True to its title, Netflix's original series Warrior Nun is full of holy sisters adept at divine warfare as they face the forces of darkness attempting to conquer humanity. Among the most prominent of the Warrior Sisters -- and indisputably the most badass -- is Shotgun Mary. Portrayed by Toya Turner, Mary carries out her own divine agenda free from the order's direct supervision. She's part of some of the first season's biggest fight sequences before she brings the order's latest recruit, Ava, into the fold.
In an exclusive interview with CBR, Turner shared her experiences portraying Shotgun Mary in Season 1, discussed her onscreen chemistry with co-star Alba Baptista and reminisced about the challenges of filming action scenes wearing a leather nun habit during the summer in Spain.
How did the role of Shotgun Mary come to you?
Toya Turner: I decided to make the leap of faith to move from Chicago to L.A. And I came to L.A. and did a stage production that introduced me to my manager, and he sent me this script and said, "I think there's a part here for you." And I looked at it and auditioned for it and sent them a videotape and they said, "Okay," and they wanted another one. And then they wanted to read for another part, and then I had a screen test with the director Jet [Wilkinson] and the rest is history. And it's crazy because I was actually visiting my family in Chicago when I was doing all of those things.
So you didn't have to move to L.A.?! [Laughs]
Turner: Yeah! Like, I went to L.A., came home to visit and booked it with my homey helping me tape it at a studio in the city. Yeah, it's so funny that way. [Laughs]
This season really revolves around you playing off Alba Baptista's character; you're the experienced badass who's been around the block and she's new to all of this. How was it developing that chemistry with her in your performances?
Turner: It was weird because we didn't really get a chance to connect until we shot those episodes, Episodes 5 and 6, because our shooting schedules were so different. So, literally, when we meet in Episode 4 and she's, "Oh, Shotgun Mary," that's us literally meeting for the first time in awhile; since the table read! I'm thankful that our chemistry clicked, we just got the chance to know each other in that time because it was just us primarily shooting. And she's such a sweet girl. She's just so charismatic and charming. She's just really nice to work with and we had a nice give-and-take, and I appreciated that.
Most of this season is set in Spain. How was it filming across Andalucia?
Turner: I had never worked out of the country before and it was beautiful. It's weird to say this, but I felt like one of those people in the movies. It's like this fantasy, a dream come true. I was in awe everyday.
Did it lend to your performance, being surrounding by that history and iconography?
Turner: It did! It did because it put you there. I remember we were in a tomb with all that dust, it added [to the scene]. And just to find out that a lot of shows had shot there, like, Game of Thrones! I dream pretty big but even I couldn't believe all of that stuff. It helps you settle. It's way better than the CGI stuff when nothing's there! [Laughs]
You really do a lot of the heavy lifting for the action in the first half of the season and there's an especially grueling fight against Lilith in a bathroom. How was it getting that choreography down and doing those action scenes?
Turner: I think between that and the dock fight, that one was the hardest out of those two. And, of course, we're overachievers so we're like, "Yeah, we want to do all of our stunts!" [Laughs] So it was kind of gruesome but it was definitely fun. I got punched in the face... that was great. [Laughs] It was very difficult. It was a long, long day with all the broken glass. Yeah, it was crazy. It was like playing a fighting game versus another real person -- it was something else.
So that was the hardest one of all the set pieces that you did?
Turner: Yeah, because with one wrong move, I could've hit the air dryer that was on the right. There was a sink, there were so many things in there we had to be careful of because a lot of it was real stuff, it wasn't foam. That was really tricky. And the cliff scene, because of the weather [made it difficult to film]. It was so windy that day! It was so windy and so cold and there's nothing you can do about that because we're on location!
Was it tough fighting in those outfits?
Turner: At first it was because it puts on, like, an extra 20 pounds and there's more layers that you can't see. Some of the scenes we were shooting in the dead of summer, I think it was 109 or 113 [degrees] on the hottest day! And it's leather! [Laughs] So it's just one of those things that I had to get used to. It was just sooooo many layers.
To go a little more abstract, who is Shotgun Mary to you, both in terms of inspiration and just looking back at the character?
Turner: It was interesting because I was trying to decide if she was a hero, and she's not. To me, she's a little bit of Foxy Brown with Terminator 2 when he's on the side of John Connor and not going against him, and maybe a little bit of Gladiator in there too. She's vulnerable, she's tough and, to me, she's a leader too, but she doesn't want to be. I don't think she would accept the halo if she had to. There's something very graceful and tough as shit about her.
Even before Ava gets in the picture, she's working on the side of angels -- literally -- but she's also got her own agenda. Was it tough bringing that level of intensity and standoffish performance day in and day out?
Turner: Yeah, because I didn't want to be too jolly on set because I didn't want to feed into my performance because she starts in such a high-stakes situation. We come in on her worst day, so just kind of following her arc, it was really heavy on me. So I had to learn to just kind of let it go, especially when it was time to yell "cut."
What do you think it is about Warrior Nun that sets it apart from the rest of Netflix's library?
Turner: It has a little bit of everything. The diversity and inclusion of it, I've never seen something this varied, I think that's amazing. Our production crew is something like 70% women, which is very new. It looks like it's medieval, it looks like it's in the past, it looks like it's in the future. I haven't seen anything like it, and I think it's just a great way to escape and have fun and it doesn't try to take itself too seriously either. I like that!
Based on the comic book series by Ben Dunn, Warrior Nun was developed for television by Simon Barry and stars Alba Baptista and Tristan Ulloa. The series is available to stream now on Netflix.