A few years back, I began to hear plenty of buzz about a show called Siren that was advertised as a “darker take on mermaids.” For five months, I breathlessly awaited the premiere of this show on Freeform, and upon its debut, I was categorically blown away! Before long the characters in this series thoroughly captivated my imagination, and what a thrill it was to connect with Rena Owen, who has played the enigmatic, enchanting Helen Hawkins for all three seasons of one of the most popular Freeform shows of all time. Rena was kind enough to agree to chat with me again recently, and it is my honor to share our interview as we surge past the midway point of season three.

RH: Rena, it is just so great to get to chat with you again!

RO:  Same here, Ruth, it’s always great to get to chat with you.

And I am thrilled to see Siren back for a third season.

We are always happy to be back.

cast & crew of Siren

I’ve talked to a couple of others in the cast this season, and we always talk about how much we love your character, Helen Hawkins. The cast always has nothing but wonderful things to say about you. 

Oh, how nice. Well, I love the entire cast and crew as well. I would be bitterly disappointed if we don’t come back for a season four because I just love playing Helen and being her. I have such fun with this eccentric, unique character. She’s just fabulous. And the writers just keep giving me…well, you know they can count on me for great one-liners. Helen has such great one-liners. {laughs}

Well, I have loved the fact that because of Helen, we’ve gotten to see a couple of folks that we thought were gone forever. 

With “Sarge” and creator Eric Wald

Oh yes, it has opened up a great storyline that has yet to be fully explored–the spirituality of the mermaid culture. We talked about it last season and about trying to find a way to bring back Sarge. Of course, the audience was so bitterly disappointed when he got killed off. However, when you look at the purpose and the function of storytelling, which I kind of understand very well being a writer myself, but as an actor, you have to figure out your purpose for each story, which is to advance the plot.

With Brendan {Fletcher}

The second half of season two, Helen got caught up with the hybrids which led to the baby. The baby could never have been made possible without the help of both the military and the hybrids. So the writers knew that Helen was going to be very busy the second half of last season. But even then, they were intent on finding a new way to bring Sarge back. And I think what they came up with was authentic, organic, and worth the wait. It felt very right. And in so doing, we get to know and learn more about the mermaid culture and their world.

With Hugo

As I’ve often said to people–myself even–in our world, there’s a lot of us who believe in an afterlife. I’ve always been a spiritual person. We believe that we will be reunited with our loved ones, and some appear to be able to communicate with them whether they use clairvoyance or psychics or however they communicate with their deceased. It’s very similar. A lot of projects I have worked on use a lot of cultural context. There’s a lot of mileage in cultural context for the universe. It’s been great. I’ve loved the scenes I’ve had with Sarge in terms of learning about their medicines and going under the sea. If you look at their medicine, they’re really going back to the old ways, which is great. Indigenous people, including my ancestors on my father’s side–the Māori people–we have Rongo, and that’s their medicine. They got all of their medicines from the land and the sea. And even in Biblical terms, it was always referred to as everything we needed was in the Garden of Eden.

With “Donna,” “Eliza” and one of the writers

Today, more and more people are turning back to nature to find their medicines. Sure, modern medicine taps into it as well, but unfortunately, if you think of a pill like Valium, it came from the Valeria plant. The problem with pharmaceuticals is that they add a lot of chemicals into the nature part. But I do think there is going to be a lot more of people tapping into nature because of the coronavirus. I saw it happening back in 2008 when we went through that crash as well. People are going back to making gardens and growing food and helping our their neighbors. These are the good things that are happening during this very difficult time.

I have noticed a lot of that too. I think there is a push now for us to be self-sustainable. We realize this kind of thing can happen, and we don’t want to be unprepared the next time it happens. We feel like this crisis just happened all of a sudden, and we weren’t ready. But now that we know this can happen and this probably won’t be the last time something like this happens, we understand that we want to be prepared. I’ve heard of a lot of people who are going back to gardening so they don’t have to deal with grocery store outages and they can grow their own food. 

