Tracy Spiridakos & Tricia Helfer on Charlotte Sullivan as Woman in Red Dress (Exclusive)

Well, it’s a good thing that Anna Pigeon has been renewed for its second season after that finale! We’re getting answers about what happened the night that Anna’s (Tracy Spiridakos) husband was murdered, and there’s the final face-off between the park ranger and the villain Jeremiah (Kim Coates). TV Insider spoke with Spiridakos and Tricia Helfer, who plays Anna’s sister Molly, about the finale. Warning: Spoilers for the Anna Pigeon Season 1 finale ahead!

Jeremiah organized a hunt, with the prey Anna, but he underestimates her. Not only does she take out the other two he involved, but she is also the one to shoot him when the two come face-to-face — even after he tries to convince her that he knows something about the night of her husband’s death: She killed him. But then Anna does remember more of that night, including the switch of a bottle and knife in her hand, and we see the face of the woman in the red dress, and she’s played by Charlotte Sullivan.

And in the ending montage, as Anna’s driving away from the park, we see that woman stop by Molly’s office. Hmm…

Below, we spoke with Tracy Spiridakos and Tricia Helfer about that ending, the sisters’ relationship, and what they’re hoping to see in Season 2.

How is Anna feeling at the end there? She heads off to… Is she going to visit her sister to another park? Does she know?

Tracy Spiridakos: I mean, I don’t think she knows. I think she’s just going. She just needs to get out of there for a little bit and clear her head. So I don’t think she knows where she’s headed.

But the thing is, in this episode, Anna does put together some of the pieces of the night that her husband was murdered, only for the woman who seems to have done this to walk right into Molly’s office at the end there. Love Charlotte Sullivan playing the character.

Spiridakos: So exciting!

What can you both say about that character and what each of your characters may know about her?

Tricia Helfer: Honestly, we don’t know. Tracy may know more than I do. It was all a little open-ended, so I don’t think Charlotte even knew too much. I think if she did, she wasn’t letting on. Yeah, I think it’s all going to be a little bit of a surprise. So I didn’t know much when filming that, where that was going.

Spiridakos: Yeah, I don’t know what that ties into. We only know what you guys saw in the finale, but Charlotte is such a great actress and such an incredible person, and we’re so lucky to have her. And so whatever direction they end up taking her character and what happens with that story, she’s going to make it amazing. So that’s exciting.

The thing is, Molly is smart. So do you think she’s picked up on anything about her? Because it’s also unclear: Is this the first meeting for them? Has she seen her before? It feels like Molly could maybe pick up on some things, but then there was also the matter of what happened with Jeremiah, so maybe not.

Helfer: Yeah, Molly certainly didn’t pick up on Jeremiah in the beginning there, no. When we were filming that, I was under the impression that that was the first time of meeting the woman in the red dress. So yeah, Molly will pick up on something eventually, I think, but at that point it was just a new patient coming in to meet. So she’d have to be pretty dang good to know something right off the very first walk in the door.

I was trying to figure out if she could maybe recognize her from that night, if maybe there was a glimpse or if that could come up. I feel like maybe we could see Molly getting flashes from that night in Season 2.

Helfer: See, you should be writing this.

Spiridakos: I love that!

Helfer: Episode 1 of Season 2, Meredith, you’re on it.

Jeremiah tried to convince Anna she killed her husband at one point. Did any part of her believe him at all or worry he could be right? Because she had gone through a lot at that point, too, by the time that conversation happened.

Spiridakos: Yeah, I think he absolutely had her for a moment. I think she carries a lot of guilt for what happened that night, and I think she was so blackout drunk that there was a moment she wasn’t quite sure. And then we see the knife be switched with the bottle to, I think, have that be the real memory. And so it’s kind of fuzzy for her, but in that moment, I think she starts going down the rabbit hole of that memory and then right at the end remembers. But I think he — for a second — had her questioning herself.

I wanted to go back a moment to the sisters’ relationship and play that tension we got before the finale, and then getting to see them on the same page, even apart, especially after that call Molly had with Jeremiah in the finale.

