FROM: Elizabeth Saunders on Donna/Boyd Dynamic & Donna’s Season 2 Journey

Have you recovered from FROM Season 2 Episode 10?

This season finale will go down in the books as one of the best, with a jaw-dropping twist that still has us scratching our heads.

The ending is the perfect bookend to an incredibly tactile and exhilarating second effort from the series. It took all the promise from its first season and expanded upon the lore to create an equally entertaining run of episodes.

One of the standouts this season was the ever-resilient Donna, played precisely by the illuminating Elizabeth Saunders. Talk about a performer! Elizabeth has done masterful work showing the many different sides of Donna over the first two seasons.

A true fan-favorite, it was wonderful to talk with Elizabeth about Donna’s journey and her reaction to that final scene. Hint: it was probably very similar to yours!

Could you tell me a little bit about Donna’s journey in FROM Season 2 and how she grew from the person we met in FROM Season 1 to where we left her in Season 2?

I think a lot of it is we’re visiting. It’s like a downward spiral. We’re revisiting a lot of the same issues of Donna, the things that she struggles with, but they’re getting deeper and more complex. And she’s having to learn to deal with more at the same time.

And so we’re finding the richer ends where her lines are, where she hits the end of the rope, where she loves too, where she’s angry too, where she’s fearless. So, it’s more of complexity than anything that we’re learning about her in two.

For sure.

Because there are not a lot of new facts about her, but we’re seeing through her behavior. And so I feel I’m learning that.

Yeah, I definitely think so. She also had many different scenes with different people, where I felt like you saw more tenderness and different sides to Donna.

Yeah, yeah. No, exactly. The scene with Ethan was just such a…when I read that, I was like, ‘Thank you for writing that scene for the show, but for Donna as well.’ I appreciated having that soft moment with a young lad that I’d really only been like, ‘Get him out of the way. Get back.’

Exactly.

She sees him.

And that relationship between Donna and Boyd had ups and downs from when we met them in FROM Season 1 Episode 1. But I feel like they found a lot of common ground in season two. Can you speak to that dynamic and how they learned to work together and confide in each other more?

Yeah, I can, to a certain extent, but a lot of it’s been quite organic between Harold and myself. And it’s really organic to the point we don’t talk about it. Occasionally we make the odd comment to one another, an insight we may have had. But a lot of our learning about Donna and Boyd is Liz and Harold bringing in the material and facing off.

Whether that face-off is in a stressful situation, or a caring situation, or confusion, or loss. I feel really, really blessed I get to act with him. A, because he’s really great, but B, there are some great actors, they’re great actors, but they don’t let you in. So they’re technically great, but they don’t let you in. Harold lets you in. It’s a gift.

So I can’t really respond to what the things are because so much of it is organic. I think they have, deep down, a great respect for each other. I think both of them would be actually greatly disturbed and sad if the other one were lost somehow. I think they know that each other needs to be on this planet. At least, that’s my side of the story.

I hope that answers.

It definitely answers. I love their dynamic. There are so many different pairings and trios on the show that I like.

Yeah.

But I like Donna and Boyd when they get scenes together.

I do too. I always like a Boyd scene.

After two seasons of playing Donna, what is your favorite thing about her? Or your favorite thing you get to play around with, Donna?

It’s that she takes her space in her environment. It could be her fatal flaw, but she will take space and make a decision.

And she’s not afraid to either, which I love.

Fatima: What if you’re wrong?
Donna: I’ve got a different question for you. What if I’m right?

That’s often not something that is great for women.

For sure.

But we do it all the time.

Yes, we do.

Women are pretty darn brave.

Amazing, yup. I agree.

I wanted to know what your reaction was when you got the script for the finale and saw how everything would end at the end of season two.

‘What the fuck?’ That was my reaction.

***This interview was edited for length and clarity.***

You can catch up with all our FROM reviews here at TV Fanatic.

Edit Delete