***The following interview contains major spoilers for the season 4 finale***

On the season finale of FROM, which premiered this past weekend on MGM+, when the group uprooted the bottle tree after Tabitha (Catalina Sandino Moreno) and Jade (David Alpay) found the children’s bones, it unleashed a sequence of events, starting with darkness falling and the nightmare creatures coming out on the attack. Although Fatima (Pegah Ghafoori) was eventually able to somewhat control Smiley (Jamie McGuire), it was too late as he slashed and killed Marielle (Kaelen Ohm) before she could stop him. As the chaos continued, the stakes were raised as Sophia (Julia Doyle) moved forward with her plans to destroy the balance of the town. A threat to her plans, Elgin (Nathan D. Simmons), having discovered that she was not who she appeared to be, was offered a deal to go home in exchange for helping her, but he instead resisted, not willing to betray his friends or bend his morals this time. In return, she killed him on the spot.

In an interview with SciFi Vision last week, both Simmons and Ohm spoke about the intense death scenes for Elgin and Marielle, playing dead on camera, set keepsakes, how working on the series has impacted their lives, whether they like to watch their performances back, why they leave the theory crafting to the fans, and more.

Watch the full interview and read the transcript below. The four seasons of FROM can now be streamed in its entirety on MGM+.




SCIFI VISION:   I really enjoyed the finale, although I wish [your characters were not dead], but hey, you never know. The Man in Yellow seems like she can turn into anybody, so we don't know. Maybe you guys will go back. But to start out, can you both talk about filming your death scenes?

NATHAN D. SIMMONS:   Filming my death scene. It was nice. I want to harken back to the last season where I worked up to that torture scene, which felt like a death for my character at the time, that torture scene. And that one, we filmed the torture first, and then we went back and shot everything else. So, when I finished that season, it felt good, but I was still pent up. Whereas this time around, we shot almost in order to that point, and so that climax really felt like I was giving up more than just the work that season, but also giving up the character. And it felt very, I guess, cathartic.

KAELEN OHM:   Yeah, Marielle's death scene, it was a very technical scene to shoot, because we had Smiley there and, you know, my prosthetics and blood and Fatima going through her stuff as well. So, preparations for in-camera effects and visual effects afterwards was a lot. So, it was really about balancing that with the emotional performance and just trying to be as present for that as possible, because it's such a big moment for Marielle and for Marielle and Khristi. So yeah, you know, it's just, we were there, it was December in the clinic, which is not filmed on studio, and I ended up just staying on the floor for like four or five hours in the blood, because it just made it easier to remain in the blood, in the moment, and in the scene. So, it was intense, but it was also my last moment on the show. So, I just wanted to soak it all in, and, yeah, be there.

SCIFI VISION:   Is it hard not moving and playing a dead body? I think Kaelen, you stayed there like quite a while, even on camera, but is that hard to do and not breathe? Or at least look like you're not breathing, I should say.

KAELEN OHM:   Yeah, I've done it a few times, actually, in my career, and I find that there's a - it's fun to play with actually. I'm always trying to experiment with like how I can cycle breath within my body without anything moving or like how long you can hold it for. I just kind of take it as an opportunity to play, because, obviously, if they can see you breathing or whatnot, then they're going to tell you. I think I once had, you could see like my pulse going in my neck still and they had to vis effects it out. So there are some things of being alive that you can't hide.

SCIFI VISION:   Did you struggle with that at all, Nathan? I don't think you were quite on camera as long sitting there, but…

NATHAN D. SIMMONS:   No, but I did, because they had to put like these eyedrops in my eye, these red eyedrops in my eye, which made the whole world look red. And then they put a bunch of like blood and stuff in my mouth. And I was stuffed up that day. So, I was already having a hard time to breathe, and when they shot it, they wanted me to do something. And then when I died, and then I had to hold it for a while. But the problem [was], I couldn't really get oxygen in. So, like I was laying there being like, “Am I actually going to die right now?” I just felt like I was about to pass out, because I have all this liquid in my mouth. I can't see, and I can only breathe out of like half a nose. So, my struggle was to keep calm and to, you know, stay still, even when inside, internally, I was kind of starting to freak out.

SCIFI VISION:   Yeah, that'd be hard. I have allergies and asthma, so I get that. It'd be really hard. Did you guys take anything from the set to keep, or were you given anything? Let's say it that way. One or the other.

