Jeanine Mason Talks Her Love for Sci-Fi and Highlighting Optimism in ‘WondLa’

Jeanine Mason lends her voice to Eva in the new animated adventure trilogy WondLa, which is based on Tony DiTerlizzi’s bestselling book series, The Search for WondLa. The seven-episode first season will premiere globally Friday, June 28 on Apple TV+.

Eva is a typical teen: curious, enthusiastic, spirited. The only difference… she’s being raised alone by a robot caretaker, Muthr, in a state-of-the-art underground bunker. On her 16th birthday, an attack on her sanctuary forces her onto the Earth’s surface, and it’s not what she expected. The planet is inhabited by aliens, covered with otherworldly fauna, and there are no other humans to be found. In fact, it’s no longer called Earth — it’s called Orbona. Otto, a lovable giant waterbear with whom Eva shares telepathic powers, Rovender, a cantankerous alien with a troubled past, and Muthr join Eva as she embarks on a quest to find humans, her home and her true destiny.

“I think that the most fun thing [about voice acting] is you’re super not worrying about what you look like, which is really freeing, you know? And also, you get to do stuff you would never most likely be allowed to do on camera because there are the limitations of what you look like, so I get to play 16 and I don’t exactly look 16 anymore,” she explained. “So, that was really exciting to step into that, especially because, as you know ‘cause we go back, but I am very — I feel like I’m holding my 16-year-old’s hand. I’m very much in conversation with her always, so it was fun to just let her take center stage for some time and put the seriousness of adulthood away.”

I had the pleasure of catching up with the actress to discuss the fun of voice acting, why she’s grateful to be part of the sci-fi genre legacy, the importance of optimism, and more.

Watch my interview here: