You’ll know Sarah Wayne Callies from hit TV shows like The Walking Dead, Prison Break, and Colony. Now, she’s turned her sights on the world of podcasts. Aftershock is a new iHeartRadio Original scripted thriller podcast, on which Callies is not only the lead actress but also the director, writer, and co-creator. Indeed, for the multi-hyphenated artist, the podcast marked many firsts. Most significantly: “To be able to have [had] a hand in so many aspects of the storytelling.”
Aftershock promises a post-apocalyptic story about an earthquake that devastates Los Angeles, leaving hundreds of thousands of Americans either dead or missing, and a mysterious island that appears off the coast in its aftermath. Callies plays Cassie Williams, a woman who forges through the island in search of her missing daughter. Looking more deeply into the podcast’s story, it is, for Callies, about forgiveness, something she believes the world needs more of right now.
In our interview below, Callies talks about the challenges of recording during the pandemic, the exhilaration that you feel when you “step off into nothingness,” and her newfound love for podcasting.
Aftershock can be found on iHeartRadio and anywhere podcasts are heard.
Congratulations on Aftershock’s release! You’ve said before that it’s a story about “forgiveness and second chances”—would you tell us more about what you mean by that?
It feels like we all need a big dose of forgiveness right now, don’t we? Giving it, receiving it… Somewhere along the way I feel like our culture got so wrapped up in judgment and outrage that we lost sight of how deeply we all need to be forgiven in life – and so then how deeply we all need to practice forgiveness. I wanted to explore that – to put characters into ‘unforgivable’ situations and then see how they could find their way to atonement from there. Particularly with Cassie and McKayla, who are the spine of the series.
In addition to acting, you’re also the series’ director, writer, and co-creator. How did you initially become involved with the project? Where did the story come from? What inspired you to take on multiple roles throughout its production?
Well, I took on multiple roles for two reasons – first because that kind of creative input is a gift for someone like me. To be able to have a hand in so many aspects of the storytelling is thrilling and a first in my career. I loved every second of it. But then, practically, podcasts don’t have big budgets. So if something needed doing, I just did it so that, you know, it would get done. The initial kernel of the idea came to me from Patrick Carman, a YA author I was put in touch with through my producing partner Ben Haber. He was interested in telling a story about an island that rose up out of the sea, and since I grew up on one, that fascinated me. I’m from Hawai’i, and we have stories there about Maui pulling the islands up with his fishhook as his brothers paddled their canoe. Origin stories are powerful, as are the explorations of who goes to that new land and why.
I understand that you recorded the series during the pandemic, which seems like it would have been such an emotional undertaking! In addition to your character’s experience of literally earth-shattering change, you (and the rest of the world) experienced a similarly seismic, though less cataclysmic, change as well—what was it like to flit between Aftershock’s post-apocalyptic world and our world’s pandemic-ridden reality?
Actually, having a creative project to focus on was a gift during the pandemic. It made everything harder, of course, because the pandemic just had that effect on life. But at the end of our recording sessions, even through the technical headaches and the scheduling challenges and the covid safety of it all, we were all so grateful to feel like artists for a while. It was a part of ourselves we knew and valued and missed during lockdown. It was a kind of nourishment, like a kind of heart food.
You’re no stranger to stories that explore what worlds would look like after mass devastation. From zombies in The Walking Dead to aliens in Colony. And now: Aftershock. What is it about this genre that interests you and keeps you wanting to explore? How did your previous work inform how you approached Aftershock?
I think we learn a tremendous amount about who we really are when our world falls apart. But Aftershock is a very focused crisis – it’s not a zombie apocalypse or an alien invasion – it’s a localized event that destroys Los Angeles but leaves the rest of the world intact. It’s also a very grounded disaster in that, unlike zombies and aliens, an earthquake is something scientists have been telling us for a long time is going to happen – it’s just a matter of when, there’s a feeling of inevitability about it. And so set against that disaster, our characters turn into people they didn’t know they could be. That’s a fascinating space – when you step off into nothingness and leave your old self behind.
The cast is truly impressive! What was it like to get everyone together? What surprised you the most throughout the process of collaborating with and directing them?
What surprised me was that everyone said yes! I put together a dream team – mostly of friends and colleagues i’d worked with before – and got to play them all. It was such a generous thing for them to do. And such a joy. There were moments that just took my breath away. Michael O’Neill and Tati Gabrielle did a scene together that made the mixer in the booth where Michael was recording weep. That was pretty cool. They left everything on the field and I’m so grateful.
Now that production is essentially over and the first few episodes have been released, would you return to the podcast format for future stories? Can we expect more seasons of Aftershock?
I’d do another scripted pod in a heartbeat. It’s an exciting medium – telling a story that keeps the audience blind, but engages their full imaginative attention. It’s such a cool set of creative challenges. As for more aftershock seasons – that’s a question for iHeart… and let me know if you get an answer!
What’s next for you?
I’m directing a couple of episodes of TV this fall, so that’s where my attention is right now. I head off Friday to the first one!
