Exclusive: Oyin Oladejo Talks Hulu’s Endings Season 2 And Star Trek: Discovery

Currently airing on Hulu is Season 2 of the hit sci-fi series, Endlings, starring Michela Luci. Kamaia Fairburn. Edison Grant. Cale Thomas Ferrin. Neil Crone. Lisa Ryder and Oyin Oladejo.

Set 20 years in the future, the live-action/CG series tells the empowering story of four teenagers in foster care who discover they’re not alone in the universe, even though it can sometimes feel like they are. Together, the intrepid family is on a mission to save the “endlings” (the very last of an earthly – or intergalactic – species) and bring them back from the brink of extinction. The goal of foster care is to reunify children with their biological parents whenever possible, and this season will bring Tabby (Michela Luci) back together with her mom – a moving moment rarely depicted in a kids’ show!

Picking up where Season 1 left off, the focus of Endlings Season 2 moves from saving elephants to polar bears and finds Tabby (Michela Luci) , Johnny (Edison Grant), Julia (Kamaia Fairburn), and Finn (Cale Thomas Ferrin) helping their extraterrestrial friend, Ling, as they get closer to saving the remaining fantastical endlings. When Ling accidentally shows Tabby a vision of their quest failing, the team learns Ling’s powers don’t just allow the alien access to their past, but also their future, kicking off a high-octane, time-bending adventure, where the teens must learn to let their hopes, not their hurts, shape the future. As they face their fears, they fight to change the future to save their lives and the planet. 

Also part of the series is Oyin Oladejo, who plays the caretaker Abiona Maina. Oladejo is coming off from playing Joann Owosekun in Season 3 of Star Trek: Discovery. She’s been on the show since the beginning. BlackFilmandTV.com recently spoke with her regarding her role in Endlings

With the new season having started, what can we expect from your character?

Oyin Oladejo: Abiona will be going through a transition that has begun in season one, where she came on strong, and came in defense of her elephant and met these kids and realized that you're fighting the same battle in the same cause that she is. And over the course of season two, I believe you start to see her take up more backstage to allow the kids drive the ship a bit more rather than being on top of them.

For a new audience now catching up on the series, what was the attraction to taking on the role? Discovery was your first series and this is your second.

Oyin Oladejo: Star Trek: Discovery was very new to me. And also, it wasn't a character that we we fully knew. And I knew that the character would develop over time, whereas with Abiona, that character had already been established, and also going into Endlings from Star Trek, I thought it would be an indifferent experience as an actor, playing a doctor with a bit more power; whereas in Star Trek, I am part of a team. I’m still new. I'm still trying to figure it all out. But somehow, they just ended up being two sci-fi shows. I didn't plan for that. But it somehow ended up being two sci fi shows. Endlings has been a very great compliment for me in terms of my journey as an actor with Star Trek.

What’s the sell to watching Endlings?

Oyin Oladejo: First of all, we're focusing on kids tackling a big subject matter, which is animal poaching and the extinction of animals out there. For kids driving this, but also for kids that don't have a stable home; and for kids who form a family of their own. They are tackling big adults subject by themselves and being brave to go on that journey. Dealing with aliens that you haven't seen before. The CGI in Endlings is pretty remarkable. There are different animals such as animals that have gone extinct, that we may not see on TV now are being brought back on Endlings.

Between Star Trek Discovery and Endlings, how are you handling the CGI part of both shows?

Oyin Oladejo: My first experience of that was on Star Trek and the people that know me know that I come from a theatre background. So I'm always acting next to another human being. The first time I acted with CGI is acting against a tennis ball. That threw me off because I wasn't getting any human response from a tennis ball. I realized that I needed to do a bit deeper work as an actor. There's so much more than you meet in the professional world outside of school. But the people that make that happen have found a way to make it easy for the actors. They would give you an eye line or a picture of what they're looking at for the final image. So you have that to work with. I think the biggest difference of course is maintaining a level of connection with an inanimate object. Over time, it's gotten better, but it's definitely difficult.

Being that you're working with a cast of kids, which is different from Star Trek: Discovery, what did you pick up from this particular series that helps your acting skills as you continue to take on different projects?

Oyin Oladejo: The main thing is, no matter how much you know, as an actor, no matter how much experience you have, kids will always bring you something new. They will always challenge you. And not being stuck in your way as an actor, even though you're very experienced, which I am not. In terms of being in the industry a bit longer than some of the kids that I was working with, I have to take a step back and realize my goodness, these people are playing. They have a natural instinct for play. And sometimes we as experienced actors lose that. So that is the one major thing I'm taking from Endlings, learning from my kid actors. 

The third season of Star Trek: Discovery recently finished. How much fun have you had on the series?

Oyin Oladejo: Oh, my God, I will forget the end of season three, I remember telling to the director Olatunde Osunsanmi that I am seriously exhausted. I don't know if it was 2am or 3am when we was finished, but I told him, I'm very exhausted. But this is exactly what I want from being an actor. I want to know that I have given it my all. And yeah, I I love what I do. I am so happy that I'm working on shows that are allowing me to play, especially Star Trek Discovery given me so much more and challenging me as an actor. It also kept pushing me and pushing my own physical results. I feel so blessed.

Have you seen a number of the Star Trek series or films to be knowledgeable?

Oyin Oladejo: I haven’t to be honest, I don't have enough knowledge to talk about details. But in terms of the world and what Star Trek stands for? Yes, I can speak about that. At the end of the day, that is what was important. I mean, I've been slowly watching Star Trek: Next Generation, which is one of the popular ones I guess. But yeah, honestly, I can't say that I have enough detailed information to speak about it. But enough about the world and what Star Trek stands for, absolutely.