“I couldn’t keep in
my fandom! I had
to let her know I
was obsessed with
Titanic!”
A melting pot of show tropes, Resurrection boasts a
little bit of everything – they’ve got family drama, supernatural mysteries, autopsies and investigations, and
vague (but thrilling!) references to biblical Scripture.
Kelley herself describes Resurrection as a platform for
human emotion: “at the heart of the show, it’s about
people in an everyday small town, just dealing with
love and loss, spirituality and faith, and science.” As the
local doctor in the sleepy town of Arcadia, Missouri,
Kelley starts off fairly conservative and professional as
Maggie. But as the series progresses, she unravels as life
in Arcadia begins to turn topsy-turvy. And when things
start to go off the rail, that’s when Kelley shines.
“I tend to be more kooky, airy-fairy than Maggie,”
Kelley explains, laughing through our conversation.
Calling from Atlanta, Georgia, Kelley definitely sounds
like a chipper personality. It’s almost impossible for
anybody to imagine an excited Devin Kelley gesturing
wildly as she talks into a speakerphone – it’s clear she’s
quite the character, all acting aside. “It’s a bit more of a
challenge for me to be really buttoned-up.”
Though Kelley is arguably an up-and-coming lead actress,
Resurrection features some heavy hitters from various
places within the entertainment industry; Frances Fisher,
Omar Epps, Samaire Armstrong and Kurtwood Smith to
name a few. Kelley’s voice lights up at the mention of her
heavy-hitter colleagues – “I love Titanic, I’ve probably seen
it like five thousand times. I just had to gush to [Frances
Fisher], I couldn’t keep in my fandom! I had to let her
know I was obsessed with Titanic!”
And very recently, Michelle Fairley (of Game of Thrones
fame) joined the cast as a recurring character. It’s just a
smorgasbord of talented thespians up in Arcadia, and
Kelley couldn’t sound happier. “You would think that I
would get used to it,” Kelley says, on working with such
recognizable names in film and television. “But just this
past Friday, I was looking around the table and thinking,
oh my gosh, how did I get here! How did this happen?!”
Getting starstruck on the job seems to be something Kelley thoroughly enjoys. It’s easy to understand why; working with talent only forces anybody to bring out their best.
“I hope [being starstruck] doesn’t go away.”
As for future plans, Kelley is just riding the pleasant wave
of Resurrection’s filming and airing. Unsurprisingly, there’s
no better feeling than watching your own show on television. In fact, she is planning on heading out to a park picnic with the rest of her show’s cast and crew – a little break
from working themselves to the bone shooting the second
season. With a smile beaming through the phone lines,
Kelley gushes, “I’m just working really hard and enjoying
every moment of it, and that’s about as far as I’ve got.”