Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania picks up after the events of Avengers: Endgame, with Scott Lang as a hero who helped save the universe. Now, his only goal is to spend time with his daughter Cassie and make up for the years they missed out on. However, when one of Cassie's experiments goes wrong, she, Scott, Hope Van Dyne, Janet Van Dyne, and Hank Pym are drawn into the Quantum Realm.
During Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, secrets that Janet had long buried are revealed, including Kang the Conqueror, a dangerous new multiversal threat. While in the Quantum Realm, Scott and Cassie meet a group of freedom fighters led by Jentorra. Jentorra's friends and followers are survivors who have been displaced by Kang and will stop at nothing to defeat him.
Screen Rant spoke with Katy O'Brian about her character Jentorra in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. She revealed the characters and movies that influenced her performance. O'Brian also discussed the production process and what she hopes Cassie learned from Jentorra.
Katy O'Brian on Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
Screen Rant: Katy, fantastic job on Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. It is so much fun entering that Quantum Realm. What drew you to the character of Jentorra, and what was the casting process like?
Katy O'Brian: I guess I'll start with the casting, because I didn't know what movie I was auditioning for. I didn't know what character I was auditioning for. I just got these fake sides and they kind of give you an idea. I loved that she was a leader. I loved that she was a good guy because no one ever cast me for those. So that was awesome.
And then when I discussed further with Peyton, he was talking about this Red Sonja, Conan the Barbarian vibe. I grew up with Xena: Warrior Princess, one of my icons. So it was kind of like a dream role for me to get to play someone who was a little more archaic in vibes. We're in this new potentially advanced, potentially very the power is in nature kind of world. And it was just really surreal, really awesome, and an honor to play.
How did you approach Jentorra as the leader of the Freedom Fighters? And what research did you do into the character?
Katy O'Brian: I think Jentorra is much more of a warrior spirit, and we have a lot of freedom fighting, it works in a lot of different ways. So you have people that go out physically fight. You have people that might make the weapons. You have people that help feed the communities. So I think they did a good job of showing that there's several groups of people that have several different roles in this community.
And Jentorra has to be able to understand those people, help guide them, and basically figure out how to keep everybody safe, as happy as you can, healthy and together. Which is I think the hardest part whenever you're going up against somebody. A lot of it, I'm looking at all these movies Braveheart's a great movie, it's an older movie, but great. It had kind of 300 vibes of going against someone that you just couldn't defeat, but you're still fighting.
And then we didn't want to appropriate native culture, but there's so much power coming from the earth that you're in, and in drawing inspiration and everything from your world. There's just a lot that you pull from. And all of it was just me trying to do justice to a character that I really respect and appreciated.
Is there anything you wished to explore more in the Quantum Realm and the Freedom Fighters with Jentorra?
Katy O'Brian: We all had such a really interesting relationship on set. David Dastmalchian's hilarious, William Jackson Harper is hilarious, amazing. And then the guy that played Xolum, James Cutler, he's so funny. I would've loved to have gotten to interact with them on a less serious level and then also to see really all the different groups of people in more depth that we had there. So they really did create this amazing world behind the scenes that they didn't really have time to fully explore. And I just think that's so cool.
Is it you guys just essentially in a green-screen room doing the lines? How much were you actually able to infuse on the fly?
Katy O'Brian: Will Htay was the set designer. Those weaponized buildings or whatever, they were there. They weren't moving, but he had buildings all over the place. They had dirt at our feet. And the first day, did not smell good, smelled like poop. I don't know what they used, but eventually either that aired out or they got new dirt, I don't know. But there's dirt on your feet, the ground's uneven. So when you're running around fighting and stuff, you got to think of that.
In our fight scenes, there's fire all around you. It's hot, it's scary, and it's there. And even little subtle details. We had little plants, we had baskets full of things. There's drying food hanging around. So I mean, they really did their best to submerge you in the world. And then a lot of the things that I saw for the first time in the movie, you're surrounded by a blue screen, so what was on that blue screen, and it's kind of ethereal clouds and stuff.
That's cool. So, you were actually on a pretty practical real set for most of this?
Katy O'Brian: Yeah. It was really awesome. I'm glad they did that because, and even the background actors that they had, they really went into detail on every single person and they just looked unbelievable. So you were transported. It was really cool.
Can you talk about what it was collaborating with Peyton Reed to craft Jentorra?
Katy O'Brian: Yeah. Before I'd spoken to him, I only had what information I could draw from comics. So I was really kind of like, "Okay, well, this is interesting." She does magic, but she's not fully trained in magic. So she kind of screws up the whole world. And then I was trying to make it right. And then in talking to Peyton, he's like, "No, that's not it. We're doing a pretty different version. You're a leader, you're very competent. There's not much magic involved, but we have this spear that they're kind of crafting a mythology for."
And they kind of treated like it was sacred on set. I would hand it off to these really tall guys that were kind of the protectors of the spear, and then they would toss it to me for battle. So they came up with all this really cool stuff behind the scenes that doesn't really get mentioned in the movie at all.
Originally, it was kind of like, where are we finding Jentorra in this space? And it was with a really big grudge against Janet. And then they kind of moved the Janet stuff away because we're like, "Well, we never even interact in the movie, so there's no resolution for us." So they shifted the focus to Jentorra's interaction with Cassie and how they kind of guide each other through the Quantum Realm.
What did you want to bring to Jentorra that wasn't on the page?
Katy O'Brian: I wanted to bring kind of a multi-layered humanity to her, because oftentimes I feel like when you play these really tough characters, you feel like you just have to be angry and tough all the time. But I wanted to show that she really genuinely loved and cared for the people that she was fighting for. And that's why you fight for something. It's not just out of spite for somebody that pushed you out of the way. These people are human beings that are worthy of having a good quality of life, and they're people that she truly, genuinely cares about.
Do you think Cassie's time with Jentorra in the Quantum Realm will change her as a hero moving forward in the MCU?
Katy O'Brian: I do. I hope so. I mean, think that part of their relationship, interaction, was, you can't just do these things and not have a plan. You have to think about the consequences of your actions. And that's one of the most pivotal things of being a hero is, if I send a signal down to the Quantum Realm, what happens? Oh, okay, there are consequences to the actions. And because she did that, Kang found us, our world was blown apart again. I mean, it was a pretty heavy lesson to learn. So I hope that she realizes now back in the real world, if you're messing with things you don't understand, you really have to think twice, and you really need to think three times when you're impacting entire civilizations with immense power.
Speaking of the real world, what would Jentorra think of Earth if she were to leave the Quantum Realm?
Katy O'Brian: She'd probably think it was polluted. You almost wonder if it's just like there's just much less magic, or if we don't see the magic. I don't know. But she would certainly think it was strange that they relied so much on external energy sources and things, I think.
About Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
After defeating Thanos, Scott is ready to make up for the time he missed as a father, but before he has the chance, he, Hop Van Dyne, Janet Van Dyne, Hank Pym, and Cassie Lang are pulled into the mysterious Quantum Realm. Now, the family will need to navigate the Quantum Relam and its inhabitants, including a new threat, Kang the Conqueror, if they have any chance of returning home.
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