{"id":6980,"date":"2020-03-18T10:20:48","date_gmt":"2020-03-18T10:20:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.charmed-online.nl\/?p=6980"},"modified":"2020-04-18T10:23:38","modified_gmt":"2020-04-18T10:23:38","slug":"ellen-tamaki-talks-drea-and-mics-relationship-if-she-can-be-trusted-and-the-xers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.charmed-online.nl\/?p=6980","title":{"rendered":"Ellen Tamaki Talks Drea and Mic\u2019s Relationship, If She Can Be Trusted, and the X\u2019ers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ellen Tamaki, who some of you may recognize at Niko from Charmed, entered Manifest at the kickstart of season 2 as Drea, Michaela Stone\u2019s brand-new partner.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t seem like a good fit at first as Mic was adamant about staying partnered up with Jared, her ex-boyfriend, but overtime, Drea began to prove herself as a trustworthy ally.<\/p>\n

She would assist Mic in her cases and raids, cover for her when she needed to \u201chandle something\u201d related to the Callings, and stepped in when Mic went undercover as a druggie with Zeke.<\/p>\n

Manifest Ellen Tamaki Interview Drea
\nMANIFEST \u2014 \u201cCoordinated Flight\u201d Episode 205 \u2014 Pictured: (l-r) Ellen Tamaki as Drea Mikami, JD Williams as Walter \u2014 (Photo by: Peter Kramer\/NBC)<\/p>\n

All of that culminated on Monday\u2019s Manifest episode \u201cCarry On\u201c when the partners exchanged notes, surmised that Jared was an X\u2019er, and Drea went undercover to scoop out the shady bar he attends to get more dirt.<\/p>\n

We got to chat with Tamaki about her time on the NBC series, the dynamic between Drea and Mic, what it\u2019s like working with Melissa Roxburgh, and well, we tried our best to get as much scoop about the remainder of the season as possible.<\/p>\n

Check out the interview below:<\/p>\n

Your character Drea and Mic make a very dynamic duo\u2026 tell us a little about that. <\/p>\n

When I first came on the show it was a mystery. You know, we\u2019ve wrapped the season, so I know what goes on for the rest of the season, but when it first started they wanted her [Mic] to have the new partner and they wanted some new faces in the precinct, and they\u2019re like well what better way to do that then to kind of like create like this new relationship for her [Mic] that isn\u2019t romantic.<\/p>\n

I love seeing women on TV who have more relationships than just romantic ones, and I think there can be something so dynamic and professional about female friendships and that\u2019s kind of what we have been discovering throughout the season is the way that these two characters get along and learn from each other. Drea comes in at the beginning and is just so infatuated with Mic and is trying to get Mic to warm up to her a little bit.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Yeah, and I feel like that happened on this Monday\u2019s episode. They teamed up, but behind-the-scenes, you and Melissa were just in the car and you had all these snacks while you were filming. <\/p>\n

Yeah, well the thing is Melissa\u2019s my pal, so it was only a matter of time before that started to bleed into the scenes that we\u2019re shooting. The way that TV works is we were in that car for like four hours, there\u2019s a camera set up looking at both of us, there was one looking at me, there was one looking at her, and so, we got hungry, and we\u2019re cracking each other up, and yeah, we had a bunch of snacks, and I think I also tweeted something or maybe Jeff [Rake], our showrunner, tweeted it that we just started kind of ad-libbing at the end of the scene and editors kept it in because it fit our characters and gave it some kind of authentic like \u201cEllen and Melissa\u201d banter as well.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s funny because you guys had so much fun filming it but this scene and what was happening was very serious because they believe Jared is an X\u2019er. <\/p>\n

Right.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s such an intriguing storyline. Why are they so eager to believe that he\u2019s an X\u2019er and to believe the worst in him?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a long journey between the two of them [Mic and Jared] you know like everything they went through last season and so far this season. We can\u2019t deny that Mic knows Jared better than almost anybody and she\u2019s gonna know if something\u2019s up and if something\u2019s really wrong.<\/p>\n

And inherently, these two women \u2014 we have to make the assumption that they\u2019re good at their job, they\u2019re good detectives, and they\u2019re good cops, and you have to have an intuition about that. I think it\u2019s absolutely right of them to be really suspicious especially because it\u2019s this hate group\u2026 a really dangerous group!<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also this other side of Michaela that\u2019s protecting her family as well, and I think it\u2019s right of her to be cautious and for them to really seek out and sniff out what\u2019s really going on.<\/p>\n

