Ep57 - An Interview with Taylor Napier - 'The Greatest Ride'

Malkier Talks: If you've ever felt like the third wheel, this podcast is for you. If you love Wheel of Time, this podcast is for you. If you're bored and have nothing better to do, this podcast is for you. Join Rob, Megan, and Jen in celebrating the Wheel of Time and its statistically best fandom. And ridiculous gaming skills. And probably a few cocktails. And find out which one of them will be the third wheel this time. This is three wheeling. Hello. How welcome everybody. Taylor, we didn't we didn't prep you on the hello part, so don't worry about that. It's okay. You didn't, but I you know I jumped right in as best I could with making it that awkward, but also has made it awkward. No, no, it's never awkward. So yeah, how is everyone doing? Welcome to four wheeling this week. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. I'm good. I'm good. I'm happy to be here. Excellent. Thank you for being here. Yes. Yeah, thank you, Taylor. As you can see, Taylor Napier, ⁓ the wonderful Maxim has come and joined us this week. ⁓ mostly because I can't be at WatCon and we normally have the special guest join us on the Sunday after closing ceremonies and we get them, you know, a a drink or two before they fly home. And I can't we can't do that this year. So Taylor has joined us in advance so that we can we can hang out like this. So much appreciated. No, happy to do it. Awesome. Yeah, ⁓ let's I think we're gonna get into this fastest gen because we're not gonna do news this week, not there's any news. Taylor's our news this week. ⁓ Jen, I think it's gonna be our fastest time to ask a question. Do you know what time it is, Jen? I don't know, Rob. What time is it? I think it's time to ask. What's Meg drinking? That was okay. We can have a max. Meg is drinking. Maxim's moonshine. So Maxim's moonshine. So we talked to Priyanka to see what your beverage of choice was, and she said you love moonshine. And you're from Tennessee. And then but of course I gotta bougie it up. And so this is iteration number five of this cocktail. I've had to make it five times to get it right this week. I mean, moonshine is hard to com combine with anything. It's it is so I I'm investing on anything. It is the apple pie moonshine, to be fair. So it's not like straight up From the hill you know, the Appalachian moonshine. No, it's so it's it's not some grandfather and no, no. Back of a pickup truck, right? No. Well, actually I have a story for that after I talk about this cocktail, so I do have a back alley moonshine story. so ⁓ So, what I wanted to do was try to incorporate some of the flavors that ⁓ Maxim and Alana eat during the show. So I literally like scoured the show for every scene you guys were in. And I settled upon figs. So it's an apple pie moonshine with fig preserves. So I do two ounces of apple pie moonshine, one tablespoon of fig preserves, half an ounce of lemon juice. I did two drops of a saline solution to kind of balance everything out. Add ice, shake, and then I double strain it into a glass of fresh ice. Topped it with soda because it was really syrupy. So the soda was the thing that finally got it all to like melt together. And then expressed a lemon peel and garnished. So cheers. Cheers. Wow. Magnus able to repeat that back so quickly. That was really fascinating. What? ⁓ and I will have it made for you for WatCon. So I will ⁓ get you one. For sure. But yes, I can get you the recipe. We we mentioned pre show that the you know, if you needed a drink, we were the people to come see, or Meg and Jen. That's because Meg brings some of the cocktails that she makes for the podcast to WatCon and and hands them out. So we make ⁓ or Meg's gonna make this one and bring it so there'll be a glass with your name on it for certain. Yes. I I I have I have to brag on my little sissy. Meg ⁓ Taylor, Meg is a she's a she's a math teacher by day, a high school math teacher by day, and she is a mixologist by night, literally. And ⁓ not paid just for fun in my basement. As you can see, in her basement she's got a full bar and she is like mathematical and logical about her her mixology and she's a creative genius. She's I don't know the first thing about any of it, and she makes the most incredible wonderful, wonderful drinks. Very thoughtful. She's very sweet. Thank you. She does. And I normally turn up with a stout to share. ⁓ but this week because there's a heat wave in the UK and it's hotter than Satan right now, ⁓ I c I I've decided to break out the the the British tradition, which is cocktails in a can, basically. ⁓ this is Edinburgh gin, rhubarb and ginger sort of gin and tonic mix. ⁓ so here's your ASMR can click if I can hold the mic and do that at the same time. Nice. And there was this echo behind you. It's beautiful. I know. I full disclosure full disclosure, everyone, I'm triple booked today with two birthdays and seeing everyone here. So ⁓ I'm in a hotel room. That is a busy day. Yeah. Two birthday well, you know, you gotta see everybody, you know. This I'm just efficient, it's all in one go. Taylor Weeds, ⁓ we'd love to kick it off ⁓ with with ⁓ what I hope is a fun question. ⁓ obviously as as we mentioned, I mean hopefully they're all fun questions, let's be clear about that. But a as we mentioned, you are the snack water. Yeah, you are the snack water. Meg was inspired by snacks that you were giving out in the show. tell us I I wanna know like how deliberate was the the snacking and how did it feel that that ⁓ about what it progressed into being known as the snack water and it becoming double C instead of C K and the calendar thing, like How does that all feel to you? I I I did not expect anything of that. So that whole thing, I think, developed because in Priyanka's callback audition with the producers and the director, ⁓ and I think I've told this story before, but sh that she she was eating something during the middle of it. So she would be doing the scene, and then did they just see her like go like really fast. And so they all thought that was really funny. And so they wrote it into the script. Very, very small what I thought would be a very small moment in the sixth episode of the first season, I think. But she's coming out of White Tower after the stuff with Moraine. ⁓ the Great Hall, excuse me, out of the stuff with Moraine. And I just happened to hand her a snack, kind of in the background. It's a pear in that scene, actually. It's not a fig. Everyone thinks it's a fig, it's a pear. you do have figs in the two rivers though. I do know you didn't do figs in the two rivers. They oddly become the pig. And everyone said, and I don't know why, even the writers. It all I changed to a fig. But in on the day it was a pair. And so that was sort of it for the first season. I remember I remember the director of that episode being like, Do we really have to do this moment? It seems kind of silly. It doesn't really make any sense. And I was like, it doesn't matter to me. I think it's a little silly too. And then ⁓ but that's the one of the producers like, Yes, you have to do it. And so we did it. and then ⁓ immediately, I guess, after it aired, it kind of became this whole whole identity for Maxim. ⁓ and so which is great. ⁓ and it kind of it kind of gave him his own little his own little bet. ⁓ and listen, I found it flattering. I didn't know what a snack with two C's was ⁓ until that happened. So I I sort of had to like do some research. I was like, why is everyone in this smelling snack? and then ⁓ and then and then I caught up. ⁓ and then the calendar was funny. Like it was all very flattering and funny and and like kind of just leaned into it and owned it. But it was it was very unexpected and not something that I thought would would go anywhere or be really anything. I thought they would probably Well, I guess I couldn't really cut it out because it was in the back of the wide shot, but I thought it would not be a thing. But it it was. I feel I feel like the fandom really glommed onto it because it was a moment where we we were like, Yes, that's the thing nobody talks about, but that's what a warder needs to do. It's like He knows when his eyes to die is hungry. