ATHLEISURE MAG #90 JUNE ISSUE | END OF AN ERA Sarah Bolger

One of our shows that we can't wait to watch is FX's Mayans MC which is a spin-off of Sons of Anarchy! This series focuses on the Mayans biker club, the Galindo Cartel, complicated relationships that are generated in a number of ways and fighting to stay together by any means necessary!

We sat down with Sarah Bolger to talk about being part of this cast, the series finale, her character Emily Galindo, what she learned about being part of this show, what we can expect for the final season, about relationships that were established between cast and crew, and upcoming projects!

If you have not watched the previous seasons or have missed some of the episodes of this season, spoiler alert, we will be talking about plot points that include the previous seasons as well as up to episode 3 of this season. Catch up on Hulu and watch each week on FX.

ATHLEISURE MAG: What was the moment that you realized that you wanted to be an actor?

SARAH BOLGER: Oh my God, so I started acting – well, to answer your question, I don’t remember! I started acting when I was 5!

AM: Oh my God!

SB: My first feature film was a little Irish/ UK co-pro film called, A Love Divided. That’s when I was 6 years old. That’s when we filmed it! But I will say that around the age of 13/14/15, when high school becomes more important and when it becomes a thing where one says, that one must be in school – one must pay attention – one must not miss class – it became really apparent to me that I missed acting. Like, this is every child. No child wants to be in school I’m sure; however, for me, it literally was a thing where I’ve never felt more at home in a place, than on a film set. That still remains true to this day as sort of woo woo as that sounds! It’s so true and it’s just one of those things that I

have always felt really comfortable with and that I have always felt really confidant in. I have always felt that something about it was just the right place for me. So yeah, it was early on as mad as that sounds!

AM: We love hearing that and we love that even in doing it such a younger age, you were able to reconnect with it again which is awesome!

SB: Yeah, thankfully, I have been able to do a bunch of little parts back in the early days and then I did a film when I was around 10 that ended up bringing me to LA because it got nominated for a couple of fun things and proudly, that project was something that was really beloved and it was so interesting. I can look back on that today and it’s one of the few things, it was called In America, it’s one of the few things that I can actually rewatch because I’m so young in it! I don’t remember it and it’s a different person than me!

AM: You have been in some of my favorite shows from The Tudors, Once Upon a Time, Agent Carter, Counterpart and obviously, Mayans MC, what do you look for when you’re deciding on whether you’re going to audition for a role?

SB: I know when Mayans came along, there was a history of a couple of roles where I was playing a princess if I am going to be honest. I remember loving how opposite Mayans was to any of the worlds that I had been able to portray or to live in before artistically and I thought, this fascinates me. Not only in that the predecessor show was so amazing, it was more of that, “ok, this is just a world of violence and gangs and California, and modern day and family and culture! It’s just so wonderful and exciting and important – with Mayans in particular, it just felt so different than any other show that I was able to do before. Specifically, I didn’t have to wear a corset which I thought was great!

AM: That was a relief!

SB: Yeah, my ribs took a break, you know?

AM: Exactly!

You said that what attracted you to playing Emily. How do you approach playing her?

SB: Well I think that what’s so beautiful about having 5 seasons of a show is that every season, I have to approach her a little differently, because she has grown like I have grown! We all change and I’m not saying that we change so drastically year to year, but in circumstances to which Emily has lived in, being part of the Cartel which is stressful, I can only imagine how it is so stressful! It’s stressful to act in – not only to be in real life! Things like that and her having a child. These things that I personally as Sarah have not been something that I have experienced – it was just a lot to her that I felt that I had to do my research on and really learn her and change her as her circumstances changed as the stakes got higher. As it got higher and the show progressed, it got really clear that Emily was a person that was very dependent on changing herself to fit into whatever circumstance that was. Whether it was her ex-love, using people as crutches, whether it was hiding behind organizations, or her husband – I think that what happened with Emily which was so cool to be able to do is to remove herself from that sturdy position that she had put herself in and it kind of made her very wobbly and made her make a lot of mistakes and made her very unsteady and very uncertain. That’s kind of very cool and very human – very very human.

AM: How do you feel that she’s kind of connected between two very different characters – between EZ (JD Pardo) and Miguel (Danny Pino). How do you feel that she perceives that balance that she is always having to walk between the two because she’s inextricably tied to them constantly?

SB: Totally and well said! I think that for

Emily it is the balancing act of secrecy and lies. She has this person, EZ, who is her childhood crush, who is the love of her life potentially, who by the way she knows that she can never be with. He’s progressed in an avenue of his life where she can no longer catch him. She has progressed to an avenue in her life that he couldn’t fit into. So it’s not like there is this long lost yearning for what could be.

I think that when it comes to EZ, Emily reverts to childhood, reverts to help me, she reverts to “I need you,” save me – she reverts to these things that happens to younger loves.

With Miguel, if people were to ask me if I think that she loved him, I think that she beyond loved him. I think that without him, she wouldn’t have Cristόbal (Obadiah and Benjamin Abel), her child and as much as she fears him or hates him, there is a constant and truthful admiration maybe for him, for the love that they shared in that pocket of time that gave them their family. It gave her hope, it gave her security, and that gave her a future.

I think that between the two, it’s like fragmented love. Emily has almost no lover for herself because she keeps part of her love for EZ and she keeps part of this love for Miguel, but really, she is lost in and of herself. So I think that if you were asking me, she is in between these two people, but it’s tearing her apart!

AM: Right!

SB: It’s only ruining her, it doesn’t ruin the other two.