Helfer: For me, I think it was great to have Molly come in, and for them to be so close and for Anna to be telling Molly so much of her life and then to start holding things back, to go there in person and see, even under the assumption of just a visit, but then to find out everything that’s actually been going on, I think Molly will be paying a little bit even closer attention and digging a little bit more into Anna’s life because she is worried as an older sister. Sisters can love each other and still fight and still have tension and still come to blowups and then come back together. They’ve got each other’s back even if there is going to be some blowups along the way.

Michelle Faye/USA Network

Do you think Anna’s going to be more open to opening up to Molly now?

Spiridakos: I think that she’s always so open with Molly that for her to have been keeping this massive secret from her. I think [that] was really hard for Anna. So I think that she was trying to figure out, and it’s one of those things that she left it out, didn’t tell her, intending to tell her, but then so many more things were attached to the thing that then it became this thing that she had put aside, but then it was actually this massive part of her life that she was keeping from her sister that I think was really hard for her. And so having it all kind of erupt the way that it did, but then the beautiful — I love the scene at the end of [Episode] 9, their makeup scene. It was so fun getting to play with Tricia, and then I just really loved that whole come together. And then we see them back and in Episode 10, they’re back to that bond that they have, and there’s no more holding anything back between the two of them.

How is Molly feeling about the whole situation with Jeremiah and how that went down since before she knew who he was, she did seem to like him?

Helfer: Yes. She goes to that bar with a lot of frustration and feeling that Anna has been keeping things from her. So she goes there very tired. She’s been looking after Cooper in the hospital for a bit, and I think she was a little bit off her game and just enjoying some attention and some conversation with a seemingly peer discussing family and life and just sort of lets her guard down. But I think she’s ultimately embarrassed and feels guilty that she betrayed Anna, even unknowingly. So yeah, getting that call from Jeremiah in the next episode was a little bit of a stab to the gut of like, “I can’t believe I did that. I can’t believe I let my guard down and unknowingly betrayed Anna.”

To say that Anna’s love life is complicated is an understatement. There’s Jesse (Cooper Levy), and it kind of almost felt like she was saying goodbye to him in that moment towards the end of the finale, but then there’s also Frederick (Ronnie Rowe) the plant that she sent him. So where is her heart right now? Is she ready for anything, especially dealing with everything with her husband’s death and what comes up now?

Spiridakos: I don’t know that she’s ready. I do think that she kind of is, at least right now, a cat that walks alone. I think that she’s not ready to commit to anything, and she’s just still got so much to figure out and so much to process. And I think the way that she views both Jesse and Frederick, there’s wonderful qualities about both of them, and she cares about both of them in different ways, but she’s just really not in a place where she can allow herself to open up in that way. And I think she finds herself in little glimpses of it. I think she opens up and then gets scared or something happens, and she feels too vulnerable and shuts down and can’t do it. So I don’t think that she’s — at least how I viewed her towards the end of the season, I don’t think that she’s in a place to really let herself get serious right now.

But she isn’t alone. She does have the cat.

Spiridakos: She does have the cat. And she has this wonderful community. And I think what’s really cool to see is from the beginning of the season, she’s really closed off, doesn’t want to let anybody in, really goes from park to park all the time. And then she develops this really wonderful relationship with Zoey [Paulina Alexis], and Zoey has this really beautiful way of opening up Anna’s… She’s just so closed off, and Zoey’s like, “You don’t have to be. We’re here. We care about you. We will be here with you.” And I think that is the most open that she has been in a really long time, and letting herself be vulnerable with friends and with the community that she’s built around her is the first step I think for her. It’s a massive step for her.

Where’s Molly when it comes to her sister’s love life? Does she have an opinion?