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean it was just I I think it was this wonderful little I do think it goes into like I mean there's obviously the one thing about being a warder, which is ⁓ you know, the fighting and the protection of that. But actually I think being a warder is is much more than that. It's about, you know, knowing your eyes and eye so well that you have a snack waiting for them when they come out of a meeting. ⁓ it's about being there for them in in in multiple ways, not just in terms of like battling off some people who might be trying to kill them all the channeling. ⁓ and so it goes it goes it actually does, I guess, go much deeper than just a snack, though I wasn't quite aware of it at the time. Yeah, it's great. ⁓ yeah, I I'm I'm glad that you enjoyed it. We have a lot of fun from it. ⁓ so I'm I'm glad that it's fun for you as well. It's definitely it it's definitely a a holding defender. It's great. I l I and my my narcissistic side is like this is the best thing that's ever happened to me. So I I appreciate it. Amazing. I love that. Okay, I have a I have a ⁓ a maybe a loaded question, maybe not. Have you ever are there any particular stories, fan stories, that that were either like cool or weird or fun or wonderful or or awkward where someone like approached you out of nowhere in a in a weird, strange place and like came running up on the street and maybe attacked you and you know, talked to you guys or talk to you. ⁓ other other than you. Other than me? Yeah, maybe. I wanna know. I didn't No, no, no, that wasn't weird at all. That wasn't weird at all. I just wanted to I ⁓ low-hanging fruit. I had to I had to die. ⁓ I think the weirdest one is I was getting on the the tube in London and then just hear from like across the little because it's like there's one side, it's going one direction, the other side's going the other direction, north and south. And ⁓ I just hear someone go, ⁓ my god. ⁓ my god And I'm like, What I I'm looking around and it was like and then it points to me and I'm like, What? It's like it's it's it's you. You're you you're you. This is during the third season, you're you and I'm like, I I am, I am me. Yes. and and then the funniest thing is then he proceeded, he was like, ⁓ we really love the show, but then he was like, I didn't really like season one when season but season three is great. And I was like, ⁓ I th th thank thank thank thank you. I don't know how to react to that. Yeah, that's a question mark. Thank you. I was on all of them. I I do agree that season three is wonderful, but Yes. ⁓ and then yeah, it was just like a very like strange kind of interaction in that way. But most of them have always ⁓ because it was I mean, you wound up taking a photo and it was fine, but ⁓ but it was like it's always weird when someone chooses to kind of insult you ⁓ or say something negative about the show when they see you. ⁓ it's a weird choice to me. ⁓ but ⁓ but even if it It probably wasn't meant that way. It was probably meant as a compliment for season three. ⁓ but ⁓ the rest of them are always just kind of surprising. Like it's very like you know, 'cause it I'm not Rosmond Pike, so I'm not I don't expect to get recognized very often, but it does happen probably still two or three times a month. And it's always very sweet and nice and and you know, it makes you feel like ⁓ someone did watch this, other than you know people talk about it on the internet. ⁓ you know, because you don't I mean, I interact with I interact with some people. Right. Like, you know, you're like, you're like, okay, there's a there's this one group of people who watch it and who comment on it and who like see it as one thing, but then you're like, ⁓ no, this actually went out to a much wider audience and millions of people watched this and and and it's lovely to have that interaction with people. ⁓ and and kind of, you know, hear that it meant something to someone. Yeah. ⁓ and in even even the year and a half year change later, ⁓ you know, after it's been cancelled, it makes ⁓ it makes a difference 'cause it makes it feel like, ⁓ we didn't just film this thing for five years that no one paid attention to in real life. Yeah. Yeah. I hear that. I hear that. Jen, did you wanna fill in everybody on how you met Taylor? Okay. Yeah. Yes. I mean the question is based in reality because ⁓ a couple of weeks ago, David, my husband and I were having dinner in Los Angeles and I we randomly happened to got we got we've just discovered this new restaurant and that day we got seated in this weird like where you can look right out the window and it's right on the sidewalk. You just watch people walking by and we were just watching people walk by and we were talking and I looked up and I went, I'll be right back. And I just ran out of the restaurant because Rafe and Taylor walked by. And I was like, I think I'm about to like, you know, embarrass myself horribly by running up and saying, Hello, hi, it's nice to meet you. And I quickly was like, I'm interviewing you in a couple of weeks. I'm not a crazy person. And No, I guess because I hadn't I hadn't like made the connector. I was like, ⁓ we are. What are we talking about in a couple of weeks? I was like, What happened? ⁓ right. Okay. Yeah. Because you know that makes me sound really not crazy. No, no, no, but I I we felt bad because we were walking and I think that r maybe it's a different restaurant, but there's a restaurant right there that has all of these like tiny little tables on the street as well. It's so weird. It's so weird, right? I'm walking through these this this dinner and we were kind of talking about how weird this was, and then you came up and we were both like, after you left, we were both like I hope that she wasn't sitting outside on the street. We're like, who would want to sit on the street like this? And just like because it's not it's not like ⁓ sometimes in Europe they have these like lovely like places kind of corned off and like a square. And it no, it's like you're on a street with like a very on sunset boulevard in Los Angeles. It's very busy. And it's not like nice tables, they're like little stools that with like there's you're like hunched over. It's so strange. And and it's a bit in like it's one of the few places in LA that a lot of people walk. It's like a busy street and a lot of foot traffic. So you're basically in public on the street corner having a like a what seemed like a very nice meal. And it like not like it wasn't like, ⁓ this is like a little like burrito or something that you eat really quickly there. It was like, no, this is like we're gonna spend two hours sitting here on this stool right on Sunset Boulevard. And we were like kind of making fun of it. So we make She wasn't sitting right there having I wasn't. I wasn't. You were it's such a weird place. That's we just discussed right next to it is a sushi place that has real seating inside, but they do have tables outside. The tables are still real tables because the place next door, they're literally stools. It's so strange. And then and we were we did the same thing 'cause we came from the other direction the first time we discovered this place. So we were like, Why are people and they're dressed up? They look really nice. No, it it's it's like an LA scene. It's it's it's so sceney. Yeah. So weird. It's so weird. But the first time we did get stuck outside. Yeah. And you're sitting right next to a car. I was literally like next to a parking meter. There was a car door four inches from my elbow. And then the guys came back to their car. And I was like, I think I have to get up and move our Sorry. Let me get open your car door. Yes. Yeah. So this time we got upgraded. Yeah. So weird. Well that's that's Anyway. That is that is the story and it was so and you two were both so lovely and so not making me feel like a complete crazy person for running up to you on the street. It was delightful. All right. So I always ask like all of our guests this so what is your signature cocktail like when you're out and what do you order? ⁓ oof. ⁓ depends. It depends on the weather. ⁓ in the summer I will probably do ⁓ I'll probably do like ⁓ a genantonic, just a very simple, just like classic genantonic or a martini. ⁓ in the winter I will either do an agroni or just like a whisky knee. ⁓ depending on what Yeah. So I've a I th that's a that's an answer of four, which is kind of a cop out. But but it doesn't really depend on on the weather. No, seasonal cocktails are important, for sure. Of course Meg talks about seasonal cocktails. That's I mean, what else would you ask about? That's that is absolutely Meg twity. So I don't I don't know if I have seasonal drinks. I think I'm just a a glutton for drinking. ⁓ like I just pick one thing and stick with it type thing, so But Meg calls me a basic bitch because I just I at one point just drank stouts. I was like, Meg, don't be so mean. So something simple. Yeah. Yeah, that's fair. So ⁓ obviously you said a we're chatting to you before WatCon, ⁓ because you know, we can't all be there together like we would normally be. ⁓ but you've mentioned when it was announced that you were gonna be the guest of honor at Watcon, that you had quote, juicy secrets to share or or things to that effect. I don't know if that's an exact quote actually. I might be paraphrasing you. I don't know. I think you were like you said I'm gonna