What if I told you even the youngest of people can bring the biggest change to the world? No matter how young a person is they can make such an impact it will not only rattle adults but bring them to their knees. This is the power of nine-year-old Hilde Lisko (Brooklynn Prince) in Apple TV+s drama, Home Before Dark.
Based on the incomparable real-life child journalist, this series centers around Hilde who moves from Brooklyn to the small lakeside town her father left behind. While there, her dogged pursuit of the truth leads her to unearth a cold case that everyone in town, including her own father, tried hard to bury.
Enlisting the help of Deputy Mackenzie “Trip” Johnson III (Aziza Scott) they go about solving a decades-old cold case that will shake their small town to their very core.
The Koalition spoke to Scott, after the first season premiered in April 2020 with 10 episodes on the streaming platform. Already renewed for a second season, in which Scott teased an expansion of her character, filming already started before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Her relationship with Hilde really stuck out, there’s a very precocious young girl who is a reporter and my character vibes with her, they hit it off really quickly. So when I read it, I was like ‘oh, this is gonna be cool, it’s like teammates.’ I get to be teammates with a nine-year-old. So I was really excited when I read the pilot.”
“When I found out when I booked the role, the creator of the show, Dana Fox, she said that loved what I did in the audition room, so I just took that aspect of being down-to-earth and very engaging with Hilde. I went in and I started to do backstories on who is Trip, where did she come from, how is she relatable in this type of environment, how does she feel about being a cop and so I just kind of went through all of those things which kind of helped create who Trip became. And of course, a lot of that credit goes to the writers of the show, they make it easy. They make it so much easy.”
Even though Hilde’s determination and refusal to back down when she sees an act of injustice committed has broken down many barriers for her, she’s still a child who needs allies. She finds not just an ally but a friend in Deputy Trip, the lone truth seeker in the sheriff’s office. Just like Hilde lights spark in the town, she also fuels Deputy Trip’s curiosity, who has questions of her own about the town’s many mysteries.
“I love her curiosity. I love how she kind of snoops in the bag and she goes through the files. She’s a little investigator herself, trying to get to the truth cause she knows in this town there’s a lot of coverups. Her teaming up with Hilde gives her that push that she needs to actually dive in because she is the one that has all the sources. Hilde can come to her but she has all the police resources. I think her curiosity was so cool to play in the show. She’s always snooping.”
While this season has offered a plethora of surprises, the question raised at the end of the season will be one of the major mysteries of season two, which was already in production in Vancouver when the coronavirus outbreak forced the Apple TV+ series to suspend filming. With the upcoming season ripe with drama, Scott is especially excited for fans to see what’s in store for Deputy Trip.
“We’re already in the middle of shooting season two and what the writers have already written is amazing when it comes to my character. To add to what is already happening from season two is just Trip is growing. I’m trying not to give away anything, she does have to elevate herself for season two even more. From her position to season one to season two a lot is required.” We will see her away from the job as well as working cases. It’ll be “a little bit of both, so that’s exciting.”
To learn more about Home Before Dark check out the full interview below.