NATHAN D. SIMMONS:   Yeah, I kept my original eye prosthetic for this season. Yeah.

KAELEN OHM:   No, I didn't. I didn't take anything. Yeah. I have a pair of jeans, actually. That's not true. I have jeans, but I should try and get like a totem of some kind.

NATHAN D. SIMMONS:   Yeah. See, I had to beg. I begged Patrick, “Can I keep this? Can I keep this?” And he just gave it to me. It was like, “Thank you, Patrick.”

SCIFI VISION:   How do you feel that you've changed since you've started on the show? Like, what have you learned from this, either from your character or this experience, that's really altered you?

NATHAN D. SIMMONS:   For me, I really have a lot more confidence in, I guess, vouching for myself or believing in my abilities, because a lot of the time - First off, the show got a whole lot bigger than I was even anticipating it being, and you don't really get a lot of second chances on set. So, you have to really believe in your abilities, that they will be good enough, before you get there. And I did a good enough job on the day, and that's something - I was always super critical [about]. Like, “I didn't do good,” but just trusting in myself that like, you know, if I can apply myself and when I do, great things can happen no matter what.

KAELEN OHM:   Yeah, I feel this is the first time that I've done multiple seasons on a TV show. And it's so nice to get to know a character and be able to revisit them. There're some challenges in that, of course, to step back and go, “Oh, am I bringing from a year or a year and a half ago enough of this person that it will be believable to audiences that this is 15 minutes later from the last season?” But I've also learned that with television, you know, you move so quickly. And when you are playing a character for a long time, I think there's a fine line between really being prepared so that you can bring some magic, and just have that personal experience of satisfaction that you really got to have a moment of authenticity and magic in the work with actors, as opposed to it can get a little procedural if you're not careful. So, I think that was a challenge that I pulled away from it. It's like, you know, still bring your full presence even if it's a scene that you maybe feel like you've shot a number of times or a character you've worked with a ton. You're going to have a couple takes to get it, and you don't want to go home just being like, “Oh, I should have should have worked harder on that. I should have thought more about that.” I think you still got to do as much work as you would on like a film or something to walk away and feel like you're satisfied in yourself.

SCIFI VISION:   Do you guys watch yourselves back after the fact like on TV, you just both made me wonder with [what you said] about getting it right.

KAELEN OHM:   Oh yes, I'm selective. I'll do it if I have to for press. I don't want to come in not knowing what I'm talking about. But it takes me a second. I don't love it. I like the process. I like the process a lot, that's why I do this.

NATHAN D. SIMMONS:   Yeah. I enjoy - I can watch it like a year after we shoot, you know, like, I can watch now, it's been enough time, but like sometimes someone will record me like Mike record me and show me, and I’m like, “I can't can't look at that.” But I think, yeah, I like to I like to watch myself and then be critical. I don't know why. It's a weird kink I have. I like to be critical, and sometimes I cry if it's bad. If think it's bad, I’ll just be looking at the TV and just start crying automatically. But, yeah, I find some joy and pleasure in just watching what I you know what I did. Yeah.

SCIFI VISION:   I'm guessing neither of you know, like the complete ending at least of what's coming. Are you both trying to figure out what's going to happen at all? Have you thought about it? I know not as much as we do, but I'm just curious if you guys have been trying to come up with theories of what's going to happen, or maybe they told you, I don't know. Maybe they told you [the ending].

KAELEN OHM:   No, we know nothing I feel like it'd be futile to even try. Yeah. I mean I've thought of visions or things that like if I was in the writers’ room and like oh I'd love this to happen, but I'm not trying to guess. We leave it to the fans, because they're so good at it; they're amazing. Like in the past even, people have guessed things that have happened that actually have in previous seasons. I'm like, “How did you come to that?” We didn't know. We're on the like WhatsApp group being like “What’s happening?” [laughs]

NATHAN D. SIMMONS:   [laughs] Yeah.

SCIFI VISION:   What about you, Nathan, do you try it all?

NATHAN D. SIMMONS:   No, no, like I'm just, you know, take it just like when you're working on during the season. You just wait for the new scripts, because sometimes you get worked up and what you think is going to happen, and then you may feel that down if it's not exactly what you wanted it to be. So, just enjoy the ride, especially the last season. If I get back, great if not, I can't wait to see, you know, the work that all of my friends have have done for this last season.