It’s always the quiet ones! In the Pilot of ABC’s most riveting new drama HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER we met Laurel Castillo, played fabulously by the astonishingly talented Karla Souza. Castillo is extremely timid but proves her knowledge in the standout scene where Professor Keating (Viola Davis) is interrogating new (and terrified) student Wes. (Alfred Enoch)
Things are starting to take off now that Annalise has seen what’s on Lila’s (Megan West) phone, especially since she is now representing Rebecca. (Katie Findlay) We’ve gotten to see some of Connor’s (Jack Falahee) backsotry last week and a look into what kind of person he really is. A couple weeks earlier we saw into Michaela’s (Aja Naomi King) life as well, tonight it’s Laurel’s turn.
The withdrawn character has slowly become the law student to beat and has earned the respect of Annalise. Week after week we’ve seen her measure up to the challenge and prove her worth to the team. The wide-eyed law student plays a huge role in tonight’s episode! I caught up with the MURDER actress about her character, the scene she’s most excited for the fans to see, and what we can look forward to on tonight’s episode.
How has this whole experience been for you? How is it working with Shonda, (Rhimes) Betsy, (Beers) and Pete? (Nowalk)
Karla Souza: I am so grateful to work with people that are so plugged into our creativity, and for us to all sort of be co creators regarding the characters. Pete is always open to answering our questions regarding our characters and our plots. I don’t know what more we could ask for; we have open communication. It’s been wonderful.
What drew you to your character, Laurel Castillo?
In the pilot she is the mysterious one out of them all, you can’t really pinpoint what box she fits in or what stereotype she fits in. She’s an idealist and she’s also very timid and less outspoken than the rest of them. She’s harder to figure out than the other students. She believes in the law and she believes that it’s there to help the less fortunate. Professor Keating sort of lures her into this darker side of the law and perhaps more glamorous side of the law that she never thought she wanted to be a part of. That’s sort of the transformation of her character.
What’s a scene with Laurel that you’re really excited for the fans to see?
Episode five is more focused on Laurel’s character and we get to see her more involved, more in the cases. One of the cases they get involved with she gets really involved with and really does want him to be found innocent, her hearts in it. At the same time she’s also sort of caught between this love triangle with her with one guy, and then the other guy she has this really incredible chemistry that she can’t deny. She’s sort of torn between those two worlds. In terms of the conflict and the drama I really liked that part of Laurel’s storyline.
The scene from last week’s episode where Professor Keating take off all of her makeup got a lot of buzz. What was the cast’s reaction to that during the table read?
It’s funny because every table read before we even get the script you always get these crazy reaction at the table read, like people screaming, laughing, or hyperventilating, those are always so fun. Sometimes we’ve gotten scripts and have been able to read them beforehand and you suddenly find yourself either screaming or crying on your own, that’s when you know you have a great piece of writing in your hand. That scene with Viola is definitely poignant and I feel like she’s mastered vulnerability with this powerful character very well. There have definitely already been some high stakes scenes in the series already. In episode four because of the flash-forward to the murder night you see these four young students dealing with this body, you don’t know who killed him. Everything from there is how do you get from point A to point B and it’s not so much what will happen but how it will happen and how these characters get involved in the murder. Every character has that wonderful scene that the writers sort of write for their episode, so I’m very excited about that too.
We saw at the end of last week’s episode that there are pictures of Sam Lila’s phone. Will we get to see that unravel more tonight?
Yes! You will definitely see that story progressing, everything we saw in that episode does get solved, or you find out more in the coming episodes. Nothing is what it seems, it’s still sort of unraveling with each episode until you get to murder night.
Which character are you most excited to learn more about?
I feel like Bonnie, (Liza Weil) the way she’s so mysterious. Laurel and Bonnie seem to have a lot scenes together coming up and I work very well with Liza and I admire her work so much, I think she is doing a wonderful job as Bonnie. I feel like I want to know more and more about that character.
What can you tell us about this week’s episode?
Viola’s character Annalise confronts Sam about that picture until Sam is forced into explaining what it is that happened. We are going to see more of Laurel and understand what makes Laurel tick, also the love triangle begins or explodes. You will definitely be shocked by Viola in that episode as well. The case of the week is also great; we’re defending a kid that shoots his dad.
You can watch Karla tonight on HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER at 10:00 on ABC.