With Reacher in the midst of arguably its bloodiest and most action-packed season yet, we recently caught up with two of the new season's breakout stars, Agnez Mo ("Lila Hoth") and Anggun ("Amisha Hoth"). The duo plays the insanely dangerous Indonesian assassins who have been raising all kinds of hell for Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson) all season long.
In our fun and informative conversation, the two Indonesian legends break down their characters, explaining how they were able to so deftly infiltrate Reacher's inner circle, as well as how their troubling pasts shaped who they've become—and why that makes them exceedingly dangerous. Plus, they tell me what it was like learning how to wield the karambit, their intense training sessions, and much more!
The first six episodes of Reacher season four are now streaming, with episode seven set to debut September 9, followed by an action-packed season finale on September 16!
Reacher has already been renewed for Season 5, which is currently filming, so expect another adventure next summer.
Watch our full interview below and/or keep scrolling to read the full transcription. Plus, remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more exclusive content!
ROHAN: Agnez, Reacher isn't someone that trusts easily, but he almost immediately finds common ground with Lila. What would you say it was about her that allowed him to be so vulnerable? And, what was your experience developing that chemistry with Alan?
AGNEZ: I think... and I've said this all the time, even like at Comic-Con, it's just so fun to play Lila because Lila is so layered. Layered is obviously one thing to describe Lila. But, and I think, part of the fun is discovering who she really is as the story unfolds. And I think what's so good about Lila—obviously, if you have watched all the episodes—Amisha groomed her to be her killing machine. So if you think about it, there is a possibility that she might as well be a sociopath, and that this is something like a job to Lila. So her being a damsel in distress and then luring him into trusting her, it's just something that she does for the job, you know? And because obviously, even though this is not stated anywhere in the show, but if you think about it, there's no way that this is their first job, right? Like Lila and Amisha must have done this like hundreds of times.
So, this is just another job for them. It just so happens that this time around, they have someone like Reacher—someone who's smart, intelligent, and also big and strong. But it's kind of fun to play all these layers. The first one obviously the damsel in distress, and then in episode three, she kind of had to improvise that, "Oh shit, he's onto me. What's plan B?" And then she immediately had to go, "Oh yeah, I'm actually a journalist." And then if you hear it, even the way and the tone of Lila's voice changes, right? Like the first scene was very timid, very South Asian, very like, "Oh my god, I need help." And then all of a sudden when she's a journalist, the tone becomes a little bit more like, "No, this is what I want." So yeah, I mean, I think to see Lila being vulnerable, but also calculated, strong... And then I like the fact that Lila is playing into that because she knows that's one of the things that might be their connection. And I think if you see all of the episodes, you could tell that Reacher genuinely started to care about her. Like, you could tell that he's actually worried about Lila. So yeah.
ROHAN: Anggun, your character is very withholding in the first few episodes. What kind of challenge did it present as you were going from this reserved mastermind to this unhinged killer throughout the course of the season?
ANGGUN: As Agnez said, Amisha groomed Lila since the beginning. So, she let her do the talking, do the seducing, do the tricky, tricky parts. But I know that deep down Amisha is just boiling with vengeance. She has a mission; she just wants to get it done. But with Episode 4, 5, and so on, you see that the plot is shaping up, and you see that Amisha is actually more than meets the eye, because so far she hasn't revealed much of who she truly is. And I'm really looking forward for the audience to figure that out by themselves, because obviously she's not going to say much. She's keeping everything until the first kill. Until they find out that it's actually both of them.
And it's really, for me, quite smart from the writers as well to turn this into... because it's quite different from the book. Turn this into something that we put a lot of... they put a lot of components of Indonesia, obviously, and then the fighting scenes, we do Indonesian martial arts. And it's really, for me, not only just from the movie point of view, the series, but also from the cultural side. It's bringing something... it's adding more value to me—because I don't want to say "layer" anymore! And it's adding something more to Reacher, adding like a sprinkle of culture. And it's so nice to have that. It's different.
ROHAN: Both of you have such incredible fight scenes with the karambits, including the big one coming up in the finale. What were those training sessions like? And, how challenging was it to learn how to use the karambit and attempt to master it?
ANGGUN: When I found out that it was a karambit, I went on YouTube looking at tutorials. And I cut myself in pieces even though I bought one of those practice ones, and it's really, really sharp. But then we trained two, three times per week. And we were there for five months, six months altogether. So whenever we were not filming, we would be with the stunt team. The team was actually excellent. And then we had to learn everything. Because even though Agnez, she's an established singer, dancer—she dances, she knows her body well and she can move easily—I am so not a physical person that I had to really learn everything. Like, "Okay, this is right and this is left." Learning all that was like a challenge by itself. And then having bruises everywhere, because it's really, really tough. But I wore my bruises like a badge of honor.
AGNEZ: Both Anggun and me, we know how physical this could be, and we went into that training session two, three times per week with a sense of responsibility. Like, this is the least that we could do to show up for the show. And as I also have said this many times to my fans and to the press as well, this is kind of like a respect thing—a sense of respect. Basically, coming into a show that's already established as a guest, I want to make sure that I do things right, the way that the creator, obviously, expects of us. And one of the stunt trainers over there, he's sort of like the specialist for Southeast Asian martial arts. He gave me kind of like the plastic karambit.
And there's actually a funny story around that, too, because I was trying to get familiar with the karambit, 'cause there are a few scenes where we want to play karambit while talking. So I just wanted to make sure that I kind of get used to playing that. And then I didn't remember that I was at a restaurant, and I was playing karambit, and then one of the waiters basically came to me and told me to put away the karambit because I scared everybody. Because they thought... and I was like, "No, no, no, this is plastic." But it's just fun, you know?
When we were there, we trained through all the bruises, like Anggun said. I even have a photo album basically only for all the bruises that I got from the training! Because in that training, Rohan, we didn't just train the choreography, right? We actually trained from boxing to the footwork from Pencak Silat, which is obviously the Indonesian martial arts. We trained physically as well, and then on top of all those trainings, I still went to the gym to make sure that I look right and look the part. So there's a lot of dedication to go into this. But to be honest with you, I don't think that that's something special, you know? I just feel like that's something that everybody should do, and that's what's expected from us. We were just simply doing our job.
ANGGUN: Yeah, I agree. Yeah.
Based on the 13th book in Lee Child’s global best-selling series, Gone Tomorrow, in the fourth season of the action-packed series, when a chance encounter with a distraught stranger on a subway goes horribly wrong, Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson) is drawn into a complex and deadly game that pits him against ruthless foes from the highest echelons of power. New to the cast this season are Chris Marquette, Sydelle Noel, AGNEZ MO, Anggun, Kevin Weisman, Marc Blucas, Kevin Corrigan, and Kathleen Robertson.
Reacher is produced by Paramount Television Studios and Amazon MGM Studios. The series is written for television by Emmy-nominated writer Nick Santora (FUBAR, Prison Break), who also executive produces and serves as showrunner. In addition to Santora and Child, Ritchson also serves as an executive producer, alongside Don Granger, Scott Sullivan, Mick Betancourt, Lisa Kussner, Sam Hill, Amy Pocha & Seth Cohen. Carolyn Harris and Kenny Madrid are the executives-in-charge of the series for Paramount Television Studios.