DC Studios‘ Max adult animated show Creature Commands It took fans new and old by surprise. Not only that its first season yet another amazing show to add to the comic book juggernaut’s repertoire of incredible series, it also serves as a sign of what the future of DC Studios looks like under the direction of James Gunn. It certainly didn’t hurt that it had all the wit, humor, heart, and sex appeal that was, until now, unheard of for a DC project.

Very similar The Suicide Squad (Gunn’s version), Creature Commands sees a strange class of DC oddballs tasked with completing deadly missions fit for a monster. Key to its cast is Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo), the Bride (Indira Varma), GI Robot (Sean Gunn), Weasel (also Sean Gunn), Doctor Phosphorus (Alan Tudyk), Dr. Nina Mazursky (Zoe Chao), Frankenstein (David Harbour), and Circe (Anya Chalotra).

While many of the above characters reveal themselves to be more than they first appear as a force for good throughout the show, Princess Ilana Rostovic proves herself to be the opposite. Following the show’s season finale, we spoke with Princess Ilana actor Maria Bakalova to ask her if the Disney Princess’s curled eyelashes and face are real—or if she’s just playing on audience sympathy .

This interview has been edited for brevity.

Isaiah Colbert, io9: This isn’t your first time working on a comic book project with James Gunn. Your first one is Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 as the space talking dog, Cosmo. What attracted you to join another job at Gunn?

Maria Bakalova: It’s James. I am just an admirer of everything he does. He is a master storyteller (in) the way he creates characters, in the way he creates stories, (and) the way he narrates is unique. It’s amazing.

You will always find his signature because of the humor, love inside these characters, and the idea of ​​finding your place in life and finding people you can identify with. You can find your chosen family to a degree. You can find friends and feel that you belong somewhere, that I feel that we, as humans, are always born with this feeling of “I want to belong somewhere. I want to be seen by someone . I want someone to understand.” We’ll see that later Creature Commands. We saw that with Guardians of the Galaxy.

All of these projects have these misfit, monstrous creatures that are somehow united by the idea that they are outsiders to the world and they don’t belong anywhere. However, they will be the greatest heroes in the end, and you will find yourself loving them, rooting for them, wanting them to succeed in their mission. Although I’m a bit biased here (and) I don’t want them to kill my princess, let’s say she’s also part of the creature commandos team, because I don’t want to be imprisoned either.

io9: Creature Commands filled with a cast of characters who are not what they seem at first blush, including Ilana. Throughout the show, Ilana rubber-bands from being a Disney Princess-type figure to a cold and plotting villainess. How did you balance those two contrasting tones between his character?

Bakalova: Ilana is a character I’ve never played before. I have worked on many interesting projects (that) are very different from each other, but I have never played a villain before. I’m not playing someone who uses manipulation to get what they want. To sacrifice their dignity and humanity to achieve the goal of power and control of society. Interesting.

I’m always curious about how people get into this place and how they move from just having it as a thought to actually start acting on it. She is a complicated woman. She comes across as innocent and vulnerable and someone who really needs protection. But he’s not as crazy and not as weak as he wants people to think he is.

Although she revealed a little in front of Rick, she said, “I’m a woman, and I got what I wanted. I know I can handle a lot of things. I don’t need a man. I want a man.” It’s a little look that maybe she’s not exactly who they think she is. She wants to play up her beauty, and she wants to play up her femininity. She wants to play up the idea (that) she’s in danger — when he really is the biggest danger of all.

I played something similar when I tried to convince people that my character was a real person in 2020 with Borat (Next Movie). Sometimes, you have to make people believe what they want to believe, and I think that’s his goal as well. He just lets Rick and the creatures believe they have to protect him. So he played it like, “Okay, I need protection, just don’t stay (in) my way.”

Later, we reveal that, especially when he speaks his language, he is a different person. He is a monster. He has some terrible ideas for the future. But yeah, he’s an interesting character to play.

io9: You mentioned Ilana having an affair with Rick Flag—an unprofessional affair—which led to the hilarious scene where Doctor Phosphorous covers for them being intimate. James Gunn shared the clip of you kissing the back of your hand to make that noise on his social media. Is that a scene that needs a close-up coordinator, or is it just going to the booth and doing the bulk of what it takes to make it happen?

Bakalova: No. As much as I think you should be given an intimacy coordinator if you need it, for this specific scene, at the end of the day, I personally don’t need it. If I needed someone to be with me, I could always ask for it. It’s always been an open conversation with James and everyone behind DC.

But what James does well is use humor all the time. Yes, it’s animation for adults, but it’s made with a lot of humor. That’s not serious. Even if we look at the scene itself, We look at the people in front of the door, listening to them very angry and violent. And it’s like, “How long is this going to last? What happened?” It’s not like a romantic scene. It’s not Beautiful Woman. It’s a scene about two characters who somehow use, let’s say, love to distract themselves from real danger and real problems. And funny. Funny.

They shouldn’t have done that, but they did that. Rick knew full well that wasn’t his job there, but he did it anyway. Ilana knew that she shouldn’t do it because she might expose herself, but she did it. And it’s amazing. And funny. And it’s amazing.

It’s fun Creature Commands a great show. It’s a layered show full of characters, places, and music. It’s beautifully edited, but it’s also a lot of fun. It is not heavy and point a finger (saying) “This is wrong and this is right.” It’s a fun show. It’s dark but fun. I don’t need an intimacy coordinator. I don’t know about Frank (Grillo). Maybe—if he needed one—he would have one, but we had a lot of fun doing it.

io9: Speaking of darker moments, in the upcoming sequel from Circe, we see Ilana taking over the world and killing a pantheon of DC heroes, including Peacemaker and Wonder Woman, Batman, and Superman in the Justice League. Which member of the Justice League do you think Ilana is the most ruthless against and why?

Bakalova: Oof! Maybe if I had known that the Bride was going to kill me, I would have been the most violent towards her. That’s my biggest enemy here because I can fool everyone, but the Bride is my biggest problem.

io9: Throughout the show, Ilana’s status as a villain is played out ambiguously, as the runarounds the Creature Commandos go through as to whether Circe’s visions are correct. All this is not helped by Ilana endearing herself to characters like Flag and Weasel. Is Ilana’s love for them real, or is it a facade?

Bakalova: I think it’s a bit of a facade. Maybe with Weasel, (it’s) not so much a facade. But to be completely honest, you have to play the game. If he wants to succeed (in) his purpose, he just wears a mask that (pretends) that he is very fun, happy, and enjoys being with them. It’s very fake at the end of the day. He has a greater mission. He has dominion over the world. If he had to pretend he really liked them, he liked them.

Maybe, if we didn’t have him, he would have kicked Weasel and thrown him without Flag. Maybe he has something else to enjoy. I never bought that he had empathy for them.

io9: Despite your character being dead at the end of Creature Commandsare there any other comic roles you would like to do?

Bakalova: Who knows? I’ll keep it to myself for now, but sure. I want to play some more comic roles.

All seven episodes of Creature Commands streaming on Max. A second season is on the way.

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