Eline Powell: Interview with the Mermaid

MANILA, Philippines — Fresh from the successful first season of her fantasy-thriller series Siren, Eline Powell is happy to reprise her lead role as the mermaid Ryn in Season 2.

On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the series got an approval rating of 94 percent. A follow-up season is another validation that Siren has made quite a splash.

“(Siren) is definitely a dream come true for many reasons. I’m a very hard dreamer and I always try to really, really, really visualize so this was, of course, in my dreams but dreams are not reality so I am very happy when I realized that okay, I am here and the show will be shown around the world,” the 29-year-old Belgian actress told The STAR in a phone interview. “I genuinely love the part and I genuinely love the show so I feel like all these different boxes are ticked at once and it’s kind of hard to believe sometimes. So, I’m super grateful if everybody watches or keeps watching so that we can keep on working.”

In Season 1, her mysterious but lethal character came to surface to find her sister accidentally captured by fishermen and then held captive by military. Setting foot in the coastal town of Bristol Cove, she made her first contact with humans, including marine biologist Ben (Alex Roe) who decided to help Ryn at the same time became enchanted by her siren song. The debut season ended with Ryn leaving Bristol Cove after seeing how her presence affected Ben and other humans. 

In Season 2, Ryn tries to find a balance between being a mermaid and being human. More mermaids arrive on land and turn to her for help. Ryn, Eline noted, becomes “a bit of an alpha leader and be the best mermaid she’s ever been, in a way to gain their trust. At the same time, she is exploring her feelings towards Ben and how she feels about being human.”

Eline never expected the positive reception to the series. “As an actress, nobody is sure these days whether something is going to be successful or not. I tried to always have a good time on set because of that reason. Even if people didn’t like it, at least you had a good time. But I was so happy and surprised that people seemed to like it and I think we came at a good time. It is as if mermaids, mythology and you know, the culture is coming back, so Siren collided with that movement and the people are really liking the way the show represents mermaids, which is my favorite thing.”

For her, the most fun and yet most challenging part in playing Ryn is “the fact that she was so primal, also predatory.”

She continued, “She did not speak English so she has to learn language. I thought, how do I portray someone who isn’t quite human and yet still make an audience feel empathy for her or see her emotions? So, I tried to work a lot by looking at the different animals and working a lot of my movement in a mirror and stuff. But it’s always been my favorite thing about Ryn, the fact that she is from another world and … behaves differently. She doesn’t express her emotions the same way humans do. It’s very physical work and that’s what I love about it.”

Training in water was another matter. But Eline was trained so well she fell in love with free diving and scuba diving. “They are my favorite days on set when we have to go underwater,” she shared.

Asked why these mythical aquatic creatures of yore continue to lure interest in the digital age, Eline believes it’s because people are getting more aware of the oceans and the human impact on them through documentaries and videos.

“(The ocean) is always something very important to humans, a place where we get food, a way for us to travel, a way that we find out about different animals and plants that we didn’t know and yet at the same time, it is so hard for us to find out about it… to really go everywhere and explore it and mermaids represent this link, this connection,” she added.

“And I think everybody’s kind of craving to find out more and be closer to the mysteries of the ocean. I think that’s why (stories of) mermaids have popped up again because that’s what they represent in our mind — the freedom to really be part of something otherworldly, a really magical place. Whether that place is dangerous or beautiful, it doesn’t matter.”

If she were a mermaid in real life, Eline would like to swim all the way to Belgium to say hi to her family. She also wants to visit the Philippines (“I’ve heard such beautiful things”) and Indonesia because of the coral triangle (the global center of marine biodiversity which the Philippines is also part of).

Eline also devoured literature and mythologies before making the plunge as the newest mermaid on screen.

“Of course, you can look at The Little Mermaid or Splash or the Greek, you know, everybody always mentions Odyssey and the Greek reference to sirens and everything, and that is of course very important, but my goodness! In Russia, they have Rusalkis, and they have Selkies in Scotland, and in Fiji, you have a special mention of it. The first earliest mermaid mentioned in history books was Atargartis in Assyria, a thousand BC… In Africa, you have Mami Wata.

“I was looking at all different countries and their versions of mermaids. In China, too, and I’m sure plenty as well in (Asia). And some are water nymphs or river gods, some they will fear because they will drown the soldiers or … sailors or they will be very bad. In other cultures, their mermaids have healing powers.

“So, I realized that mermaids mainly mean whatever you want them to mean, you know, to a group of people. That’s why I thought great, what this means then is that let’s make our own interpretation of mermaids and add it to this huge catalogue of representation out there because it’s more interesting if something is new. When I had the part of Ryn, I thought, yes I’m going to let my imagination go and try to create something a little bit different so that, you know, we have another version of a mermaid out there in the world.”

(Siren Season 2 premieres from the US on Jan. 27, 7:55 p.m. on Blue Ant Entertainment, which is available on SKYcable channels 53 and 196, SKYdirect channel 35, Destiny Cable channel 53 and Cablelink channel 37.)