The MTV series Finding Carter became an instant hit for the network in its first season and will be back on March 31st at 10/9c for its season two premiere. If you aren’t familiar with the show, Finding Carter follows Carter, a teenager who finds out that the mother she has been living with for years is actually her abductor. Carter is then reunited with her biological family and tries to cope with her new environment and family, while at the same time wanting to go back to her abductor who is the only mother she truly knows.
One of the reasons the show has become such a fan favorite is the work of actor Milena Govich. Milena plays Lori Stevens, who kidnapped Carter as a baby and raised her until she was taken away by the police.
Milena sat down with the Pop Culture Principle to talk about the success of the show’s first season, what it’s like to work with Kathryn Prescott who plays Carter and what fans can look forward to with the second season of Finding Carter.
Pop Culture Principle – Looking back on season one, your character had many ups and downs. As an actor, how have you enjoyed playing a character that stretches your acting?
Milena Govich – It is so much fun to play a character with such extreme circumstances. As an actor, you really have to use your imagination and dig deep to find the reality of those moments for yourself. It takes some digging to come up with the right way to express those moments.
Pop Culture Principle – When did you know that Finding Carter was a hit and really resonating with the fans?
Milena Govich – Basically, when teenagers across America were tweeting me and asking me to kidnap them sort of let me know that the show was doing well. It’s a weird thing because when you are on set and working, the idea of the audience response is so far down the pipeline that it doesn’t even factor in to what you are doing on set or how you are doing your job. It’s our job to make these characters compelling and to tell a great story. Hopefully, if we do our job well, the by-product is that the fans really like the series.
Pop Culture Principle – Carter’s first kidnapping helped determine the family dynamic. How do you think the latest kidnapping well hurt and/or help that dynamic?
Milena Govich – Wow, I don’t know. It could go one of two ways. It could either make her realize that she wants to be back with her mom or it might make her realize that she really belongs with her biological family. You’ll have to tune in for season two and find out.
Pop Culture Principle – It was hinted in season one that there may be more to the Lori and David story. Will we get any more details about their backstory in season two?
Milena Govich – Yes, you definitely will. You are going to find out a lot in season two. Everybody has their secrets and David is no different.
Pop Culture Principle – In a recent interview, Kathryn Prescott mentioned that season two would have some new writers. Are you looking forward to the new energy and ideas they will bring to the show?
Milena Govich – It’s always fun to mix it up and to see what the new writing voices will bring to the mix; that is always fun for me.
Pop Culture Principle – Lori is pretty good with disguises, being stealth and staying off the radar as a fugitive. Are we going to find out she may have had some kind of criminal past?
Milena Govich – Well, I can’t tell you that, but I would agree that Lori can be very stealth when she wants to be. What I can say is that she has some really good motivation to be good at it. She wants to keep tabs on her daughter and eventually get her daughter back. So, if she gets caught then the game is over. She is very calculated about how she’s going about things because if she messes up, she will never see Carter again and this is some pretty good motivation.
Pop Culture Principle – The interesting thing about this show is that all the characters sort of live in this grey area. They all have their good points and bad points, but have that grey area. Would you agree?
Milena Govich – Absolutely. I think that is where the best drama comes from; not just from Finding Carter, but from anywhere. When people are pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable or what is normal and seeing how everybody responds is really interesting.
Pop Culture Principle – Do you think Lori truly believes she loves Carter or has that turned into something else?
Milena Govich – There’s no doubt that Lori truly loves Carter. I think that she loves Carter to an extreme which is why she is doing all these crazy things. If you think about it, there were thirteen years of happiness between Carter and Lori. They were best friends, went shopping together, talked about boys together and they were really close. It was a mutual love there and the threat of losing that permanently is what’s making Lori so frustrated and behave in such crazy ways.
Pop Culture Principle – The majority of your scenes were with Kathryn Prescott. What is it like working with her?
Milena Govich – I absolutely adore her. She is so smart, such a hard worker and so immensely talented. Whenever we are on set, we always talk through the scene together and see how she feels about the scene, how I feel about the scene and how we want to play it. It’s a very delicate balance in some of these scenes to make this relationship really believable. Even though I am roofing her hot chocolate, we still have to make sure the audience is on board and believes that we have this special relationship and that is really important to both Kat and me that it does come across. She always brings great ideas and she is always open to my ideas. At the end of the day, we are able to make some really compelling stories.
Pop Culture Principle – Since season one of the series was such a success, do you feel any pressure to live up to that success in season two?
Milena Govich – I think if anything, that is more pressure for the writers and the producers because they are the ones who are tracking the show and taking it in a specific direction. By the time it’s my turn to get involved, most of those choices have already been made by the higher ups and then it’s my job to execute them. In a way, I am kind of at the bottom of the totem pole as far as that stuff goes which is fine with me. I am glad to not have that kind of pressure on me. As far as the cast goes, we definitely want to continue having our audience fall in love with the characters and the relationships and that part is our job as the actors on the show. We want to keep people wanting to spend more time with these characters.
Pop Culture Principle – Why do you think a show with somewhat of a dark subject matter is resonating with its audience?
Milena Govich – Honestly, I think the show resonates so much because even though there are crazy circumstances, the themes of the show are very relatable and very basic to being a human being. The questions of where you belong, who are the people you can trust and where do you find love and support in your life, I think every person on the planets asks themselves those questions all the time. So, to watch this very specific character Carter grapple with these questions to a hyperbolic degree, I think we can all relate to it somehow.
Pop Culture Principle – What can fans look forward to with the upcoming new season?
Milena Govich – Well, I can tell you that when season two starts, we will start rocking and rolling right out of the gate. I think you will be floored by the first episode because it is really crazy. A lot of the backstory will come out in the first few episodes and I think a lot of questions will start to be answered which may lead to new questions. It’s a very exciting start to season two, so definitely tune in!
We would like to thank Milena Govich for taking time out of her schedule and talking with us. You can watch the season two premiere of Finding Carter on Tuesday, March 31st at 10/9c. Right now, you can watch the first eight minutes of the season two premiere right here. If you would like to keep up with all of the latest Milena Govich news and projects, you can follow her on Twitter here.