"Gayety's Levi Chambers chats with Ana Ortiz and Francesca Noel all about how Goosebumps: The Vanishing redefines horror by centering diverse, complex characters. From Latina and queer representation to breaking tragic tropes, the cast shares how their roles bring depth and authenticity to the iconic franchise. Plus, Ana spills on her real-life ghost story—yes, there’s a ghost in her house! Don’t miss this spooky and heartfelt interview!
Goosebumps: The Vanishing premieres all eight episodes on Friday, January 10, 2025, on Disney+ and Hulu!"
Goosebumps: The Vanishing premieres all eight episodes on Friday, January 10, 2025, on Disney+ and Hulu!"
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00:00Hello everyone, I'm Levi with Gayety. Hello, how are you?
00:06I'm so excited to be here with you. I have questions for both of you. So I'm going to
00:09start with you, Anna, if that's okay. Your character, Jen, brings a really unique perspective
00:16in the series to the investigation, without giving any spoilers away. She's a really strong
00:20woman of color. How do you feel like this role adds to diversity in the show and especially
00:25the franchise? Because Goosebumps has come a really long way in the last 30 years. How do
00:32you feel like her role adds to the show? What impact do you think that that character could
00:37have on viewers who may come from underrepresented backgrounds or communities? I think that's such a
00:44good question. I think we're, you know, Jen is a definite New York girl from around the way,
00:51Brooklyn, you know, born and raised. She's not left the neighborhood. I think for me,
00:57I never get to see Latin people, let alone Latin women, in horror. So it was really exciting to
01:04get to play this role. I think they did such a good job with our relationship as mother and
01:10daughter. And I'll let you speak to Alex, to her character, because, but the dynamic between us,
01:19I don't think you really get to see just a mother-daughter having the normal sort of
01:24conflicts that people do. We just happen to be Latina. And so it was really exciting to be
01:30represented in horror. And I hope it was my first time ever doing horror. So I just hope that we
01:36get to see a lot more of that. But I loved, I loved the way we were written. I think it was
01:42really on point. And if any, you know, little brown girls out there or grown brown girls
01:48watching it can relate, queer or not, I'm so excited that Goosebumps can bring that.
01:57But I think you, like I, she, you can speak to your character because.
02:01Yeah, I mean, Goosebumps, you know, their past season did have a trans character. And that was
02:07amazing to see. For me, I was playing a queer character. And that meant so much to me. And to
02:12be able to like, my character also is an ex-con, and she's a cop. And that's we're both women of
02:19color. We're both from that area. And to go through these scenes, personally, they were
02:24very difficult, but it gave me a lot of empathy. And it taught me a lot about that experience.
02:29And I'm so glad that Disney and Goosebumps were brave enough, as of course they are,
02:34because we know they can be and they are. And they showed this story in a really respectful
02:40way. And I was really proud to be able to do it with Anna.
02:42Do you, do you feel like Alex, because she really challenges these traditional expectations,
02:48like you've just said, especially for the genre, right? But also of young women in these types of
02:53stories. Do you feel like your character in particular is going to resonate really well
02:58with viewers that may not have had a character that really, they really connected with even on
03:03the last season? Yes, yes, I do. I mean, for me,
03:06I love a character who's a little bit of a dick, and that is Alex. And she also loves women. And
03:12I'm like, that's so great. And she doesn't have to be, it's not like, sometimes we get like these
03:17tragic lesbian stories, and Alex gets that. And she really fights to like, speak up for herself.
03:22And we see her go through that like triumphantly. And I don't think that's a spoiler. I don't know,
03:27but it just, it felt really good to me to be able to kind of give her that power. But she felt like
03:33a very powerful character to be playing. Yeah, because she fights, she doesn't only fight,
03:38she fights on so many levels. And she comes out, like she physically gets down. Like,
03:43yeah, it's really, you have that was really cool to see. You know, she's kind of like Rosa Diaz
03:48from Brooklyn Nine-Nine. But she's got such a softer heart. She does. And I love seeing that
03:53because she's she felt like a whole person. Like Ana said, it's not like we're just Latina,
03:57or we're just queer. We're people first, you know, and it's like we want all of that in there. And
04:01they really gave us that. Did did either of you I'm assuming some of your cast mates like David
04:07Schwimmer, they read the books, they watched some of the movies or episodes of of goosebumps to kind
04:13of prepare for this. Was there a huge, obviously, it's very mature now, right? Compared to what
04:19goosebumps used to be? Did you do work like that? Did you read stay out of the basement or any of
04:24the the goosebumps books to get prepared for this? I didn't read it prior to the show. But
04:30like I read it when I was a little kid. I grew up with this book. And, you know, I was the one in
04:34the corner of the library reading some scary stuff about like monsters and freaking myself out. And I
04:40love horror because of that. And I know her kids. Yeah, my kids read I lose the one way I could get
04:46my kids to read book was goosebumps. And then unwittingly, I have turned them now into like
04:52horror fans. Much to my chagrin. Because I'm terrified. Like I'm the one so scared. I get so
04:59freaking you do. Oh my gosh, she's not wrong. It's true. I do. I really do. So it was really
05:06exciting to be able to act in it. I don't know if I'm gonna be able to watch it. Ghost in a house
05:10though. I do. I do. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. That's nice. It's wild. Does she have a name? That's what I
05:20was like. Tell me about this. Go. She says I should name her. I feel like that's a little
05:24presumptuous. No, I don't think so. Okay, well, you should use it. Levi. Do you think I should
05:30name her? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. She's from the 50s. She's from the 50s. But I mean, like,
05:37it depends like how much you know about it, because I don't think she'll want a name like
05:39Deborah or Barbara. You know, that's like a 50s name, but not. It's not the vibe. If you if you're
05:44a ghost, you're like now you know what, whatever name I had, I'd rather have something better,
05:47you know, from the 50s. So I feel like it's so it's so weird that the interviews were today
05:56because last night at like two in the morning, my printer started printing all your bios,
06:00which I thought was bizarre. So it literally woke me up. And I was like, because I had asked it to
06:07print earlier. And I don't know what happened. I didn't do it. Anyway. I was like, is there just
06:12right with goosebumps? It just fit. That's crazy. Yeah. So right now. Right? We should,
06:18you know? Yeah, I actually have interviews today with Tyler Henry, the medium. Yeah. So maybe I
06:24should ask him like, Okay, listen, this is a little disconnected. But we have a question about
06:28a ghost at Anna's house. Yes, thank you. Thank you so so much. I really appreciate your answers.
06:35They're very thoughtful. And your time today. I think everyone's gonna love goosebumps. Thank you.
06:39Thanks. Thank you so much. Bye.