Self-sufficiency, yes. You know, I’m very blessed because I have life skills that are helping me now. I grew up in the land of nature. I grew up on a dairy farm. For the first eighteen years of my life, I was in rural New Zealand. We planted, we harvested, and we fed the family. So I grew up in tune with the fact that the sun goes up and the sun goes down. It will rain, and it will sunshine or whatever. But I knew then that these were the “101’s” of life. Everything else–big cars, big houses–they’re luxuries, not necessities. So that always serves me. For thirty-five years, I’ve been in this industry now, and I could never have survived if I didn’t have a context of spirituality, of being taken care of virtually, of believing in God and having faith. Because as an artist, as an actor, I never knew where my next job was. Nothing’s changed for me. I’ve never worked a job “nine-to-five.” I never knew where my next job was or when I’d get a paycheck. But I learned–especially in theater.

with some of the cast of Siren

I worked in theater ten years where I learned the nuts and bolts of the craft. You don’t make any money in theater, so I did a lot of other odd jobs while going to classes or working in the theater to pay my rent. But I learned how to live a very good life with no money, and I’m really good at that. And you have to be as a creative. That’s the norm for all of us. I was very well-served by my first mentor, Ann Mitchell, in London in the ’80s when she said to me, “You know, no one has ever sustained themselves in full-time acting work, not even when you’re famous.” She was very famous at the time because she was the original widow in Lynda Le Plante’s TV series. She played Dolly, the lead. Ann went on to say, “You have to have something else you want to get out of bed for. Otherwise, you’ll keep falling into that black hole of depression.” She told me, “You can write. Don’t ever give up your writing.” Creativity is what makes me happy, and creativity has been my drug of choice. It doesn’t matter if I’m writing, acting, directing, or producing. As long as I’m passionate and feel the project is a part of my purpose and part of the bigger plan so to speak, I’m happy.

You know, I would often get people saying to me, “You’re poor.” But I’m not poor. I’m the richest woman in the world even though I don’t have any money. There’s a big difference. When you’re doing what you love, you feel so enriched and your life is rich. I mean, sure, I want extra money in the bank, and sure, I like nice things. But my identity is not invested in what I wear, where I live, the car I drive. My identity is invested in believing in God, as I understand Him, and that I’m doing what I’ve been put on this planet to do. And because of that, I’m able to help people who are struggling with time on their own. It would seem that a lot of people are having to find themselves during this period.

Someone posted something recently on Instagram, and I took a photo of it because I thought there is a lot of truth in this post. It’s brutal, but there’s a lot of truth in it. It was posted the other day by a friend of mine who is a makeup artist to Janet Jackson. It says, “If you’re not using this time to rest, reset, and prioritize your purpose and people in your life, you, my friend, are wasting an opportunity you may never get again. The world literally stopped and shifted for you to get your sh– together. If this is torture for you, find out why.” And I learned this a long time ago in my youth. All you’ve got at the end of the day is what’s in your mind–you, yourself, and I. So I’ve developed these survival skills. And I’m one of those people that if I were thrown on an island with nothing, I’d be fine. But I would want my toothbrush and my sunblock. {laughs}

{laughs} Oh, yes. Wow, Rena, it’s so wonderful to hear this message from you, especially at this time. I know people are frightened and discouraged, but there is so much negativity out there and people posting things they are upset about. But it’s wonderful to hear your message because it is positive, inspirational and grounded. Sometimes these messages tend to get lost amongst the negativity and political stuff. Sometimes I feel like I have to avoid my social media for a while because it’s full of such negative stuff. And I’m over here thinking, “let’s talk about the real stuff.”

When I have friends who try to get into the negative and it’s making them miserable, I just say, “Stop watching. Turn on your music.” You know, it’s absolutely pointless to be robbing yourself of your joy. This is something you cannot control. Those “101 skills,” we’re gonna need them more and more because things will happen again. I mean, it’s written about in Nostradamus and the end times. It’s been prophesied. You know it’s inevitable. I just think a lot of people weren’t prepared for it. Just like a lot of people weren’t prepared for “9-11” or the big crash in 2008.