be spilling all of Priyanka's secrets or something of that nature anyway. ⁓ yeah. Do you do you have any juicy Instagram, you pretty much know everything about it. ⁓ sorry No no that's Podcast recording she did the other ⁓ did ⁓ a while ago. ⁓ I forget the name Cyrus says and she was talking about the Wheel of Time fans on there and she's like, They're a cult. Like, no, they're a cult, like they send me things and this and they were talking about how they they do fundraisers for her birthday and stuff like that. And then he's like, I need funding. Get and there's a whole joke about getting like funding. Yeah. Yeah, but ⁓ it was hilarious. She's like, Th these people are like one you know, she was spilling every secret, so it was quite fun. but yeah, do you have any like fun Juicy wheel of time things that you've always wanted to share that maybe you could share now. Obviously, not anything that's under an NDA. We don't want anyone in trouble. But if you're like, ⁓ my God, I wish someone had asked me this story or asked me this question so I could tell this moment. ⁓ I don't have I, you know, I feel like I don't have anything ⁓ this is such a bad answer. I don't know that I have anything super juicy. It's a very like we were like a very pretty ⁓ low drama cast in terms of we were all I mean you would think it would be wild because we were all in Europe, but actually we wound up fumbling over COVID and it kind of just made us all kind of boring. ⁓ and and there was very little drama in terms of that sort of thing. I mean I think I think some of the ⁓ I mean the super wild stuff I probably can't share. ⁓ so I won't share it. But that's that's fair. Yeah, we're gonna I'm trying to think of like ⁓ like just a little bit. ⁓ you know, I think I think kind of like the stuff that's always that's always like so crazy to me was like ⁓ or so fun to ⁓ to me was like just how intense the like stunt rehearsals were. And I don't know if this is like kind of It's not it doesn't answer your question at all. But like looking, I just remember standing around at the beginning of season three when we did that, that street fight, and A stabbing Kate Fleetwood and be I'm stabbing Kate Fleetwood. Also, I think Kate Kate was very funny because she was like, I'm a woman in her early fifties. I'll say you know, you can look up all she is a woman in her early fifties, and ⁓ I'm like on my knees in the street being stabbed and screaming at the world and like I have I'm like in a stunt class, like I'm in stunt training. And not just like, ⁓ someone you're getting pushed to around, you know, it's like, no, I'm in like a full blown thing. And so that those were always the most fun sort of days for everyone because we were also there were so many people on set and all of us were there. And it was just ridiculous. ⁓ and it became ridiculous. ⁓ and so those like all of my like Fun, like kind of crazy memories. And there's nothing like in particular. I mean, there was, I did, I've always told the story of the night that Priyanka fell on the croissant that I brought her. ⁓ and so ⁓ I can retell that where we it was like the last night. So we'd been filming the Battle of the Two Rivers in 307. And because Priyanka's section was a slightly different setup, her stuff with Valda, she was really only there on the last night. ⁓ for that. They'd film that at a different time than the main battle, you know. ⁓ and then I will I do this has made me think of something great. I'll finish this. So anyway, I bring her, I'm like, ⁓ welcome to Night Shoots. Like I've been doing this for a week and a half now. I'm dead. Here's a croissant from this very special croissant place. Prague had just discovered like pistachio cream filled croissants at that point. Three or four years ago three years ago I'm a little bit so she And so it was like a big thing. And so I gave it I give it to her and she's in her full costume and she gets so excited. But we have these tents. ⁓ and I'm in my own tent and I've set her croissant in her tent and been like, huh, and she's like runs over to me, but she opens up the flaps of my tent and like is like thank you for the pff and just face plants onto the croissant all over her costume. ⁓ and she's Covered in pistachio cream. and she's like la literally laying on the ground, like face on the ground. And I'm stunned because I it's just so shocking what is happening. And I'm just like, I ⁓ are you ⁓ are you okay? And she's like, I'm fine, I'll fight. I'm like, Are you sure you're okay? And she's like, I was like, Do you want me to go get someone? Because also I'm like those costumes that Sharon's design are amazing, but they are not functional at all. Like I also like I for whatever reason no one could decide what weapon Maxim used. So I had everything on my body at that point. So I couldn't really sit. So I'm laying on the ground if to like relax. I've got my like broad sword, my butt daggers, which they've cleverly designed a belt toward this It's a big X in front of my ass. How has no one ever noticed there was a big I know X is that sounds that sounds great, guys. and then ⁓ and then we and and so I can't really move to help her without whacking her with some sort of weapon that's on my body. And then and so we have someone come and get her up and they get her cleaned up. And it's ⁓ It's it's incredible. It's just it's just like just a very funny moment. She doesn't get to have croissant, unfortunately. ⁓ but then then ⁓ this it never made the show. It was a like a little moment that was cut. ⁓ but we were supposed to ⁓ so they set it up to where like we come back after ⁓ hadden Fain's been like sent away by Perrin and like he calls off every all the everything, all the the dark friends and in the Trollocs. And the Truevers is one. And there's supposed to be a moment where the camera finds us kind of sitting off to the side. And I'm trying to remember the line, but I think my character says, I was right, you were wrong, I was wrong, and you were right. We lived. Referring back to the we're all gonna die here. Earlier in the episode. And she and it was a little bit somber actually when I think about it, but she was put she says, Don't worry, you'll be right one day. And then kind of Yeah. But the way the director had blocked it, or the way he kind of had thought the scene in his head, I think this is why it got caught. Was lit like I don't f we like completely redid it before the first take. It but it feels very back to Milan and this is really this is really long. This is not gonna work. But it feels so so these two characters are like, we're just gonna let this happen anyway. It was like the entire town was cheering. And then like h they had a he it was like a he had blocked it as like a walk and talk where we're like cutting through the entire Two Rivers population to go join Perrin up at like kind of the center. And it felt like we were like the king and queen of of the two rivers where we did all of this th it's so great. ⁓ you're welcome. You're welcome. So it was very funny. It was a very funny moment that we were just like I would love to see the the daily or the rushes of that. I think it really ⁓ I think it really would hit home What those two characters probably think of themselves a little bit on the other side. It was a little too the royal cuts. I love that. I heard there was something about a croissant. I've never been able to find a clip of you talking about ⁓ yeah. ⁓ I I'd look a little bit like the closest I came to it. Yes, the closest I came to it was ⁓ Someone said that like croissant like crumbs got all over her dress or something or her outfit cleaned up. Like she smashed the so much better. Yeah, it is so much better. That's and it makes me love her even more, which is not possible. But I like I relate really hard to that. That that would be something I would do. No I just cause she's such a badass, but she's quite clumsy, which is not necessarily an Alana trait, but it is a Priyanka trait. And so it's very funny to feel like a lot of there's a lot of Priyanka and Alana, but there's not her clumsiness. And so it's very funny to like have all of the Alana, but also Priyanka dripping over herself. Perfect. So note if ⁓ if Priyanka is ever a guest anywhere, hides the pistachio crisson. Hides she'll she'll find it. She'll find it. No, she's she's she's the best. She's I love it. I love it. ⁓ all right, I have a question about I have a question that I don't get to ask very many people and it's exciting to me. So my husband and I, ⁓ and you met my husband, David. ⁓ we are also both in the industry, occasionally work together, sometimes don't. Like he's a he's a writer and director and ⁓ EP showrunner, I'm a writer showrunner, EP, and so sometimes we do projects together, sometimes we don't. And I'm curious about I'd love to ask you about having a partner who's also in the industry. Because people people say to us, ⁓ my God, you guys work together. That's so amazing. And it is. We love working together. But there's also there's upsides and downsides. I just wanted to ask you what how you think. Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ you know, ⁓ initially I didn't want to be on the show because I thought it would just be too difficult and too man like ⁓ in too many challenges. But ultimately our life sort of changed drastically when when Wheel of Time happened and and you know, because of the situation, you know, because of the way that show was filmed, like Rafe basically we basically moved to Prague for five years. ⁓ you know, we had little breaks, but because of COVID, even those little breaks disappeared really between especially between seasons one and two. ⁓ and and I had you know, I'd been offered a job on another show shooting in Los Angeles and turned it down ⁓ just because it it would it would have been a good job, but it it wouldn't I would have just been we wouldn't have we literally would not have seen each other for the entirety of I would have been there for like two or three weeks during prep of season one and then we just would not have seen each other. Yeah. And so I think I think that sort of led us to miss you know and Maxim had been in the scripts and and been a character that ⁓ you know, he had been interested in in in in developing and and well before I was supposed to play it. They'd always wanted to explore kind of this polyamorous relationship and and introduce some queer to queer male characters, but also kind of flesh out the world of the warders and and and you know, give these guys a little bit of personality and and you know see how that worked in terms of the first season of the show and like, you know, not make them this kind of like land and then a monolith of other men, basically. and so and you know, when it came time to cast that character, it just sort of felt like a natural fit given that they wanted to cast some openly ⁓ queer actors for the part. And ⁓ I was there. And as much as, you know, Prague is wonderful, there aren't so many openly queer actors available to play small parts t in the Czech Republic. You know, and so I did it in the first season. It was really fun. and, you know, it worked out really well. I got to meet Priyanka and, you know, it was Eight, nine weeks, we ended well, you know, my last day was the day the show shut down for COVID. and so, you know, it just sort of happened. And then but that all of it ⁓ obviously like when you're in the entertainment industry as you know, like you're very project based. And so like when you go and do a project, that becomes your life. Yeah. And I think that if it it it I think the downside for us is that, you know, suddenly our lives were the same. It wasn't like we could we couldn't download after work and be like, I'm gonna complain about this, this, this, and this, and I'm gonna be I'm gonna complain about this, this and like it sucks. Everyone sucks, it's better. You'll be you know. ⁓ Whatever, whatever you know, just sort of like kind of cope with the stresses that any job has. Right. Suddenly, ⁓ that becomes not guarded, but suddenly I'm like, I'm hearing things from other actors that then don't necessarily want to communicate it to you because you're their boss and you know you also can't communicate everything to me about what's happening and because obviously that's unfair and to everyone who's involved. ⁓ and so you know that is challenging of figuring out what that line is and also then but also figuring out like what do we talk about outside of this. Right. That we're living in a separate country to to be a part of. ⁓ you know, w you know, the weather, ⁓ you know, family, you know, world events. But you know, ultimately, like it it made for a while, it made it kind of difficult to to, you know, find a balance of how to to navigate work and life. Yeah. And that was something that was tricky throughout. I wouldn't say the entire run, but it definitely was something that we had to kind of continuously navigate and check in on. ⁓ and be, you know, cognizant of, you know. And ultimately I think, you know, Rafe as a showrunner is very open with his cast. And so I didn't I never felt like I knew more information than anyone else knew or anything like that. That was, you know, that certainly wasn't what was happening. But it was very ⁓ you know, I think we were very cognizant of of how it could appear to people and also and how it, you know, does appear probably to people. And so like that probably it was always in the back of our heads a little bit and made it somewhat uncomfortable at times. but also ultimately like I wouldn't change it I because I I again, like I said at the very beginning of answering your question, I would not have been able to see him 'cause he disappeared. I mean, he worked that show was a beast. Like he worked a hundred and hundred and twenty hour weeks on that show constantly. Like it was a seven week show. And because we were shooting in Europe, you know, we'd shoot all day. And then LA would wake up at, you know, six PM, seven PM. And then he'd have to go with calls from the network and the studio and agents and managers and whatever else press ⁓ from then until eleven or twelve at night and then go to bed and do it all again the next day. So it was it was a it was it was a bear. ⁓ and so I I think for him having me there was ⁓ really important. But also for me not having to give up five years of my career in my late twenties, early thirties was probably ⁓ also important to me. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Show showrunning is a beast. It's it is it is always that. And it is so It's good to have support and it's good to have support from somebody who knows what that's like and can it's I think I think it's hard. I think in some ways it's easy if the person isn't in the industry, but also it's still hard. Like you know, we have in and one of the things that we tried to very much do on wheel is ⁓ if there was a couple involved, like we tried to find a job and sometimes that job was in the entertainment. They were already working in the entertainment, so we tried to find a place for them on the show, ⁓ so that they weren't moving to a foreign country and support of someone and just sitting there all day with nothing to do. Because that also ultimately is not very helpful for a relationship either. There's only so many times you can go to the Kafti Museum in Prague. It's lovely Is this why you went to the gym twice a day? Yes. I mean that is why I look the way it is also why I look the way I do. It's suddenly lasting a lot of time on my hands. And it was a real benefit to to my my role if I was there a lot. So I had an excuse in my head. sorry, I could resist that. No, no, no. It's it's it's the truth though, to be honest. Thanks for sharing. That's great. I mean i it is. It's it's it's an it's a it's a weird industry and it's nice to have someone who gets it. It's also sometimes like, but now we're both in it and that's Hard. Whether it's even the same show or just like both in it because the industry's so volatile that you're like Yeah, I mean it it's hard when it's not the same show. It's hard like it's it's hard all the time because yeah, it and it's one of the reasons why like I really like being in LA, but it's one of the reasons why I'm so happy to not be in LA full time. And ⁓ sorry to anyone who lives in LA that's watching this but I think because when you're in the entertainment industry, a lot of your friends if you're living in LA are also In the entertainment industry. So suddenly you're all working together sometimes, but not always. And you know, like you're working, but your friends might not be, or vice versa. And that can create stress and weirdness because there can be pressure to like help someone find a job. And it it just makes it makes all of those relationships they're they're lovely friendships, but it also can make them kind of transactional in some ways. Yeah. ⁓ and any interaction can can feel like ⁓ is am I just trying is this person just trying to get something from me? Or am I just trying to get something with them or do I actually enjoy spending time with them? Yeah. Outside of that. And hopefully the answer is the latter, but you know, and but ultimately those lines get blurred. It's a really strange industry in that way. I think because everything's so freelance, it just makes everything really strange. