EXCLUSIVE | 'Away' star Nadia Hatta says lesbian relationships are vulnerable as things aren't changing fast enough
This is part 2 of an interview with 'Away' actress Nadia Hatta. In part 1, she talks about the sci-fi series' focus on love and character development.
In the Netflix science fiction series 'Away', we follow a group of astronauts led by Hilary Swank on an expedition to Mars. The idea is to set a base there so that humanity can hopefully survive beyond a planet that they have destined to doom. The group sets on this course with more than just a glimmer of hope for their collective future — a lot of sacrifices have gone into making this mission a success. And one of these many sacrifices is that of Mei Chen, who has to let go of her foreseeable future following the discovery of her relationship with one of the astronauts.
Being a CAPCOM, there is no chance that NASA (or their homeland of China) could have accepted her relationship with Lu (Vivian Wu). She is stripped off of everything despite her expertise and shipped back home. In an exclusive chat with MEA WorldWide (MEAWW), Hatta tells us that she can't help but think that things might have turned out a little bit different had it been a different relationship. Obviously, there are some rules that were broken but "being a woman with a woman in a woman (lesbian) relationship, I think that (one is) a lot more vulnerable and with (little) protection," she points out.
"If Mei was a man, there's automatically more power in that in some culture and in some countries. That's just the way it is and it's still changing, but not fast enough. There's not exactly equality between the genders (and) there is not exactly equality between all relationships."
Diversity is key to the Netflix series. For this crewed expedition to Mars, a Chinese chemist, a Russian cosmonaut, an Indian second-in-command medical officer, and a British botanist come together under the leadership of an American to reach the Red Planet. Hatta points out how regardless of differences, humanity is driven by a curiosity about space. "If we didn't have curiosities, then we wouldn't make these missions to Mars and we wouldn't (build) spaceships, create new technology, energy, cars and other different technologies." And it is only as a result of a culmination of these diverse curiosities that humanity that develop. "If we weren't diverse, we wouldn't evolve. We need diversity to evolve," she added.
In between these and many other questions, ranging from existentialism to planet-hopping to saving trees, we are very eager to know about any possibility of a Season 2. So far, Netflix is yet to make an official announcement about a new season. The first instalment ended on a positive note with the group of astronauts making a successful landing on the moon. This leaves the door open for one and many possibilities that the story can take going forward in Season 2.
Unfortunately for us though, Hatta can't indulge our queries. "I wish I knew, I really do," she laughs. "I'm just as in the dark as you are. I don't even know if it's going to get renewed yet," she confesses. But the fact that 'Away' scored high among audiences and earned itself a top spot in several countries is positive news, Hatta says.
All episodes of Season 1 of 'Away' are currently streaming on Netflix.