Helfer: I think Molly would echo what Tracy just said. Having watched Anna dissolve into grief and trauma and ultimately run away, that’s not something uncommon with people going through tremendous grief and trauma. But of course, Molly doesn’t want to see her get stuck in it. I think Molly would love for her to come back to New York ultimately like, “OK, you’re done with this park stuff, right? You’ve got it out of your system now; you can come back.” But I don’t foresee that happening anytime soon. So she just wants to make sure that she continues on a trajectory of healing and finding happiness again and finding herself and stop running, and stop not being able to trust people, and stop… So if ultimately being at the park and going back to that park, that’s where Anna goes in the beginning of next season — I think Molly would agree with that, that baby steps, making baby steps, you’ve made a community, you’ve made a family, and continue on that trajectory until you can find yourself in a good place again.

So what are both your characters’ takes on Bethany (Melanie Scrofano)? Because she acts like the victim with the attorney in the finale, but the end seems to maybe be setting her up to take over for Jeremiah. There’s something in her that I could see her being the next big threat.

Spiridakos: We’ll have to wait and see about that. I think Anna was so blindsided by Bethany and what happened in the cave and in Episode 6 that I think that… And we also don’t know in the story; Anna doesn’t know, and I don’t think Molly knows that she’s back, so that’s news to us, but I think that she was so blindsided by everything that happened, but I think it’s going to be an interesting reunion. If there is a reunion, I’d be very interested to see how that all goes down.

Michelle Faye/USA Network

Helfer: Yeah, well, when Molly finds out everything fully, I think she will be very wary of her, absolutely, especially having understood now Jeremiah a little bit more and found out about him and what’s been going on and what happens in the deposition and everything. I think she will be very wary of Bethany, but at this point, she doesn’t really know anything. She doesn’t know too much about her.

I want to see those two characters interacting. I think that would be so fun.

Helfer: Oh, I would love that.

Spiridakos: Yeah, that’d be good.

What would you each like to explore with your character and then also as sisters in Season 2?

Spiridakos: I just want to play more with Tricia, like Tracy. I just want to play with Tricia. I think so much of the season, we were apart because we were on phone calls. And so getting to do Episode 9, I feel like I was so, so thrilled to have an opportunity that we were in front of each other and getting to actually act with each other, and I absolutely adore this woman. And so for me, it would just be more time together somehow. I don’t know how, but that would be my request.

Helfer: Yes, I can echo that. I was so thankful that Tracy, in the one weekend, long weekend you had off, you actually came out to dinner after going to Greece, and you came out to dinner before my first day of filming, because I was in and out so little. I came in, I think, four times throughout the entire year, so we actually got to meet in person before I shot, but then didn’t actually get to work together until the ninth episode. So I hadn’t met anyone except for Ronnie, who I did one scene with. So yeah, for me, it would be to somehow, and I don’t know how that would happen story-wise, but at least Molly comes by a little bit more often and can interact or there’s flashbacks or something where I actually get to work with the people that I’ve come to know and the characters know and get to play a little bit because it’s definitely harder when you’re just on FaceTime calls all the time and you come in and you do four episodes in a row in one or two days and you’re always just by yourself with the crew. It is a little isolating.

Yeah, and I want to see more of Molly’s life in New York, too.

Spiridakos: Yeah. What are you doing over there?

Helfer: Just doing my thing, seeing my patients.

Is there anything else you want to see for Anna in Season 2?

Spiridakos: I think I would love to know a little bit more about Charlotte’s character. I would love to know more about the history of what happened that night for Anna. And I don’t know. I mean, I’m really open. I trust Morwyn [Brebner] implicitly with the direction that she wants to take these characters and see which way the story goes. I think that there’s so many different relationships to play with, so many different ways that we can see Anna’s growth, but also maybe you take two steps forward, one step back with this different grief healing and everything, and there’s so much that has happened in the season. I’d be interested to see what Morwyn’s vision for emotionally, where Anna is going forward. But as far as what I want to see, there’s nothing specific that I have in my head. I’m just really excited to just get back and see my real castmates. I’m like, “Tracy just wants to go play,” is really what it is.

Anna Pigeon, Season 2, TBA, USA Network