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it does. So I guess to sort of piggyback off that, like, you know, you and Priyanka working together, like, you've built this in cry I mean. Again, looking from the outside, like it's a friendship for the ages. Like you guys are just so cute together. Okay. So like d did you like hit it off right away? Was it like built up? Like how how did that relationship start and grow? I just we I mean pretty much hit it off right away. She's such a I mean, it's hard not to fall in love with Brianca. I think everyone would say this. It's hard not to fall in love with her the Time you meet her. She's so herself. ⁓ I love people who are just unabashedly themselves and not putting on any airs and not trying to be anything other than who they are. And she is so comfortable with herself and how delightfully wonderful and strange ⁓ she is. And you get into like I remember getting into the van with her. I think the first time I met her in person was we were going horseback riding. ⁓ for a horseback riding lesson and I get in and she's just like it's a big giant production van like past her like prob like ⁓ probably can see nine people and I get in and she's taken up the entire back of the van and she's sitting she's she's she's man spreading she's sitting like just ⁓ she's taking up the entire thing sunglasses on it's December it's very late in the it's December like fourteenth or something. and just like just like sitting there like like like this and I'm like have to get into the front, which you don't normally do in a van like if if there's not space, I d ⁓ that makes any sense. And I just remember looking at her and be like, this is gonna be the wildest ride of months. professional career being in all these scenes with you. And I don't know how it's gonna like at that point I was like, I don't know how it's gonna work out. I really enjoy you, but you might be a lot at five a in the morning on if we get to that point. ⁓ but ⁓ but she's so lovely. And but I I think she is always herself, but she's also just so incredibly laid back. And I think that's the one thing that people maybe do pick up on but also don't pick up on is like she's got a lot of energy. She's a big character, but she's totally also fine with like stepping back and letting other people kind of take the center stage. And like we were always very ⁓ good about like encouraging and and believing in each other for the things that we kind of both felt maybe a little unsure about or unconfident about. you know, it became a real tag team in that way. And I think I think our our friendship probably really developed, ⁓ to be honest. Like we were friendly in the first season and and we talked. But there was like you as an actor on a show, you sort of like become closest to the people you kind of start with. And so we all kind of started in this I Sedai Water group. And so like Jen was there and and obviously Manny at the time and and Peter and Claire and Kate. ⁓ and so we all kind of became friends and like did a like They've got you going through hair and makeup together. Ever you're doing all of this stuff together. And so so you're spending a lot of time together. So you become close with them. ⁓ and you're like that group. ⁓ and so we were in that group. But then I think because of COVID and kind of the relationship that the Czech Republic and India had ⁓ during that period, Priyanka really couldn't go back and forth. ⁓ she would have to co quarantine on two weeks in the Czech Republic. And then when she landed in India, quarantine on two weeks there, and then vice versa. So it was really difficult for her to leave and so ⁓ or her family to come. ⁓ and so it it sort of became, you know, and I was there because of ⁓ you know, my personal situation, I was there the entire time as well. ⁓ and so while people could go back and forth to London or other places in Europe and you know, and continue kind of their normal life when they were down in between, you know, s ⁓ days of shooting, we couldn't. And so they and so we became very good friends. We were sort of, you know, the two people who were hanging out in Prague together the entirety of the second season. And so that's when I think we became very close. ⁓ and it was lovely. Yeah, it was really wonderful. And I will we'll be friends for the rest of our lives as long as I don't piss her off. Hopefully, I'm sure I'll say something in this podcast for I will hear I will hear that I've done something wrong, but it would be we'll work through it. Whatever it is. Probably that will be the thing that I was not manspreading in the back of the I was not manspreading. No. I was thinking I had a whole image of her like lounging with grapes and like Feather fans. I mean it's like that is she's I've never seen someone lounge so well. I've tried to pick it up from her. Like I've tried to like just be so relaxed everywhere. It's real skill. That's amazing. Well, Priyanka will just have to come on and give her side of the story, I suppose. She will and she will that that's that's the next step. Yeah. I've already got a drink cooking up here for her, so yeah. There we go. I I do wanna Okay for it. ⁓ you had to teach what a Negroni was? ⁓ wow. Maybe she probably had, but she she pretended like I taught her what a Negroni was. That's very sweet of her. ⁓ I wanna ⁓ hop off ⁓ discussion about wheel for a second because I discovered and I don't know why I was researching this about you, but I think I was just looking up your IMTB profile or something like that. And I discovered that you wrote and starred in a short film. Am I gonna say this right? Atacama, is that how it's pronounced? Yeah. Yeah. tell me the story about how that came together and and what it felt like to write something and ⁓ and you know, that that journey. Yeah, so I had done ⁓ that was actually part of ⁓ my ⁓ master's thesis. ⁓ and so we myself I did ⁓ an acting program in London at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. ⁓ and we had to do like a final project essentially. And ⁓ there were only a few of us in the class who weren't from the UK. It was you know very It's like there were 20 of us, and I think maybe four of us weren't from the UK. ⁓ and so ⁓ I paired up with this woman named McClara, who's fantastic and such a great producer and is killing it in Chile. And she ⁓ in I'd written this film. ⁓ and I wanted to do something that was sort of I mean a short film, a there are limitations in short, because A, it's short. ⁓ and B, it's ⁓ you know, you But I wanted to do something that played with expectations and was a little bit of a thriller horror, had some sexual psychosexual elements in it, and kind of like which is hard to do in 15 minutes, 15 to 20 minutes. ⁓ and she was like, Well, why don't we shoot this in Chile? And so we shot it in the Atacama Desert in Chile, which was we we that we had this ⁓ so she she her mom is this fantastic, ⁓ brilliant architect ⁓ in Chile and designed a bunch of these hotels, ⁓ these like five-star luxury hotels. So I sort of wrote this like kind of ⁓ kind of adventure, like, you know, who are these two people who meet on vacation, essentially? ⁓ and it doesn't go the way like a romance novel would. ⁓ and so and we were lucky enough to be able to film in one of her mom's hotels and it was it was great. I mean it is ⁓ and for free. We got the whole thing for free. We had to shoot we got to shoot some beer. Amazing. ⁓ the The company was so lovely. ⁓ it was real the accommodations were wonderful, the food was wonderful. Nothing will in my professional career will ever beat that. It was like we we filmed on the property, we had breakfast there, and then we went back and we had lunch there that was catered, and then with dinner, we all sat together and they gave us ⁓ wine and it was ⁓ it included no no cost stuff. It was amazing. I it was as if we were guessing. ⁓ and that's amazing. So it was a really just amazing experience. And I think the film came out really, really lovely. You know, but it is it is a challenge when you are writing and producing something to also act in it because you have to wear all the hats. Thankfully it wasn't directing. ⁓ we had a great Chilean director on it, but ⁓ but you you you know, as an actor you're trying to obviously be in the moment. You're trying to not think of necessarily the final result. You're not You are building a picture of what the scene looks like in your head necessarily and the pacing and the quality of the you know of everything, but you're trying to forget that while you're performing the scene. And it's very hard to do that when you're also concerned about how it's going to turn out. And so you're like you're you're it's really hard to shut off that analytical part of your brain that you kinda have to when you're acting, where you're like, ⁓ shit, it's really windy during this take. ⁓ we're not gonna be able to use any of this, it's never gonna match. You know, and so that that was a real challenge for for me. ⁓ but ⁓ I think it turned came out