Praneet Akilla Talks ‘Motherland: Fort Salem’ and the #Adorio Bromance [Interview]

Motherland: Fort Salem prides itself on the show revolving around the matriarchy, but in Season 2, we see the introduction of prominent male characters.

I recently spoke with Praneet Akilla about his character on Motherland: Fort Salem, what it was like to embrace a different side of the supernatural, and the bromance that is #Adorio on the show.

Praneet Akilla is a star on the rise, born in Mumbai, India, and raised in Calgary, Canada. You may recognize him from his breakout role as Phillip Mishra on October Faction or as Gil Bobbsey on Nancy Drew.

For a brief period, Akilla took a different career path in chemical engineering before taking his leap into acting. Though his love for theater began at a young age.

“Growing up, I was always doing school musicals and performing in high school and university. So I always had a passion for it growing up. Then eventually, when it came time to decide about my future, you know, growing up in a South Asian immigrant household, the arts is never a stable career choice,” Akilla said.

“I also didn’t see representation for south Asian actors, or any actors of color for that matter in mainstream American television or movies,” he continued. “I didn’t think it was the right time to give the career a shot, so instead, I studied chemical engineering at the University of Montreal. I worked as an engineer intern for a year, and then I decided to quit my job and pursue my passion.”

Akilla plays Gregorio, one of the High Atlantic male witches admitted into War College.

“He is very much the minority in the show. He’s a male witch in a female dominant witch society, so he has very strong opinions of the role male witches play,” Akilla explained. “He is very funny, witty, and I finally had the chance to play the comic relief in something. I’m so used to playing the sad, sort of brooding character, and finally, I got to play a funny person. That excited me right away, as well as the supernatural genre.”

While he may be new to the show, that doesn’t mean that he isn’t already aware of the craziness that is the Motherland: Fort Salem universe. “I was familiar with the show as far as Season 1 because I had watched it during the pandemic and was very excited about the genre and subject matter,” he said.

“In terms of research, it was more about researching the tone of the show, re-watching Season 1 and researching showrunner Eliot Lawrence and his previous shows. It was a lot of studying and figuring out as an actor how to inhabit myself into the world and character.”

While his previous roles also deal with the supernatural world, Motherland: Fort Salem is the first show to relate to the real world, which Akilla loves.

“I get to be more of myself, actually, and I got to be the person who provides comedy to the scene and has a witty remark when the witches are going through a dangerous situation. Those are the sort of instances where I found my character to be very different, and then also, in general, the world is different,” he said.

“With Motherland: Fort Salem, though, it’s more political, as heightened as it is. It’s politics rooted in reality. It’s about an army, conscription, racism, discrimination, protests, and different groups and ideologies clashing. It’s very similar to the world that we’re living in right now.”

The tone of the show and his role is a definite plus for Akilla. “The dialogue is very mature. You have a bunch of adults negotiating treaties in a room, as opposed to investigating mysteries or battling werewolves. That’s what I really enjoyed about it, is that it’s a little more mature,” he said.

“Obviously, it’s a Disney Freeform show, but I also was surprised at how dark it was. Some of the sex scenes in Season 1 even, and I didn’t think Freeform would go there, but I guess they can. There’s no other show like that on Freeform, and I think it hits the sweet spot in terms of demographics, storylines, and the supernatural/fantasy genre. I’m just delighted to be a part of it, and the fans have been so wonderful.”

Akilla’s character is introduced and teased to be paired with Abigail, played by Ashley Nicole Williams, but has an undeniable connection with Tally, played by Jessica Sutton.

“I will say that the thought of that is being explored. I think it’s no secret that a few episodes have shown a glimpse of that, and if you’ve actually been watching the whole season, you’ll see moments where their relationship has been slowly blossoming. I don’t think they’re dating each other or together by any means, but I do think that the first moment he met Tally in the room, he was fascinated by her,” Akilla said.

“He’s from a rich, High Atlantic witch society, and she’s sort of the antithesis of that. For him, I think she connects with him on many different levels, but more importantly, he’s just trying to integrate himself as part of their coven. Behind all the snarkiness and stuff is a deeply kind individual who wants to stand up for his friends. I think their relationship is still in that friend stage, but I think there is long-term potential that we haven’t quite shown yet.”

Gregorio and Tally’s relationship has not been confirmed in any way, but on Motherland: Fort Salem Season 2 Episode 5, “Brianna’s Favorite Pencil,” he takes an arrow for her. From that moment forward, their relationship is bound to change.

“You guys will see in the next few episodes how that relationship sort of changes. I think it’s one of the luxuries the show has; there’s already a couple of main relationships that are going on.”

“You have Abigail and Adil, Raelle and Scylla, and you’ve got these two relationships that are dominating the show right now. And I think the show has room for a slow burn on a third relationship,” Akilla said. “It has certainly been discussed with the showrunner and on set between myself and Jessica Sutton.”

One of the fascinating parts of Akilla’s character being one of the only men at War College is the friendship we get to see him make with Adil, played by Tony Giroux. Akilla also loves their on-screen company and takes to Twitter to tweet about his love for the two, giving them the name #Adorio.

“It’s me and Tony, who’s a good friend of mine,” he said. “It’s a testament to how well we got along on the show. I think we love engaging with the fans and having fun. I would say that most of my tweets are not serious; they’re all fun and playful,” he said.

“#Adorio is funny. We came up with it on set while we were doing it. I would say it’s a bromance,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any sort of real romance there at all. We’ve seen a lot of female friendships on the show, and I think we’re changing it up with a blossoming male friendship.”

While fans are falling in love with what little screen-time Gregorio and Adil share, there’s more that could have been.

“Actually, early on in Season 2, there were a lot of scenes that were cut between Adil and Gregorio. There was actually a bit of a slow burn to their friendship, but unfortunately, because of timing, many of those scenes had to be cut. I was sad about it too, but it’s television, and sometimes you have to hit a certain runtime, and unfortunately, there are a lot of deleted scenes that fell along the way.”

“The focus has to be on the three main characters, so that makes absolute sense, but certainly in Season 2 Episode 6, you will see Gregorio stand up for Adil in more ways than one. I think they have a genuine bond, and it is one of the few bromances on the show, or actually the only bromance on the show, I think. I just love working with Tony, and I hope we get to do more,” Akilla continued.

Akilla teased a dark ending for the second season of Motherland: Fort Salem, which seems fitting for the show based on current storylines.

“I think the tension, the stakes, and conflicts exponentially ramps up at the beginning of the final tail end of the season. We’ve got the Camarilla, Raelle and Scylla’s storyline, and we’ve seen a little bit of Nicte Batan and Tally’s investigation into Alder’s history,” he said.

“I think all of those storylines will converge at some point, and you can expect it to get very dark. And there’s going to be a lot of violence. There will be many things that will come to a head, and it will lead to something very dark and very dangerous.”

–

*Featured image credit: Noah Asanias

Be sure to catch Praneet Akilla on Motherland: Fort Salem on Tuesdays airing at 10/9c on Freeform. 

 Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram!

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

15 Most Binge-Worthy TV Shows of 2021 So Far