The mystery and the tension in Cassandra, the new Netflix series, are given life by the diverse characters who come with their own varied motivations and energies. The monstrous robot, the female in crisis, and the emasculated men all find a thematic space in the series. In Cassandra, the children too have definite and considerable importance in the narrative. The film’s approach at world-building, one retro and the other modern, is an ambitious endeavor. The cast does a smooth job of presenting both worlds as convincing realities. In this article, we will acquaint ourselves with the cast of Cassandra and contemplate a little over what their characters bring to the narrative.
Lavinia Wilson as Cassandra
Cassandra, the AI system on a supposed murder spree, is made even more threatening by German actress Lavinia Wilson. Cassandra’s monotone robotic pitch, her thin arching eyebrows, and her pale skin establish her as the female monster, particularly the monstrous mother, and Wilson characterizes her as the archaic mother. Previously, Lavinia has worked on the series Deutschland 86 and Deutschland 89. She has also starred as the protagonist Sonja in Tandoori Love, quoted as Switzerland’s first ‘Bollywood film.’ Wilson’s success in Cassandra lies in her ability to embody a female character that, despite substantial victimization, is not valorized.
Mina Tander as Samira Prill
German actress Mina Tander has appeared in several films like Ants in the Pants and No More School. Before Cassandra, she has worked in other television series such as Berlin Station and Nord Nord Mord. Samira Prill is threatened when the AI system, named Cassandra, of her new lavish mansion is making all efforts to supplant her. Samira is desperate to show her husband the truth about Cassandra. However, she is shunned on account of seeming too anxious and traumatized. Working on the normative model of the female-in-crisis horror, Cassandra builds Samira as a victim and the eventual hero of the story. She poses an equal threat to Cassandra as Cassandra poses to her, but only one is allowed to have the last word.Â
Michael Klammer as David Prill
As the patriarch of the Prill house, we have David Prill, played by the German-Italian actor, Michael Klammer. Michael has gained some recognition from his roles in The Teachers’ Lounge, an obscure but equally buzz-creating film, and the Matt Dillon-starrer Head Full of Honey. Michael’s portrayal of David Prill works on the construction of the helpless father and husband, rendered almost as the powerless masculine figure amidst the battle of the two contesting female powers. While Cassandra is indeed the monster, David’s mistrust in his wife seems to have helped unleash the monster’s full potential. It is David’s absence of a natural instinct to read for trouble and his inability as a father to read between the lines that jeopardize his family.
Joshua Kantara as Fynn Prill
In Cassandra, an emerging talent, Joshua Kantara, portrays the role of Fynn Prill. As an actor, Joshua has appeared in films like The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes and Girl You Know It’s True. In the beginning, Fynn, David and Samira’s eldest, looks withdrawn most of the time and is shown to be reticent. Perhaps he is still carrying the trauma of the unspeakable incident revolving around his dead aunt. There is a touch of softness that Joshua brings to the character of Fynn. Fynn is queer—he knows it and so does his family—but he is not too keen on exhibiting his identity to the world. Leaving behind a comfortable life, full of friends and an ambitious, even if amateur, band, is overwhelming for Fynn.
Mary Tölle as Juno Prill
The youngest of the Prill family, Juno Prill, is played by child actor Mary Tölle. As audiences, we see young Tölle first in her role as Emma in the series, Viewerwandeplus. As Junoe, Tölle is vibrant, resilient, yet fearful. Juno, in her small and tender life, has been a witness to an alarming number of traumatizing episodes, which is unnatural for a kid of her age; from her aunt’s tragic death to the AI robot slowly but staggeringly becoming the more powerful matriarch of the household. It is interesting how Juno undertakes the risky task of getting communication going with Samira while she is admitted for therapy in the psychiatric hospital. She shows more grit than her father, David. We see Juno being brainwashed by Cassandra, who provokes her to turn against her mother. However, despite all the plottings of the robot, Juno is disappointed with Sam but rarely exhibits violent hostility towards the others.
Franz Hartwig as Horst Schmitt
Franz Hartwig’s success as an actor has been in the form of roles in the ensemble cast project A Most Wanted Man and Ava DuVernay’s Origin, among others. Hartwig presents Horst as a character who is furtive and lofty. He is a cheating husband and a dishonest scientist who is using his experiment as a way to exploit animals (and later his wife), so the viewers have enough reasons not to sympathize with him. In Cassandra, Franz’s emotional distance and frigid nature set off the concerns of the father complex that get repeated throughout the series. Horst is the reason for Cassandra’s misery. Not only does he indulge in infidelity with his wife’s best friends, but he also readily discards his second child, who is born as a deformed baby due to the invasive procedure he performed on Cassandra. As a scientist, he is dangerous, and as a father, he is despotic.
