'Midnight Mass': Samantha Sloyan on Bev’s Backstory and THAT Moment of Fear (2024)

[Editor's note: The following contains spoilers through the finale of Midnight Mass.]Before getting into the meat of this interview, can we all just take a moment to applaud Samantha Sloyan for her powerhouse work in Mike Flanagan’s Midnight Mass? Yes, it can be extremely tough and frustrating watching Beverly Keane warp scripture to suit her needs and pursue her own goals at the expense of others, but Sloyan is downright magnetizing in the role, creating a “love to hate” type character that you simply can’t take your eyes off of.

While Midnight Mass does spend a good deal of time explaining why many members of the main ensemble find themselves in these particular situations with these specific motivations, we don’t get that for Bev. And we don't necessarily need it, but when you've got a character who stands out as much as she does, you can't help but wonder, where did this relentless determination to push the Crockett community in the direction she thought best even come from?

With Midnight Mass now available to stream on Netflix, I got the chance to chat with Sloyan about just that. Here’s what she said when asked if she and Flanagan developed a backstory for Bev:

“I did have pieces and it was less about the specifics of her life and more about how she felt about the island. And so I did feel that it was really important to me that she felt in ownership of it and that that was driving her, was that she had decided that she knew exactly how everything was gonna run because she had been there as long as she had been, and I just feel like she felt very queenlike over it and so that was where I was going. And as far as Mike’s discussion with our character, it was really along those lines of her belief in her correctness and her being right, and that helped me with absolutely everything because it was a very easy line to follow about anything I’m saying, anything I’m doing, it’s with complete conviction that that is exactly what should be done.”

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While Bev does do just about everything with that complete conviction, there is one moment where it lapses -- during the Episode 6 massacre when Bev decides to sneak out the side door rather than to stay and follow through with the plan. The beat does scream fear, but I did briefly wondered if there was any scheming involved there. If everyone on Crockett turned, but not Bev, would that give her even more control over the island given the limitations they’d all have by not being able to go out in the sunlight?

Of course Bev herself would face new risks by doing that, but it still felt worth while asking Sloyan if Bev’s motivations in that moment were purely fear-based or if she had decided she’d have more control without turning. Here’s what Sloyan said:

“I think it’s one of those beautiful moments where it is just the weakness of humanity coming through, of really seeing in these moments what she has wrought in a way. That was a very fun thing to play because it can almost read humorous if you’re watching her kind of like yoink out the side door. [Laughs] And I love that Mike went for that moment when everybody sees me standing there. Yeah, I think it was fear. I think it was fear for the truth of what was happening.”

Eager for more Midnight Mass conversations? We’ve got you well covered in that department! We’ve got loads more on the show straight from Linklater, Annabeth Gish, Kate Siegel and so many more right here on Collider.

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