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Cassidy Freeman Interview
Smallville's Tess Mercer
Cassidy Freeman, mostly known for her
outstanding performance on Smallville as Tess Mercer,
took time out of her extremely busy schedule to talk to
us for a little bit.
Cassidy just enjoyed a birthday on April 22nd and some
of our followers on Twitter wanted to know how she spent
it. “I went surfing and I went to dinner with my
brothers.” Her brothers are also actors and she’s in a
family band called “The Real D’Coy” with her middle
brother, Clark.
Tess is one of my favorite characters on
Smallville, so
we had to ask what’s it like playing a character with so
many different dynamics. “It’s really, really great and
I often think of her as the only human character on the
show because she’s not actually in the mythos, so it’s
given me the opportunity to act through passion instead
of a predestined way of being, which I love.”
Originally, many fans of the show thought that Tess was
actually supposed to be Mercy, a loyal minion of Lex
Luthor, but she is truly a Smallville
original. Cassidy
admitted that she didn’t always know that Tess was a
Luthor and didn’t think it was always planned by the
writers, but was glad for the reveal. “I think it adds a
lot of credibility to her character.”
When Tess came onto the scene, it was clear that she
already had a long standing relationship with Lex, but
the specifics weren’t revealed. Tess has one scene with
Lex in the finale. “It was really, really fun. It was a
cool scene and it was such a joy to get to work with
him...finally.” When asked if they would explain their
past relationship, Cassidy said, “They take care of all
of the questions.”
“I can tell you that she has a big decision to make and
that’s whether or not she’s gonna go with her blood–the
Luthors–or if she’s gonna choose to stay on Clark and
Oliver’s side.” We’ll have to wait until the finale to
see if Tess will ultimately be good or bad, but Cassidy
admits that, “Both are really fun. When I’m fighting, I
prefer bad Tess, because I usually win. But being good
Tess allows me to have a lot more emotion.”
When we last saw Tess in the episode “Kent”, she was
somewhere between a romantic dinner with Clark Luthor
and being strangled and dropped out of a window. I asked
if she liked the pairing of Tess and Clark Luthor. “I
think Clark and Tess have always had an energy towards
one another. I think Tess always looked up to him
because he was a man that could be depended upon, which
she never felt she had and Clark has some respect for
her. It was never sexual. So in the other world it’s an
interesting twist on things, but it definitely belongs
in the other world.”
When asked what she would miss the most about
Smallville, she admitted to missing her “Smallville
Family.” Since she’s so close, we asked her to describer
her Smallville
castmates in five words or less.
Tom Welling: “Kind, hardworking, tall, dark, and
handsome.”
Erica Durance: “Open, giving, gorgeous, friendly, and
honest.”
Justin Hartley: “Hilarious, goofy, focused, and loves
hair spray.”
Allison Mack: “Spunky, energy, clutch, seasoned (but
that’s not to mean that she’s old, it means that she
totally knows what she’s doing).”
As for life after Smallville, Cassidy was in New Mexico
shooting a pilot for A&E called
Longmire. “It’s about a
sherif in Wyoming named Walt Longmire and I play his
daughter named Cady and it’s based on a bunch of mystery
novels by Craig Johnson.”
We asked Cassidy in what ways is she geeky. Of course
playing a character in the longest running comic book TV
adaptation EVER is enough to give her geek credit,
especially when her favorite scene was when she got to
kill zombies with a samurai sword, but she also admitted
to being a medical nerd. “I really love medical dramas
and I really love learning about the medical side of
things.”
But Smallville fans will be glad to know that Cassidy
feels that Tess has a great resolution by the end of the
show. “I think she has a perfect resolution. It’s
awesome. I love it!” She does not think the fans will be
disappointed at all! |
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