EXCLUSIVE: Erana James & Mia Healey Talk What’s to Come for Shelby and Toni in Season 2 of The Wilds

The Wilds is gearing up to premiere its second season on Prime Video and we got the chance to sit down with fan favorites, Erana James and Mia Healey to talk about the new season.

During our chat, we talked what’s to come for their characters, Shelby (Healey) and Toni (James), the introduction of the boy characters, intimacy scenes, and so much more. Check out what they had to say below.

What’s to come for Shelby and Toni in Season 2?

Healey: “Well, we definitely see them at a very different place in themselves and together in this season compared to season one. I’m speaking on behalf of Shelby, we see her at the happiest, I think we’ve ever seen her. And it’s very beautiful and joyful seeing her kind of fall into Toni and give herself to her, in a way.”

James: “Absolutely. I mean, and similarly, Toni’s so calm and she’s found a lot of peace in her relationship with Shelby and that’s really beautiful. It’s been really interesting building the arcs as our characters together in their relationship whilst they obviously have their own two universes going on. It’s a gorgeous journey to track together.”

Your characters have made quite the impact on the show’s fan based, does that put more pressure on making sure you get the representation right and your characters right?

Healey: “Not sure if it’s pressure, it feels like something that I feel very privileged and honored to do. Something that I think comes quite naturally because I know that Erana is the same. We just really respect that community, admire that community, and want to do these characters justice so that we can tell these stories that are meant to reach these people in an authentic way.”

James: “We just feel so honored that it has reached people. That’s just a real honor for us. Then to continue to be able to tell these stories is, as Mia said, just such a privilege.”

Was there something this season that you learned about your character that really surprised you that you didn’t see coming?

James: “I think for Toni, she’s a bit sappy and she’s a bit of a soak, and I love that she is kind of a bit mushy, which I don’t think we really got any of in season one.”

How did filming this season compare to filming season one since you both, you knew your characters more so, and you had a little bit more comfortability level with the writers and the creative team. Did it differ much? Did you have more say in how your character reacted in a certain scene?

Healey: “I put all my trust into the writers and the creators. They are so good at what they do and everything that they produce, I am just so in awe of and so impressed by. Every time I read a script, I’m like, ‘Yep, that sounds about right.’ They’re just so good at what they do. But it was really cool coming back and having that experience of season one, feeling way more grounded in ourselves, in our characters, especially with how our characters have developed, especially Shelby and Toni. It was nice to come back and feel this sort of calmness of it all. I don’t know. It was interesting.”

James: “I know. It was nice to be able to come back and sort of just trust our instincts and our characters. It was such a long time before we worked with the creative team to figure out who these people are. It’s really comforting just to be able to slip back into it and trust ourselves.”

How has your lives changed since you got the parts, and what have you learned from the experience about yourself?

Healey: “My life has completely changed. I feel like I’ve stayed the same, but life is different now. Especially when it comes to talking to a wide scale group of people about the queer experience, which was something I would never be able to do before this show. To hear about other people’s stories and listening to people explain why they related to these characters. For me, I wish I could have been a part of the conversation like that years ago, and before the show came up when I was younger. So that’s been really life changing for sure.”

James: “A hundred percent. It’s so crazy because Mia and I have both been a part of this show since 2018 when we did the pilot. Now obviously having this first season having come out and seen the response and the way that it’s spoken to people, it’s just meant the world. Then now coming through, it’s been four years and I don’t know, it’s been amazing to see all of the work and the energy and the care that we’ve put into it, that people have responded to that. And it’s very cool.”

Do you have a favorite episode this season?

James: “Mine is six.”

Healey: “I love six. I love eight. Eight had this sort of energy to it because we all knew it was the last episode, where it was all very heightened, and everyone was super pumped. Even watching it back, it feels like there’s this energy in the last episode that feels like something big is about to happen. You felt that on set that day. How I felt watching it as an audience member is how I felt on the day filming it.”

If you yourselves were stranded on a desert island, do you think you would survive? And what character would you take with you to help you?

James: “I’m taking Shelby for sure. I feel like not only just because I love her, but because you’re like, ‘Let me go find some water,’ like you’re getting out there.”

Healey: “Of course Toni. Toni’s kind of got that toughness that I think I would need on the island that sort of no bullshit, sort of, ‘Suck it up,’ sort of thing that I think I would need that energy. Would I survive? I’d give it a crack. But I don’t know if I last very long. Definitely not as long as the girls have lasted so far on this island.”

Did you take away anything personally from filming this season?

Healey: “This season was really special because of working with Erana so closely for so much of the season, we were able to have really beautiful open conversations around scenes and each other’s characters. It really provided me with this selflessness when it comes to my craft. Looking outside of my character’s world sometimes and into another character’s world to better understand the energy between them. That is something that I’ll always take with me, the power in conversation dialogue.”

James: “I felt quite rare to be able to have the complete ability to reverse the flow away from myself. And also respecting that Mia had a lot of respect for my character and same with my me, for hers, it was really special, and I’m really lucky.”

This season there are new additions added to the series. Do you think that impacted the dynamic of the show?