really well. ⁓ and it was such a great experience that I will you know, I haven't I haven't produced anything that I've written yet. I'm not ⁓ not the most organized person. So production is very difficult for my brain to sort of wrap itself around. ⁓ so ⁓ I would any but ⁓ so it was thank very thankful to have Clara on that to ⁓ to do all of like sort of the the practical ⁓ stuff I just like to kind of dream and and be you know be in my head and you know be in the moment. And so ⁓ so I hope to produce something else that I've written soon. But but that was that was really fun to do. Yeah. That's amazing. ⁓ well that that tees me up really well because I wanna you in one of your other interviews you talked about that pressure of actors to create their own work. And I used to be an actor as well. I still do voice over work a bit because I do a lot of animation and it's you know easier to, you know, ⁓ you know, find find my way in for stuff like that. But but it's you know, I I I love hearing you say that you have something else you s other things that you've written that you're looking forward to. And I also like no shame on that, like not not the producing side of it, because I'm the same way. I mean I can people think I'm really organized. I'd like project that it's completely wrong. It's not accurate. But I she's lying. She's very organized. But the but but the side of it, I really I I enjoy the creative side as well. Like I love like seeing it and imagining it and wanting wanting it to happen. But I need to I do work with partners when it comes down to like breaking it down. Where's the numbers? Yeah. How are the, you know, because that's a wonderful skill. Yeah. If I if someone asks me ⁓ it's why I can never really work at an agency or like why I was a terrible assistant, someone asks me to use a spreadsheet, my mind just evaporates. It's immediate. ⁓ I love spreadsheets. I most people do. Most people are like, I'm sure as a math teacher, you love it. I I do it for like my taxes sometimes, but that's that's literally maybe once a year. I use a spreadsheet. I plan my vacations with a spreadsheet. I think about purchasing appliances with a spreadsheet. I'm so weird. We're we're related but it's ⁓ it's ⁓ yeah, we're related but you wouldn't you wouldn't know. Yeah David David David'll appreciate that. He says the same thing. He says his head evapor his head explodes when he has to look at a spreadsheet. It's you know, it's like it's like I wanna Yeah, yeah, exactly. And so but so you you know, but but but that's I guess my question is like, you know, the industry is I've been having this conversation with David as well. Like he just rapped on a show, I rapped on a show a little bit ago, that HBMX show, we're both pitching and it's It is such a it's such a different time of like how do we create our own work? I mean as a as an actor, you kind of see that in your early twenties. You're like, ⁓ when I'm, you know, like a little older and have more experience, I will be able to be behind the scenes. But also then there's the whole social media side of it of like everybody can do it and how much do we have to be out there, you know? I think I I think it's like one of those things ⁓ on the acting side of it that's really It can be very important. Like, look, like, I mean, I think like what the number one and two films in America right now are both from like YouTube creators or like who got some funding off of that. And so obviously it works. ⁓ But I think the majority of the time it doesn't work. And like as an actor, I and maybe it's because I was in my twenties like damn well a while ago. ⁓ but like ⁓ ten years ago, ⁓ fifteen years ago when everyone was doing ⁓ like these web series and like everyone had their web series about their actor friends in Los Angeles and like what how crazy that was. ⁓ and and everyone was like, you gotta make your own stuff. But ultimately it wasn't as cheap then even as it is now. And like I just saw people spend sync tens of twenty thousand, thirty thousand, forty thousand dollars into something that wasn't very good and no one watched but because they thought And it wasn't like and if if that was their creative outlet and that's what they wanted to do, then that's a worthwhile sort of time and and and and project. But ultimately it doesn't, it didn't lead to anything. It was just sort of busy work to make them feel like they were doing stuff and when they weren't. And ⁓ I don't th and then it was like, ⁓ well, the industry is so broken that you have to go out and basically spend thousand hundreds of thousands of dollars to Prove yourself before anyone will will give you an opportunity. And I think that is still I mean, it's much cheaper now ⁓ to like do a little YouTube video or do a little like TikTok, whatever. But it still feels like, ⁓ no, there should be more opportunities for younger talent to be nurtured in a different way that doesn't cost them a lot of money and gives them an opportunity to show their work at its best. You know, I think that is a that's a I mean it it's all over the world, but it's definitely a problem in the States mostly. And it's not just film and TV, it's ⁓ theatrical funding, arts funding. You know, there's just no support from the government at all. It just doesn't exist. And so and so that's what makes it very different from a place like the UK where so many people can get ⁓ you know, and there it it's ⁓ still historical there, obviously, but like there is funding for ⁓ governmental funding for young artists to make their to make their passion projects come true. And it I think the the I think the sort of stories that are being told and also the the people who are becoming successful, you you kind of see that through that. You know, you see even I'm gonna no one's maybe a ton of people from the Industrial Wars, but you sort of see it like see it like I don't think US Netflix has had a show that's come out that's been any good in ten years. But all of their big hits have been come through the UK. It you know It's been adolescence, it's been, you know, ⁓ but you know every year. Bridgeton, it's been every year they've had a different thing that has come out that's been developed through their UK team that is less money but supported differently and funded differently, noted differently. You know, it's not all based off it's like, ⁓ this is ⁓ a ⁓ creator, director, producer, actor, whoever's, idea and passion. And yes, we're giving notes on it and we're shaping it and we're trying to help it. But ultimately it's their project. It's not something that has like been tested through so many algorithms and given twenty thousand notes on its first episode and to where it's a monster of what it was probably going to be. And then suddenly no one likes it because you know, I just think an algorithm can kind of only tell us why people tune out, not why people do. And ⁓ and you know, like every thing you guys ⁓ don't do that because people turn out right there. Don't do that because people turn out right there. Don't do that because people stop watching right there. Yeah. And and so suddenly you become like this bland thing that like no one really likes but people put on in the background. And people wonder why the industry and is dying in the States. Yeah. ⁓ because it's just it's not based on any sort of creativity at all. Or they're shocked when something does become popular, but typically it's because it's not gone through The development process and it's kind of come in under the radar, so there haven't been as many notes and things. