Deborah Ayorinde returns as the star of Prime Video’s Them, the horror anthology series created by Little Marvin. The talented actress now appears as Dawn Reeve, a Los Angeles Homicide Detective in 1991. The previous season took place in Compton during the early 1950’s, and highlighted a time when racism reigned supreme. The terror continues with the show’s new iteration, titled Them: The Scare.
This season, viewers receive a first-hand account of Reeve’s experience with her personal and professional struggles, in addition to the investigation of a series of gruesome murders in Los Angeles. Ayorinde again shines in the lead role, showcasing her range and versatility on screen. What is more important however, is her position in the growing list of Black women in the horror genre.
“I’m so grateful to be doing this at such a time as this because yeah, a lot of people ran so I could walk,” Ayorinde explains to ESSENCE during a candid conversation. “I stand on a lot of their shoulders, and I do not take that lightly.”
Starring alongside a cast that includes Luke James, Joshua Williams, and the iconic Pam Grier, Them: The Scare aims to stay true to its roots, while also giving audiences a fright or two along the way. “Doing this show, I learned just how dedicated horror fans are to the genre and how much they appreciate the genre,” she says.
Ayorinde’s attention to detail and Little Marvin’s cinematic genius created the perfect balance of history and horror. Whether one is a fan of the genre or not, this season of Them will keep viewers on the edge of their seats, while examining thought-provoking themes in the process.
ESSENCE: Going back to season one, what was it about the role of Livia that intrigued you enough to want to pursue it?
Deborah Ayorinde: Going back to where I was in my career at that time, I just knew instinctively that I was on the precipice of something great in my career but I just didn’t know what. And I was really looking for a role that would really stretch me as an actor and allow me to show what I could do, and also something that I felt was personal. And it was very near and dear to my heart. And when I got the script, I felt like it was so big and so grand and so beautiful that I actually didn’t think that I was going to get it, to be honest with you.
That’s that imposter syndrome, you know what I mean? I literally read it and they were saying there were some other people in the mix, and I just was like, “All right, I’ll read for it.” And as I started to get further down in the process, I started to just realize like, “Oh crap, am I going to get this role?” But literally, it was a role of a lifetime, and I knew that when I read it. There are roles that you just know that are going to be big and grand and beautiful and are going to affect a lot of people.
You appeared in projects such as Sleepy Hollow and Constantine, but this is probably the most immersed you’ve been in a role associated with the horror genre. How did you prepare for the lead in Them?
With the first season, if you remember, that was during the pandemic. So we were almost done filming. Literally, we had probably five days and we had to go on hiatus. So the way I am as an actor and the way that I was rocking with Lucky, I didn’t allow myself to fully come out of her and fully release her until we were done. So, those however-many months, I think it ended up being six months we were on hiatus, I stayed one foot in her.
But for me, with all of my roles and more particularly these ones, music has been a humongous preparation tool for me. I make playlists for mostly all of my characters. I made a playlist for Lucky in season one of songs that I felt like she would hear just day to day, of songs that maybe she wouldn’t hear but it spoke to the moment that she was going through it, spoke to the emotion. And I made one for Dawn as well. That playlist has a lot of songs that I consider being bops, you know what I mean? But for me, it was just it took me back to that time period in the ’90s where it was just like, “Oh, music was just so…” Not that it’s not now, but it was just so good. And also songs that spoke to where she is emotionally, the loneliness, that kind of trying to be superwoman and all of that.
I want to stay there because that’s the first time I’ve heard an actor use that method. How did you prepare the playlist?
Basically, I was born in London and we moved to the Bay Area as a family. For me, when I was in London, I remember being more engulfed in American music, and then it was more so East Coast music, New York rap, Bad Boy, all of that. But it was only when I moved to California that I started hearing songs that were very specific to California and very specific to the Bay Area. I plucked some of those songs on the playlist just to remind me of the first time seeing this completely different place, the first time driving through the Bay from San Francisco Airport and my uncle’s playing the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack while he’s driving us. And literally from top to bottom, I can sing every lyric of that soundtrack because of that. It just brings you back.
I was listening to a lot of Tupac. Obviously Tupac is known all over, but I listened to a lot of Tupac during that time. I put him on the playlist. I put Too Short on the playlist, E-40 on the playlist. I put, gosh, so many people. And I love ’90s music so Brandy, Monica, all of them, I put them on the playlist. And again, I put some songs that spoke to more emotions. And interesting enough, I was able to listen to some songs from my Lucky playlist, my Dawn playlist. For me, it spoke to some moments that she goes through, spoke to the same emotion.
How was it like working alongside Pam Grier during Them: The Scare?
I’m finding it hard to even put it into words. It feels like such an honor. And I know she’s like, “Just call me Auntie Pam.” It’s just the way she paved the way for so many of us to exist in the way that we do in this industry, if you just sit at her feet, literally she’ll tell you stories that you’re like, “Are you kidding me?” And just so normal. She’ll say, “Oh yes. Oh yeah, I sang on that. Oh yeah, when I did this and I did that…” She’ll just tell you stories for days and you’re just sitting there saying, “This woman is so incredible and so amazing.” And I feel so honored that she said yes. I feel so honored that she blessed the Them universe with her legendary-ness. She’s amazing. She really, really is. And she also feels so safe as well. She literally feels like an auntie.
So I felt very, very good working with her. I felt very safe working with her. I felt very seen working with her. I know that she’s been through so much in this industry, and that makes me just feel just empowered to just see her now and see her still working, still making amazing art and just enjoying herself. That is just amazing. That’s the best way I can put it, to be honest with you, because there are really no words that could capture it.
So either directly or indirectly, is there anything in particular that you learned or you pulled from her as an actress?
I would say the main, main, main thing is to enjoy what you do because if you don’t enjoy it, why the heck are you doing it? She still enjoys herself. She still tells jokes. She still is having fun with this thing. And I guess I’ve just seen so many actors that have been only doing this thing for a fraction of the time that she’s been doing it, and I’ve only been through probably a fraction of the things that she’s been through both personally and professionally, and they’re already jaded. They’re already not really enjoying the process. But she is not like that. She is still enjoying herself.
And another thing that I took from her, and this is an acting thing but this is really a personal thing, to be honest with you. It’s just like she’s so unapologetically herself. That just makes me feel like, I don’t know, it just gives me permission to take up space and just be yourself. Yeah, she’s amazing. I could gush about her all day, to be honest.
The role you have in Them this season; you’re in a really important position. I think about women like Lupita Nyong’o, Betty Gabriel, and the work Angela Bassett was doing on American Horror Story—having Black leads in these horror projects is really important culturally. How do you feel about the representation of Black women in the horror genre?
I think it is amazing. I love the fact that we can do horror because I find that oftentimes when we are put in the leads of these horror films and TV shows, we’re able to really, like I said before, show what we can do, show our range, play these characters that are complex, sometimes be the hero and sometimes be the villain.
I’m advocating for us, and I’m still making sure that I do my best to try to represent us well so that I can make it easier for the next. But I think it’s exciting, not only in horror but just across all genres. It really just shows that we are not a monolith, that we do not have to be put in one or two boxes. It excites me, and I’m glad to be a part. And the fact that you could even say my name in the same sentence as people like Pam, like Angela, like Lupita, for me, it feels like an honor. And I’m really excited about the work that we’ve done and we are going to continue to do.