INDIAN actress Nimrat Kaur, who starred in the hit film The Lunchbox, is the latest to join the cast of popular US TV drama Wayward Pines.
The first season of the sci-fi show revolved around a secret agent’s in- vestigation into the disappearance of two former officers in Wayward Pines, a small town in the state of Idaho.
The 34-year-old Indian star will play the role of Rebecca in the second season of the Fox show.
Kaur, who had a successful stint on American TV series Homeland, said it is a great time to be an actor.
“It’s really wonderful to play this part as an Indian. It’s not an ethnic casting. It’s colour-blind casting. It’s really good that they are not bothered about where Rebecca comes from or what her roots are,” Kaur said.
“Obviously, I am going to appear Indian but there’s no explaining done about where she comes from or who she is from that perspective.“This is a glorious time for actors to be working across the world. I feel fortunate to be a part of the show and I am looking forward to how this sea- son fares,” the actress said.
Kaur believes such casting will even- tually become a norm in the industry. “It’s happening more and more now. I watched a play called Hamilton some months ago. There were siblings who came from different cultural back- grounds. I could not understand it for a while, but then I realised that the message was that you have to be blind to colour and ethnicity. People are moving in that direction.”
Based on the book series by author Blake Crouch, the second season of Wayward Pines picks up from where the first season ended. The focus this time is on the town’s new resident Dr Theodore Yedlin, played by Jason Pat- ric. Kaur, who was offered the part when she was busy planning her sis- ter’s wedding, is his architect wife.
The actress said she liked the first episode and immediately said yes.
“I took an instant liking to the way the first episode read. I had an idea about the show but it was a genre that I had never attempted before.
“American television space is dom- inated by some of the best creative minds and this is why writing plays a huge part in making one’s show stand out,” Kaur explained.
“The popularity of your show de- pends a lot on how astute the writing is. There is so much happening that you have to keep your audience in- vested in your characters and story.”
