‘From’ Season 4 Just Confirmed the Town’s Deadliest Threat With a Game-Changing Cliffhanger

Editor’s note: The below interview contains major spoilers for the From Season 4 premiere.

For every question that MGM+’s horror series From has provided an answer to, twenty more have tended to spring up in its place. That’s certainly been the case now that the show is heading into its fourth season, with renewal of a fifth now confirmed as a way to definitively wrap up the story — but as the terrifying Man in the Yellow Suit (Douglas E. Hughes) once cryptically uttered, “What happens next is my favorite part.”

Some eagle-eyed fans may have spotted a few of the earliest clues via the Season 4 trailer, but it turns out that the Man in Yellow is no longer content to reserve his most chilling actions for the unlucky townspeople that happen to encounter him in the woods (RIP, Eoin Bailey‘s Jim). It takes until the very end of “The Arrival” for the episode to reveal its biggest twist to viewers — that Sophia (Julia Doyle), a young Christian woman who crashes into town alongside her “father,” is actually the Man in Yellow in disguise, setting up the revelation that the town’s deadliest threat is now walking among them. Ahead of the Season 4 premiere, Collider spoke with Doyle about her journey to joining From, when she found out who she was really playing, the secret technique she used to differentiate her performances, who Sophia already has her sights set on, and more.

COLLIDER: How much did you even know about who you were really playing before you were cast in From?

JULIA DOYLE: I didn’t know I was auditioning for From. I auditioned for a show called No Exit, and I didn’t get any storyline. In the script, all my scenes took place in the clinic, and a lot of the lines were changed. Instead of saying, “Oh, the monsters, they come out at night,” I would say, “Oh, the monsters that live inside the walls?”

I had watched Season 1 prior, and when I finally booked it, I did not know who the Man in Yellow was yet, so I knew that I was changing into a monster, but I didn’t know I was changing into the monster. It was definitely one of those things where it came in stages. “Oh, this is great!” [Pauses] “Oh my god, I booked a really good role!” [Pauses] “Oh my god, it’s a really good role on a really good show.” [Pauses] “Oh my god, this is a really, really good role.”

‘From’s Julia Doyle Got More Answers About Her Character After She Was Cast

“I got information when I was shooting block two, which was Episodes 3 and 4.”

Image via MGM+

Once you were cast, did you get any lore secrets from the series creators to help your performance at all, or was it mostly limited to what you were able to pick up from the scripts?

DOYLE: Yes, but not immediately. I got information when I was shooting block two, which was Episodes 3 and 4. I definitely did have to make up some stuff, but at the same time, not much changed. It was pretty good.

There’s a jump back in time after the episode’s big reveal, to all the steps leading up to it. From a filming standpoint, did you shoot chronologically, starting from the transformation in the woods, or was it less linear than that?

DOYLE: We shoot things in blocks — there are five blocks, and each block is two episodes. My scenes inside the car, post-crash, those were the very first scenes I ever did on the show, but then also right after that, I did scenes from Episode 2. To end that block, I did my flashback scenes and scenes driving the car inside the studio with the green screen and everything, and also the transformation and everything. That was all my last day of block one.

Related

MGM+’s Mind-Bending Horror Series ‘From’ Takes a Necessary Step Back in Season 4 | Review

Terror still reigns supreme, but this time, it comes from within.

Talking about the crash, Sophia gets pinned in and has to wait for the others to free her. How long did you have to sit inside the car, in that position, between takes?

DOYLE: The first thing I will say is I loved the physicality of it, because doing auditions, you don’t always have things to work off of, and it can be a hindrance when you’re trying to make things up and mime things. You feel really fucking silly. So it’s really nice to have that. It’s also just one of those scenes that gets you. You don’t have to try as much as an actor because you already have the work there in front of you, and you can just do it.

I kind of just stayed in the car. They were very nicely like, “Are you sure you want to go? You can walk around.” I’m like, “No, I’m chillin’. This is a comfy seat.” They would recline the seat more, so I wouldn’t be totally locked in there, but yeah, it was great.

The reveal of Sophia’s true identity isn’t until the very end of the episode, but it happens after she takes her glasses off. For you, are little details like that helpful shorthand to inform the moments when you’re playing “Sophia” versus her real self? Does taking the glasses off symbolize her unmasking?

DOYLE: That’s very, very, very true, the unmasking part of that. I think my thought process was, “I want to make sure I really savor this moment and take it in, and I want to see clearly.” But de-masking, that’s probably what the writer was thinking when he was writing it. That’s really good writing, but in my head, I was like, “I just want to look at [the pastor] more. I want to get a good look at [him].” It’s also me being like, “Take a moment to breathe. Take off my mask.” So that wording does make a lot of sense.

‘From’s Julia Doyle Reveals the Secret Technique She Used to Get Into Different Character Headspaces

“When I’m Sophia, I want to fully be Sophia and not think that I’m the Man in Yellow acting as Sophia.”

Image via MGM+

Was there anything else, even if it was something that no one else knew about, that you used to help yourself in the moments when you’re playing “Sophia” versus the moment when we finally see the mask slip?

DOYLE: I used two different perfumes. I had one that was a pine scent, that was woodsy, that I used for the Man in Yellow, and then one [for Sophia] that was called Bubbles, and it was a nice sweet scent. Another thing that was really, really nice was, as an actress, obviously, there are moments in a scene where I might notice the camera, or stepping on my mark. So it was one of those things where, instead of being like, “Oh, shit, I’m acting,” it was one of those things where I was like, “Yeah, I’m acting right now.”

When I’m Sophia, I want to fully be Sophia and not think that I’m the Man in Yellow acting as Sophia. But if I did have moments when I would catch the camera in my peripherals, I would use it as a, “Yeah, you are acting,” instead of, “You’re acting right now on a set! Don’t flub your lines. Are you acting good? Are you acting bad right now?” It actually snapped me more into character, in a sense.

You have a few scenes with Kenny in the premiere, and I think there’s a protectiveness from him that maybe Sophia could exploit a little. Is there anyone that she’s set her sights on in terms of a potential target among the townspeople, or is everyone fair game at this point?

DOYLE: I think everyone’s fair game, but at the same time, there are people who are easier game than others. There are people that she knows would be more likely to look a little deeper than other people who are just like, “Oh, sweet little baby. I gotta make sure she’s okay.” So I think it’s one of those things where everyone’s typically fair game, and she’s not afraid, but at the same time, she’s not an idiot, and she’s not going to do things willy-nilly just because she can.

Who might start picking apart details and figuring out that her story’s not lining up, and whose protective instincts can she appeal to, in other words?

DOYLE: And if people are trying to sense the truth, or are starting to sense it, then she’s already laid the groundwork with her backup.

New episodes of From Season 4 premiere Sundays on MGM+.