Comic-Con 2014 Quick Takes: Lyndie Greenwood and the EPs Talk Sleepy Hollow [Interview + Cast PHOTOS] 

Comic-Con gets bigger and better every year. The organizers (and the studios) want to make sure fans are experiencing full volume fandom (and they won’t complain about taking your money in the process). But we love the idea of a fan – or just someone looking for a great attraction – being able to immerse themselves in an experience like this. Sleepy Hollow Oculus Rift is a an immersive virtual reality installation that transports the user deep into the heart of Sleepy Hollow. Fans receive an ominous warning from Ichabod Crane and then a terrifying encounter with the Headless Horseman. We didn’t get to participate in that, but we did get pictures of everyone (see below) and a few minutes with Jenny’s Lyndie Greenwood as well as the producers, who gave us a little scoop on what to expect in season 2.

Lyndie Greenwood, Jenny Mills

What’s ahead for you and Abby in season 2?

Lyndie Greenwood: “There’s definitely more exploration of Jenny and Abby’s relationship. I think that’s something that the audiences really responded to. It’s nice to see such a strong sister duo. We haven’t really seen that. In many senses of the word.”

What was your favorite moment or scene for Jenny from season 1?

Lyndie: “I would say one of my favorites was getting to play possessed and working with Clancy Brown. I really loved doing that possession scene and that was a great episode for me as well because I felt like Jenny and Abby really connected for the first time when the demon was finally exorcised and Jenny and Abby really finally took a breath and took a hug, that was really important.”

Jenny is a unique representation of people on television who identified as having a mental illness. What are your thoughts on that and how it plays into your character?

Lyndie: “It’ a very good question. It’s interesting because Jenny is misrepresented and there was a scene that was cut unfortunately from 106 where Jenny has a really good friend in the asylum and I really wish we had shone a bit more of that world because I think that it’s important – I volunteered in mental health facilities in Toronto – to realize that these are problems that everyone can face and there shouldn’t be things we don’t talk about. There should be things that are accessible and I think the more that we have a dialogue the better we will be able to understand these issues. It doesn’t really play that much into the character, but I like the conversation in general.”

Co-executive producer Mark Goffman and creator Alex Kurtzman

Mark, did you expect to have this kind of reaction to the show after the first season?

Mark Goffman: “This kind of reaction is just amazing. It’s what you dream of. You create a show and this one, I think, was conceived a lot for fans that you would find at Comic-Con and the fact that they’ve embraced the show in the way that they have just is incredibly gratifying.”

It speaks to how well you’ve developed the show and taken the mythologies and just said, ‘Yeah, we’re going with it but we’re also tweaking it a little.’ Are you planning on doing a lot more of that moving forward?

Mark: “Oh, yeah. The premise of the initial pilot was so crazy and the fact that everybody just went with that, we as creators of the show and as writers have continued every episode trying to make as crazy and fun as we can.”

Sleepy Hollow‘s one of the most diverse shows on television. Do you think that’s contributed to the success of the show and, if so, how?

Mark: “We’re super proud of that and I think that what it reflects is a real change, I think, in a way that mainstream networks and movie studios are really looking at who’s going to see movies and hopefully it reflects a more accurate portrayal of who we all are. It becomes organic to the storytelling. We’re able to a lot of stories about different cultures, different mythologies. It all just works really well and blends into what we’re trying to do with the show.”

Do you have a bible on where you want the show to go? The mythology’s pretty strong in the show and has set rules. Do you have an idea of where you’re going? Do you come up with ideas as you go along as well?

Mark: “One of the things we do at the beginning of the year is plan where we’re gonna end. And once you know where you’re goona end you for the year you know what you’re building towards and then you put your stakes in the ground and you can figure out what your mythology’s gonna be. You usually chose an end point to springboard you into a while new problem for the following season. You also want to leave enough room to find surprises and things you didn’t expect along the way, ’cause there’s wonderful gifts that come along when you know where you’re going. So we do have a big picture, yeah.”

When American school children start putting down Ichobad Crane down as one of our founding fathers on a history test will you consider that a banner success of the wide appeal of the show or the downfall of civilization? Or both?

Alex Kurtzman: “Yeah, he might but one of the things we try really hard to do on the show is give the perspective of what we’re doing today in society through the lens of Ichobad Crane, somebody who was there at the founding. So I hope that that does give a little bit of enlightened entertainment. The other thing was most of our ‘twistory,’ most of the little pieces of text-book history starts with a kernel of truth, so whether it’s the fact that George Washington’s doctor’s really did try to resurrect him three days after he died or Benjamin Franklin was experimenting with electricity, we take these real events and then we pull back the veil and give a Sleepy Hollow twist, which I think it keeping people interested so hopefully they’ll go and look for what really happened.”

Do you have any dream guest stars?

Alex: One that we will have this year is Tim Busfield is gonna be playing Benjamin Franklin and we couldn’t be more thrilled about that.”

Edited for space and content.

Season 2 of Sleepy Hollow premieres Monday, September 22nd on Fox.

PHOTOS

All photos courtesy of Marissa Carter/FOX.

All photos credited to Kara Howland/TV Goodness.