Healey: “I think the dynamic changes. I don’t think that’s a bad thing at all. I think it’s important for dynamics to change as because one of the coolest things about the show is how it is constantly evolving. These characters are constantly growing and evolving and changing, and the show does that as well. I think that’s an important thing. I think that’s a really exciting thing. I’m really looking forward to people watching season two and seeing these backstories of these men and understanding. I hope that they finish watching it and have maybe just an empathy there. There’s an empathy after you hear someone’s story that you just feel like you understand them more. I think it’s exciting.”

Both of your characters have gone through a lot of hard things, both on and off the island. What do you think they’ve taken away that was positive from the island that will help them in their future?

Healey: “Shelby, for sure is taking away so many life lessons. Shelby’s learned more on this island than she has anywhere ever before in her life. If she were to get off the island and back home tomorrow, I think she would be changed completely, for the better. She’s so close to being completely herself and being completely unguarded and that’s something that she’s had to learn a really hard way, but it’s the reward of that is just so beautiful.”

James: “It’s so good just watching how much Shelby thrives on the island. It is so sweet, it’s like a little paradise for her. But I feel like for Toni the worst has already happened, I hope she stops fighting so much with the world around her if she were to return. And I feel like that would be a lesson that she’d learn.”

Of all the ladies on the island from the very first episode to the season two finale, who do you think has grown the most on the island?

James: “It’s funny because there’s growth… There are so many people because there’s growth. Like the journey that Shelby goes on is so beautiful and where she begins and where she ends is so gorgeous. But then also Leah [Sarah Pidgeon] really goes through it.”

Healey: “Leah goes through a lot. It’s crazy how each character, you really get to see their evolution. That’s what I love so much about the show, seeing these characters that you get to fall in love with and then just see them face new obstacles and grow and change and develop. It’s just so cool. But every character goes through that, but also Toni has a crazy evolution as well, going where we met her to where she is, it’s so beautiful. We’re proud of her.”

James: “But you’re proud of all of them. Every time I think about them, I’m proud.”

What would you guys say was the most challenging part about filming this season?

Healey: “The COVID restrictions were a new challenge. But you get used to and it just becomes routine by the end of it. But just making sure we were being safe.”

James: “This wasn’t a necessarily a challenge, but just something interesting to learn, working with different intimacy coordinators throughout the time in our season and just getting up to speed and up to scratch with appropriate etiquette around intimacy work was really interesting. It was challenging because we just had a lot to learn, just ways about discussing intimate scenes and rehearsing them, it’s been a gift because now we can step onto set and feel like we’re well equipped. But that was a new challenge.”

Healey: “that was a challenge for me too, those rehearsals, for the intimate scenes was something that I’d never done before. That was very new, very interesting, very challenging.”

As we talked about earlier, The Wilds has a pretty big fan base. Have you ever come across any interesting fan theories that really took your attention?

Healey: “The one that was saying that Dot was Gretchen’s daughter or something.”

James: “That was interesting.”

Healey: “Even I was like, ‘Wait a minute.’ Because in season one they met, remember? They met each other in season one, so I was like, ‘Wait, what is the answer to that question?’ So, that was a crazy theory that I really enjoy speculating about.”

What about the cast, did you all have any crazy theories about the show or your characters?

Healey: “We were always trying to figure out what was happening next.”

James: “Always guessing. It was like every time the script came in, we’d be scanning through it so quick, we’d be like, ‘Oh shit, that’s what it is.’ Every time we could never predict it.

Healey: “I feel like people were always surprised, which is just amazing, it’s so cool.”

Was there a boy character introduced this season that you would like your character to spend more time with?

Healey: “Probably Ivan because I would love to see Shelby continue to have friendships with queer people and just so she can get a sense of the fact that she’s not alone in this. This isn’t something that she should be ashamed of. And Ivan is so proud of who he is, similar to Toni. She needs to be around people like that for sure.”

James: “Maybe Kirin. I feel like she would learn a lot about herself through that relationship. I’m sure she’d come out guns blazing and then learn different things about who he is and allowed that to challenge her idea of people.”

As of right now a Season 3 has yet to be confirmed for the show. If The Wilds was to get another season, is there anything that you’d be really excited for your characters to experience in a season three?

James: “We’ve kind of seen these characters go from teenagers or girls and sort of further into women, so I hope that Toni finds a way to harness her power and not let it kind of control her, but for her to get a good handle on it.”

Healey: “I feel like Shelby’s always looking for something to control her, whether it be her faith or how she presents herself. She carries a lot of shame and guilt, and she tries to control all of these things to prevent her true self from being out there. I would love to see her break even more of those walls down. She has already done that in season two a lot. So, I’m asking for a lot, because she’s made a lot of growth. I’d love to see her just to shed skin and be her true self.”

To wrap, what are you hoping fans get from this season?

Healey: “I’m hoping they get some answers. Get some answers and I hope they really fall in love with the boys, the male characters. I think it’s hard not to love someone when you heard their story. When someone tells you their story, I think it’s hard not to fall in love with them. So hopefully they have a good response.”

James: “I hope they feel challenged by some of the content, and they hope they feel… Maybe their preconceptions are different to what everything turns out to be.”