IN CONVERSATION WITH KANDYSE MCCLURE
interview by JANA LETONJA
Kandyse McClure has carved out an impressive career spanning beloved cult classics, big-budget features, and one of Netflix’s longest-running hits. The South African–born actress, now based in British Columbia, currently stars in Netflix’s most-streamed original series ‘Virgin River’, which is already confirmed for an eighth season. Known for her breakout role in ‘Battlestar Galactica’ and her work in ‘Hemlock Grove’ and ‘Limetown’, Kandyse has also shared the big screen with Hollywood heavyweights including Jeff Bridges, Julianne Moore, Alicia Vikander, and Nick Jonas. With her versatility, striking presence, and global appeal, she continues to shine as one of television’s most captivating performers.
‘Virgin River’ is soon returning with its seventh season, a rare achievement for any Netflix series. What do you think makes this show resonate so deeply with audiences?
I think people are genuinely hungry for a show that doesn’t punish them for caring. So much of prestige television right now is built around cynicism and shock value, and there’s absolutely a place for that. But ‘Virgin River’ is a different world, one that says that kindness can also be layered and interesting. Here’s a small town full of people trying to do right by each other, even as flawed and complicated as they are, is a story worth telling in my opinion. Well not just mine, we’re at seven seasons and counting.
And honestly, the consistency of it is part of the magic. Audiences know what they’re getting, they wait excitedly for us, they trust us. They come back every season like they’re checking in on people they actually know. That’s incredibly rare in the streaming world, where everything is designed to be binged and forgotten. ‘Virgin River’ is the opposite of disposable, and I think it’s kind of a relief to have something like that.
How has being part of such a long-running series impacted you personally and professionally?
Professionally, it’s given me a kind of creative stability that doesn’t really exist in this industry. Usually, it’s that cycle of constantly auditioning, being constantly in limbo, always starting from scratch. Having a home on a show that keeps getting renewed, we’re already confirmed for Season 8, means we get to do deep, sustained character work. That’s an incredible gift.
Personally, it’s a reminder that commitment really does bear fruit. I’ve gotten to learn from some real OGs and the take-away has been that longevity and perseverance are the name of the game. A while ago, there was a period in my life where I stepped away from acting, moved to a different country, and had to rebuild from scratch. Not entirely by choice, mind you. Coming back and landing on a show like this, at this stage of my life and career, felt like proof. Proof that there are still good things coming, that it’s never too late to start a whole new chapter. It’s really changed how I move in the world.
What can fans expect from your character’s journey in Season 7?
Kaia came blazing into ‘Virgin River’ as someone who was fiercely independent, a bit of a daredevil, maybe a bit of a lone wolf. She’d come out of a marriage that fell apart and was on this solo journey of reclaiming herself. Then she found love with Preacher, and she chose to stay in this small town for him.
Season 7 tests that choice I think. Kaia is asking herself some really honest questions. There is this tension between her natural restlessness and the community and her commitments that is something I think a lot of people relate to. I certainly can, and the writers have handled it beautifully. It gets very, very real this season.
dress CATHERINE REGEHR
After so many years, what’s the dynamic like on set with your castmates?
It’s genuinely one of the best work environments I’ve ever experienced. I know that sounds corny, but it just is. This cast is one of the warmest, most generous groups of people I’ve ever worked with. Everyone is really focused on the work, but there’s a lot of room for connection. The tone is set from the top and the crew runs like a well-oiled machine.
Colin Lawrence, who plays Preacher, is my main scene partner, and he’s the best. We’ve known each other a long time before this show, so it’s working with a friend. He reads every script immediately and calls me twenty minutes later wanting to talk about it. I really appreciate how he involves me in his preparation. He’s incredibly methodical and patient, and I’m a little more spontaneous. I like to feel things on the fly. So, I knock him off his rhythm a bit and he pulls me back in. It’s a great balance, if more than a little frustrating for him I can only imagine. But it’s all in good fun.
Many fans know you best from ‘Battlestar Galactica’, which became a true cult classic. Looking back, what does that project mean to you now?
Everything. ‘Battlestar Galactica’ was where I really cut my teeth in this business, where I learned what it means to be part of something much bigger than yourself. I was so young when I joined that show, and I had no idea what was ahead of me. I remember Edward James Olmos telling us newbies to pace ourselves, that this was going to be a marathon not a sprint. Invaluable advice. Playing Dualla for those years was a huge part of my growing up, it taught me what discipline really was, gave me my first real sense of artistic community, and showed me that science fiction can be one of the most fascinating genres to explore human relationships that there is.
And I love that still connects me to people. To this day, fans come up to me and want to talk about Dee, her choices, her arc, that ending. She meant something to people in a way that went beyond entertainment, and I carry that with me, it’s a privilege. It set the standard for the kind of work I want to do, projects where the audience feels seen, not just entertained.
dress CATHERINE REGEHR
You’ve taken on roles across sci-fi, fantasy, drama, and thrillers. What draws you most to a project?
The inner life of the character. Genre is secondary. Having done sci-fi, horror, medical drama, romance, so many things, the common thread is always does this person feel real, like is something about them known to me? Are they allowed to be flawed and have contradictions?
