it’s been very clear to Elida her whole life that she could trust no one. She’s been told that several times, that she can literally trust no one.
I think that if she was to be attracted to someone in that way, she would really hold back because of the fact that, number one, it’s hard for her to trust. Number two, people get killed around her all the time, and they have done that her whole life. She has this burden that she carries with her, feeling like if anybody loves or interacts with her, they die. So, she tries to protect people from that.
I feel like it would be hard for her to have an intimate relationship with someone, because she would have to get over thinking that by just caring about this person or them caring about her, they’re probably going to die or get killed. So, yeah, that’s how I that dynamic right now.
Meanwhile, we have a great villain in Commander Lazaro. How much fun is the push and pull of that cat and mouse dynamic?
Adriyan Rae: I didn’t get to work with him as much as I would have loved, because I’ve been five steps ahead of him the whole time. So, when I’m watching, I’m like, “Oh, he is killing it!”
I think that in the parts where I did get to work with him, he’s so collaborative and so talented. And it was just this really easy flow – we didn’t even have to talk things out, it was kind of like we felt it out. As actors, when we got the right take, he would feel it and I would feel it, and we would go with whatever was happening. It was so great. I can’t speak enough about how great Paul is. He’s amazing.
Even though the way Elida lost her crown and kingdom was deeply traumatic, we do get hints that not only was she not suited for the monarchy but that the monarchy itself was flawed. How would you describe her relationship to ruling as the season progresses?
Adriyan Rae: Oh, she does not want to rule people at all. That is not a “I’m going to rebel against being queen” thing. It’s just genuinely that I don’t want to do that. It’s something that I’ve figured out that I don’t want to do.
In regards to the throne and things like that, she kind of wants people to live their own lives. That’s why she’s not trying to actively go back and get her crown. It doesn’t have weight to her; that crown actually took away all of her childhood and took away her parents in Elida’s mind. She doesn’t find any appeal to the crown or to trying to rule people and have control over people. Because people had so much control over her that she doesn’t ever want to infringe that on others.
That’s why she lets people live their own life; that’s why she’s like, “Okay, if that’s what you want to do, then whatever. Just don’t be crappy, and I’m cool with you.” It’s like, “No, I don’t want to put that on other people. I would never want to do that.” She literally couldn’t eat her own food. It was tasted by four royal tasters and then got to her cold.
Vagrant Queen premieres tomorrow, March 27, on SYFY. Don’t forget to live tweet the premiere with The Illuminerdi, and check back in the morning for Rae’s thoughts on the significance of Jem Garrard’s direction and her own role as a in the greater sci-fi landscape.