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. That's crazy. That's great. It's really, really astute. Yeah. ⁓ I was gonna ask, so have you read The Wheel of Time or do you have plans to read it if you haven't? ⁓ I've read some of the Wheel of Time. ⁓ I have not read all of it. Sounds like the prologue put someone off, I think. As most of us. It did it did take me a while to look at the first time. ⁓ yes. but ⁓ you know, I didn't I I read a little bit of it while we were filming, but ultimately I think as an actor ⁓ on a show is and obviously I I have a different ⁓ relationship with the show than other people do, but ⁓ I think it is my job to ⁓ Perform the scenes that are on the page and honor the world that is in the show. ⁓ and obviously the books are ⁓ a great and the best source of a lot of research for the show and a lot of research for the characters, but ultimately it it is a slightly different world and a slightly different ⁓ version of events, ⁓ even though obviously we say it as true as we possibly could to certain things. ⁓ and it was certainly helpful. It it ultimately kind of became not necessarily helpful in that sense for me as an actor because I'm playing the scenes that are on the page. Which is which is different. I might get around to it, but I I'm I'm I'm not the biggest fantasy novel. It is daunting as well. Sure. It's always checky. Yeah. But if I were to read a fantasy novel series, it would be the way. For anyone for anyone listening, Taylor is sort of like s you know, swerving and looping like, ⁓ no, I'm I I feel like about no one's fa no one's thinking bad of you. No, no. It's a big set and if you and if you're not a fantasy reader, it's a it's a huge thing to take on if you're not a fancy reader. Even if you are a fantasy reader, it's a big thing to take on. So No, it's a it's it's a it's a massive massive A lot of people look at it and think, I'll never be able to read anything else for the rest of my life because I will be reading just this to get through it. Right. Exactly. Exactly. I I hear someone out there, there's a few people that have some nice narrations on it. You could you could probably like listen to So yeah, I should I should try to listen to it. Easy peasy. she's very good at dance. She is. So ⁓ what's ⁓ you you've talked about a lot of different things you've done on Wheel. what would you say would be like your greatest achievement with Wheel? Ooh. I don't I think I think I was very intimidated by a lot of the stun stuff at the beginning of it. and I would the story. Doesn't make me look great. ⁓ So in the first season, ⁓ it can't be worse than a flattened croissant, can it, surely? Maybe. Maybe. And he's so sweet. And I've I've I've worked with him a lot since, but we had there's that fight ⁓ when ⁓ Logane's army kind of comes into the ISI camp. And, you know, when you're doing a fight sequence, you're sort of given like a it's like a fifteen, twenty step kind of dance sequence, essentially, but with a weapon that you're doing. ⁓ and they're kind of filming at a bunch of different angles and they they'll they'll cut it, you know, for that particular fight. They were cutting to it at different times. So like we would run it continuously, but the way that kind of sh showed up And the show was like a section here cut to other characters fighting and then a section there. But it was like a long, it was quite a long bit. but there was this one moment, I think they wound up cutting it because it was too dangerous on the day. But there's this one moment at the beginning where I'm like they decided that my weapon at that season, and you'll notice that I never use a spear again on the ⁓ ⁓ for for some reason I wasn't asked. ⁓ and ⁓ and then and then and then so they had a this beat at the beginning where they're thrown at me. Like the the the attacking army is throwing a spear and my character is supposed to use his spear and sort of just bat it out of the sky. And this guy named Roman, his who's very very Czech, like long hair, looks ⁓ I'm sure listens to a lot of like seventies eighties rock like Metallica yeah ⁓ he just goes Taylor come here you look you look you look like you're trying to catch butterflies what he's like with the spear you don't look like you're knocking it out of the air you look like you're trying to catch butterflies and I'm like okay ⁓ what what am I supposed to do with this? And so and so I think we just don't we just stop dude because I could I look stupid. Like like you were acting like the spear was a net trying to catch butterflies? They were doing I think I'm blaming it it's ⁓ totally because I'm terrible. But I'm blaming it on the geography of the scene, not because I'm terrible. They were throwing them from up high And coming down low and they were and we were down most, so they were coming from the top of the hill, and we were at the bottom of hill. And so and and they were actually they were padded, but they were actually throwing them. Some people are great, but they're not necessarily the most accurate throwers in the world. And so I'm like not some of them I'm like, well, the the beat is that I knocked these out out of the way, but some of them are not actually coming anywhere fucking anywhere near me. No reason to knock the spear that's not gonna hit me or anyone else behind me. And so I'm sure I look kind of silly. and and so it doesn't it does just doesn't work. But to go from there to where I was at the end, ⁓ with my stance and where I was how I was able to perform and how confident I was. ⁓ you know, where I we're, you know, in the I in you don't they cut it together differently, but there's this ⁓ At the end of season three at the Battle of the Two Rivers, there's this one shot where we're all kind of in it's supposed to be, it was a one shot, but they cut it in a different way. ⁓ where we're all kind of in this little circular thing. myself, ⁓ Fail, ⁓ Dane Bonhold, and Perrin. ⁓ and and we're fighting. And it starts with Perrin, and then he's fighting, fighting, fighting, fighting. And then I'm kind of like up on top of this little barricade with the bow and arrow. And I fire bow and arrow. It hits the trollic that's about to kill Perrin. And then off of my timing, they blow up something in the back of like they blow up a building in the two rivers. And it was all based off of my sort of fighting skills and timing. And so to go from catching butterflies to that, I felt very proud. ⁓ you know, because we got it in a couple of takes. No, it's a very amazing shot. And yeah. And I was very nervous, but I think it wound up looking pretty good on the show. And so ⁓ awesome. And there's giant fireball line. And so that's really fun. that's incredible. Yeah. I mean, it's that's great. I love that. Okay. ⁓ well the I'll I'll dovetail off that because I know that you mentioned that, you know, in the beginning you and Priyanka were, you know, on your way to to writing lessons. ⁓ Megan and I are both Horsewomen. We both grew up with a horse and ⁓ are you still riding? ⁓ I s love riding. I have not ridden in a little bit. ⁓ I did it I did a bunch of lessons that didn't actually 'cause we were running a long time, I did another show just recently, ⁓ that was like ⁓ seven the biblical times and we were supposed to be writing horses, but then they cut them but they had us do like five or six lessons ⁓ while I was in Rome and so I did those ⁓ which was back in October of last year. So I did I've written recently but I I haven't kept up with it just because it's harder to do it in London than I don't have a horse and it it it's expensive. Yeah. All of those things but I really actually loved I I genuinely ⁓ thought it was an amazing ⁓ and I'm happy. For home. Bye roll. ⁓ for ⁓ We'll just keep talking to horses. Yeah. I mean I just I just it it is hard. It's ⁓ it's hard. It's expensive if you don't have one. I mean Megan and I were really lucky to ⁓ I convinced my dad when I was in well, I think my dad ⁓ finally let me get a horse when I was in college so that I would come home on the weekends, you know, and ⁓ it worked. ⁓ and he was and he was super cheap. Yeah, yeah. 'Cause he was the devil. ⁓ Yeah. I almost named him Satan, actually. He was he was he was interesting. But ⁓ but yeah, I like I had been a tour guide and I or a trail guide like at a state park and then but but Meg and I both grew up showing and riding. And so ⁓ yeah, I just found I just I mean I've same thing in LA. It's like it's hard, I don't have a horse. And so I find a barn, my trainer leaves. I actually just reconnected with my original trainer from years ago who's actually from Spain. She Like she's waiting. So her writing style is European, which is great. So I think I'm gonna try to start writing with her again for cheapback. Yeah. ⁓ between the first and second season I took of several lessons. but I took them back in America. And so but we were obviously writing kind of like European style. And so it I mean, it's all applicable, but it it did throw me off a little bit coming back for season two, being like, ⁓ wait, no, it's this, it's this, it's not that, it's this. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's great. It's I that it's about it's one of the reasons I mean when I was younger and I was an actor, I like, Yeah, I mean I want to use my skills of like riding horses to go play cowboy or play, you know, like you know, fantasy horse rider and I mean we ⁓ we got I it's the the one thing I will say about Wheel all the time is everyone at my cast. realized it necessarily time or not. ⁓ it's a different story. But you know, we got to I mean, no one I think was hired necessarily because they knew how to ride a horse. Unless they were s like a double riding double. You know, everyone got like I mean tons of horseback riding lessons, like tons of stunt lessons. Like we had we were just treated we learned we all learned several new skills. ⁓ You I think Prianka w I mine are probably more applicable to to other jobs than Priyanka's channeling skills, but you never know. and so ⁓ and so I I I just always ful think well about that for that show. 