The characters I’m drawn to typically carry something, a secret, a wound, something that isn’t immediately obvious. Kaia had that, she was known to me from the moment I read the audition sides. She walks into that bar with an agenda that isn’t entirely selfless, and I loved that about her. She’s not the girl next door. She’s complicated and more than a little messy.That’s what I look for.
How do you keep a character fresh and evolving when you’ve been playing them over several seasons?
Characters can always surprise me. You prepare for a new season— her backstory, her patterns, I know how she’d react to most situations, all that good stuff. But then the writers will throw something in that I didn’t see coming or a situation I couldn’t gave anticipated and you have to let go of what you thought you knew and feel your way forward. That’s where the freshness comes from, the willingness to be wrong about your own character and to make mistakes.
I am also a firm believer in living your own life fully between seasons. One of the first words of wisdom I got from a veteran director, “To be an artist, live a great life”. In many ways I’m not the same person I was when I started playing Kaia. I got married. I’ve travelled. My life is so different. And all of that life experience informs the work whether you intend it to or not. The character evolves because you evolve. It’s all grist for the mill.
As a South African–born actress thriving in North America, how has your background influenced your perspective and the roles you take on?
Being born in Durban and raised between South Africa and Canada gave me a kind of dual consciousness that I think shows up in everything I do. We are Third Culture citizens of the world. There have always been new worlds for me to navigate, moving between cultures, between accents, between the person my family knew in South Africa and the person I was becoming in Vancouver. You’re in both places and neither at the same time. You’re in this third place, never really fitting neatly into one box or the other. That’s something I try and bring to each role. My characters tend to be people who exist between things, duty and desire for Dee for example and now between independence and connection with Kaia.
Representation on-screen has grown since you began your career. How have you seen the industry shift, and where do you think it still needs to go?
It’s gotten meaningfully better, I do want to acknowledge that. When I started out, the roles available to me as a young woman of colour were narrow. The best friend, the sidekick, the character who existed to support someone else’s story. Now I see women who look like me leading shows, producing, directing, telling their own stories. That’s real progress.
But the work isn’t finished. Representation in front of the camera has to be matched by representation behind it, in writers’ rooms, in executive suites, in the decisions about which stories get funded and which don’t. And I think we need to move beyond representation as a checklist and toward it being so normal that we stop having to talk about it. That’s the goal. Not that it’s celebrated as exceptional, but that it’s just how things are. We’re not there yet, but we’re closer than we were, and I’m optimistic.
With such a busy career, how do you maintain balance between your professional and personal life?
Sometimes, you know, balance isn’t a perfect split. Some weeks the work takes everything, and that’s okay. Other weeks we are fully off the grid and I’m somewhere outside, not thinking about scripts at all.
The real shift was understanding the difference between balance and time management. You do have to prioritize the things that restore you and making sure those things aren’t the first to go when things get chaotic. For me, I need to be outside with my hands in the dirt, some good experimental kitchen time and my circle of women. I cannot overstate the importance of female friendships in my life. The group chats. The friends who uplift you, who celebrate your wins like they’re their own, and who you call when there’s a real problem to solve, whose opinions you respect. That tight circle is a true anchor in all this madness. It’ll keep you honest, at its best it keeps you laughing, and it reminds you who you are when the industry tries to tell you otherwise. As long as I have those things — the garden, the kitchen, and the women I trust — I can handle the chaos of the rest.
What’s the most surprising thing fans don’t know about you outside of acting?
That I’m deeply involved in my local community in ways that have nothing to do with Hollywood. I live in a place with incredible history and charm. It’s now one of the most densely populated and beautifully diverse areas in Vancouver, so many global communities and cultures alongside the Qayqayt First Nation and the Halkomelem speaking peoples whose unceded land we’re on. You can see that diversity reflected in the faith houses, restaurants, cultural centres, and festivals. There’s something about living in a melting pot like that, I love it.
I recently joined the board of our local Film Festival after volunteering on the marketing committee last year. We had a really successful festival for us, it was great to work alongside such an energetic team. Excited about how we can grow and serve the community through film. And I’ve also started volunteering with the South African Film Festival, which operates as a fundraising arm of Education Without Borders, an organization doing really meaningful work with students in the Cape, that was actually started by the same person I did my very first Fringe play with, which feels like a full-circle moment. I’m on their film selection and marketing committee, and I’m passionate about connecting with the greater diaspora of South Africans and Africans here.
My mother has long been an activist, starting in South Africa during apartheid, and community and social service has always been a core value in our family. In the spirit of Ubuntu, I am because we are.
What can you share with us about your upcoming projects?
Right now, ‘Virgin River’ is my world, and I’m genuinely thrilled about that. Season 7 is coming out soon and we’re already confirmed for Season 8, so there’s more story to tell and I’m excited about where Kaia is headed. Being on Netflix’s longest-running original scripted series is something I don’t take for granted, especially in an industry where shows get cancelled after two seasons.
Beyond that, I’m always reading scripts and keeping my eyes open. I’m at a stage in my career where I’m clear about what I want to do and the kind of stories I want to be part of. But right now, my focus is on this show and this incredible cast. I’m exactly where I want to be.
TEAM CREDITS
talent KANDYSE MCCLURE
photography CHARLES ZUCKERMANN
hair and makeup MOLLY ETHERINGTON
stylist SARAH D’ARCEY
editor TIMOTEJ LETONJA
editorial director and interview JANA LETONJA
