Blackfire has arrived on Titans season 3, and Damaris Lewis brings her to life with style and stone cold ruthlessness. Her reputation precedes her— she killed her own parents— so all it takes is mentioning her name to strike fear in the hearts of people who know her history. She’s also somewhat misunderstood. I had a chance to talk to actor Damaris Lewis about her character after TitansEpisode 304 dropped on HBO Max.
In “Blackfire” Kory and Gar discover that Kory’s strange sleepwalking episodes are the result of being called upon by her sister, Blackfire. One of Kory’s “dreams” takes her to a field in the middle of nowhere. She and Gar find a hatch that leads deep underground, which is where they encounter Blackfire being held in a government facility.
Though the government is trying to protect the planet from Blackfire and her power, Kory realizes she can’t leave her sister locked up no matter how much she wants to turn her back on her. She eventually decides to take custody of her sister herself, hoping that she’s made the right choice.
Lewis’ Blackfire might have had her powers drained, but Lewis infuses her character with strength and steadfast conviction, which plays out beautifully as Anna Diop’s Kory stands over her with a scowl of derision.
In the first half of my two-part interview with Lewis, we talk about where Blackfire is when Kory finds her and how she finally has a chance to speak her truth to her sister.
SARABETH POLLOCK: “I really love the dynamic between Kory and Blackfire in this episode. She’s got the whole mythology working against her, that she killed their parents and she killed Kory’s lover, but when we meet her in the episode she’s in a very different space. Can you talk about where she is in her mind when we first see her? It almost feels like there’s a little manipulation going on even though she’s in her lowest moment.”
DAMARIS LEWIS: “I think that’s a really great question. I think in the beginning, she starts that scene broken but she leaves with a different energy, right? And you see her on that cot, sleeping. It’s a very vulnerable place to be in. When Kory walks in, it’s ‘Komand’r’ it’s ‘Koriand’r,’ it’s real names.
“And so what ends up happening is the rage comes back. In that moment her sister wasn’t there, there was nobody, she was alone, but that’s her normal state. She’s used to being alone, she’s used to being in the pit, she’s used to being in trouble. She’s used to that state you find her in more than the state she leaves in. She’s not used to being helped, she’s not used to being saved, and so I think that Blackfire’s mind actually starts changing.
“Once she starts feeling what this feels like, Kory comes back in and [Blackfire] says, ‘What are you doing?’ But [Kory’s] like, ‘I’m taking you, let’s go.’ And then by the end, [Blackfire’s] like, ‘Where are you taking me?’ She’s really confused as to what’s happening right now, her sister saved her? So I do believe she’s broken, she’s really broken, but you’re going to see what she does with it.”
SP: “It’s really interesting when Blackfire starts presenting Kory as the reason she’s the way she is. They have that sibling rivalry and that influences Kory’s decision to come back and save her sister. But what’s more interesting is that Blackfire finally gets to have the moment when she says that Kory needs to understand why she is the way she is.”
DL: “Yep. It’s crucial. I would use the word ‘crucial’ to Blackfire’s story. She raises her voice, right? She’s had it, she’s at that point now where she has had it. And this is the beginning of a really big lesson that is going to take us on a journey this season.
“And I want people to really pay attention to those words that she says. ‘I am who I am because of you.’ She bows to her sister at the end, to mock her. What does she want? What has she never had? That, that bow, is [like saying], ‘Take it, take it, go ahead. This is how it always goes. You win the games with the parents, you never get in trouble, everybody loves the princess, but what about me?’
“And she doesn’t know if [Kory’s] coming back. [Kory] just told her that she’s leaving her there, so [Blackfire] leaves Kory with a bow. She’s still, after all this time, going to leave her with a bow. And I think that says something about her training, her programming. And after all of that, she’s still going to try and get her point across. Her sister doesn’t listen to her. And then we find [Blackfire] confused that [Kory’s] breaking her out.”
SP: “Blackfire is different in that in traditional character building you have a sense of what the character’s motivation is and with Blackfire there are so many ways it can go. But it seems clear she’s not interested in any kind of redemption or change. She owns what she does, but she’s also very content to be the person she is.”
DL: “I was just going to say that! I was going to say, I think that’s a beautiful point because we normally think the superhero has got it all together, right? And I often find that it’s the villain who knows who they are. It’s who they are that’s not accepted by their society, by their families, and that is what turns them into the villain. It’s not the other way around. The villain isn’t lost. The villain knows exactly who they are, but if that person’s not accepted…. So to your point, yeah, she’s content. She told the truth. She owned everything she did with telling the truth.
“Maya Angelou has a quote about the truth that says, ‘Tell the truth to people. When they ask, How are you?just know that you will be isolated because nobody wants to hear about your knees that pain you because they have knees that pain themselves. But as people isolate you, it’ll leave you time to meditate and find a cure for whatever afflicts you.’ And I say that quote because that’s what you’re seeing here.
“Blackfire’s telling the truth, and the truth is such a…it’s the answer. The truth is always the answer. But what happens when people don’t listen to your truths, what do you become? Who do you have to be in order to just fit in, in order to survive? And I think that’s where we find Blackfire. She’s so tired of knowing who she is and no one believing her.”
SP: “I asked this question of Curran Walters now that he’s playing Robin and Red Hood, going from a hero to a villain in season 3. I asked whether it’s more fun to be a villain and I’m wondering what it’s like for you as Blackfire.”
DL: “Oh, it’s the best. I wouldn’t recommend it in your daily life. But if you are on a Warner Bros. TV show, I’d highly recommend accepting the role of the villain because again, the villains are the ones who don’t fit in. I think most of us who don’t fit in feel like the villain.
“And I always say it’s the kids that don’t fit in that try everything. They try to play every sport, they join every club, all they want is love. All they want to know is that somebody accepts them for who they are. And so, what happens because of that is the villain knows how to be many different people, because the villain ends up being a people pleaser. How else would you manipulate people, right, if you’re not a people pleaser?”
Stay tuned for the second half of my interview with Damaris Lewis to follow TitansEpisode 306 on HBO Max.
Next. Titans season 3 episode 4 review: "Blackfire". dark
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