There are many who believe \u2014 myself included \u2014 that Jared\u2019s undercover. I know you probably can\u2019t tell me\u2026 but\u2026<\/p>\n

Obviously, I can\u2019t say anything, nope. But with this show, anything is possible you know. If you\u2019ve been keeping up on it at all, you know. But I also think, in the same vein, that it is possible that someone that you think you trusted for so long maybe not be who you thought they were.<\/p>\n

Do you think it\u2019ll like negatively affect any of their careers? I mean, Mic went and told the Captain what she found. <\/p>\n

Well, I think what\u2019s so interesting about the dynamic of the precinct this season is that Captain Bowers showed up and was like \u201coh no, no, no,\u201d like \u201cI am not here to stand for this undocumented kinda woo-woo way that you\u2019ve been solving all of these cases\u201d you know, and she kind of shows up and lays down the law in a certain way that\u2019s like \u201cmaybe this slid last year but not anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

And so I think the tap Mic wasn\u2019t allowed to place in the bar and all these things could have really serious repercussions down the line for her professionally or even for Drea professionally. I mean, Drea, keep in mind like I, Ellen, watch the show. I know about the Callings, but Drea has no clue about this huge side of her partner you know.<\/p>\n

Right\u2026 which leads me into my other question\u2026 is she going to get sucked into this mystery more? Or is Mic going to open about these Callings to her?<\/p>\n

Over the past couple of episodes, you see that Drea is willing to do anything to help the cause. The entire precinct has turned on Michaela and she\u2019s like you know \u201chow do you know that you can trust the people? How do you know that someone not leaking?\u201d<\/p>\n

And turns out you know there is a leak somewhere, but she is just staying so loyal to her because I think, at the end of the day, Drea does have a good intuition and does care about her job and cares about the force and wants to do her best and is learning from who she believes is the best. And whether Michaela is the best because she\u2019s having these Callings or the best because she truly is an excellent, moral cop, I think it just makes Drea just want to stay by her side and do the right thing.<\/p>\n

Ideally, I guess if, at the end of the day like to be really really close friends with someone, I think you do want to share a lot of special things about yourself, but the Callings are pretty insane, though. How do you know that you can trust someone with information like that? I don\u2019t know. If you had Callings, would you be able to share that with your work partner? I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n

And I feel like Mic did try to share that with Jared before but he never truly believed her, so maybe not\u2026<\/p>\n

Yeah, because if you open that part of yourself up to somebody and they reject it well then you\u2019re just gonna put another wall up. It\u2019s going to be even harder for you to open that part of yourself to someone new. I\u2019m sure Michaela really needs to protect herself and protect her family.<\/p>\n

On a show like this with so many complex mysteries and supernatural elements, you can\u2019t really trust anyone. And a lot of fans don\u2019t seem to trust Drea. <\/p>\n

laughs<\/p>\n

Or that she has Mic\u2019s best interest in mind really\u2026 what\u2019s your take?<\/strong><\/p>\n

From what we\u2019ve seen so far all she has done is have Mic\u2019s best interests in mind.<\/p>\n

Before we even hear Drea speak, the first thing we kind of see of her is that she can\u2019t wait to get to Michaela, and she\u2019s always kind of watching her out of the corner of her eye, and so I understand, yeah totally, that is that people may think she may have ulterior motives, but I think up until now she\u2019s really proven herself.<\/p>\n

She showed up right in the nick of time when it came to the bust when they go to meet the drug dealer. There\u2019s just been a lot of times when I feel like, \u201chow many times does Drea have to prove that she\u2019s there with Mic\u2019s best interests in mind?\u201d<\/p>\n

I believe in her. She\u2019s a character that I really love to play because I think she really lays it out on the table and loves what she does and loves being a really good partner.<\/p>\n

You work with Melissa a lot. Is there someone on the cast that you\u2019ve been really wanting to work with more that you haven\u2019t gotten to share any scenes with?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah.<\/p>\n

And don\u2019t say everyone\u2026<\/p>\n

I mean, that\u2019s the judicious answer, right? To be like \u201ceveryone\u2019s amazing,\u201d but it\u2019s true, this is one of the greatest shows I\u2019ve worked on, cast and crew and you know everybody involved, but the person who actually came to mind is Parveen, who plays Saanvi.<\/p>\n

