EXCLUSIVE | 'Away' star Nadia Hatta says show is a 'timely story' about love and is more a symbol than a journey
"Women hold up half the sky," Nadia Hatta's Mei Chen tells Vivian Wu's Lu shortly before she is to leave for a three-year expedition to Mars. Mei, part of the China National Space Administration is not just a CAPCOM who works along with Lu; she is also her love interest - a forbidden love.
The ensemble cast of Netflix's sci-fi drama 'Away' is led by Hilary Swank and follows a group of astronauts on their mission to Mars. Over the course of ten episodes, the series explores each character, what they have left behind on Earth and what they hope for their future. What makes 'Away' stand out in the plethora of science fiction content on the streaming site is its intimate exploration of human relationships.
That is what Hatta found most endearing about the script. "There was so much soul in the writing that I immediately felt emotional reading it," the actress tells MEA WorldWide (MEAWW) in an exclusive interview. "And that's how I knew the writing was very good."
Lu, who is in a loveless marriage with a son, finds herself attracted to Mei when she begins training at NASA. Having the same roots as their foundation, the two immediately bond over home and the struggle to learn fluent English. What develops is a touching, loving (secret) relationship that is not bound by the restrictions man puts on himself. No one at NASA or back home know the true nature of their relationship. Following the discovery, Mei is stripped off of her position despite her expertise.
When on the ship, Lu and Mei have this heartbreaking phonecall - stealing an hour from the surveillance of the world that tore them apart. "I [Hatta] can remove myself as the actor and just look at the story itself and feel the heartbreak because it's really unfair. A lot of love, any kinds of love - romantic love or family love - many kinds of love that, you know, doesn't get to be fully just happy and harmonious because of society."
Hatta was awed by the love that the two characters shared and in no way did it fee fictional. She tells us it felt "realistic". Hatta equates their relationship to everyday love that comes with its fair share of necessary sacrifices. "I also feel like her [Mei Chan's] love is just so unconditional - to just give up your mission, your dream, the thing that you've worked on your entire life really greater than yourself," she says, adding how reaching Mars was a bigger mission than their relationship.
'Away' really invests in its characters, exploring the love they share and how in the end - it is all that matters. "[Love is] beyond country it is beyond all religion, race, and any kind of boundaries that humans have created. Whatever jobs that we think we have, whatever dreams we think we have without that love?" she questions. "So when I see this story, I really think that this show is about love. And so when they called it 'Away' it's "away" from not just earth, but it's like a symbol."
According to Hatta, 'Away' tells a very timely story - not about its journey to Mars but one of human relationships and love strained by painful distances. "There's a lot of people are separated from their loved ones, a lot of people not with her family members, or their other halves - everybody's sort of dispersed all around. And so this is very relatable, right?"
This is part one of an interview with Hatta. Stay tuned for part 2.