Adam Patla
Much like her Gen V counterpart, Lizze Broadway carries enough space for infectious joy and to honor her grief, sometimes all within the span of a thought. Her character, Emma Meyer, went through a whirlwind in season two of the hit Prime Video spin-off. While processing her imprisonment at Elmira and the death of Andre Anderson (Chance Perdomo), Emma re-enrolls at Godolkin and becomes radicalized, hungry to fight the systems in place that have failed her and her friends.
“Can I be fully frank?” Broadway asks with a smile. “I opened that first script and I was like, ‘Oh my God this looks like a different character.’ I think it’s really interesting…season one, we end it with her being brutalized by Sam saying everything that’s wrong with her. So I thought that’s the direction they’re gonna take. I open the script [episode] one and she’s pushing Justine, she’s on this mission…and they want her to be the levity this season. What arc do I want to say with this character? This season she’s gonna find that her softness is her biggest strength and to find that when you protect your heart you kind of lose your sparkle so she finds her sparkle back. To become anyone new is really messy…. I kind of wanted to showcase that through Emma where she’s hard for a few episodes then she slightly starts to become season one Emma mixed with this newfound strength.”
It’s clear that Broadway embraces the power of softness and an open heart as well, moving parallel with Emma. Throughout our conversation, we come repeatedly come back to co-star Chance Perdomo who tragically passed prior to the start of season two. The story was altered to incorporate his passing and the season was dedicated to his memory.
“I think the hardest thing this season was, you know as an artist you’re supposed to find the truth in the script, I was forced to face the truth every day with the passing of my dear, dear friend and also of my character and to keep my heart open enough to portray my character in an authentic way. But if Lizze’s heart opened too much without processing, I wouldn’t have been able to go to work that day. It really taught me as a professional that, damn you can really do anything if it’s rooted in love. I think this season the whole cast was like we’re doing this for Andre and for Chance.”
Broadway speaks of Perdomo warmly though, intentionally emphasizing just how much Perdomo influenced this season as a whole and her brilliant work.
“I based all my performance on the idea of being the girl Andre saw in you,” she says when asked how she married the levity asked of her and the heaviness her character carried. “Very early on Andre… believed in Emma, he was the first person to believe it. There’s a lot of love there. Since every decision was based on honoring Andre…and Chance as well, it effortlessly came through to keep that joy and that levity.”
The absence of Andre brings Emma closer to his father Polarity (Sean Patrick Thomas) and forms an unlikely duo.
“It was really exciting for me because he plays the straight man so well… that I get to be completely unhinged in my performance and be free as a performer because I know…it’s not gonna be too much. It’s a dance.”
Broadway and Thomas navigate this dance flawlessly, moving from odd-couple hijinks to uplifting each other through grief.
“Have you ever heard this, that grief is just love that has nowhere to go?” Broadway asks. “I think Emma has [love] that has nowhere to go and [Polarity] has [love] with nowhere to go so where does it go? The bond between each other. I think that’s why me working with Sean Patrick was really beautiful and also I think maybe the audience caught that especially in that finale scene. Through loving someone you love each other and I think through both of them loving Andre…there was love between them then.”
As Emma, Broadway is tasked with a lot as a performer. With Emma’s power to shrink and grow, she’s thrown into some physically demanding situations (one major moment this season involved Emma swimming in a toilet). Emma delivers a lot of the show’s levity while also honoring her own journey of self-worth and grief. With all this under her belt, what is Broadway looking forward to as a performer?
“I want to expand my comedy as well but also do something that’s like really subtle and intimate,” she says. “I think I have a few times on this show to showcase the quiet moments with Emma but I feel like that’s a really strong suit of mine that I haven’t fully had the opportunity to do. Give me a hardcore drama.”
Over the course of season two, Emma’s understanding of her role as a hero fundamentally changes and, therefore, so does her understanding of herself. Broadway herself walks side by side with Emma in that regard as well.
She says, “I make acting a very personal experience for me rather than ‘I’m playing a character, I’m transforming.’ And I am transforming but it’s like what do I wanna say? I do acting in a way where it’s …kind of like an artist painting a painting. Make sense? Kind of like ‘Oh this is what they’re feeling in this moment.’ And I’m like, okay what is going through my life? This is what I wanna alchemize. I wanna alchemize my pain and what I’m going through so it makes someone else feel seen….
“And also trusting myself more,” Broadway continues. “Emma’s such a leader and trust[ing] herself more. As an artist you’re always questioning ‘What am I doing?’ and I realize it’s okay not to know what the hell I’m doing. And that’s the exciting part when you start a project. I have no idea what I’m gonna do and how exciting is that and it’s really allowed me to trust in the unknown.”
She takes a pause and adds, “That was a whirlwind but I think we got there.”
Ironically, her final statement beautifully and succinctly summarizes Emma’s journey this season. It was indeed a whirlwind but she got where she needed to be and it’s so exciting to see where Emma and Broadway goes from here.
You can watch Lizze Broadway’s amazing work as Emma Meyer on Gen V. Seasons one and two are streaming in their entirety on Prime Video. Awards Radar discussed getting Emma’s sparkle back, honoring Chance Perdomo, and Broadway’s love of Kristen Stewart. Watch the full video below.
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