LovecraftCountry star jurneesmollett tells ET the amazing reason why her grandmother inspired her for the role of Letitia Dandridge.
, reuniting her with Green for an wild tale of horrors faced by an extended Black family in 1950s Chicago, where racism and supernatural creatures are abound.
“It’s a story where the hero or heroes are on a quest to dismantle white supremacy,” Smollett says of the timely and topical series, which has garnered buzz forOn the series, Smollett plays the free-spirited yet strong-willed Letitia Dandridge, who initially joins Atticus Freeman and his uncle George on a road trip through the Jim Crow America, where they encounter shoggoths and pagans, before tackling various supernatural beings on her own in later episodes.
“She’s so buoyant [but] she’s also a woman who struggles with a lineage of trauma that she’s inherited from her mother,” Smollett says, explaining that she channeled her own family into the part. “I never met my grandmother, but when I approached the character I thought of my grandmother a lot. She was nicknamed ‘Showtime’ and she was this woman who really wouldn’t let folks in the 1950s or ‘60s erase her.
While Leti’s battles may be fictional, the racism she experiences on the series is rooted in reality, a reality that many of the cast, including Smollett, faced growing up. “I can relate to the isolation you feel when you are the only Black family in an all-white neighborhood. A fish was put on my family’s lawn when I was young, on the day of the Million Man March,” she recalls. “I know what it’s like to have that fear of driving while Black while a police car rolls up beside.
And in order to bring to the horrors seen on screen to life, Smollett was required to go “dark places.” She put her whole body -- “physically, mentally, spiritually” -- into the role. “This character cost me a lot, I’m not gonna lie,” she says. “I definitely was in the hospital a few times for it, but that's just because of what Courtney says to me. He’s like, ‘Jurnee, the problem is you just throw your whole body into things.’ But that is who I am as an artist.
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