Hannah Levien Talks ‘The Magicians’ and ‘Siren’ [Exclusive Interview]

Hannah Levien has starred on several TV shows including Supernatural and Bates Motel. You more than likely know her best, however, from her role as Victoria on Syfy’s The Magicians.

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Levien about her role on The Magicians as well as her upcoming role on Freeform’s Siren.

Levien described her character on Siren, Janine, as “a very modern thinking woman.”

“I’m hoping they’re going to get behind her on the things she does. But Janine, she’s been a lot of fun to play. She speaks her mind; she’s very direct. I think it goes along with a lot of the female characters on the show — they are very empowered thinking young women, and I think Janine is like that,” Levien said.

What initially drew Levien to the role on Siren, on top of already having seen the pilot and falling in love, was a close friend.

“One of my friends in the cast, Curtis Lum, I knew he was doing the show and he was talking about it, and then I saw some of the film from it and the trailer, and it was just so cool. I knew there was a show about mermaids being made and, obviously, it’s mermaids, they’re so fun and I thought that this sounds and looks like an awesome gig.”

“Then I got a role in it and was like ‘this is going to be a blast,’ and of course then you get to meet the creators and people involved and they’re such a great team on that show. I think what they’ve achieved is fantastic,” Levien continued.

Levien praised the creators of the show for why she fell in love with the script.

“I think they’re really vibing, and every time I went to set I got to meet the writers and they just kept saying they’re having such a blast writing it. I think the script is really exciting, and there is a great balance between relationships, thrilling action sequences, and the social conscience element about caring for the ocean, global warming basically.”

Levien has been filming multiple TV shows at the same time, which she says is a blast, but can be tiring.

“I have a few scenes that are a little hot and heavy, so those are always a little awkward doing those kinds of things. But, I think that an actual challenge is that I’ve been working on a few different shows, and as wonderful as that is sometimes it’s challenging to be playing different characters on different shows and literally going from show to show on different days of the week.”

“It’s a different energy, different shows; it’s like walking into a completely different workplace,” Levien said.

Levien also talked about how her experiences on The Magicians and Siren have been comparable.

“There are some similarities in the shows, for sure. First seasons are really tough. It’s all of them because everyone is excited to be there and putting their best foot forward because there’s no guarantee that you’re getting a second season. It’s challenging too because everyone wants to get it right and everyone wants the show to be a success. I think there are some similarities there because everyone wants to get down and make it the best they can,” Levien shared.

All throughout The Magicians Season 2, Victoria was off exploring the world after escaping the beast in Season 1. Now, magic is gone and Victoria is back working with Harriet.

“I think that Victoria is very resourceful and she loves to be apart of the team, which as much as she is a leader she’s very big on teamwork. I think she’s drawn to Harriet’s power; there is something very intriguing about her. I think what they’ve been doing, with what I’m allowed to say, is just trying to find alternatives to magic and trying to protect the rights of magic.”

“To fight for that cause of balance between magic being accessible to people and protecting it. The social responsibility of the magicians, I think that’s something that Victoria is passionate about as well,” Levien continued.

Victoria is not taking anyone’s crap this season, especially if it means putting people in harm’s way.

“She’s definitely not going down without a fight, she will help the group as much as she can as long as it stays safe for everyone, especially with what happened to her in Season 1; being captured and having basically all of her colleagues killed.”

Victoria is the reason that most of her class was killed in Fillory, but she didn’t know what the outcome would be.

“She could potentially blame herself in some ways; I think now she’s focused on that she’s only going to go into a mission if it’s safe for everyone and nobody’s going to be left behind. I think there’s something to develop there, and I think there’s going to be development between her and Poppy and actually seeing if Poppy has changed or if there’s room for that friendship to be rekindled,” she said.

As for if we could potentially see a reunion between Victoria and Josh, there’s a little bit of hope. “I will say that Josh is a great character and I loved working with Trevor Einhorn; we had a blast on Season 1 as well. I can’t say too much, but I think it’s in the cards.”

When Levien isn’t busy filming she tries to keep up with as much TV as she can. “Right now I’m finally watching Season 2 of The Crown, which I love. It’s a great series. I love television and lots of different shows, but that’s the one I’ve been trying to get through because I don’t get a whole lot of time to watch TV, which sounds terrible.”

One of her most recent TV favorites, however, she binged on one flight.

“When I was on holiday, I watched Big Little Lies, which is so good I’m such a fangirl of that show now. I actually watched the whole thing on the plane to Australia. Seeing all of those fantastic actors working together is so magnificent, they do a brilliant job,” Levien recalled.

“Some of the shows that I work on, they’re great shows and have a lot of supernatural elements, and it’s so fun to be apart of that, but with something like Big Little Lies there are no real effects or anything. It’s just storytelling and great actors and great writing. It totally engages, and I’m definitely excited for Season 2.”

An interesting thing that fans don’t know about Levien is that Hannah isn’t her actual first name.

“If they don’t already know, I’m Australian. There’s that, and my real name isn’t actually Hannah — it’s Philippa and my parents changed their minds when I was a few months old, so they started calling me Hannah, but my first name is essentially Philippa.”

Be sure to catch Hannah Levien on The Magicians, airing Wednesdays at 9/8c, and Siren, premiering on March 29th on Freeform.

You can also follow her on Instagram: @HannahLevienOfficial and Facebook: @HannahLevienOfficial.

Follow us on Twitter @telltaleTV_

Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!

TV shows premiering this month: