‘Reprisal’ Stars Abigail Spencer, Mena Massoud Reveal Favorite Episodes, Biggest Challenges And More

Hulu’s 10-episode first season of its new drama, “Reprisal,” comes out on Friday, and International Business Times got all the scoop on the series from stars Abigail Spencer (“Timeless,” “Rectify”) and Mena Massoud (“Aladdin,” “Open Heart”) at New York Comic Con 2019 in October.

The show is a “hyper-noir story that follows a relentless femme fatale [named Doris, played by Spencer] who, after being left for dead, sets out to take revenge against her brother and his bombastic gang of gearheads,” according to the synopsis.

Keep reading to find out all about Spencer’s Doris and Massoud’s character, Ethan, the actors’ favorite Season 1 episodes, what romances fans can expect to see and more.

International Business Times: What can you share about your character and who they interact with most throughout the season?

Abigail Spencer: “Reprisal” is definitely an extended-family drama, whether people are related or not, and it definitely has film noir. It’s hyperintense. It has a lot of classic Hollywood movie elements to it but also with the Lynchian, Tarantino of it all, and I would say that [my character, Doris is] the driving force. She’s the Tony Soprano of the show. She’s kind of the center of the river, and everyone else is a tributary off of her story. And so she touches everyone, but when and how and why is part of the mystery and part of the thrill.

Mena Massoud: Ethan Hart, basically, without giving too much away, he is the one chosen to carry out some of Doris’ work for her… And he’s coming from one world into another. There’s two main worlds in the show, basically a suburb in Detroit and then this fictional world that we’ve created, and he goes from one to the other. And he interacts — he’s one of the only characters that goes from one world to another, but he interacts mostly with the 3 River Phoenixes, which is a sub-gang in the other gang called the Banished Brawlers. There’s a lot to keep up with, but I promise it won’t be that complicated.

IBT: After having filmed most of the season, what’s your favorite episode you’ve shot?

Spencer: I mean, all of them, but I would say 7, 8, 9 is where things really start to heat up, and I get to do some things that I’ve never gotten to do. Sometimes I feel like I’m doing performance art on camera. It’s really unique, and I was looking for something that I’ve never seen before on television. It’s very hard to find new ideas, and I thought this was it.

Massoud: Ooh, they’re all so good. I mean, I love 9 right now. Something big does happen in 9 for Ethan, in particular. I can’t say what, but things start to turn for him in episode 7, so I would say episode 7 on have been pretty cool.

IBT: What’s been the most challenging aspect of filming this show?

Spencer: I’ve been really playing with the masculine and the feminine energy in her because she’s so feminine, but she’s doing really kind of classically masculine things and kind of getting into this androgynous energy, where she can be anything and do anything. There’s also the physical component of it. I mean, it’s physically intense. My character is also a dancer, so I dance in the show, as well. And there’s the stunts, and we’ve got a lot of shoot-em-up and shoot-em-out moments. And, also, it’s a transformation for me [with] the hair and makeup. We’re era ambiguous, but there’s period hair and makeup. And I also look completely than I do, so I would say, just every day, the kind of putting Doris on and taking her off of it all.

IBT: How long does that transformation take?

Spencer: We kind of got it down to an hour and a half now, so that’s pretty good. Sometimes a little less.

IBT: Massoud, how was it to transition from doing Disney’s “Aladdin” to working on this dark and gritty show?

Massoud: I had a nice piece in-between. It’s a film coming out in 2020 called “Run This Town,” and that was a political drama, so I feel like I eased into the transition of it. But that’s what you want as an actor. You want to be able to play as many different things and dive into as many different characters as possible. That’s what I enjoy about it.

IBT: Does your character have any romances this season?

Massoud: There is a romance with my character, and, I think, other than that, it’s a lot of family [drama], but there is one romance with my character.

“Reprisal” Season 1 begins streaming on Hulu on Friday.