The third season of CW's Nancy Drew premieres this week, promising answers to several cliffhangers from the end of Season 2 -- including Nick's answer to George's marriage proposal. But Nick has more on his plate than just romance. In Season 3, he's trying to start up a youth center while managing a building, and that's all in between helping out to solve mysteries with the rest of the Drew Crew. It's a lot for one character to tackle, but actor Tunji Kasim brings a calm, charismatic wit to the role that makes it easy to root for Nick's journey.
Kasim spoke with CBR about his character's role on Nancy Drew and teased what's coming in Season 3 -- including what parts of Nick's backstory might make an appearance. He also teased viewers about what -- if any -- additional Nancy Drew-verse character might appear in The CW series, following Season 2's surprise Bobbsey Twins and Tom Swift debuts.
CBR: What part of your character Ned Nickerson do you most identify with?
Tunji Kasim: I would like to say his intelligence but I don't know if I'm that smart. What do I most identify with? I think his protectiveness of his friends. I think he seems to have an innate need to protect and shield the people around him and the people that he loves. I think that's probably in part due to the experiences he's had in his life that have been unpleasant and I think that's made him to a degree... Not cynical, necessarily, but fairly shielded and fairly cautious of the world. Obviously, the crew finds themselves in many insane situations, but I think he tends to be one of the more cautious and one of the more, "Are we sure we want to do this?"-type of voices. I would probably be very similar if I found myself in a lot of those situations. So probably his protectiveness of himself and those around him that he loves.
It feels like it's probably good to have one of those voices around, both in the show and real life.
I think it's very sensible to have at least one friend that's going, "Guys, let's think about this." Rather than everyone just being, "Eh, let's do it!"
Nick brings a lot to the Drew Crew -- he's a mechanic with knowledge of cars, he's got money, he's protective, he provides tons of emotional support -- so what to you is Nick's role in the group?
I think all the things you've listed. He brings the more technical side of skills. He brings practical skills to the table -- his engineering and his interest. Once again, going back to his intellect, he's clearly a very smart guy who is able to engineer new technologies, both human-made and supernatural. So I think, on a practical level, that's very much his immediate contribution to the many mysteries and puzzles that the Drew Crew find themselves in.
But also, going back to my first answer about him being protective and that voice of caution, just to make sure that we're all on the same page. There's been many a scene where Nick's been the one to just check in with everyone and just say, "Are we sure that we all want to do this?"
I think there are far more front-footed characters -- Nancy, obviously being probably the most in just diving into it. Of course, going into Nick and Nancy's history, their romantic history, that was one of the bigger points of contention between them. Nancy was very front-footed and wanting to throw herself into all these wonderful adventures and Nick was a far more, "Let's just sit back, take care of us, and then we can step forward." I think that's Nick's role. He's practical, he's an engineer and mechanically-minded. But he is also the voice of reason, the voice of caution.
Nick’s relationships are some of the most complicated on the show, with his current girlfriend sharing a body with a ghost but also because his ex Nancy is the main character and still a close friend. Does that cause any friction in the group, is it strange to play such complicated relationships?
I don't think it's strange to play it -- I think it's interesting to play it as an actor, from an actor's point of view. From Nick's point of view, as the person himself, I think, fortunately, the writers have very much lent a very mature approach to the relationship dynamic between Nick, George, and Nancy. I think there's definitely a version out there where you can up the drama, especially between the two female characters where there's just this competitiveness between them.
But I think the wonderful approach that the writers have taken on this show is that there is a maturity to that relationship and inevitably, in Nancy Drew but also in life, when it comes to romance -- that's very complicated. It can be very complicated, especially within a close-knit group of friends. So what's refreshing, I find, about this is that there is a maturity that is written by the writers, but inevitably there are moments of awkwardness and uncomfortableness between the characters and people themselves. But they seem very able to navigate those very successfully and carry on having a functioning dynamic where they can do all these weird and wonderful things together, and still stay supportive of each other.
Nick's relationship with George is maybe the longest-standing relationship in the whole show — how important do you think this relationship, in particular, is to Nick? We see him leaving behind a lot of especially familial relationships to come to Horseshoe Bay and forging new relationships when he gets there. Is his relationship to George important for who he becomes as a character?
Absolutely, absolutely. I think, obviously, they are deeply involved with each other, obviously given the cliffhanger we left in Season 2, where we left that off. So they've very much entwined with each other. I think what's fantastic about George, for Nick, is that going back to Nick's cautiousness, I think sometimes he can possibly be too cautious and often he's too willing -- not docile, but he's not very assertive in necessarily himself and what he wants. I think when situations get pushed to an extreme, there's definitely a side of Nick where he snaps and he goes into doing what he gets done. But I think in the day-to-day, he can lack that assertiveness and making sure that he's not being stepped on or stepped over.
