Deborah Ayorinde talks the feeling of home not being safe in THEM: The Scare

The second season of THEM on Prime Video is almost here. THEM: The Scare picks on in 1991, bringing us new characters but a very familiar sense that home isn’t the safest place you can be.

Deborah Ayorinde is the only actor from the first season back for this second season. It’s an anthology series, so Ayorinde is taking on a new role. Instead of continuing Lucky Emory’s story, she’ll take on the role of Dawn Reeve, a homicide detective who is determined to get to the bottom of a gruesome case.

We talked with Ayorinde about taking on this new role within the same series. We also talked about what it’s like playing with the theme of home not always being safe in THEM: The Scare.

Deborah Ayorinde had to leave Lucky behind

Amazon Adviser: I adored you in the first season and I adore you in the second. Lucky and Dawn are so different, and you convinced me you were both of them.

Deborah Ayorinde: Thank you so much…That is something that I've been very intentional about in my career is just playing characters that are very different from each other. And what an honor it is to do it on the same show.

You know it was a challenge, but it was an exciting challenge, because obviously it's weird being in the them universe without Lucky. For me, It feels weird. At first, it felt like a bit of a betrayal, but as I got in the groove, I was like “okay, she can be where she is, and I can let Dawn take her stage.”

AA: Dawn is a woman who is drive. What is her driving force?

DA: I think we go on a journey of her discovering that, because she has it in her. And I think there's a lot about herself that she does not know, and I think that she goes on a journey. Discovering more about herself. And by way of that discovering, what is her driving force? If that makes sense.

She is discovering and putting together, the biggest mystery of all, which is herself, and that will become her driving force.

The theme of home not being safe in THEM: The Scare

AA: What’s it like playing with this theme of home not always being the safest place?

DA: It’s so interesting because, I think we have to redefine what home is. For me, I discovered that home is really the people that you're with, and I know as a series, is grounded in family at the root. It's all about family, and that's the home of it all. It's not necessarily the location. It's really about the people of a community. The people in that home that make it family.

And I think when that starts to unravel because of these entities, that's when it really starts to get scary and crazy. If I can't feel safe at home, where can I feel safe?

Take a look at the full interview below:

THEM: The Scare drops in full on Thursday, April 25 on Prime Video.