So during this season, hopefully a lot of people are reconsidering things and wondering, “What are our priorities?” We just need to make sure we have this all in place and that we’re better prepared. I’ve stocked up on food that is non-perishable. We’re used to being prepared for emergencies here in LA because we get earthquakes. But the most important thing is to have a relationship with yourself. You’ve got to learn how to keep your own counsel.  I think it does get easier as you get older. A young person, a teenager, a child…they’re still figuring who they are, and they need their tribe to help them to define who they are and where they belong.

It’s a little bit easier for creatives because we are very introverted people. As I said to somebody, “The bulk of my work is done at home, so nothing’s changed for me.” I am sitting at home and reading scripts, learning my lines, working on accents…whatever I’m required to do for the job at hand. Then I go to set, and I do my job because of the work I’ve already done at home. So I’m used to being at home.

with the Siren cast

Actually, this period has given me a much-needed, long-overdue break because I’ve literally done back-to-back jobs for the last few years. We finished Siren season three in the middle of December, and then I went back to New Zealand for six weeks because I hadn’t been down there for a long time. I saw all my family and took care of my property. Then I finally got some sun, and I got to see my loved ones. Then I came back in the middle of February for work. I’m glad I got my Siren ADR work done. That was the first thing I did. Then I got the next two jobs booked for which I can’t comment about due to non-disclosure agreements. Both of those got shut down. But that’s nothing new. I’ve had films shut down on me when there were no superbugs. There was one year that I learned that very important lesson.

Photo by ATC

After Once Were Warriors, I committed to a feature film, and I just loved the script. It was a phenomenal role, and I committed to it. I kept turning down work at hand that was greenlit because I was attached to this project, and I was gonna do it. Well, a year and a half went by, and that film never got off the ground. So I learned that you take work when it’s greenlit or when it’s offered to you if it’s what you want to do and it’s good quality, you jump on it. You don’t save yourself for projects. Projects come and go. Some TV things fall over. Pilots don’t get picked up and go to series. This is a normal thing for us. We’re kind of used to it. Right now, we’ve got no work, so you stay home and work on your craft. You can still watch films and TV and watch good actors and read books and plays and do all those things to work on your craft. You can still do all those things and be ready for when work comes back.

Photo by Jerod Harris

You know, one of the greatest teachers I’ve ever worked with here in LA…and this may be useful for younger actors out there. When I first came to LA at the end of the ’90s/early 2000s, I’d go in for auditions and I absolutely sucked here! Nerves would get the better of me because I didn’t have audition experience. People in New Zealand saw me in theater, and then I would get cast in TV and film. I actually didn’t audition for stuff. But LA is an auditioning town. I remember coming out of this pilot because I just felt sick in the gut. Fear and anxiety had gotten the better of me and I thought, “My gosh, if I can’t get past this, I need to give up acting because LA is all about auditioning.” A guy named Craig Wallace has a class called the Craig Wallace Auditioning Technique. He was both an executive at one of the studios, and he was also a casting director. So he had all this insight into why the actor books the job, and he gives you a great set of tools to audition with. His course is great, and they’re small classes–less than ten. You get pretty much one-on-one. They give you “sides” {unique pages taken out of the script for the audition}. Your audition is filmed, and you get to look back at it and critique it. I kid you not. Every time I would do one of those ten-week courses, I’d book work. He’s now doing his classes online. I’d highly recommend his class to anyone who’s serious about acting. Use this time to better yourself. I remember a great actor saying, “The more you know yourself, the more you have to offer to your craft.” And that’s an actor’s first and foremost primary job because we portray humanity. We portray the human condition. So the more you know and understand about yourself, the more you know and understand about the human condition, the more you can bring to your characters, the more you can bring to your work. So you know, we still get to work. We may not be getting paid for the work we’re putting in now, but I believe it does eventually pay off. I can testify to that. You just hang in there. Perseverance is just another big word. Just hang in there.

from The Gloaming

For women, I think it’s very important, especially if you’re a character actor and you rely more on your acting jobs than what you look like. If you don’t disfigure your face and you don’t chop up your face and you still look like you, people can see YOU. You get to work in your fifties. I remember my mum saying this to me, and it’s so true. The forties are a desert for women, but not so much for male actors. You’re too old to be the young, cheeky baby and too young to be the old, wise sage. My mom would say, “Just remember Helen Mirren and Judy Dench. They did not get their big Hollywood breaks until they were in their fifties.”  As we all know, they were and are still good actors, and their faces move. You gotta know that if you’re a character actor, there are certain roles out there intended for “Stepford Wives.” And we all know that. If had bought into all that in the ’90s or the 2000s, I wouldn’t be getting the work I’m getting today.