I ended up getting close to her hanging out New York and we were able to have like a couple of days on set together, but we didn\u2019t have to get to have a big story-arc. Our characters have two totally separate situations going on and they\u2019re really complicated stories, but I think it would be really cool to work with her and to see how these two women could maybe start figuring stuff out together.<\/p>\n

We joked before that there is going to be like the \u201cDrea and Saanvi\u201d spinoff. But I would love to see where her science could meet his detective side of things and see an interesting subplot develop out of there.<\/p>\n

She might need Drea\u2019s help because that cure she gave herself that eliminated the Callings seems to have some dangerous side-effects. <\/p>\n

Yeah, Drea to the rescue!<\/p>\n

Do you\/ did you have any of your own theories\u2026 since your a fan of the series?<\/strong>
\nGah, it\u2019s hard because we did wrap, so I know what\u2019s coming in the next couple of episodes, but I remember when I was shooting kind of around now in the season, I love the way that the writers reveal information to us because I kind of was like rolling with it like a little bit, hanging on every word because I didn\u2019t know exactly where Drea was going, and at one point, I had a writer say to me, \u201cwell, we just had something really fun happen in the writers room.\u201d And I\u2019m like what is it?\u201d And she\u2019s like \u201cwe just changed a huge part of your storyline,\u201d and I was like \u201ccan you tell me what it is?\u201d And she\u2019s like \u201cno.\u201d And I\u2019m like \u201ccan you tell me what it was?\u201d And she\u2019s like \u201cno.\u201d So, of course, I had a lot of theories about where Drea is headed and what that could be.<\/p>\n

I also love thinking about the new baby and kind of how that baby\u2019s gonna come into play in terms of the Stone Family, and how Grace gets Callings now, and how the baby is now going to factor into the world of 828\u2019ers.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re close to the end of the season\u2026 can you sum up the rest of the season in one word?<\/strong>
\nSomething I love about watching is that I never feel any lacking in mystery and exciting things, but what\u2019s different about shooting it and watching it is when I\u2019m shooting, I\u2019m really one-track mind. I\u2019m only shooting scenes with Mic and the rest of the precinct, but then when I get the whole script and I see how it fits into the whole thing that really is what the season is about for me.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s about how all of these puzzle pieces fit together, so I guess the word that I would give for the rest of the season would be \u201cjigsaw.\u201d To see how these puzzle pieces fit together to figure out this massive mystery, these big questions, and they find a good way to put all these pieces together in a really beautiful way at the end of the season.<\/p>\n

You were on Charmed for a good chunk of the season and you played a detective on both the show and Manifest\u2026 what other types of roles are you really hoping to dig into?<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s really funny, but when Charmed came along, my family was cracking up about that like \u201coh, Ellen,\u201d cause in my day-to-day life, people who are closest to me have always just been like \u201cyou? A cop?\u201d But when I got this second one people started going like, \u201cokay, well, you\u2019re the oldest sister. I guess you\u2019re kind of bossy,\u201d and we were just joking around trying to figure out where the casting came from.<\/p>\n

But when I think like into the future and the projects I want to work, I feel like I love and gravitate toward roles that are super grounded and driven and moral. I\u2019ve read some scripts recently that are really fascinating about incoming new Congresswomen who want to evoke change in the government. Or maybe even in the vein of a detective, but the scrappy detectives who figures out that there\u2019s something wrong with the system and she goes on and tries to fix it.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s also acting and maybe one day I want to play someone that is in a ball gown and goes to the Met Gala. That\u2019s something that I just do love about acting is that you can go into all of these different very far reaches of a character where anything is possible.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d also love to work on something really physical. My training is in physical acting, and I once played Billie Jean King, the tennis player, and so I think that if there were something where I could use my physical acting training maybe like a superhero that I would love to dive into.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ellen Tamaki, who some of you may recognize at Niko from Charmed, entered Manifest at the kickstart of season 2 as Drea, Michaela Stone\u2019s brand-new […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ellen-tamaki"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charmed-online.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charmed-online.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charmed-online.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charmed-online.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charmed-online.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6980"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.charmed-online.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6980\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6981,"href":"https:\/\/www.charmed-online.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6980\/revisions\/6981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charmed-online.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charmed-online.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charmed-online.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}