{"id":78566,"date":"2017-02-14T10:10:09","date_gmt":"2017-02-14T10:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/0de2709a84.nxcli.net\/0-kjasnb\/2017\/02\/14\/christina-jackson-and-kyle-gallner-talk-wgn-outsiders-season-2\/"},"modified":"2018-12-18T02:32:57","modified_gmt":"2018-12-18T02:32:57","slug":"christina-jackson-and-kyle-gallner-talk-wgn-outsiders-season-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blackfilm.com\/read\/christina-jackson-and-kyle-gallner-talk-wgn-outsiders-season-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Christina Jackson and Kyle Gallner Talk WGN’s Outsiders Season 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Christina Jackson and Kyle Gallner Talk WGN’s Outsiders Season 2<\/strong>Posted by Brad Balfour<\/p>\n

February 14, 2017<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Just like its name, the WGN series \u201cOutsiders\u201d<\/strong> is definitely something that engenders risk; it, so to speak, sits \u201coutside\u201d of expectations. Think about it, a weird community in the hollers of Kentucky resists efforts to corral them under the conventions of the local law while keeping their clan together.<\/p>\n

\u201cOutsiders\u201d tells the story of this family clan, the Farrells, who’ve been in rural Kentucky long before the modern world had interceded. Living off the grid and outside of the conventional law on their mountaintop enclave, they protect their world from societal intrusion and defend their way of life using any means necessary. A struggle for power and control ensues in these rugged and mysterious hills of modern-day Appalachia, both within its insular community and from the conventional world beyond it.<\/p>\n

The ensemble cast for \u201cOutsiders\u201d includes:\u00a0David Morse<\/b>\u00a0as Big Foster,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Ryan Hurst<\/b>\u00a0as Lil Foster,\u00a0<\/span>Thomas M. Wright<\/b>\u00a0as Sheriff T. Wade Houghton;\u00a0Gillian Alexy<\/b>\u00a0as G’Winveer;\u00a0Kyle Gallner<\/b>\u00a0as Hasil;\u00a0Christina Jackson<\/b>\u00a0as Sally-Ann;\u00a0Joe Anderson<\/b>\u00a0as Asa;\u00a0\u00a0Francie Swift<\/b>\u00a0as Haylie Grimes; and\u00a0Rebecca Harris<\/b>\u00a0as Ledda.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

How do you create characters that audiences would identify without them become a parody? That was the challenge faced by both creator\/executive producer\/writer Peter Mattei and Executive Producer Peter Tolan. But with intriguing story lines, a set of complex characters and a locale rife with a history of its own, the show has found a large enough audience to launch a second season this January.<\/p>\n

Actor Kyle Gallner plays another crucial member of the clan, Hasil, a family member who struggles to choose the world he belongs to — Shay Mountain or the town while being in a forbidden romance. Gallner recently appeared with Chris Pine and Ben Foster<\/strong> in \u201cThe Finest Hours.\u201d<\/strong> In 2014, he made a splash in the Sundance hit \u201cDear White People,\u201d<\/strong> and \u201cAmerican Sniper\u201d<\/strong> starring Bradley Cooper<\/strong>. He was named a Breakout Star of 2011\u2019s Sundance Film Festival after starring in Kevin Smith<\/strong>‘s film “Red State”<\/strong> with Melissa Leo<\/strong>. On TV, Gallner has appeared in “Veronica Mars,\u201d “Cold Case,\u201d “Medium,\u201d “The Closer\u201d<\/strong> and “Criminal Minds.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

He was joined by Christina Jackson who plays Hasil\u2019s forbidden lover interest, Sally-Ann \u2014 and is best known for her recurring role as Maybelle Anne White in HBO\u2019s “Boardwalk Empire.\u201d<\/strong> She also was in “Deception”<\/strong> as young Joanna. Jackson has also appeared in such series as “Elementary,\u201d “Blue Bloods,\u201d<\/strong> and “Unforgettable.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

Blackfilm.com recently spoke with\u00a0Christina Jackson and Kyle Gallner about their characters\u00a0for the new season.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

You have a unique and special relationship throughout the series, how do you make it work and how does it evolves over the course of the series?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Christina Jackson:<\/strong> Sally Ann\u2019s [an outsider herself] in Kentucky. In the first episode of Season One, she comes face to face with a Farrell and it happens to be Hasil, who\u2019s cute, kind and very nice to her and relentless in his pursuit of her, so she gets to know him outside of everything she has heard about the Farrells.<\/p>\n

She falls in love and leaves everything she knows to be with him and get to the top of the mountain and find out it\u2019s not exactly what he told her what it was. So in season two she\u2019s left to pick up the pieces and making some very adult decisions and coming to her own and figuring out who she is.<\/p>\n

Are you as cute and kind?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Kyle Gallner:<\/strong> Yeah!<\/p>\n

How do you express that in a character that lived such a rough life?<\/strong><\/p>\n

KG:<\/strong> These people, they come from a different world. A world where you learn how to use your hands, you build, you fight, but it doesn\u2019t necessarily mean they\u2019re violent. It\u2019s the same thing with Hasil. Hasil is very kind and gentle and he\u2019s a gentle soul, but he comes to a place where it\u2019s \u201cif I have to, I will.\u201d<\/p>\n

CJ:<\/strong> Which you do a lot of in Season One.<\/p>\n

KG:<\/strong> I\u2019ll defend myself or the woman I love. They hear tales of who these people are, but the reality is different. Hasil is an outsider amongst outsiders, he doesn\u2019t really have a family, he doesn\u2019t feel totally accepted up there and he\u2019s searching for his place. He meets Sally and she pretty much fills in that gap he felt up on the mountain. The two of them have a lot of growing up to do, a lot of places to go, a lot of questions to ask themselves and ask each other. There\u2019s a lot going on in season two, season one was more the romantic fun loving phase.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

You\u2019re an outsider to a community and now, even further. Where do you find your outsider sensibilities?<\/strong><\/p>\n

CJ:<\/strong> With Sally she\u2019s a poor black girl in a town of however many hundred. There are no jobs, they\u2019re closing down clinics, it\u2019s reminiscent of what it\u2019s like in these small towns. Her being an outsider, she is a black girl in a population of a lot of white people, but she lives in these very general jobs where she comes into contact with a lot of people. She\u2019s very nice and proper speaking, but she\u2019s very young and naive about a lot of things.<\/p>\n

So with season two, it\u2019s more about her coming into contact with Hasil and knowing what\u2019s happening in the mountain and on the town. It forces her to grow up and face a lot of things she did not have to for a very long time, so she\u2019s coming into her own.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Are you coming into your own?<\/strong><\/p>\n

KG:<\/strong> Hasil is, he\u2019s very torn because he\u2019s up on the mountain and given a responsibility and a job for the first time, they want him to take his place up there, but at the same time he\u2019s very much in love with Sally and is trying to figure out how to make that work. So he really has to step up as his own person and make these decisions.<\/p>\n

You watch that growth happen as the season goes on and watch him do what needs to be done and assert himself more. You watch that happen with the two of them together and separately.<\/p>\n

Outsiders Airs Tuesdays 9\/8c on WGN America.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n