'Cause it's ⁓ 'cause it's not something you know, it's something that I would have to have paid thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars to do. Yeah. all of us would have. ⁓ and that you know, and we got to do it. Yeah. Yeah. That's great. That's great. ⁓ Maggie, go ahead. So I had a question in terms of do you have any questions about WatCon, what to expect, like anything like that for us? ⁓ no, I wanna be suppressed. Okay. I I I know guy, ⁓ Roberts who did it a couple of years ago fairly well. So ⁓ he's told me a little bit about it and what to expect. But you know, ⁓ I'm I'm very ⁓ I'm I'm I'm excited ⁓ and I can't wait to kind of see ⁓ see what goes down. Yeah. That's great. That's great. We're excited to have you, so thank you for doing that. ⁓ I don't know if Rob's coming back, so I'm gonna ask his last question. what's a question no one ever asks you? ⁓ That's a good one. I think ⁓ I don't know, there's ⁓ most people ask a a lot and I'll just say whatever it was not. ⁓ I think, you know I think the I think people don't I don't think people ask enough about I think one of the things I hope and maybe this ⁓ you know podcast kinda shed some light on is like I think the the the show is wonderful and it was great, ⁓ obviously. But I think that people when they talk about the show or when they they think about critiquing the show or anything like that, they don't actually really think about the kind of the and obviously we're all paid and like ⁓ paid well, so I'm not complaining about that, obviously. But like it's a really hard gig sometimes when you are Not not for me necessarily, but for a lot of other people on the show. When you, you know, are asked to leave your family f or your, you know, for the some of the younger cast members at the time or twenty-one, twenty two, and move to a completely new country, sometimes a completely new continent, for you know, six, seven, eight months at a time. And in in kind of the emotional toll and like especially during when we were doing it the the ⁓ you know, COVID and and a couple of other things that were happening i in the world You know, though I think I think that people don't fully give credit to the crews who make these not just starship but all the shows like that. ⁓ about the personal sacrifice that people sometimes have to make ⁓ in order to to be a part of them. And obviously, again, people are paying a lot of money, so or a decent amount of money, and so that's that is that is that. ⁓ but it is it is can be really, really challenging and lonely. ⁓ for especially some ⁓ some But for anyone, ⁓ to be honest, you know, who's away from the family for that long. And and so I think and so that's that's something that no one ever a kind of asks about is like everyone's like, It's such a cool job and I think it is really cool, but it also can be kind of taxing and ⁓ and destruct not destructive, but like difficult on a personal life. Mm-hmm. Well and I think I I I wanna just I wanna comment on that, which is Yeah, I think there is a bit of a there's a disconnect with the entertainment industry of like if I'm seeing it on the screen, I'm watching characters and those characters represent characters, people I know that they understand it logically, but they forget that they are real human beings with families, with lives, who have had to sacrifice a lot to be there, who are training like crazy, who are falling down in the mud and being super cold and getting And the pistachio crane. And pistachio cream, yeah. Exactly. We're having to suffer the loss of a pistachio cream, which is maybe the hardest loss of all. It's traumatic. And I just I I want, you know, and it's hard, especially too. It's it's hard when there's a they're they're going back to the social media thing, it it's a there's such a people it the the safety of of speaking from behind their computer screen. You know, and people just forget that what everything that they say impacts and affects people and that there are real people on the other side of it who are, you know, working their tails off to bring you something like that. And putting their heart and soul into everything. Yeah. And yeah, and I think I think it just ⁓ and again, I think it's easy to forget. ⁓ and again it's not it's not just our show. But I think the you know, sometimes you are able you just sit there and like you critique and you should you should critique. You should say, ⁓ this is not as good as I want it to be or whatever, whatever. But at the same time like recognize I think I think sometimes people just don't recognize the like I said, the sacrifice that goes into to what what it is and and how how much is going on in p everyone's personal life that also can affect the the quality and the impact ⁓ impact of the show. in multiple ways. ⁓ and so I think I yeah, that's that's I just think that the the human side of it for for anyone, not just actors, crew, whatever on the on the show. People just don't kind of think about because it's an i it's a relatively new thing too. Like I think it's more you know, the last twenty years people move away and to do these shows for nine months, eight, nine months a year. you know, f sometimes for five or six, seven, eight and nine years. ⁓ and have to completely up into their lives and it and again, some of us some of us are paid really well, some people are not paid really well. ⁓ and so, you know, it's a lot it's a lot to give up for an opportunity and we're all doing it because we love it. Yeah. Yeah. That's great. Thanks. Rob, welcome back. Thank you. Sorry about that. I'm on my phone now, so you know technology is great. I think my question got asked. So ⁓ shall we wrap it up? Because ⁓ Taylor, I know you you have to go soon. Cool. ⁓ so we like to do something here on on our ⁓ podcast. So we're called three wheeling. ⁓ because we we joke that even if you're the third wheel somewhere, that you are still awesome and included and you know, no one needs to be like my being the third wheel is a good thing sometimes. ⁓ so we like every episode to talk about who might be the third wheel. ⁓ for whatever reason. And Meg. ⁓ yes, between the three of us. ⁓ so it might be a case of like one of us forgot to wear a t shirt that week, so then the third wheel, or one of us, you know, is drinking a different alcohol to the other two. You know, whatever it might be, one of us didn't experience something in high school. if for any reason, it could just be a gut, you could just name someone, there could be some style of question that was asked today, you're like, that makes you the third wheel, like. Could you pick one of us? And we won't be offended whoever you pick to be the third wheel. I'm gonna say it's you, Rob. I think that you have been in and out and and just like kind of I I yeah, I would definitely say you. I I'm the least professional today, so yes. ⁓ That told me that is perfect. Yeah. I love that. Yeah. and the other thing we like to do is end on a positive note. ⁓ so Meg, I understand you have this week's Water Positivity. It's very short, but so ⁓ all season the girls have really been struggling on their soccer games. And so today was the last game. And Avianda scored her first goal in a soccer game ever today. So it was ⁓ very Amazing. Yes. Well thank you, Meg and Jen, for entertaining Taylor. ⁓ apologies for not being here very much, everybody. It was such a burden. I know It was great. It was great that you weren't ⁓ not have to worry about you. So you know you know how I said Taylor's really nice to everybody like I'm I'm really nice and to a point and then I turn when I'm done. There we go, there we go. So bas seriously, Tara, thank you so much for hanging out and have a great time at Walkcard. I'm really sad I can't be there. ⁓ but everyone is gonna have such a great time seeing you. ⁓ go out the I mean you'll we might be a little mom to love because you know twice a day at the gym and all that stuff, you know, but it they'll love you. It's a great time. There is a gym in the hotel. Good, good. That's important. The sun is starting to go down, so my lighting has changed completely. Yeah. So yeah. Prime location. ⁓ but yeah, have a have a great time. ⁓ thank you to everybody's listening. hope you enjoyed the podcast today. And ⁓ it's not too in and out with me coming and going because ⁓ apparently I can't get my shit together. ⁓ but please, you know, do all the good things like like and subscribe, tell us how awesome tailor is, tell how much toe I have to my performance, and ⁓ we will see you all next time. So goodbye everybody. Bye. Once again, we've proven that even when you're the third wheel, you can always find a place to fit in. Join us next time on three wheeling. On three wheeling. On free wheeling.