An Interview with Katie Chang from ‘Pantheon’

Katie Chang is an accomplished actor one that has graced both the silver and small screen and she has even provided her voice to multiple projects along the way. Currently she stars as Maddie on the AMC+ series Pantheon, and we here at Nerds That Geek were fortunate to sit down with Katie to discuss her role and her thoughts on the show’s fascinating commentary.

John Betancourt: What was it that attracted you to this project?

Katie Chang: Okay, initially, but it is only because I pride myself on my honesty… I was excited to work. Like this was like deep pandemic, at the beginning of the pandemic, I looked at my partner and I said, “Oh, I'm never gonna work. I'm never gonna have a career again, like, this is the end of the world,” you know? Because we were all catastrophizing. So I was just excited, like to get the audition, you know, and every time I get an audition, I'm like, “Oh, me really?” You know, I was I excited to be thought of. When I found out though, that I got the part, and I was able to read the first script -- I was talking to a friend of mine just sort of really basic outlining kind of the themes of the story. He looked at me, he was like, “This is going to be huge; you know, this is going to be really good.” And so, I read the script again, after I talked to him. And I remember thinking, I don't know where this is going. But the one thing that I feel, keeps me invested in any show or movie that I watched, is that I want to know what's going to happen next. And the cool thing about Pantheon and the way each episode ends is you're like, “What just happened?” I need to know what happens next week. I have no idea how we got here. It's so far from where we started, but that's probably what engrossed me the most at once I started working on it was like, I genuinely felt like a fan every time I was recording and I would press Craig, I'd be like, “Tell me what's gonna happen next time.”

John Betancourt: Did he though? Or did he keep it a secret?

Katie Chang: He kept some things a secret. I think, you know, at the beginning, they were still writing. They were still figuring some things out. Eventually he clued me into a lot of the core parts of where we end up in the show. And yeah, I was… safe to say I was amazed.

John Betancourt: Same. There have been several moments now where I’m watching and something epic happens and my jaw just drops.

Katie Chang: So, I have my family, my friends are watching it and they're like, “I cannot believe that happened.” And all I say is “just wait.” If you think it's crazy… Just wait.

John Betancourt: So true. I think that’s why I’ve been savoring and spreading out my watching of this one just a bit. Now, in keeping in mind with interests, I would love to know what attracted you to the role of Maddie.

Katie Chang: I think it still excites me every time I get asked to audition for a part that is written specifically for someone who looks like me and has the racial background that I do. Especially with like… sometimes I get asked to audition for mixed roles, but like the mom is always Asian and the dad is white. But in my family my dad is Korean, and my mom is white. So, like just to have that, so specifically, my family makeup literally represented in the story, that was like my initial in, you know was “Oh! I can identify immediately from that.” And then as I got to know her. I think the thing that I found the most important about her was her the, the interesting relationship between her strength and her youth. I remember when I was younger being headstrong and I remember being stubborn and I'm sure people now would describe me as headstrong and stubborn too as in my in my elder years. (Laughter from Katie and John)

But the thing is when you kind of take, especially knowing what I know now, is when you take stock of everything… her strength kind of outlives her youth because… is she really wrong? She's not wrong about the things she believes. And she's not wrong to pursue the truth that she's pursuing, and to play a character that I agree with? You know, it was honestly, it was enjoyable, it wasn't hard work, because I just felt like I understood why she was doing what she was doing.

John Betancourt: That’s awesome. Love that we’ve got representation in animation. Wonderful to see. Now, shifting gears a bit, something that I am definitely curious about, and correct me if I’m wrong here… but preparation for a voice role versus a standard role are vastly different, are they not?

Katie Chang: They're different. Yeah, they're different. I mean, I was telling someone earlier… you know, to just, like, transcend what you look like, and your physical being, and just let go of all of that, and just focus on conveying a message through your voice, like to be disconnected from being on camera, and just having that extra challenge of how do you tell a story and send a message with your voice alone. That was that was really exciting for me. And I did a lot of work with my acting coach about, you know, breathing and projection and coming from my diaphragm. So, it definitely was a different process. Yeah. But I learned so much. And I don't know, in a way, I almost enjoyed it more. Because it was such a unique challenge that I wasn't used to before I started this.

