“It’s like a dream job. I know this will be one of the best things I’ll ever get to be a part of and I’m so proud of it,” Sarah-Nicole Robles tells me about her role as Luz Noceda in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:The Owl House. “It’s doing good for the world, and that’s the dream 𝓀of anyone’s job right? Not only to do something you enjoy, but to know that it’s helping people.”
Luz Noceda is the heart and soul of The Owl House - a Latinx protagonist unabashedly proud of who she is as a bisexual teenager learning to be a witch amidst a dangerous magical world. She finds a new home in The Boiling Isles, a realm unafraid to embrace her quirks and insecurities. Now in her element, I caught up with Robles to talk about bringing such a character to life now the show is 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:finally back on our screens.
But before we got into the cutesy gay romance and compelling character drama I had to address the elephant in the room - The Owl House’s shortened order and sudden cancellation. It hit everyone working on the show hard, from animators to voice actors to writers, and it seems the only hope now is to keep showing support the best we♒ can.
&ldqu🎀o;Our team is just so cool. I know it sounds fake but it’s not fake. I really love talking and hanging out with any member of the team,” Robles tells me. “They’re all so brilliant, kind, and funny so I was heartbroken [when the show was cancelled]. Truly, truly, truly depressed. Not just because it’s a job, it doesn’t feel like a job. It’s your soul food you know?
“I try to live in the theory of abundance and try to assume that something this amazing will come around again, and I hope it does. Jobs like this where you connect so much and everything is just an absolute delight are so rare. When does anything like that ever happen? I’m so flattered that people think I’m like Luz because she’s incredible - like what could be a more charming and honest comparison? I’m just so proud that I could help bring someone like Luz into the world because people🐎 need to know.”
I’ll be delving deeper into the circumstances behind The Owl House and Disney in a future piece featuring both Robles and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Lilith Clawthorne’s Cissy Jones, but for now it’s time to look at what makes Luz Noceda tick, and the integral role Robles played in bringing Dana Terrace’s story, world, and ch🌞aracter to life.
While their performances might not show it, 🐬voice actors are often recording lines long before animation is completed. Robles tells me that many of her scenes were done from animatics, or while bouncing off the recordings of those who have already been in the booth before her. But with the right direction and creatives guiding her, the emotional character moments found in The Owl House are able to come thick and fast.
“Most of the time we aren’t together, and you don’t see the whole animation or any of it in most cases, so when you finally see it it’s just as exciting for us,” Robles♛ says. You’ll see an episode and be like, &lsq🤪uo;Yes, finally that’s out! Finally people know!’ and I’m relieved because it’s so hard keeping secrets when all people want to do is talk about it.
“[Our direction] is all so specific that the show always ends up being more realistic. I can ask Dana like, ‘How many feet away am I when I do this or whose behind me?’ and this is when it’s all barely animatics, and she’s got it. People like her and our directors just blow me away by how they can direct without h༺aving anything, like they’re starting from nothing. They’re just imaginary ac🎐tors in an imaginary space that you’ve never seen and won’t see for a while.”
Recording in isolation with few visuals to go on can often result in certain exchanges feeling stilted or unnatural, but that’s never been a problem with Luz or The Owl House. “They always say in act💧ing stuff to never judge your character,” Robles explains. “You have to be on their side or see it from their perspective and you can’t judge it. It’s so funny because when I do work that isn’t always at the forefront of my brain and then I hear reactions to Luz where people are like she’s clearly this, and this, and this, and I’m like, ‘Oh yeah?!’”
Luz is an unpredictable character by nature, and that’s partly why the fandom has fallen in love with her so easily. She’s easy to empathise with and reflects many of the insecurities young queer viewers might be facing in their own lives. While she is a person many might aspire to be, The Owl House also isn’t afraid to teach her the nature of responsibility and how 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:c𓄧ertain actions also have consequences. This came to a head in Yesterday’s Lie, the midseason finale that marked a major change in Luz’s charaꦉcter arc, and Robles was more than happy to delve into these ramifications.
“Yesterday’s Lie🤪 had a script that was so specific I felt like I could see it before I ever saw it,” Robles tells me. “It was exactly what I ended up seeing in the episode, nothing was a smidge off from what I’d imagined. It was really hard but the actor who plays Camila - [Elizabeth Grullon] is amazing - recorded before I did so I was able to hear her stuff too while I went. That moment in the rain is so heartbreaking, it’s also realistic because when you grow into adults and start choosing your own path you’re gonna have to leave some things behind, It’s not like you can move all of your friends and family with you everywhere you go and they’re gonna come with you on every journey, even though it’s not that you wouldn’t want them to. Sometimes we have to make decisions and those decisions will have consequences you’re really not okay with but you made them and I think it shows that Luz would never hurt anybody on purpose. She had no idea how much she had hurt [her mum]. It was so honest and so easy to act in that respect. I got to have a whole monologue in the rain. It was perfect, it was juicy.”
Then there’s Lumity, a queer romance that has taken the animated world by storm. But much like everything else in the show, Robles learned ꦏab🐼out this as she went, but was more than happy to lend her voice to a character who would go down as one of the purest LGBTQ+ heroines in recent memory.
“When I was cast as Luz I didn’t know any of that about our show,” she says. “I was like, ‘Really? We get to do that too? Like not only am I nerd of colour but I’m also queer? Awesome! Oh and it’s with Amity?’ I was like a fan experiencing it, because I’m not writing it. Not to undervalue what we do and that it’s not its own art, but I don’t get to choose what I say. Our writers are just incredible. They’re very aware, they’re open minded, and it’s just such a privilege. I’m not queer myself, but I know what representation can do, and I know what good representation can do so I’♔m grateful to be a part of something I can be so proud of. I love Luz, she and what she represents is amazing, and she’s such a full-rounde♕d character. Not a caricature, not a stereotype.”
Young queer love is an adorable t⛎hing, and to swoon over Lumity with the voice behind one of the main characters was a delight. “The whole Luz and Amity thing makes me *squealing noises* just as much as the fans. When I read it I’m just all, ‘Ahhh! I&rsq♑uo;m so happy for us!’ because they’re just so sweet. They’re so young and innocent and like everything is new to them. The first time you hold your girlfriend’s hand or talk to someone and the fact that we get to see everything is just so wild. Love is love and we all love love.
“When I had that episode in the library and Edric and Emira were there I turned to Dana and asked is Luz flirting with them, Luz is flirting with both of them, is Luz bisexual? Then the Amity thing came around and I was like Amity is flirting with Luz. I’ll be in the booth or I’m at home and my husband and my best friend won’t let me talk about spoilers with them so I am always just NDA tight and in my own brain squealing by mys🍃elf. With Amity I was asking if she was bisexual too and Dana was like ‘No, she’s a lesbian.’”
During our interview I broug﷽ht up a signing video that was shared online where she appears to whisper to Dana Terrace asking if Amity is straight, to which she replied with a swift shake of the he🤪ad. I thought my cut was too deep, but Robles is quick to remember: “I don’t even know during that signing if I knew yet that we were gonna get together. I just knew there were little flirtations because Luz can be real lusty sometimes. I didn’t know what would come from any of it, like was it just that villain sexual tension thing you know? I try not to ask Dana in advance because I want to be there with Luz, I don’t want to accidentally taint anything with future knowledge by tainting the end of the book.”
Keep an eye out next week for an extensive interview with Sarah-Nicole Robles and Cissy Jones on The Owl House, queer representation, Luz, Lilith, and a bunch more.