I think what's brilliant about George is obviously she's the complete opposite of that and takes no guff from no one. I think it's great that some of that can kind of rub off onto Nick from George. I think as far as Nick developing as a person, George is very fundamental in encouraging him to be a bit more front-footed and a bit more assertive as to what he wants and what his needs are.
It's interesting you bring up the whole Nick coming to Horseshoe Bay and his past in Florida, obviously, he's from Florida. That's something we're going to lean into in Season 3 and explore. There might be some old friends coming to town. We're going to kind of explore Nick's past and you could say his denial of it because obviously him leaving Florida and all that kind of stuff is tied in with a very traumatic experience with him, with the manslaughter case he was involved in and then ending up in juvenile detention. He seems to have created a before and a present. I think in Season 3, we're going to lean into exploring that before catching up with him and how does he reconcile the two and make sure he is a whole person and not just someone else in Maine as he is in Florida, and the history of the family he has there. So it's going to be really interesting to see how that develops. Obviously, George is linked with that and it'll be interesting to see how that affects Nick and George's relationship when the past comes up for Nick again and how he wants to deal with that. To give a little teaser, that's what Season 3 is going to explore with Nick.
Another recent change for Nick is the development of this secondary focus on establishing a youth center. How important is it for Nick to have this type of community and social action, and how important is it for you?
As far as Nick goes, I think it's clearly very important to the character. I think he felt there was something he could contribute to his community. There was a gap that he felt needed filling, obviously directly with his own experience having gone through the juvenile correction system. He obviously doesn't want that happening to other youths and that's very important to him that he gives young people the best opportunities, the opportunities they can going forward. And I think that's extremely admirable of Nick. I suppose as Tunji, you can't help but admire that in Nick and it's obviously something I would want to do more and to a degree do do in my own personal life. I think it's very important.
I think often you have to make choices -- I work with Covenant House, which is a charity here in Vancouver. I do things with them, fundraising and things like that. They focus on young people, homeless young people, young people in need. I think you have to make a choice because obviously you have limited energy in this life. You have to make a choice -- who do you help? Everyone helps different people, of course, but I think there's definitely something to be said about helping young people as soon as possible so that they grow into productive and healthy adults. That's a way of stopping the damage that we see done to people in society.
I think, for Nick, he has all this money, right? And what can you do with all this money? One of the great things I thought about Nick, right from the start, was he was never like, "Great, I've got money, I'm a young dude -- I'm going to go out, I'm going to buy this, I'm going to buy that, get that car." He was never about that. That was something that I definitely connect with and respect. What do you do with this money, this privilege that you have, this opportunity? And his thing is to give back and to give back to people that need it the most. Because there's nothing sadder than lost potential, I think. It's one of the saddest things to see such a young person who, if they just had the right person in their life at the right time, could have gone on to do brilliant, brilliant things. I think that's what Nick's trying to achieve and I think that's what we should all try to achieve and nourish in our societies.
How familiar were you with Nancy Drew before you joined the project?
I grew up between Nigeria and Scotland, and I think Nancy Drew is very much an American property. It's known around the world, no doubt, but I think it's rarer to meet people who know Nancy Drew outside of America. But I was fortunate enough to actually grow up with a couple of Nancy Drew books, just two or three. So I was very aware of Nancy Drew growing up, and I was very aware when I got the email for the audition for this. I was pretty aware of what it was and its history. I wouldn't say I was a learned scholar when it came to Nancy Drew literature.
The Nancy Drew I grew up reading and the Nancy Drew of old is very different than the Nancy Drew we have here in -- we started in 2019, but here in 2021 -- not only because the ghosts are real, the supernatural element is real, but also the producers and the writers and the guys at The CW have been very conscious of introducing as much cultural and ethnic diversity as possible. Nick, for example, obviously in the books he was a white, middle class... Did he study law? I feel like he was wanting to be a lawyer or something like that. And, Nick -- well, he's called Nick for a start. And Ned in our version, his background's very different to that, and that's refreshing. Hopefully, we've achieved that very successfully, and not just done it as a gimmick, but to actually bring in characters and people that might be different to the books of old but are interesting, people that bring substance to the modern-day story of Nancy Drew that we're trying to tell.
Season 2 saw a lot of crossovers from other book series — the Bobbsey twins, Tom Swift, etc. Will we see more of this in Season 3? Is there any character that you'd love to see in an upcoming season of Nancy Drew?
