INTERVIEW BY CLARA SEELY-KATZ

Jonathan Daviss is a self-proclaimed nerd. He loves comics, anime, and manga, he fans over the Marvel and DC actors, and he has endless nerdy references. But he isn’t just a “new wave” nerd, no, he’s been a nerd since before it was cool to embody the title, and this is something I immediately related to on a deeper level. 

Daviss plays the character of Pope on the outrageously successful and popular Netflix series Outer Banks [Streaming July 30th 2021], the second season of which is highly anticipated and bound to be a 2021 summertime hit. The series is one of the most bingeable dramas streaming today, it follows a close-knit group of friends as they attempt to solve a few intertwined mysteries. It is full of drama, teen angst, and twists that make the show as a whole, a very compelling watch.

Daviss’s character is somewhat of a mediator throughout the show. Since all of the characters have prominent clashing personalities, Pope is the glue that seems to hold the whole crew together, making him an essential member of the friend group. That being said, Pope has a fire inside of him and will do anything for his friends, so he is a lot more than just a nice face and placating smile, he has passion.

In our discussion, we covered everything from Daviss’s beginnings in acting to his love and idolization of Anthony Mackie (AKA Captain America) and how he feels about interacting with fans, especially the unlikely ones. Daviss is an incredibly thoughtful young man with his eyes towards the future and hope in his heart. I wouldn't be surprised to one day soon see him playing one of the superheroes he admired in his childhood. 

Before we begin our conversation, I saw that you are a big anime fan all over the internet. What are your favorite anime shows?

In no particular order?

In no particular order.

Well, the problem is I don't know if I get to count the Shonen just because they were big when I was a kid, and I read all of Naruto before I watched it and all of Bleach before I watched it as well. Right now, I am watching My Hero Academia - which is so great - but there are really so many I love. Full Metal Alchemist, Soul Eater, Demon Slayer…

Jujutsu Kaisen?

Jujutsu Kaisen, yes! We could really spend this entire interview talking about anime. 

True! But now I want to ask you, about your past year, 2020/2021, how has it been for you?

It was weird. You know, it was first terrifying. I'm sure it was for everyone. Then it got really boring. And then, Outer Banks came out, and it got really weird. I was still in quarantine, and everybody told me, “The show is doing great, man." And I'm so used to people telling my family and me, "he did a good job," but then just moving on. So, I didn't expect or didn't understand (I still think we don't understand) the show's popularity. We just were focused on making it. Quarantine-wise, with Outer Banks coming out, it didn't feel that different at first. We [the cast and crew] kept moving as everybody else did, wondering when the world would get back to normal. I connected with my family a lot because that's who I stayed with during COVID. It was a scary time, but it also helped me figure out myself a lot too. And it helped me solidify my relationships with my family and my sisters, and my mother.

You filmed the second season during the height of COVID in America.

Yeah! We were the first show to go back after quarantine. Nobody really knew what it was like to shoot a show with COVID, we all kind of had to figure that out, so there definitely was a lot of trial and error. At the time, there wasn't a lot of information about COVID-19. They knew "six feet" and masking, the basics. The difficulty was making regulations fit into a movie set mode and making it work for everybody. Sometimes when you're an actor, your job requires you to be very up close and personal with another castmate, so it was kind of confusing. We were able to be close to the other actors while filming the scenes, but not outside of work, which is weird, and didn't make much sense. But we followed the rules, and it was a lot of trial and error. It was a long season, a really long season. COVID made our shooting schedule way longer than it probably would have been. It also made things harder than they should have been. We all learned how to deal with it, which is what movie sets are known for: having a problem, learning how to adapt and deal, and making it work either way. And I think regardless of the difficulties, this season [season two] still came out really good. 

OUTER BANKS Season 2 is now streaming on NETFLIX