Written By: Jayme Face
Hallea Jones can be seen playing Queen Bee, Eden Hawkins, on Netflix’s popular Locke and Key.
upfrontNY: Can you tell us about Locke and Key and your character Eden Hawkins?
Hallea Jones: Locke and Key is about a family. After their father is murdered they move back to his ancestral home. They start finding all these crazy magical keys that do crazy things and then while having fun with those they realize that there is a demon after the keys. So, they are dealing with the demon at home and then they have to go to school and deal with Eden Hawkins. Yeah, Eden Hawkins isn’t that nice.
upfrontNY: It being a horror drama, what was the scariest scene you had to film?
Hallea Jones: The scariest things that I had to film, probably the Kinsey fear monster appearing outside my window while I’m in my room. I obviously knew that she would be there, but the girl who was in the costume is this 12 year old girl and she is so sweet. She had all the prosthetics on, the fingernails and all the grossness and the curtains are closed and when I opened them for the first time I actually got a fright. It was kind of funny. Other than that, the scariest as an actor, would have been the cafeteria scene in episode 5. It was scary, but incredibly fun.
upfrontNY: Were you familiar with the comics before getting the part?
Hallea Jones: No, I was not.
upfrontNY: Have you been able to read them since and does it help you prepare for the role?
Hallea Jones: There are differences which I think are incredibly important in creating a TV adaptation because no one wants to watch the exact same story that they’ve already read. I think the showrunners along with the writing team have really developed a great comic book to screen adaptation. I loved the comic books. I read through them very quickly. I’m not a comic book kind of person either so the fact that they captivated me was really telling that Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez are so good at telling visual stories on a paper format and that got me really excited on what the team would create on an on-screen format.
upfrontNY: It is rumored that Netflix wants 4 seasons already, where do you hope to see your character go within the series?
Hallea Jones: I haven’t heard that confirmed. I love those rumors because how devastating would it be if it didn’t. But, you know with how positive the response has been I think we’re all kind of feeling the energy around the potential for a long run for this show. A long run I think for Netflix is 4 seasons which I think would be a healthy number of seasons that Lock and Key could really push it. I think after 4 seasons it’s kind of like make sure the story is keeping together and not straying too far from it like a lot of other shows do. It kind of loses the fan base that it began with that it is the comic book fan base and those that love the story for what it is and not try to prolong it for six or seven seasons. Anyway, that’s not confirmed, but where would I hope to see Eden? I hope she doesn’t die really quick. I hope she lives a little bit. That girl has a lot of life ahead of her, I’m hoping, or at least she did until something possessed her. I would really like to see Eden go on the nice side, kind of get really close with the Locke family, do a 180 from where we saw her in the first season. I have no idea. When Jesse Camacho and I would visit the writers room they would tell us nothing! Absolutely nothing! That’s on the down low and I’m sure we will figure that out soon, but I would like to see her have more fun. And instead of having the keys used on her, use the keys on other people.
upfrontNY: Playing the mean girl, what kind of feedback have you gotten? Do people have a hard time separating the character from the actor?
Hallea Jones: I actually had a friend tell me the other day “I don’t see you at all. I see Eden.” I truly took that as such a big compliment because as an actor we have to step away from ourselves. The one message I did get a lot of people saying was “I hate you in this show, but I love your acting! Good job!” I guess it’s supposed to be that way. If I ever hear teenage girls saying that they love Eden I would be a little worried about that. That’s not good. Then, about the cafeteria scene, my friend wrote to me “Oh my gosh, I’m having a really hard time separating character from actor right now. Are you okay?“ Like I’m fine I’m doing swell. I’m just chilling.
upfrontNY: Are you a big horror fan yourself?
Hallea Jones: Oh, God No. I absolutely despise horror so much. I don’t despise it, I’ll take that back. I greatly respect the art form it is. I don’t respect the fact that it haunts me for weeks to come after. As somebody who has an active imagination I can’t sit through horror. It’s not even the sitting through it which is horrible, but it’s the nights that follow.
upfrontNY: I know your album is not coming out for a while, but can you tell us anything about it?
Hallea Jones: Yeah, A little bit. So, I recently got back into music almost two years ago now. I’ve been working with some fantastic musicians in the city, but nothing happens as quickly as anybody really wants it to because life gets in the way sometimes. Every Monday I’ve been doing this band jam thing where I work with these incredibly talented musicians all night. We just had one which was a lot of fun. I’m hoping to release more so singles, just separate songs right now. I’m working on a bigger concept for the future. I have no timeline right now. I want to take my time with music because I know that it is something that I want to do for the rest of my life, same with acting. So, I don’t plan on rushing into it by any means and I think rushing into it would mean leaving myself unsatisfied with my work and it wouldn’t produce the best songs possible. Yeah, at some point in the future definitely some produced stuff will come out, but right now I’m kind of focusing on the stripped back, real time, little videos of me singing and enjoying playing music and sharing it with the world. I’m figuring it out as I go.
upfrontNY: What is it like working with your brother? What are the rewards and challenges?
Hallea Jones: My brother is one of the most talented people I know, unbiased opinion. He has a lot to show for himself. At first it was incredibly intimidating and very difficult. It still is a sibling relationship. We’ve been in a crazy sibling relationship for 22 years. Hello! There’s a lot of history there that you have to sift to compared to working with somebody you’re just getting to know or you’re friends with, but the rewards have been getting to see him work and getting to see him be a part of something he enjoys. Being a part of that has been the most rewarding. Also one of his friends in front of him told me that my brother is my biggest fan and that he is incredibly proud of me. The friend was like “Maybe he should have said that to you.” and my brother just turned and said “Yeah, I’m proud of you.” That’s the cool thing to kind of be on the same team as your sibling and develop a relationship outside of familial values which has been super cool. Now I’m hanging out with all of his friends which I guess could be very weird for him, but yeah it’s been really cool. I’m hoping to release some stuff. It’s not going to be Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell. It’s a different kind of thing. I’m working with a lot of different producers right now and definitely having my brother around wherever he feels like he fits in best. It’s been a really cool journey so far with him.
upfrontNY: What do you like to do outside of performing?
Hallea Jones: I have been getting more into reading lately. I’ve noticed that I spend far too much time on my phone and I’ve been pushing myself to spend more time reading or creating music. Outside of music and acting I love to paint; I use acrylics. I love spending time with my friends and just hanging out, but mainly music.
upfrontNY: Is there anything you’d like to let our readers know?
Hallea Jones: You can find me on all my socials @halleajones.
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