That's a good question, I'll have to think about that one. I think we clearly have a rich canon of characters to pull from, so... I don't know what plans the writers have. You'd have to ask the writers and the producers of that. I'm just a mere actor in this production. I'm sure they have plans and you know they have lots and lots of Easter eggs for the fans of Nancy Drew that are really into it. Kennedy McMann [Nancy Drew] herself is very into Nancy Drew and so is very keen to kind of plant as much stuff from the books as possible in there. I think it's fantastic and I think it's fantastic that Tom Swift has gone -- we have a spinoff and that's pretty exciting!
This is my first job here in the States and I've been very blessed and privileged to have this experience because I hear it's pretty rare to just get a Season 3 much less have a spinoff series connected to your show as well. So I think that's all fantastic and stuff that can definitely be mined and hopefully there'd be a lot more characters popping up as we go along. The Bobbsey Twins -- we're not done with them. They'll be popping up as well. It's great, it's something we should continue doing, something we should continue to mine and lean into.
I'm excited to see the Tom Swift spinoff.
This is gonna be a very different show from Nancy Drew, right? And that's fantastic that we can have all these worlds because it's going to be -- this is me talking, I'm not an official spokesman for The CW -- but I assume it's going to be far more of a technologically-minded show. And obviously culturally different as well from Nancy Drew because it's not going to be set in Maine. So it's going to be interesting to have multiple worlds and hopefully we get opportunities for those worlds to continue to crossover and mix and we can do some very interesting things and tell some very interesting stories with that.
What do you think about the supernatural departure the series takes from the books? Is it fun to be part of a spooky re-interpretation?
Oh yeah, most definitely. It's interesting because I don't think I fully appreciated or realized -- because obviously knowing Nancy Drew the books, that's what I had in my head and I didn't quite realize or appreciate how much we were going to lean into that as a show. Actually one of the first times I realized, "Oh, this is what the show is" was in Season 1. We had Lucy Sable in Carson's office -- I don't know if you remember, I can't remember what episode it was, but it's basically one of Lucy's many appearances in the Drew house. I was there on the day, I wasn't in the scene but just popped onto set. What's fantastic about the show is we do as many practical effects as possible, as little CGI as we need to do, and everything is very practical-base, which I think gives it a real substance and adds the realism of it.
We had Lucy Sable, the actor who was playing Lucy Sable, literally in the top corner of the room, harnessed up, and you didn't see her until the lights came on. I wasn't aware she was there, that they were doing the scene and the lights come on you're like, "Oh my goodness there is the person up there, in the corner with the full Lucy Sable look" -- the dark hair and the water damage and all that kind of stuff. In person, it was terrifying. That was one of the first times I realized that all right, this is what we're leaning into. I think it's great. I think we have some writers that are very much interested in the kind of horror genre and write it very well and lean into it very well. We've been very fortunate to have some great directors and editors who have been able to properly craft the suspense of those stories.
We get to do interesting things as well -- what comes to mind is the episode where the Drew Crew all lose their memory. You get to do kind of fun -- obviously, we have the bigger arc of the whole season and the stories -- but we have these standalone episodes that tell these very interesting, fun adventures that the crew gets to go on. Being in a supernatural realm allows you to be a very imaginative and very flexible with what those stories are. I think it's fantastic to have that much fun and also balance it out with meaningful depth to these characters as well. I think the writers strike a fantastic balance between the two.
I'm excited to hear the effects were done practically -- was there a monster that was the most fun to work with on set?
Actually, fun fact: we have the same actor that played the Aglaeca -- she was in the suit of the Aglaeca -- is the same actor that was in the suit of the Wraith in Season 2. She is also playing... I won't say who, but she is also playing a character in Season 3. So it's pretty cool that we have the same actor going off there. She's great to work with, she's the opposite of the the makeup and everything she has on, she's the most lovely, pleasant young woman to work with.
But one of the coolest things actually was in Season 2, the Wraith as a baby -- I don't know if you remember this or your audience will remember this, there was a kind of puppet that we had that was literally the size of your hand that was an actual baby Wraith. That was real. That was a real mechanized puppet and it just looked fantastic. It was creepy, it demanded affection from you because it was a baby at the same time, but it was also extremely disturbing. So that was really fun. We were in the middle of the woods at night doing that scene, so it was really fun to see the work that these guys, the prop and the creature effect guys, do because they're fantastic. We have fantastic, fantastic set builders, etc. on the show, so that was really fun.
How has Nancy Drew differed from some of your previous projects and particularly your work on stage?
Talking about the supernatural stuff, that's all very different from the stuff I've done on stage before. Stage is a very different beast. It's different in so many ways. I think if you're comparing it to my stage work -- having done Shakespeare, for example, and speaking in verse, playing Octavius Caesar in Antony and Cleopatra is very different from playing Ned Nickerson in Maine. The craft is different. The practical applications of what you need to do and the way I work as an actor are very different and the skills required of me are very different. But it's also cool to be doing something very modern, because a lot of stuff I've been doing has been say Shakespeare, which is a more classical text. So it's also cool to do a lot more modern stuff, in the moment kind of stuff.
