Warning: This interview contains light spoilers for Episode 5 of ‘Doom Patrol’ Season 3, “Dada Patrol.”
Doom Patrolis back for a third season and shows no signs of slowing down on its gloriously bonkers storytelling — but the motley members of the Doom Patrol have another person joining their ranks now that the show has returned. A mysterious woman (Michelle Gomez) arrived in town via time machine at the end of the Season 3 premiere, with no memory of who she is or what her purpose might be. Subsequent episodes have since revealed her to be Laura de Mille — who comics fans will recognize as an alias for the villainous Madame Rouge. But Laura’s not there yet, and it’s in her developing relationships with the rest of the Doom Patrol, as well as a particularly ominous warning letter written by Niles Caulder (Timothy Dalton), that she might start to uncover who she really is.
Speaking with Collider by phone ahead of this week’s episode, Gomez discussed what it’s been like to joinDoom Patrolin its wackier-than-ever third season, as well as the fact that she seems to be only ever playing Madam(e)s lately. She also spoke about her experience playing a character with no memory of her identity, as well as filming her scenes in this week’s episode withApril Bowlby’s Rita Farr — and what might be in store for that relationship over the remainder of the season.
Collider: I feel like it’s difficult for me to even explainDoom Patrolto the average person. You really do not know what you’re in store for until you actually watch it. How much did you know about the show beforehand, before you joined on?
MICHELLE GOMEZ: When it was brought to me, I didn’t really have much experience with the show at all. So I went ahead and I watched the first season. And really, from the first five minutes of the pilot, I was like, “Okay, I think I might fit in this picture.” So I was new to it and then I was 100 percent into it, as soon as I started watching it.
Obviously, this is not your first time in a comics adaptation. Do you feel like that role, playing Madam Satan, and being in an adaptation like that, was something that even prepared you a little better to take on another comics-based character?
GOMEZ: Yeah, I think so. Though I don’t really think of it in terms of that. I tend to come to each project as fresh as I can. Obviously, I’m bringing what came before, but I try and look at it through a new lens. And I get to do a different version of that in this show. It kind of forces you out of your comfort zone as an audience member and as a participant of the cast. And you’re constantly finding yourself in some really absurd circumstances. So obviously, there was Madam Satan that came before. And now I’m Madame Rouge, so clearly I’m only going to be playing Madams from here on in. But there was also The Master that came before this, onDoctor Who, so there was a kind of similar energy there. I feel like I’m fully immersed in this world, but [also] bouncing from one show to the other that has similar connotations.
I feel like there’s a pattern here of these powerful women.
GOMEZ: Yeah. I know, when am I destined to play a character called Fiona? Or maybe Alison. I don’t know when that part of my career is going to happen, but not anytime soon.
That’s okay, I think the fans are definitely happy with where you are right now. I know you like to approach a project fresh. And in this case, it’s literal, because you’re playing a character with no memory that we know of, at least right now. Does that make her a blank slate that you can bring your own approach to? Or is there always a sense, in the back of your mind, as to who this character really is while you’re playing her?
GOMEZ: The thing about television, and the actors that play within those scripts, we actually don’t get that much information in advance unless we arereallypushing for it. And occasionally I have found myself, maybe, asking too many questions. And in this instance, I thought it would serve me better to be as lost, I guess, in the plot as much as my character was. It served me, and it served me well. Because there was that sense of, “I have absolutely no idea what is going on, who I am, or why I’m here.” And I leaned into that.
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Obviously, we’ve seen glimpses of her on the show from the beginning of the season, but she makes her big debut in an episode where everybody’s been turned into zombies. So I would love to hear what that experience was like, showing up and basically getting to bounce off the rest of the cast playing undead versions of themselves.
GOMEZ: On the day… I mean, when we were shooting in real-time, it was really difficult for me to stay in character as much as I could because those guys were hysterical. And they presented with such a commitment to their performance on the day, that I just sort of sat back and marveled at what they were doing. And each one of them, if you look at them, they stayed very in-character, stayed very true to character. And just watching Rita, zombie Rita, delicately walk from one room to another. And you’re able to still see Rita in there, in her gait, in her physical demeanor. And the same goes for the others.
But just trying to keep a straight face, and trying not to lose it when April Bowlby just declares, in a really jaunty fashion, the need for brains. It just got me every time. And the next thing, I’m literally kicking butts coming at me thick and fast, and through the air. And those guys have turned into zombies, and I was like, “What have I woken up in?” It’s like I kind of came out of some sort of emotional blackout and woke up in this mad world that I somehow felt very at home in. I don’t know whatever that says about me, but… So the whole thing is constantly unexpected and joyful, it’s genuinely really funny. It’s absurd and tragic at the same time. I don’t quite know how [showrunner] Jeremy Carver pulls that off, but he does.
And we see that in the scene with your character talking to Niles' head. How do you play those moments? Because they’re ludicrous on the surface, but then when you delve deeper there’s such a complex relationship there.
GOMEZ: For me, when it comes to any of the big questions that Laura has to ask, it helps just to be as grounded as possible. And to really, genuinely, have a need to know who you are. And there’s a line where I say, “I’m not a bad person.” And then there’s a beat, then I say, “Am I?” I think that that is terrifying, to just not know yourself, to know what you’re capable of. When you talk about being paranoid, when you have all these other people that seem to know so much more about you than you do yourself. Memory loss is, I think, one of the most terrifying things to experience. To just wake up and not know who you are. Not only do you not have any answers, you don’t really even know where to start with the questions.
And that moment with Niles' head, although it’s utterly absurd, that seems to be the trick of this show. That you forget the banality because you’re talking about real human trauma.
I love that we get to have more scenes between you and April, but also it’s not really just bonding time. Laura has this really powerful monologue where it feels like she’s weighing the idea of the person she wants to be versus the person that she thinks she might be. What was it like to work through those moments from this week?
GOMEZ: The thing that really struck me, actually, when I read that script initially, was how Rita and Laura De Mille, at that point, are in such a sort of parallel path. That there’s a similar need, from both of them, to find out who they are. And I know that Rita’s kind of talked about living with that, for the last couple of seasons. And it’s almost like Laura turns up, and there’s this final push to really find out who she is. And so there’s a real connection there, between those two characters, where they can be each other’s foil, be a strength for one another. And that’s why they work so well together, there’s a sort of unspoken dialogue there.
And there’s a bit of comfortability between the two of them, and you can see that on screen. It really is like they have known one another before. And each of them has the key to the other. And how does that reflect on where we’re at in our own lives, with our own friends and family? And how we connect with people, and how other people make us feel, and do we give other people the power to make us feel one way or the other? And so, it may prove to be a powerful union between the two of them. Even the way we look, it’s… I mean, obviously my nose is much bigger than April’s, and I’m nowhere near as beautiful as her either. But we both have that, sort of, similar ’50s vibe going on.
Dare I say, it’s like there’s… I don’t know, there’s something familial there. And I don’t know whether that was a happy accident in the casting, or… I don’t know. But there’s something deeper there. And it’s an important relationship, like in relationships we have in our own lives, where we can draw power from someone else. Or there are those people that when you have spent even a short time with them, they drain your power, as all have done. And so we serve as an important key for one another, to find out more about who we are.
Season 3 ofDoom Patrolairs Thursdays on HBO Max.
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