with Caroline Cave

But I’m getting the work I am today because my face still moves and people like my character, Helen, on Siren. I remember at the first Upfront for Siren, the boss said, “You’re my daughter’s favorite character.” And his daughter was only twelve. I was really surprised because young people don’t always like old people. I asked why she liked Helen, and the simple response was, “Because she’s real.” That’s what our youth are wanting. They want realness. They’re growing up where enough is enough, and they’re not buying into the crap anymore. They want realness. They want to change this world and make a difference because the old system just doesn’t work. That’s been proven time and again. America’s being shook up big time right now.

with Eline Powell

I send my sympathy to anyone who has lost people in this coronavirus as well as those who are struggling with it right now. I remember there was this one voiceover job I did. It was a new video game, and I’d gotten an email from the creator saying he was sorry. They knew how much time I had put into it. They loved my work and my commitment to the project, but they all got made redundant, so therefore the game went out the window. I told them that I felt more sorry for them because they got made redundant. I know this game can come back around another time, but it’s sad. I feel for our waiters and waitresses who depended on tips to pay their bills. To those people who are living paycheck to paycheck, it’s a really tough time for them. I’ve learned to be disciplined over the past thirty-five years of saving because you do get periods when you’ve got no money, and you have to get really good at budgeting and being accountable and reliable and living within your means. I’m good at that, so I’m okay. But for those people who have children, and they have no money…you know, the food banks are just inundated in LA right now, and I really feel for these people. They’re the ones have genuine struggles. I know there are others who are complaining, and I want to come on say, “Your complaints are first-world complaints. You’re living in a damn mansion with plenty of money in the bank! What the hell are you complaining about?!”

Photo by Jack Rowand Freeform © 2017 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved.

I understand that. I keep saying I don’t have anything to complain about except the fact that I’m staying home. If I ever feel like I want to complain, I just go on and read the stories from people who are really struggling. There’s just no point in complaining. 

I’m also very sorry for our graduates. I know this is a hard time for them.

When the schools were shut down in our state, the announcement was made while I was in the classroom. Here I was in a class of seniors, and all they were thinking about was, “How am I gonna graduate?” I did the best I could to assure them that was the top priority in the school district’s mind and that they weren’t alone in this. 

I do feel for those kids. But whenever I start to get negative, there’s a good little simple exercise that works well. You sit down and take a moment and write down ten things you are grateful for. If you can’t come up with ten, at least come up with five. When you can make a list of the things you’re grateful for…I’ve got a roof over my head. I’ve got food in my refrigerator. I’m healthy. It doesn’t get much better than that!

Exactly!

Siren

So what do you want to know about Siren?

Well, we are six episodes in now. The sixth one aired Thursday. And I tell you, Siren couldn’t have come at a more perfect time. But Helen has had quite a season so far. The episodes have been pretty epic for her I would say. 

It’s been great to have this whole new storyline open up where we have seen the spiritual life and the spiritual beliefs of the mermaid culture. It was tapped into a little in season two when they went in the submarine down into the deep blue and Ryn told them that this was the echo chamber of their ancestors. But that’s all we saw about their spiritual life last season. Now we’re learning more through Sarge coming back with a clear message and Georgia’s {Waters} character, Eliza, being able to explain to Helen about the medicines of the mermaid culture and about the possibility of going into the spiritual world. Those were really cool things to do. I love the way they shot it. And if you remember at the end of episode three, Helen saw Donna again. And you know she also has seen Sarge again and has been able to touch his face. We’ve not seen the last of Sarge. There is also a body left at the end of season three, and that’s the body of a hybrid. And now there’s a new baby too who Ryn has given to the merfolk to take into the water so she can grow. Hope is the name of Ryn’s baby. And, of course, Tia is still doing whatever she’s doing under the water. Our showrunner/producing director, Joe Menendez, heads up the best team. Our art directors, our head of wardrobe…we’ve got such an awesome cast and crew for Siren. We’ve all become such a family, and I think we all would be sad if we weren’t reunited and weren’t able to do it all again. I think Siren is still Freeform’s best-performing show.

