Fans rooting for a bona fide “Jolt” pairing were excited to see some action happen between Ava and Austin! And we giggled our way through their post-coital scenes where she was trying to get him out of Wyndemere as quickly as possible. “I kind of giggled at that, too! Yeah, she was not expecting that [roll in the hay]. She’s not ready for that relationship; she’s not sure she wants that relationship! But, you know, there’s something irresistible about that Roger Howarth that comes through into Austin!”
In light of the secret they share about Nikolas’s seeming fate, and the unwelcome addition of Mason into their lives, it’s an interesting dynamic because she is kind of drawn to this guy — but she’s also kind of stuck with this guy! “Oh, that’s a really good point, that she’s stuck with him because he knows what he knows. When somebody knows a dark secret, in her words, you either have to kill them or you’re sort of at their mercy. I mean, those are her options. And she’s sort of at his mercy. And at the cousin’s too; she’s at Mason’s mercy.”
She told Nina that she slept with Austin but she can’t tell Nina the full story. There’s no one she can really talk through her feelings with. “Yeah, there is no one she can discuss that with and it is really complicated. He’s still kind of a mystery to her. She doesn’t really understand who he is. Why is he the way that he is? How is he beholden to Mason? All that stuff is still a mystery to her and there is something about that, about the mystery of it, that’s kind of a turn-on for sure.”
Ava and Carly had some interesting scenes when Ava barged into her house to make sure that the planted nanny, Betty, was behaving herself around Avery. “I loved those, because those women are so complicated. In the last couple of years, when they’re together, they have this tendency to begrudgingly offer each other grace, during all their scenes and during their showdowns and during their confrontations and conversations. And that just shows some maturity for these women that are often sort of immature in some ways, in their reactivity to people and to situations.”
Their mutual desire to make sure no harm comes to Avery has put Ava and Sonny on the same side of a conflict, which is refreshing. “I’m having a good time with it. The Ava and Sonny stuff, for a long time, was really so adversarial. I mean, that’s putting it lightly! It was verbal assault, you know? And for good reason; I get it [laughs]. But to have these two characters have a meeting of the minds is so interesting to me because there are so many more levels you can play than just anger and fear. They have kind of an uneasy truce. The deeds of the past are always there, but it’s much more interesting [now]. There’s a whole lot to play between these characters.”
Do you think she is genuinely happy for Nina and Sonny and their plans to wed? “She genuinely wants her friend Nina to be happy. Whether she really thinks they belong together, I don’t know, but she certainly wants Nina to be happy.”
