Interview With Star Of SERVANT Nell Tiger Free

With the arrival of the fourth season of Servant, AppleTv+ marks the ending of one of the best horror shows on television. M. Night Shyamalan has managed to create a suspenseful and compelling series about an eccentric family, and grief with a wicked supernatural hook. If you haven’t had the opportunity to catch it yet, I’d recommend it. I was lucky enough to speak with actress Nell Tiger Free about her character over the life of the show, what she’ll miss most, what is next, and more:

This interview is edited for clarity. 

Hello, this is Kristy Strouse with Film Inquiry: Thank you so much for speaking with me! I’m such a fan of the show. Leanne is such an intriguing character. She’s been on quite the journey. How would you say she’s evolved and changed from season one to season four? 

Nell Tiger Free: I would say pretty dramatically. She has made leaps and bounds to discovering who she is, what she is and what it means to be powerful and in control. She’s kind of relishing in the notion of being able to control those around her. Being able to instill fear when you’ve been fearful of other people for so long like Leanne has. Like she was when we first met her, and now flipping the script and realizing she has the power to instill fear in others. It can be intoxicating probably to the point of madness, and I think that she is starting to get a little bit drunk with her own power, and yeah, it’s been quite the evolution. I think it’s exciting to see where she’s gonna go and if she’s gonna sort of explode or not.

Absolutely! I’ve seen three episodes of the new final season. So I think we’re on the precipice there. Yet you have made her sympathetic even when she is doing potentially, you know, heinous things. She is such an interesting character because she is really just craving family. Do you think that has gone now with the state of the family as it is?

Nell Tiger Free: I don’t think that that’s gone. I think that love is what fuels her. I think that wanting to be loved by the Turners is literally the only thing that keeps her around. That need and desire Leanne sometimes sees is because she thinks she truly knows what’s best for everybody. And so her love sometimes translates by her controlling them and people do that every day. That’s also the example she was set by her mum, who controlled her so viciously. That was what Leanne was presented as love, and so it’s only natural. I think that once she learns the true nature of herself and has her powers as a young woman and as an intellectual woman, she’ll see that perhaps there is something more. I think that’s how she is starting to express her love in a twisted way, by controlling everyone to make sure they’re doing exactly what she thinks they should do. Because in her head, it’s the right thing. It all comes from love. Right?

That’s a great answer. So I have kind of like a two-parter. I’d love to know what you are going to miss the most about being in this series and also, what was your favorite part of working on it?

Nell Tiger Free: What I’m gonna miss the most will be Lauren Ambrose, Toby Kebbell, and Rupert Grint. My favorite part about working on it was Lauren Ambrose, Toby Kebbell, and Rupert Grint.

[Laughs] Easy enough!

Nell Tiger Free: Yeah, I love them. Truly. And it was such an intense experience that the four of us went through together, and I wouldn’t change it for anything. So yeah, those are my answers. It’s great. So it’s become your own kind of, you know, family playing. We are a family.

Do you think there’s a chance Dorothy and Leanne can heal things?

Nell Tiger Free: I’d say, you know in the words of Justin Bieber: Never Say Never.

You think Leanne’s a fan of Bieber?

Nell Tiger Free: Oh, Leanne loves the Bieber, loves him. But yeah, I think that anything is possible in this show.

Since you were first introduced to the character and read the scripts along the way have you been surprised by the direction of the story?

Nell Tiger Free: I think when you enter into a situation, if you’re doing a thriller with M. Night Shyamalan, I think that the element of surprise is like… you get so used to being surprised that nothing does. I would read a script. And you know, in the first maybe one or two seasons, I go, “Oh, no way. Oh, my God.” By season four. I was like…” Yeah, sounds about right, that feels like something I would have to do on a Wednesday”. I don’t think that it’s possible to shock the cast members anymore. Because we are truly ready for anything anytime.

Makes perfect sense! So, the opening episode of this season is very much just focused on Leanne and it’s an almost claustrophobic straight shot of suspense. What was it like shooting that episode?

Nell Tiger Free: I mean, it was how it looked, I was getting incredibly frustrated. Because I’m in this car, and I want to do my best and I have to contain so much. And when I say me I mean Leanne.

She is incredibly frustrated in this episode. And it’s like, everything is coming at her from all these different angles and all she wants to do is just scream at the top of her lungs. Like, “I’m not the problem. I’m not the bad guy”. You know, and it’s like, no one will listen to her. So it’s just really frustrating. It’s an incredibly violent episode, it was physically quite exhausting for me to do. I think every time we had to, cuz, you know, this is the nature of the beast is that you have to go back and you have to reshoot pieces of every episode that you do. And I think every time I was back in that gray dress, going back into the car to reshoot any sort of little piece, I was just very in myself because it was quite difficult to do. But the frustration was coming through in the performance.

I think it really comes through! Where can we see you next? What’s your next project?

Nell Tiger Free: I just finished shooting The Omen for Disney plus. And that’s going to be next year, hopefully.

So the Thriller Horror trend.

Nell Tiger Free: Oh, yeah. Oh, big time.

Love it! Well, thank you very much for taking the time and I hope you have a wonderful holiday and I look forward to finishing this wonderful show.

Nell Tiger Free: Thank you so much.

Film Inquiry would like to thank Nell Tiger Free for taking the time to speak with us. 

Servant season 4 premieres on AppleTv+