When she was a teenager, Rowan Blanchard was emblematic of a certain perception of Gen Z, one chronicled thoroughly in this magazine: smart, politically engaged, outspoken, active on Tumblr. Now 24 and starring in the Hulu show The Testaments—where she plays a teen girl trapped in a totalitarian religious state—Blanchard has had time to reflect on the past versions of herself, and her generation.
“There was this moment of, maybe the youth will have the answer, but it's like, well, they don't have the answers just because they're kids,” Blanchard tells Teen Vogue. “But it was an interesting [time]. I think I have a better relationship to it now. I'm able to see [that] I had a unique circumstance where I was just like any other person on Tumblr realizing themselves, but I was known, so it was getting attention.”
It was announced today that The Testaments has gotten a season-two pickup, which will see the cast return to the world of Gilead. Below, Rowan Blanchard reveals her wishes for the second season, her approach to Letterboxd, and what she's learned from being a young person in the public eye.
Rowan Blanchard: No, I read for a different part. Then I had three rounds of callbacks for that part. And then I didn't hear anything for a couple months, so I figured it just wasn't happening. Then, about a year ago, I was told, “You're going to meet with everyone tomorrow for a different part.” I read for Shunammite once; five days later, I was in Canada.
RB: It was for Daisy.
RB: Immediately, I was like, Oh, she's accidentally funny, which I think I was immediately drawn to—and that was fun for me.
RB: There's some relief, but she doesn't mean to be funny. You know what I mean? It's like she's just a candid person.
RB: That was my audition scene. I didn't even, honestly… I guess when I'm in the character, everything like that feels so normal when we're filming it; it's only when I watch it back that I'm like, "What a strange line."
RB: So horrible.
RB: I was working when I went through puberty, so I was used to old producers commenting on my body when I was, like, 12. It was really... I look back at it now and it's very uncomfortable. But it was just a part of my life, I guess. I was just working for old guys.
RB: Men rule the world. I think we're all working for The Man. But yeah, I'm an adult actress now. I was a child actor before, so there's a lot more voice I get now.
RB: Oh, thank you so much. It's the only social media that I really, really love.
RB: I don't log television. It's a movie app to me. People log TV shows. That's confusing—it's a movie app. What was the rest of your question?
RB: I'm trying to answer this without revealing my opinions. If I love something, I review it or rate it, or I like it. If I love something, it's clear that I love it.
RB: No, because I'm an actress and I want to be employed.
RB: Yeah, for sure. Also because there is a storyline in the show that doesn't involve me, but that is queer. I think I was just trying to write about how the lines get so blurred when you're experiencing growing in your body and experiencing really intense emotions that you feel in friendship, and the love that you can place towards women. Girls. Girls, at that point. But I love that movie. I took Chase [Infiniti] to see it when we were in Canada.
RB: She loved it. It's such a good movie.
RB: I think that anything in that world that gives the girls agency, in terms of having decisions, closeness—having their own decisions about their own proximity to people—is looked down upon. And I think they're afraid of alliances. My friendships, especially when I was a teenager, were how I learned about the world. So they're probably very terrified of that.
RB: Oh, that's an interesting question. I think that I have a complicated answer because I've been doing this since I was five. This is also a job to me. I'm not a nepo baby. This is how I pay my bills. This is how I help people in my family. So I think it's a mix. I'm grateful to work.
In an ideal world, I would love to choose everything I'm in and have the most choice in every situation, but it's just not my reality. But yeah, I think being on this show has felt very supportive, and I felt lucky to be really close with my cast mates. I had so much fun playing that character, and we worked really hard.
RB: F*cking hilarious, dude. Because I've been acting since I was a child, but any job I got, I got because I worked for it—even when I was a kid. It's interesting. I'm from LA. I grew up in LA. I grew up all over the Valley because we always moved. So it was strange. I had a very different life. Once I started meeting other actresses who were so-and-so's daughter or... It's like, Oh, right. Okay.
It's also a different Los Angeles. My LA is very different, I think, than people who conceptualize LA as a rich, extravagant [place], which it is. It is extravagant and it is ridiculous and it is Hollywood, but it's also a lot of other things.
RB: To me, it's where I grew up. I hadn't been to Santa Monica until I was 16. I grew up in Van Nuys, Sherman Oaks, Valley Village, Valley Glen—all over the Valley—so it was just very different. To me, it's the Westfield Square Mall and my elementary school.
The Valley's weird. The Valley is a freaky place. I'm grateful to have grown up there. I think as an adult, though, it's funny now [that] my favorite place in LA is Hollywood Boulevard. I love walking down Hollywood Boulevard. It's f*cking amazing.
RB: I'm amazed by all the stars on the floor, first of all. I love the people that come and want to spend all day on Hollywood Boulevard. I love going into the stores. When I'm on Hollywood Boulevard, I'm like, Oh, this is Hollywood. So much happened here.
RB: I'm curious what will make her think that there is something bizarre going on, because I don't think she really does until towards the end. I think, for the most part, she really wants to get pregnant and be married. That's what she wants. So I wonder what will make her crack a little bit.
RB: It's really a sad part of being a teenager when your friend group starts moving about. I think I see it now, with not being a teenager, as people really just become themselves, in their 20s, especially.
I feel lucky, though. I've had a lot of the same friends for a really long time, which has felt very grounding and important for me. But I think the show does a good job of showing that weird feeling of, Where are you going? How am I going to stay connected to you? Because the girls are so close, they're all they have.
RB: I think that I'm grateful I got to learn a lot from other people online. I'm grateful that I got to learn about my voice and what I believe, but I think that I am also just grateful now to have the grace for that all to change whenever I want it to.
RB: No. I think I have a healthy relationship to it now. For a while it was just, I was developing a lot of feelings around... I can see now as someone who, in my life, really expresses how and what I believe in my actual actions and my interpersonal relationships. I can see that when I was a teenager and discovering about this stuff, I was just given a mic, which I don't have the most positive feelings about.
RB: But I also think that was a moment in time in the internet when that was happening to way more people than just me. There was this moment of, maybe the youth will have the answer, but it's like, well, they don't have the answers just because they're kids.
But it was an interesting [time]. I think I have a better relationship to it now. I'm able to see [that] I had a unique circumstance where I was just like any other person on Tumblr realizing themselves, but I was known, so it was getting attention. I'm grateful that I can constantly have a new relationship to it.
RB: I don't know. I don't really know what people's perception of me is, I guess. I try to stay out of it. I think when you've had eyes on you in the way that I have since I was a teenager, I just don't have the same relationship. People can think whatever they want to think. It has nothing to do with me.