AM: It’s so interesting to watch and we see your face and we see all the emotions!

SB: She’s just so sad!

AM: Last week’s episode was just oh my gosh – this is awful!

SB: I know! Are you up to episode 3?

AM: Yes, yes!

SB: I had to check ha!

AM: I mean on one level, they’re on the swing set together and they’re saying so much, but neither can go back because too much has been done!

SB: No! There is no going back for either of them. I know that I’m definitely pulling from history here in terms of the Emily and EZ story. Even though their story is very different, they have kind of had a little bit of a mirror life. They both had this trajectory of escapism, escaping their history, escaping their family, being together, going to college, getting degrees, getting jobs, and they were both crumped by EZ’s prison sentence. In truth, it sentenced them both to a life that they didn’t intend to lead. That’s not necessarily talked about because Emily – that’s not something that she has on her shoulders all the time. But me as Sarah looking from a distance, I’m looking at the show thinking that their actual trajectories are very very similar. They both have had to dig down and they feel that they are almost left with no choices right? Whether it’s the cartel of the MC, it’s these things that they had no intention of ever being involved in, but now they are so deeply involved in that the only way out is down!

AM: Yeah, it’s just heartbreaking because the puzzle pieces can’t fit.

SB: Right and of course, who knows how they will end, but I just know that for me, the storyline for me has not been about her trying to get back to EZ, but actually just having Emily get back to herself.

AM: Absolutely.

We’ve watched Emily do this over the past 5 seasons. For those readers that may need a bit of a refresher and to catch up, where did we leave Emily in season 4 and where are we picking her back up again this sea-

on?

SB: At the end of season 4, Emily had removed herself from her husband, had gone on the run, had taken – sort of kidnapped Cristόbal, her son, as it was and with the aid of her sister, was able to escape and with the help of her knowledge of certain criminal behavior, she was able to get a passport with a different name. She was able to steal Miguel’s additional cash and sort of go on the run and hide from him and people were convinced that Miguel had died, but she was never convinced of that. She took a job working in a restaurant, just so she could send money back to her sister and her child just to feed them. I think that the point of season 4 for Emily was that any life was so much better, even if it was a dingy apartment with cockroaches, it was so much better than that castle which was just a prison. She had been on the run and the final episode of season 4 is Miguel finding Cristόbal – killing – well we don’t know who necessarily kills her sister in terms of which hand, but the organization kills her sister and Emily being asked maniacally by Miguel to return home and that all is forgiven, and that they need to be a family again. Emily is without choice, she’s without options, without funds and without her child – so there was no other choice for her, but to return back to really just be close to her kid again.

AM: In looking at the 3rd episode of this season, it was really interesting because it’s looking at the complicated nature or relationships. Not just between Emily and EZ, Emily and Miguel, but more importantly you have Filipe and Miguel –there’s this whole crazy thing going on!

SB: I know! He has this whole thing for brothers.

AM: It’s crazy because at the end of the day, you ask yourself where does Cristόbal hang in the balance on all of this? It’s such a big family network, but it’s not a known family network yet – so it’s a lot

of plot twists. What can you tell us about what we can expect as we continue to watch this season as I know you can’t really give spoilers, but what should we be looking out for?

SB: I think that family has always been a really big theme of the show. It’s been an important theme whether it’s the blood you come from or the blood you create. It tears us, it humanizes us, and humbles us and I think that knowing how important family is, I feel that this will be an important story developing from that, but also I think that even for Emily, I wonder if Emily ever gets all of that information and what would that do to her and her family? I guess we will see.

AM: We will see!

SB: We will see!

AM: What have you enjoyed the most about playing the part and also being part of this cast? What’s the biggest takeaway that you’re going to have once this show completely wraps?

SB: That day, my last day on set – I know that the end of a job is emotional for everyone. You’ve literally spent 16 hours a day, 5 days a week and mostly at midnight with this community and with this crew, and with this cast! They know when you didn’t sleep, they know if you have a headache, they know that the rain is miserable and we’re all soaked together or the heat is crazy and we’re all overheated together. There’s so much that you share and there is so much by osmosis that they learn about you and that you learn about them. There is just this element of the familiar – every day you’re like, “don’t worry, I’ll see you next year.”

Episode 10 wrapped and you’re like, we’ll get another season. There wasn’t that this year. Not being able to say, “hopefully, I’ll see you in 4 months,” was really gut wrenching for me. For both, our cast and our crew. I mean this so sincerely, our cast is insanely talented, but we have the best

crew in the world! From the camera department to the AD, to the transpo unit, to costume – they work so hard! Again, we spend so much time together! I won’t have that tomorrow, I won’t have that next year. It makes me so sad because they were a huge part of my life for the last 6 years! It’s 5 seasons but it’s 6 annual years.

AM: Yeah, that’s a long time! It’s a significant chunk.

SB: Oh my God, I feel like, you know –we find ourselves in our mid to late 20’s – that’s when I started the show! I grew up there! I have become a woman who’s paid attention to taxes through the show!

AM: Facts!

Do you have any upcoming projects that we should keep an eye out for?

SB: You know, there’s a show that I am attached to and it’s called Rematch that is all secret except that I know that that piece of information has been released. It’s about Garry Kasparov who is a famous chess player and that’s the blurb that has been released so that’s all that one can say and hopefully that will be released sometime very soon. But that’s very excited and I really enjoyed filming that in Budapest.

IG @sarahbolger

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | PG 156, 158, 161 + PG 176/179 63MIX ROUTIN3S FX/ Mayans MC