Jeanine Mason, the voice of Eva in the animated series Wondla, discusses her experience working on the show. She also discusses the challenges and joys of voice acting and the themes the show explores.
Apple TV+’s highly anticipated animated adventure trilogy WondLa, will premiere globally on Apple TV+ on Friday, June 28. The series from Skydance Animation is based on the New York Times bestselling book series “The Search for WondLa” by Tony DiTerlizzi. Showrun and executive produced by Bobs Gannaway, and featuring a star-studded voice cast, the seven-episode first season of WondLa follows Eva, a teenager raised in an underground bunker, who is forced to the surface of a changed Earth, now called Orbona. Along with her newfound friends, Eva embarks on a quest to find humans, her home, and her true destiny.
Jeanine Mason discusses taking on the role of Eva in Wondla
Temple of Geek: What initially drew you to the role of Eva, and how do you relate to her personality and journey?
Jeanine Mason: Yeah, I mean, oh gosh, I love animation. I’m like a true animation nerd and animation geek, I guess I should say. And I was just, like, jazzed about this company, about getting to work with Skydance Animation and John Lasseter and Bobs Gannaway and Apple TV Plus, and I knew they were really going after setting like a new bar in the animation space and doing feature quality animated series. So, I mean, it just was like an absolute yes right off the bat. And then in terms of like Eva as a character, I just, I love how, like unapologetically herself she is and she was just so silly and, you know, I, I love that in people. I love it when people are just, like, so comfortable just sharing themselves so that it would be really fun to be a part of a series that’s highlighting that.
Temple of Geek: How did you approach portraying her curiosity, fear, and determination?
Jeanine Mason: Yeah. You know, we always sort of looked at it as like, she doesn’t know the right way to be because she wasn’t raised in a society. So almost everything ends up being, like, a little outside of her skin and the enthusiasm behind everything. So I loved being in negotiation with her intent, and her good intentions. And then we often see her overstep or, you know, the way that she oversteps is we can love her for it, but we’re still, like, in conversation with it. What? The way she’s misdirected. And I just. Yeah, I felt like such a prime weight.
Joys and Challenges of Voice Acting
Temple of Geek: So you’ve done so much live-action compared to the number of voice-acting roles you’ve done. What are some of the challenges and joys of voice acting, especially in such a visually rich world like this one?
Jeanine Mason: Oh, absolutely. I mean, that was the main thing was the fact that it’s so visually rich. I knew it was their quality of storytelling. They really wanted this, like on-screen performance in voiceover work is what they kept saying to me. So I, I honestly, I approached it as like even the voiceover work I’ve done, this is going to be different. This is going to be a different challenge. And then it really made sense, to allow her to come from me closer from, from from my voice, my vocal range, but definitely honoring that she’s younger and and she’s a little more Mitzi. I’d like to think, at least. So that was the real challenge was just bringing my 16-year-old to work. But it was honestly so easy and fun and, and. Yeah, and then just my voice keeping up. I lost my voice a lot in the beginning. But my voice is stronger now for it. I’m grateful.
Exploring themes of environmentalism, technology, destiny
Temple of Geek: The show tackles themes like environmentalism, technology, and destiny. As you explored these themes with Eva, did it make you think more deeply about the world around you?
Jeanine Mason: Absolutely, yeah. You know, I think, technology in particular, we’re in such conversation right now about how the world is going to change and, and, what we can foresee coming down the pipeline. I think it’s important to be in conversation with, your family unit and with people you love and care for. And you might sit on the couch to watch this with, you know, that regardless of what obstacles are coming like, you are equipped and you can adapt. And it is it is worth it to be hopeful. I think very often we get scared and nervous about change. But, change is inevitable, and, we fared we shared our we fought well so far. So I think we will continue to figure it out. And there’s a lot to be excited about.
Apple TV+’s epic animated adventure series “WondLa” will premiere globally on Friday, June 28 on Apple TV+.
