‘Severance’ Star Dichen Lachman Has a New Job: Vampire Slayer

Dichen Lachman is very well known to sci-fi fans, with roles in Dollhouse, Agents of SHIELD, Altered Carbon, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Jurassic World Dominion, and more. But her most high-profile turn to date is Ms. Casey, also known as Gemma, in Apple TV’s dystopian office drama Severance.

While the world waits to see what Gemma will do now that she’s finally free of the Lumon basement—albeit heartbroken that the “innie” version of her husband, Mark (Adam Scott), decided to stay behind—io9 got a chance to talk to Lachman about another genre project she’s got coming up.

It’s a horror film called Vampires of the Velvet Lounge, which imagines that the ancient but still alluring Elizabeth Báthory (Mena Suvari) has lately made her home in Savannah, Georgia, running an absinthe bar and picking up fresh victims over dating apps. Her new potential prey includes a character played by Stephen Dorff, bringing the Blade veteran back into the bloodsucking fold.

Lachman is Cora, a vampire hunter tasked with keeping close eyes on Elizabeth—to the point that the two women form a sort of forbidden attraction, even though they ostensibly loathe each other. Lachman played a vampire years ago on Being Human, but writer-director Adam Sherman’s new movie gives her a whole new entry into the horror genre.

io9: Cora is a vampire hunter with what seems to be a harrowing military past. What backstory details did you imagine for her, to help get you into the mindset she’s in when we meet her in the movie?

Dichen Lachman: I thought maybe she was an ex-Marine or in the Army or something else in that world. Not a Navy SEAL, but definitely in that world. I think that one of the things that I just loved about Adam’s work here was just these really strong, badass women—who also struggle with this duality, that line [between] light and dark. So it was really exciting to take it on.

io9: Cora is both repulsed and fascinated by the vampires’ world. Do you think she’s aware that she’s being drawn in, or is that something she’s too walled off to even consider?

Lachman: I think there’s an awareness there but also a denial. I think that we as humans often suffer with that just in our day-to-day lives. Living in this world is not always easy, and we’re always oscillating between the right thing to do. And sometimes, [you] cross that line into the darkness, and maybe it’s about getting back on [the other side of] that line.

Even though she feels the pull, I think she wants to believe that she is strong enough to fight it, just like we all are with certain things in life—strong enough to fight that bad wolf in our brain or in our heart. So I think it’s awareness and denial. I think that’s why people really are intrigued by vampires because, in a different way, we all experience that.

io9: Vampire movies are having a huge moment, especially thanks to Sinners. What are your favorite vampire movies (or TV shows)?

Lachman: I loved Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It was amazing. And Angel. I loved Interview with a Vampire, and I loved Blade. When I saw the trailer for that movie many years ago, I could not wait to see it. And for [Vampires of the Velvet Lounge co-star] Stephen Dorff to come back and do a vampire movie, this little vampire movie, I was just so excited.

io9: Looking at your filmography, it’s full of sci-fi—Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Jurassic World Dominion, Altered Carbon, Agents of SHIELD, The 100, Severance—but not a ton of horror until now, with Vampires, and you also have Other Mommy coming up. Is this new embrace of horror a deliberate choice or just a coincidence?

Lachman: I think it’s just accidental because I think the market is really responding to movies like that, and so people are making them. It’s one of the things that happens in your career: the audience responds, and then Hollywood tends to give them more of what they want. I enjoy it so much. I did do a vampire thing many years ago called Being Human, and I really enjoyed playing in that world, and I’ve always wanted to get back into it. So I was excited to do this. I mean, who doesn’t love vampires?

io9: Switching gears here, but your character was such a crucial part of Severance season two. What was it like for you when you realized Gemma/Ms. Casey was going to be so pivotal to the storyline, including that flashback episode?

Lachman: I was very excited, but I also felt a tremendous amount of pressure to deliver because we only had one episode for the audience to really fall in love with Gemma and Mark and really make that conundrum for him have a lot of weight. But I couldn’t have been in better hands. I think when you’re working with people who are so detail-oriented and so committed, it makes it an easier journey for sure. It was such a wonderful episode, and I’m just really grateful that we got to have that because I think it really makes Mark’s journey all the more painstaking. [Laughs]

io9: Severance became an obsession for so many viewers. Have you had any memorable fan encounters as a result of that?

Lachman: Sometimes people will come up—I’ve been in some remote places recently, like in grocery stores, and I think they were like, “It couldn’t possibly be Gemma from Severance.” And they were quite like blown away, like, “What are you doing in this place?” So that’s been quite sweet. And I absolutely love fans of anything that I’ve done. I mean, without them, there’s no audience. So I’m always grateful when people have watched stuff that I’ve done or my husband [Maximilian Osinski from Ted Lasso and Agents of SHIELD] has done. Sometimes they see us together and they get like a double whammy, which is really exciting for them.

I come from a space, because of Dollhouse, where the fandom was just so pivotal to us getting, for example, a second season. It was because of the campaign that the fans went and got behind our show. And so because of that experience, I’ve always been [grateful] and felt like that’s a very sacred space.

io9: What are you most looking forward to about Severance season three?

Lachman: I mean, just like you, I’m excited to see what happens next. I don’t know what it is, but I completely trust in the creative team there. They’re so committed and dedicated to delivering something that the fans are going to absolutely lose their minds for. And I respect that they’re just taking their time to perfect that—so that, you know, you guys have an incredible journey on season three.

io9: Is it hard keeping those spoilers under wraps?

Lachman: It is, once I have them! And even now there are people who have not yet discovered the show, and it’s very hard to talk about my experience of it because I don’t want to give anything away. So yeah, I always still try and keep things on the down low if someone hasn’t experienced the show.

io9: Sci-fi and horror have long been genres full of powerful roles for women. What does it mean to you to be a part of that legacy?

Lachman: Oh, I think it’s so incredible. And I’m so grateful that for some reason, I’ve always just naturally fit into that space. When you want to be an actor, you feel like, “Oh, I can do anything; I can do any role,” but the industry kind of tells you what you’re allowed to do for a little while. I’m just really grateful and lucky that’s where they saw me, my archetype, fit in because I have such a blast playing all these roles. I love the physicality; I love playing with the duality and the psychology of it. And it’s awesome to see women kicking ass on the big screen.

Vampires of the Velvet Lounge opens in theaters March 20.

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