You know, I thought season one was fantastic, and season two was great, but this season, I think you all have raised the bar again. The storyline is incredible, right from the first episode when you’re thinking, “What on earth is happening?” With the flight attendant whom you later learn is a mermaid. 

Yeah, that was phenomenal.

Oh, it was. Sometimes, shows by the third season, aren’t doing as well. The third season is pretty critical, and I know of many shows that have gotten canceled after the third season. I think lots of times it’s because they start to lose their focus. But with Siren, it just keeps getting better. 

with “Maddie”

Our creator, Eric Wald, who is also our writer and executive producer, he emailed us all before it went to air, and he said, “You guys are just looking fabulous. This is the best season ever.” I think what has helped us this season is that Freeform didn’t order more episodes like they did for season two. We only have ten, not sixteen. Last season, we were originally only supposed to have ten episodes, just like our first season. That means that you can pack a lot of storylines in those ten seasons. When you have sixteen, some of the storylines get stretched out and elongated, and it can sometimes go on too long. I think some of the fans actually stopped watching last year with the elongated storylines. This season, they decided it was better to leave it with ten episodes. It makes it a lot more concise and dramatic and easier for all departments. I think you’re going to go on a bit of a roller coaster by the time you get to eight, nine and ten. And you’re in for another epic season finale.

I’m glad there’s only ten this year too. It does make it seem more action-packed and filled with exciting storylines that keep your interest level.

with Georgia

We’re very lucky to make it to season three, and I’ve got everything crossed we’ll go to season four because I really miss everyone. I will also really miss playing Helen if we don’t get to go back.

Another thing I love about Siren is that it’s a show that you can lose yourself in and not think about our current crisis. But it also does have some important messages that are quite relevant for our time. Environmentalism and cleaning up the oceans and even prejudice. 

You know, I remember saying this a while ago, and I still believe it. There’s something for everyone in this show. Something for the young people and young adults and also something for people my age. I think one of the successes of our show is that you can’t put it into a box. It doesn’t come in one box or a rectangle or a circle. It crosses over into more than one genre. You can see a lot of love and thought is put into our script and the collaboration of everyone is just tremendous. Everyone brings their best game to it, and we’re all invested in the show. We all love it and want it to succeed. And you never really can run out of storylines in this world. Where would season four potentially go? We couldn’t even begin to talk about that without spoilers. While I can’t do any spoilers…I know our series always has a terrific cliffhanger at the end. Every season has a great cliffhanger. But with this one, it’s going to be an epic season finale cliffhanger, and what happens there justifies and warrants a season four just to find out what on earth is going to happen next. So fingers crossed. And we do have to get our fans to go out and tell their friends and their families to start watching our show because a lot of these decisions do come down to ratings. We’ve been maintaining a strong top rating on Freeform, but I think those numbers need to keep building as the season continues.

with “Donna” and “Maddie”

Well, I definitely want this show renewed for season four, so I’ll keep trying to get the word out. I know there are still people who aren’t aware of the show, and if you can get them past the traditional Disney concept of mermaids, I think they might get hooked. And they can get caught up on Freeform and Hulu if they have missed any episodes. And also, Ryn and Helen are my two favorite characters in the series. 

Thank you. You’ve got really strong female characters in this series. And that goes right back to season one when you learn that the mermaid culture is matriarchal. Maybe I already told you this, but when I went to audition for the pilot of Siren, the casting director told me how excited they were about me auditioning for the show. Then the next week, my agent called and said he was sending me over new stuff for my callback. And the next day, he called back and said, “Forget the callback. They just want to lock your contract for the show. They want you for the role, and we have to lock it down by five o’clock today.” That’s how quick it happened. After the contract was locked, I got an email from the creator, Eric Wald, and he told me how he was a huge fan of my work ever since Once Were Warriors. And the showrunner said that I was the perfect person for Helen. They told me I had a fantastic audition and they were thrilled to have me aboard. This is a role that has been twenty years in the making in a lot of ways, but it wasn’t until season one later on in the season that we found out that the mermaid culture is a matriarch culture and a warrior culture. Interesting enough, Once Were Warriors was a matriarch warrior culture as well.

