Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last six months, you’ll be fully aware that canceled Netflix series Warrior Nun boasts one of the most dedicated and passionate fandoms on the planet, with petitions and billboards springing up all over both the online and real worlds as the Halo Bearers do everything in their power to ensure a third season happens at any cost.
There aren’t many TV shows that have cultivated such a strong following even in the face of being taken off the airwaves, and the latest push has seen the hashtag #EmmyForSylvia trending worldwide to try and see star Sylvia De Fanti recognized for her standout performance as Mother Superion in season 2.
Warrior Nun might be gone for the time being, but it definitely won’t be going quiet for the foreseeable future, something De Fanti is both grateful for and amazed by. In an exclusive chat with We Got This Covered, the actress reflects on the calls to see her secure awards season recognition, the ongoing movement to save the series, the importance of its representation, and even some words of encouragement for Halo Bearers everywhere, which you can check out below.
How does it feel to have fans across the world using social media to campaign for you to get an Emmy nomination for your work in season 2 of Warrior Nun?
It feels great! It’s really… It’s very surprising, first of all, because I think that supporters are not for granted. No matter the level of the work you do. There are people that have their own lives or interests. So the fact that they put so much love, and time and efforts, and the way the Warrior Nun fandom organizes itself in groups.
Not only geographically, but how they connect to each other, with each other, and how many skills they displayed in not only supporting me in this campaign, but generally speaking, I think it’s something quite new. I think in my experience, not as a performer, but as a watcher and observer of the world, I think this is a very innovative way of supporting, which is very community-based. And this is what is really interesting for me.
It’s a tricky question for any actor to answer, but how do deal with that sort of praise and adulation towards something that you’ve done, whether it’s modesty, ego, or somewhere in between?
Somewhere in between? Well, in daily life, we shift constantly between ego, and not ego. Luckily, if you’re on a path, you fortify your ego. So what comes that way is so that the supporters, the love, becomes an encouragement for your professional life, your artistic life. So mainly, for me, it’s encouragement, it’s not just recognition, because recognition belongs a little bit more to the ego part. But worship is always, of course, it’s amazing!
But I think that because of this work, and how much we know about the ups and downs in this profession, I think it happens that sometimes we can lose the sense of reality or the connection with people. So I see my supporters as people, as my neighbors. And I think that the kind of love – and also the creativeness – that they’ve shown in in how they supported not just this campaign, but everything else, just made me really feel loved and safe, and encouraged in the next steps that I’m going to take.
To lean more into the ego side of things, if you were to choose one scene from season 2 of Warrior Nun that you can show people and say “this is why I deserve my Emmy nomination,” what would it be and why would it be that?
It will be the the Cardinal scene, the room with the Cardinals, because I think that the writers did a great job there. Because they they created a monologue that is not just very strong, with strong characters, but it’s about sisterhood. I react to a critique towards Yasmeen/Meena. And so I want to defend her as a woman, as a person that doesn’t belong, apparently, to that room.
So first of all, there’s that. So it’s Mother Superion’s protection mode, but it’s also Mother Superion stepping up and rising for the rights of the women to speak in that room. And so I think it’s paradigmatic of the world, of the Western world we live in. I think it’s a very strong announcement to patriarchy, saying, “Hey, you know what, you need to listen to young women, they know what they’re talking about.” And the whole whole monologue kind of really tells all those managers, “Okay, so you stay there, you’ve gained your right to be in that seat, and we still have to fight for it.”
But I’m telling the truth, I’m telling what’s really happening. And then there’s the whole fight scene, which I think is Mother Superion’s drive. And finally, we see her in her full mood, which is action and strength and power. And it’s been a great chance for me, that whole scene, just to go from one extreme to the other, it’s a great gift.
I was going to mention that action scene, because if I had to choose one scene from Warrior Nun without any context to show somebody in order to convince them to watch the show, then seeing a nun in a habit punching, shooting, and stabbing a bunch of priests and henchman like a total badass would be the one, so that must have been a blast for you to shoot?
