Amanda Schull’s worlds are full of strong, smart women.
Schull stars as virologist Dr. Cassandra “Cassie” Railly in the Syfy channel thriller 12 Monkeys.
She can also be seen as Assistant Attorney General Melissa Danson in the third season of the criminal justice procedural Murder in the First, currently on TNT, as well as in the USA Network stylized legal drama Suits, playing corporate attorney Katrina Bennett.
12 Monkeys is a reimagining of the 1995 film of the same name starring Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, and Brad Pitt and directed by Terry Gilliam. The show tells the story of Cole (Aaron Stanford), a man sent from the year 2043 to the present day in order to stop a virus that will wipe out most of humanity.
Cole recruits the unsuspecting Cassie to help him in his mission.
With only a few episodes left in Season 2, Cassie’s journey has taken her places she never could have imagined when she first met Cole.
“Over the course of Season 1 we saw a little bit of her transformation taking hold, but it was much more gradual,” says Schull, “She went from a doctor very much interested in furthering this mission - but in a way that is as ethical as possible - to being willing to shoot a person by the end of the first season.”
In Season 2, Cassie has time jumped – or “splintered” in the show’s parlance – to the apocalypse of 2043, where it’s kill or be killed.
Meanwhile, Cole has splintered to eras of the pre-apocalyptic past and for the first time has seen humanity with art and joy and love. He begins to thaw as Cassie hardens.
“Cole has spent as much time living in this world before the plague hit as she has spent living in this hideous world that he grew up in,” says Schull, “She’s alone in this world. She can’t become attached to anyone. That’s an isolating place to be and a challenging place to be as an actor. She’s hardened and calloused, but at the same time she is who she was at her core - she just can’t expose that.”
In some ways, the nature of Cassie and Cole’s relationship makes 12 Monkeys, in part, a tragic romance. “To say that their relationship is complicated is putting it mildly,” says Schull, “They exist because of one another and despite one another. If they are successful in their mission of stopping the plague, they will never have met and Cole wouldn’t exist.”
Cassie and Cole’s dynamic cuts to one of the over-arching themes of 12 Monkeys – putting the common good above one’s own happiness. Schull believes Cassie is motivated by a hybrid of valiant idealism and cold reality.
“Cassie does nothing half heartedly. She believes if she doesn’t solve this, there is literally nobody else that will,” says Schull, “It’s not fair to the people who have died to allow herself a moment of happiness. It’s not fair to her former self either.”
12 Monkeys plays with time and traditional story arch – what the Jones character calls “time out of order” – keeping viewers, and the cast, on their toes. When it comes to research, Schull believes you can’t over-prepare.
“Different people have different preparation styles,” she says, “None of them are right and none of them are wrong, but for me personally I need all the information I possibly can,” adding, “I think that’s how Cassie approaches things too.”
Schull’s fear of being underprepared stems from a disastrous piano recital when she was a girl. “I forgot every single note I was supposed to play and I still have traumatic flashbacks to that moment,” she confesses, “I show up to work every day with a notebook that has tracked the whole timeline and if I need to know something going forward [showrunner] Terry [Matalas] is a really good resource.”
Schull, who admits to not being a sci-fi fan before signing on to 12 Monkeys, believes it is the strong characters and storytelling that make the show appealing to fans outside of the genre.
“I know so many people who watch the show who wouldn’t call themselves sci-fi fans,” she says, “I think it’s because the people are so relatable. Even the peripheral characters. There are no small roles on this show. After you have the audience relating, then you can branch out into a world they don’t necessarily understand. They can go on the journey with the characters.
"The writers and producers are so smart with how they’ve introduced this.”
Schull believes the many strong female characters are another appealing aspect of 12 Monkeys.
“I think a lot of people really enjoy watching the strength of the women on this show. Each character is very different – strong, flawed and multifaceted. Nothing is cookie cutter. Everyone has so many different shades.”
12 Monkeys isn’t the only show with strong female characters in which Schull is currently involved.
Murder in the First puts a twist on the procedural crime drama by following one case throughout each season, rather than wrapping up a different case within each episode.
Schull describes her character, Assistant Attorney General Melissa Danson, as “very smart and also very aggressive in her practice. She was a lot of fun to try to figure out. The show is so well written and researched. It’s not sensationalized, so you have to make sure that you are presenting a realistic person.”
Whether playing an Assistant Attorney General on Murder in the First, or corporate attorney Katrina Bennett on Suits, Schull again pours into her research.
“With Murder in the First, there was a legal expert on set and he was able to advise us. He was very specific and so well versed.”
She also has been known to call her father, who is an attorney, for advice or clarification. “I think he always thought that I would also be an attorney,” she says, “The closest I’ve come is portraying one on television quite a bit. Hopefully he sees a little bit of himself when he tunes in.”
Melissa and Katrina are both lawyers, but Schull sees many differences between the two characters.
”Katrina is very quirky,” says Schull, “and, while she’s driven and determined, she is also loyal. She understands boundaries better than Melissa. Melissa is more ruthless. Katrina I think is more asexual, while Melissa is very aware of her feminine wiles. She’s a very intelligent woman and she knows how to utilize her brain and her physique to get what she needs.”
With her 12 Monkeys commitments, Schull’s role on Suits had to be reduced last season.
“They were so lovely to bring me back a little bit,” she says, “I hope Katrina will be back to mix things up. I love going up to the Suits set. They’re familiar with each other and the way that everybody works. It’s still exciting and there’s a lot of laughter on set. It’s like being back with family.”
Although the tone of Suits could not be more different from 12 Monkeys, the atmosphere on the sets is equally pleasant.
“I think people would be surprised to know how much fun we have in the apocalypse,” says Schull, “I go to work every day pinching myself. Not just for the character I get to portray in the story, but the people are so fun.
"There’s a strange dichotomy between this joyfulness the cast and crew all experience and this very dark subject matter. Then you go to Suits and it’s so light hearted and everyone just looks so good.”
A trained ballet dancer, Schull got her on-screen break playing a dancer in the 2000 film Center Stage. Since then she’s appeared in films such as Mao’s Last Dancer (2009) and Clint Eastwood’s J. Edgar (2011).
Her television credits include recurring and guest roles on Pretty Little Liars, One Tree Hill, Suburgatory, Nikita, Two and a Half Men, The Mentalist, Bones, Lie To Me, Hawaii Five-0, Castle and Psych.
“With film you have your ending point and you know from your character’s standpoint where your arc is,” says Schull, “You can kind of pace it. With television, we’re granted this luxury of time. It can be great, and it can be also frustrating.”
As far as 12 Monkeys is concerned, Schull considers herself lucky. “For Cassie in particular, it’s been such a gift to be able to slowly evolve her and build these walls up and these calluses and sort of slowly create this person,” she says, “I’ve been lucky to work on characters that I really like. I love my character and I love the people I get to work with.”