The Gloaming

I did want to ask you about one other thing you’ve done. The Gloaming.

Oh, yes, that is a very different role. That was done by Stan Australia which is Australia’s Netflix along with ABC International. It was shot in Tasmania, which is phenomenal. But my character is very dark and heavy. Literally, after we wrapped for season two of Siren, I came back to LA for a week. We had the big Freeform event, and then I went straight down to Tasmania and did three months down there before returning to Vancouver for season three. So it was good to do that kind of role. It was a different character, but also a character I wouldn’t want to do too often. Dark, evil characters can be quite taxing. You want to do good work, and you’ve got to dig deeper. I had to dig very deep into that role.

from The Gloaming

Now, is that available to watch in the U.S. yet?

It should be coming onto Hulu soon. There are some incredible actors associated with that cast. Emma Booth is the leading girl, and she works a lot here in America. The creator of the show is a phenomenally talented writer, Vicki Madden. She’s known for The Kettering Incident. She has a very unique style, and her things are usually slow burners. In the show, Tasmania tends to be one of the main characters because it’s so atmospheric. But it should be coming to Hulu because it’s ABC International, and all their stuff typically goes to Hulu. If it starts on Australia Stan, then it usually comes to Hulu here in the States.

Well, then I know to keep an eye out for it, Rena. Thanks for the heads up. And thanks for all you shared today. We are excited to see the rest of season three, and here’s hoping for a season four of Siren!

Thank you, Ruth. We at Siren appreciate your support over the years and the support of all of the fans. Thanks for the interview as well. I hope everyone enjoys the rest of season three. And here’s hoping for season four!

One of my favorite things about chatting with Rena is that you never know what direction the interview is going to take, and I mean that only in the best possible way. With her decades of experience in the industry as well as the extraordinary roles she has had the opportunity to bring to life, Rena is one whose wisdom sincerely gushes from her innermost being in the most consummate way. She is as authentic as you would imagine, and you can perpetually count on her to give you the real story and not attempt to inflate it nor artificially elaborate. Furthermore, her profundity extends far beyond the acting world, and she utilizes this platform which she has earned because of her success within the industry to reach out and genuinely render aid to whomever she can. Without a doubt, her unbridled passion for every project with which she has been involved streams from her soul. That being said, even more inherent within herself is her warmth and genuine love of humanity. She never gets entangled in the despondency of the culture, and her sole objective is to uplift and embolden all who come her way. You can never leave a chat with Rena feeling depressed or uninspired. Her enthusiasm is infectious, and I could easily sit at her feet and listen for hours without boredom infiltrating my mind or body. 

I hope that everyone tunes in to Freeform on Thursday nights for the remaining episodes of season three. And while you’re losing yourself in this exquisitely mythical, aesthetically mesmerizing, sometimes terrifying world of mermaids, I hope that you make it a point to visit each of Rena’s links below and consider following her where applicable. Over the years, I have observed her fan-friendly social interactions that brim with encouragement and gratitude while invariably radiating positivity. While she is forever grateful for Siren and her role of Helen (as well as all of the other characters she has played over the years), I resolutely declare that Siren is blessed to have someone with the prowess, pragmatism, and dedication of Rena Owen portraying such a multi-faceted, unconventional character, and I couldn’t imagine the world without the spirit she has brought to this show and shared with the multitude of fans worldwide. While I typically do not pick favorites, I can unequivocally state that outside of the Hallmark world, Rena Owen is my absolute favorite actress and personality, and it electrifies me to envision what has yet to come for this veteran of film and TV who consistently embodies such amazing, versatile characters that not only entertain, but educate, motivate, and inspire. And in truth, NO ONE does it better than Rena!

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Photo by Monique Lively © Rena Owen

CHECK OUT MY PAST INTERVIEWS WITH RENA

Interview With Actress Rena Owen, “Siren”

Interview With Actress Rena Owen, “Siren”

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