No gossip about The Orville - Interview with Jessica Szohr

"I have a special place for Vanessa in my heart."

Beitrag von Stefan Cernohuby | 30. November 2025

Hello Jessica, welcome to Vienna. Is this your first visit?

This is my first time here in Vienna, yep, first Vienna Comic Con, first time in Austria.

Do you like it?

Everyone is so sweet. I think the turnout has been amazing, the costumes are epic. I got in last night at like midnight and then came right here this morning, so I haven't really seen the city at all, but the drive here.

Will you have the chance to after the show, to a bit, visit some sites?

I'm hoping, maybe tonight to go to the Christmas market or maybe tomorrow.

You are very experienced when it comes to TV series, Honorary mentioning Gossip Girl and The Orville, But first I want to talk to you about The Oville. So, you went into the series with the character Talla Keyali who is the security officer. Was it challenging for you to get into this role?

I originally auditioned for Alara in the first season and then I didn't end up getting it, and I was really bummed. I was really butt hurt. I was sad, but I thought she (Halston Sage) did an amazing job, and she's such a wonderful person and actress, and then the next year when she wasn't gonna be on anymore, Seth had called, we sat and had a meeting and read a couple of the scripts. His writing is just so wonderful. So then, yeah, I signed on to do it. Yes, there were challenges for sure. But you know the two hours in the makeup helped me get into that. It was really fun to do, and she's such a great character to play. I mean, and not just her physical thing with the power, but it was just great and we had so much fun as a cast and then the sets were so amazing so just walking onto the bridge, you feel like you are on the spaceship. You felt like you were really in space, which is epic. It's really great, so what I can scratch because how long does it take? I know it takes 2 hours to 2 to 2.5 hours, yeah, because everything from my eyelids up is fake and then my ears and the stuff on my nose and then it's a wig. This is a lot but got used to it, one thing I would really look forward to after like 10 or 12 hours in it, is peeling off the forehead and having the air hit my real forehead. I was like, oh, my, my forehead can breathe. Yeah, oh, I miss Tayla.

So it wasn't really a problem that you were the second Xelayan in the series? Could you add your own personal touch to the character?

Yeah, I kind of went into it. I wasn't trying to do something so different than her. I was just trying to bring talent to life in an honest and true way, and with the help of Seth and a lot of hard work. I think we did that, but I was never about going in and trying to do it so different than her or so much of this or that. It was really just trying to bring to life in a real honest way.

There were lots of discussions about Star Trek. What is Star Trek, real Star Trek and The Orville. Some even say that it is now the real Star Trek. What do you think about these comparisons?

I just think “The Orville” is it's own thing. I mean I can see where people would obviously see similarities because - how could you not? But I really, definitely think the tone of what it is and how it was done, I think is just it's the Orville speaking about the tone.

The Orville started as really satirical in the beginning and then it got step by step more serious. How was it to let's say, be part of this process of let's say getting it more or less adult?

I think we were all part of it because we're all a piece of the puzzle, but I really think that was a lot of doing. Kind of when that was shifting I was like, oh, OK, this is interesting, but again. Seth is so brilliant with his work that I just trusted it and I actually think that everyone on the journey whether you're a fan, or on the show or part of the show, everyone kind of went with it and was, I think, enjoying the ride.

Fandom is a very strange thing, of course. On Vienna Comic Con there are lots of people who love science fiction, who love the Orville, and for sure we're also there for getting an autograph by you. But your most successful role so far was Vanessa Abrams from Gossip Girl. How do you remember this role?

There are so many things about it because it was, you know, moving to New York, being a part of a show, that no one knew how people were going to respond, when the pilot got picked up. We were doing 13 episodes and I remember exactly where I was when we got picked up for the back nine to make the full season of 22, but it was a lot. I was in my early twenties, moved to one of the greatest cities in the world, did a show that a lot of people around the world responded to, and also like I grew up in Wisconsin in a small town, so to be a part of this like fashion. You know this show was about fashion and money and all of that, but yet the writers still did such a great job with all the storylines because even if you didn't come from money there was still things about divorce and addiction and breakups and friendship so there was a lot of I think really good lessons in there.
There's so much I remember and that makes my heart smile, just because it was a really great experience for me and it really changed my life in many, many ways, But yeah, there are just so many things that I took from that and with me and I, that I'm very blessed and thankful for.

In the retrospective, your character was, let's say, not always the nicest one in the series. Did the fan reactions somehow affect yourself as an actress?

Well, I think if I'm being honest and transparent, I have a special place for Vanessa in my heart and I really liked her. I think there was like something very grounding about her in in that show because she was someone very relatable because the very small percentage of the people that live on the Upper East Side and have that type of money or limos to school and thousands of dollars. You know, these handbags that are super expensive, not a lot of people can relate to that and I also think that's why a lot of people tuned in because it was like such a great fun thing to kind of watch and. I do feel like she definitely pulled some stuff where I'm like, come on, V, like what are you doing?
I kind of some of the times agreed with the fans.
Like she was complaining about the Upper East Side and still going up on the Upper East Side and like stayed in Brooklyn.
You're still an actor and read the script and do the job but I definitely can see where some of the fans would be irritated with stuff.
It was also like a funny thing to me that she was the only one that hooked up with all of the guys. Out of all of everyone on the show, I'm like, oh my God, and you know she really didn't have, she couldn't stand Chuck Bass, but then that, you know, that went on, so that was so funny to me.
We were actually dating in real life at the time, and I remember sitting and reading the script, and he lay next to me and we were reading the same script, but I was a little bit ahead of him at the time and I'm like, did you get to page blah blah blah, and he's like, no, I'm not. I told him you're not gonna like it.
It's when Vanessa and Chuck hook up, but we were both kind of like, wait, what? Why would they do that? But then we ended up having fun doing all the scenes, but it was also like kind of cringy, you know what I mean?
Like Vanessa, don't go there!
And he's like, Chuck, you don't go there too!
So it was a trip, but I can see where the fans could be that way, but I also think as in a whole, I think it added to the drama. It was great, and that too, like anytime we'd read a script, I, you would be like page to page, oh my God, this person's coming back or this person did this or this person's throwing another person under the bus. No one knew who Gossip Girl was, so we would always be guessing, oh, it's gonna be Vanessa, Chuck, Dan.
At one point I've literally guessed everyone.
But yeah, I actually like that they didn't let us know till the end because it was a big reveal for all of us.

Thanks a lot for your time and the interview.

Oh my gosh, yeah, great. Thank you too!