Interview: Pegah Ghafoori on Fatima ‘Finally In Her Element’ After FROM Season 4 Finale

Pegah Ghafoori interview FROM Season 4 finale

(Warning: Our Pegah Ghafoori interview contains major, major spoilers for the FROM Season 4 finale.)

After watching Fatima’s transformation in FROM Season 4 Episode 10, I wasn’t sure whether I should congratulate Pegah Ghafoori on (presumably) having the opportunity to do something totally different with the character in Season 5…or to offer condolences on her not-quite death. Asked her reaction to the news, Ghafoori admitted, “I was so sure…I was done for this season.” So, after receiving the script, she was “totally in shock.” And, she shared, “I remember calling Hannah [Cheramy, who plays Julie] immediately, and I was like, ‘have you read the script? What do you think this means? Who do I call?'” On the scene where Fatima transforms itself, she told us, “it was really exciting to do it, and…I didn’t die. I don’t think.”

We’ll have to stay tuned for FROM Season 5 to know for sure, but until we hear otherwise, “a win is a win. Condolences to everyone else, but…[Fatima’s] thriving.” Even if she’s thriving now, Fatima spent most of FROM Season 4 wary of her connection to Smiley. And, then, there were the markings on her body after using that connection to her…son? Spawn? Whatever Smiley is to her…to save Kenny. So, when did Fatima know what she was becoming? For Ghafoori, “she probably knew…way earlier” than the actual, final moment of transformation. But “whether she wanted to believe it or not is another thing…I personally think as soon as she found out that she was pregnant, she knew her life as she knew it was over for the second time since entering the town.”

So, if some part of Fatima knew…what was the point of spending the season building a golem? Ghafoori “actually talked to our writer,” and the answer…is, basically, a wait and see. “She just finished it—give her a second.” Still, it wasn’t a waste. “One thing about Fatima is that she doesn’t ever just sit around and wait to see what happens. She will do what she can.” Even if the golem’s just “a symbol, [or] whether that’s something so that other people can look to it and be like, ‘someone is doing something,'” that’s helpful. Here, Ghafoori mentions “imaginary things that you can use to hold onto your wits” before adding, “Fatima won’t just sit around and have things get taken from her. If she, if she needs to make something up to put in the place of it, then she will.”

With all the mysteries surrounding FROM, most conversations—interviews included—run the risk of getting derailed by a theory or two. And Ghafoori’s answer got me considering what all of this could lead to. I asked if she thought Fatima’s role could be the protector, for as long as possible. Kinda like…well, like the golem itself, in some sense. “Aren’t we all just looking to protect our loved ones and make sure nothing happens to our kin,” she asked me, “and I mean, wouldn’t you? Wouldn’t you want to protect your family?” (Honestly, I have no idea. Want and can are two separate things, and who knows what any single individual—myself included—could do in FROMville.)

But, going back to Season 1, there was a lot of talk on Fatima’s anniversary about her being special. “Fatima has never been [all about ] ‘me, me, me, how do I get out of here,'” Ghafoori reminded me, “I think the people who are like that tend to end up in places—um, how do I put this sensitively—where you go to swim, as opposed to places to stay.” Additionally, “I think the people who, even in real life, when you go out trying to protect other people…you hold onto your sanity a little bit more because it’s not just, ‘how can I survive this? How can I do this?'”

Instead, “it’s a team, and the more you show up for other people, the further along you’ll get. And I think that’s always been Fatima’s…motto, like first season, she’s making it so that people can get away from their problems and this, this nightmare.”