John Betancourt: Now with that in mind, how did you as an actor get into the mindset of playing Maddie?

Katie Chang: I mean, I feel like I'm perpetually in the mindset of a 15-year-old girl, like, I think my emotional growth got stunted. (Laugher from Katie and John) It wasn't, it wasn't difficult. I also have a 15-year-old sister. So, I sourced a lot of a lot of help from her for sure. Um, to get into Maddie's mindset, though, I think I was thinking a lot about trying to go back to moments in my life where I felt lost, but also when I felt like I had lost something, or someone, and trying to bring back those emotions, trying to bring back the thoughts that I would have. And also, moments where I felt like, I felt such a strong conviction to either find the truth or that something that was existing currently was wrong. You know, and so I think to get into the mindset was a lot of like, looking back into my life and finding maybe, maybe the situations were vastly different, but the emotions were there, and how can I tap into that?

John Betancourt: Now shifting gears again a little bit, I’m curious as to what it means to you to be part of a show that is such a grand and sweeping sci-fi epic.

Katie Chang: I can't. I mean, how much time do we have, it would take me like hours to just articulate how meaningful being a part of Pantheon has been for me, on literally every level. I mean, so… I'll just leave it at that. It is extremely, extremely meaningful. One of the… I definitely think, you know, 10 years from now looking back, I'll be like, “Oh, that was a core experience of my life.” For sure. And the bigger part of it, too, to get to be, you know, written in the same sentences of people that I admire for their careers. And that's always such an honor. And, so, you know… I always feel like I have a foot in the door, but I don't feel ever like I'm fully in the door. I don't want to feel like I'm fully in the door, because I want to keep that fire underneath me. Yeah. It makes me feel like I'm allowed to be here, you know, and that's exciting.

John Betancourt: Now we spoke a little bit about layers earlier, and I want to follow up on that. So, of the many layers and messages present in this show, what’s the one that stood out the most to you?

Katie Chang: Oh my God, what is your what is your humanity worth and what is humanity to begin with? Especially in this day and age… how do you define human? Given the advances we've made in technology and in the show, given what they're able to do with humanity? What is the definition? Do we have to rewrite the dictionary? I think that is the question that the series wants you to think about. And whether you find the answer or not at the end, I think the whole point is to figure it out for yourself. What do you believe in? What is your sense of right and wrong? What is your limit, to how far technology should go?

John Betancourt: That’s very fair, and those are some burning questions for all of us right now.

Katie Chang: Yeah, I mean, sooner rather than later. We're gonna have to figure that out.

John Betancourt: Yeah, exactly. Maybe sooner for sure. Now, once this season has come to its close, what do you hope audiences take away from it?

Katie Chang: One of the things that I think people should be thinking about is like, what would you do in this situation? Let's say you're Maddie, how would you have done anything differently? What would you do with all the information that she uncovers episode after episode? What would you do? If you were Caspian? How would you handle that? Was it Shakespeare? Who was like, “The theater is holds a mirror to ourselves.” I think it might have been Shakespeare or something. But that's, that's what TV and film is supposed to be. It's supposed to reflect back on to us and make us think. So, that's what I hope people do.

John Betancourt: What did you enjoy the most about working on this project?

Katie Chang: Being a fan, being a fan of it, because every time I went in, to record, and would finish an episode, I’d look at Craig on Zoom. And I'd be like, “Are you kidding? I can't imagine what's going to happen next.” I think, though, if I had to pinpoint it, like, my favorite, most impactful moment about working on this show was recording the very, very last episode. And I can't say why.

John Betancourt: No that’s fine! No spoilers. Last question I have for you today, what are you most proud of when it comes to your time on this show?

Katie Chang: I think this show does a really incredible job balancing, the classic stuff that you would think about when you think about the show, like sci-fi, and tech, and world building and all of that. But combining that with like a real family story. And a story about being a teen in this day and age, and a story about love, at a certain point. Various kinds of love, different ways that it looks like to the people who are in it. And I think that's the biggest thing for me, is that beautiful balance that it strikes. Some shows go far in one direction not far and enough in the other. I think Craig has done and can certainly with the work he did, too. They've done such a good job of, of combining the humanity with the questions about humanity. Making you really think about that relationship.
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This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

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