'Strange Angel' season 2 star Joslyn DeFreece says her character Brigitte 'has some pretty dark secrets'
'Strange Angel', the American historical period drama based on the biography 'Strange Angel: The Otherworldly Life of Rocket Scientist John Whiteside Parsons' by George Pendle and created by Mark Heyman, opened to a healthy 71% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The show was renewed for a second season that premiered on June 13 and marked the debuts of some impressive actors, one of them being Joslyn DeFreece.
DeFreece garnered positive acclaim for her role in 'Carla' (2011) - a trans woman who faces opposition from her family as she finishes her transition. At the same time, she falls in love with Sam, a man who seems to love her for who she is.
'Strange Angel' marks her TV debut and in an exclusive with MEA WorldWide, the actress added that there was not a better show for her to debut in and termed it as a "whirlwind" experience. DeFreece plays Brigitte Kramer, a German trans woman on the show.
The show follows Jack Parsons, a brilliant and ambitious blue-collar worker who starts as a janitor but had fantastical dreams that led him to birth the unknown discipline of American rocketry.
And over the course of the journey, he comes across a mysterious world that includes sex magic rituals and eventually becomes a disciple of occultist Aleister Crowley. Parsons then goes on to use the teachings to support his unimaginable and unprecedented endeavor to the stars. The show is set in the 1930s.
DeFreece, however, admits that she knew nothing about the book on which the show is based. "I actually knew nothing about the book or Jack Parsons," she said. "I started reading it on the flight to Los Angeles and I quickly went down a rabbit hole researching Thelema and Aleister Crowley. The more I learned the more I developed a great love for the subject matter and I came to identify deeply with Brigitte."
Brigitte is a recurring character on the show and DeFreece teased that there was some intense drama to look forward to as far her character was concerned. "All I can say is that Brigitte has some pretty dark secrets," she hinted. The timing of her debut could not have come at a better time as she was in Berlin at the same time doing her homework about trans women living in Nazi Germany during the 1930s and 1940s.
When asked about her persona and the role she plays in the second season, she said: "Over the course of season 2 Brigitte sacrifices a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to support the Agape Lodge and a community (Thelema) that she deeply believes in." Thelema is most often regarded as a religion, it is a new religious movement and contemporary mystery religion in particular.
On the shooting front and her rapport with her co-stars, she remarked that she loved her strange angels. "(On) my first day on set, the showrunners Mark Heyman and Dave Digilio came up to me and a couple of my co-stars and told us, 'In a month you all are going to be a family.' I cannot think of a truer statement," she signed off.
Season two of 'Strange Angel” is streaming now on CBS All Access.