And it's a whole different set of people. I'm coming from a different country with a very different culture and not only shifting within the same industry but shifting mediums from theater to TV. It's been fantastic -- I came over to the US looking for exactly a job like this and was very fortunate enough to get it. I've had such a fun experience with such a great group of people, the cast and the crew are fantastic here. So it's just been a fun learning experience. I'm always trying to develop as an actor so it's been great to really get time to be in front of the camera and really develop camera skills as opposed to standing on a stage in front of 1,000 people and trying to reach them live. It's been refreshing and educational and so much fun for me.
Do you have a method for getting into character as Nick?
As far as Nick goes, I think one of the most obvious things I do is I actually maintain his accent on set all day. I'm not American myself -- I'm half Scottish, half Nigerian, and I have a bit of a hybrid of an accent myself. But I think accents are not only a vocal thing but are also a physical thing. I think my attitude and my body language changes when I'm American or when I'm being Nick in particular. So I just find it more useful to just stay in the accent, sit in the accent all day on set. I don't have to consciously think about switching back and forth between the two things. So that's probably the most obvious thing I do to help me stay in Nick. But also, you know, it's just continuing to do research around high school football and if there are mechanical things in particular that come up -- it's interesting to look those things up.
It was great in Season 1 in particular, where we really delved into Nick's character about being in the juvenile correctional system, to do a lot of research on that. I was very fortunate to meet some former inmates, so to speak, real life young guys who had just actually come out of the juvenile system. So it was always great to get to do all that research and bring as much authenticity to Nick as possible, especially around the important issues of incarceration of young men in America. I think that's not something to be taken lightly or taken for granted and shouldn't just be brushed over with broad strokes, but should be definitely given the detailed attention that it deserves and it needs. That was a point of emphasis I made with the writers and the showrunner, and I think we've followed through on that. We're continuing to follow through on that to make sure that story in particular is told with nuance and detail.
Those are the things for Nick in particular -- I think as compared to Shakespeare and compared to stage work, the approach is different and the skills required are different. I'm not having to do vocal warm-ups every time I do a take. I'm not having to shout to the back of the auditorium, project to the back of the auditorium, and all that kind of stuff. But inevitably, skills do... I do, for example, I will do a vocal warmup in the morning before I'm on set in my trailer by myself every day. There are definitely tools and little things that just get you in the zone and get you warmed up and ready for whatever you're shooting that day, whether it's a big long scene or whether it's a short one.
I hear that one thing you do in your spare time is barefoot running -- what is that?
It's essentially what it says on the tin. I'm not out there on the Vancouver streets in literally my bare feet. Some people do barefoot run -- I'm not quite there yet, maybe one day, who knows. But it's essentially, not to get too geeky and technical about it, but essentially most trainers that people run in have quite a padded sole. Often that sole is elevated in the heel, so it's not a flat surface, it's kind of tilted, the lowest point is your toe and the highest point is your heel. The idea is it helps protect your knees from impact and all that kind of stuff. In actuality, my take on it is that that doesn't necessarily help your knees because what people end up doing is landing directly on their heel and so doing more damage to their knees.
So barefoot running is basically you get a shoe that has the minimalist of soles and is basically just a rubber under-sole to protect against sharp objects and sharp rocks and things like that but has no cushioning inside it at all essentially. It's a completely flat surface, so it encourages you, you kind of have to run -- forefoot striking is what they call it, where you're basically running on your toes and not hitting your heels which basically encourages healthier knees and healthier hips and a healthier form of running. And that works for me. So barefoot running is essentially that: running in shoes that are the minimalist of protection for your feet, no padding no anything.
Last year, during the pandemic, I set myself the challenge of running a 5k in under 20 minutes, which for me was a challenge I always kind of had in my head. So I started running a lot more and I managed to do that in 19 minutes and 48 seconds, which I was very happy about, thank you very much. And this year I'm running, not in one sitting but over the whole year, 1,000 kilometers is my challenge for myself this year. It just keeps you active, gives you something to do physically, and keeps your mind... Exercising is fantastic for the body and the mind, so it just kind of keeps me on track and keeps me healthy.
So how far into the 1000 km are you?
Oh, I'm a wee bit behind. Life happens, and filming and work schedules build up. I'm about 75 kilometers behind pace right now, but I'm pretty confident I can make that back up.
Nancy Drew Season 3 premieres Friday, Oct. 8 on The CW.