Yes! That was very… I really wanted to be the protagonist of that scene, I had a fantastic double – Nilla Hansson – that really was there all the time, ready to back me up, ready to support me. But that scene, because of how it was going to be shot – I knew like with close ups and paying attention – I just wanted to be me. Because you can’t blame others appearing without that part. She was not only the Warrior Nun , but she she’s a teacher. So you have to know how to do that. I trained a lot.
After that scene, you were described by a lot of fans online as “John Wick in a habit,” which can’t have been a comparison you’d have ever expected to be made to a character that you played.
Never, never! You know, I come from stage theater. And I have that kind of very dramatic training. And sometimes you don’t expect suddenly to be thrown into a fantastic action scene like that. But you know, Everything Everywhere All at Once, you see those kinds of movies and you say, “Okay, there’s a space for women to perform that way.” And also to be dramatic, or karmic, but to have that kind of space I think is a huge field to be explored in that sense.
There aren’t many shows – canceled or otherwise – that have done anything comparable to what the Warrior Nun fandom has done in the last six months. But as someone who was involved from the very beginning, what do you think or believe it is about the series that’s seen it become this huge pop culture phenomenon that’s brought so many people together from so many different countries?
Well, I definitely think it’s an LGBTQIA+ aspect, because there’s… this is a moment that is very much… let’s say in the Western countries, more and more laws are restraining the rights of the community, not to mention the laws that are just recently being deliberated in the US about trans young people.
So I think that when you when you see something that – strangely, because we’re nuns! – represents something that is not in line, non-conforming, non-comformistic, and that treats those aspects with intelligence and delicacy, I think that you want to support that kind of representation. You need that, because the projection and the empathy is there. And, though you want those stories to develop and to continue, I think that that aspect has been crucial.
Even probably more than originally was going to be considered by the creators of the show, I think that it went beyond expectations.
On a similar note, you’ve been involved in a lot of activism and supporting similar causes, but even though they’re two completely different things, does that affect you on a personal level when you see Warrior Nun fans – especially those in the LGBTQIA+ community – meeting up, marching together, and putting up these billboards supporting something you’ve been a part of?
Yes! It’s one of those destiny signs. Unexpected, and yeah, it touches me very much, because even if it’s not my personal life, I’ve always been fighting for the cause, and I recently collaborated in a project in the city of Bologna, with trans young people, teenagers, and also a little bit, not adults, but they’re in their 20s.
And I just know about the struggle, because I have the chance to meet them on a very creative personal level. And I think knowing about it, and just understanding that there’s not just the superficial aspect of it, but like a deeper meaning that’s touching you. It means to me that that my work has a sense, has a direction.
The show was always popular, but do you find it almost cruel or ironic in a way that it’s taken on this brand new lease of life since being cancelled by Netflix, because now it’s pretty fair to say that anyone with an internet connection and a social media account is fully aware of what Warrior Nun is and what the fans stand for, which speaks to the points you just made as well?
Yeah, well, corporations, tech companies, they don’t work with the same, they don’t work based on the same principles. What I mean is that I don’t think that… I think that what is interesting is that this cancellation, on whatever factors it was based on, contributed to create this movement, which I think is doing good.
Especially for the people involved in it, for the community that they’re creating. So whatever the outcome is, I think it really made sense. You know, sometimes there’s things that happen because the result is negative. And so you think, “Okay, so this happened, and how can I react?” Sometimes reactions are – often, actually – good things happen because of bad things, so the poison is transformed into medicine.
It’s been six months since Warrior Nun aired its second season, and fans haven’t shown any sign of giving up, even in the slightest. Do you have any words of encouragement or thanks to pass on, directly from Mother Superion herself?
Yes, words of thanks. I try to use all the chances I have to to thank them I love them. I love you! And yes, encouragement, even beyond the the outcome, because I think that what they built is really phenomenal. So whatever is the bond they created, that has to continue. It’s just so, so beautiful to watch. Thank you so much.
Both seasons of Warrior Nun are streaming on Netflix, but suffice to say the campaign for a third is far from over.