With The Terminal List now streaming exclusively on Prime Video, we caught up with star Tyner Rushing (Under the Banner of Heaven; Stranger Things) to talk about her key part in the action-thriller series that stars fan-favorite Chris Pratt (Jurassic World; Guardians of the Galaxy) in the lead role as James Reece.
Rushing plays Liz Riley, one of the only people Reece finds he can trust, and we spoke to her at length about what it was like developing chemistry with Pratt and playing the role of his one good eye as well as stepping into her first big-budget action series.
Plus, as an Alabama native, she tells me more about how that aspect made it easier for her to find Liz's voice.
Check out the full video interview below!
ROHAN: I saw that you are actually from Alabama... did that help you get into character as Liz Riley?
TYNER: Absolutely. Roll Tide! *laughs* Yes, I was telling someone earlier, I grew up in rural Alabama. So I mean, that country girl part of me, that's who I was, for the first probably ten years of my life, until I got made fun of a little bit for being a redneck. *laughs* I was like, I guess I need to talk properly. Then, I started singing when I was young, and so I sort of started erasing my accent, and then being an actor definitely lends itself to that. But yeah, it was so exciting and almost validating in some way to this inner child in me, to get to play this awesome female country girl on-screen. It was really special.
ROHAN: Yeah, you felt extremely authentic, so I just had to look up to see if you were actually from Alabama.
TYNER: And then you're like she is! *laughs*
ROHAN: You're playing Chris Pratt's right-hand woman, basically, on the series, the only person James Reece trusts - did you and Chris have to work on that chemistry or did you two hit it off pretty instantly?
TYNER: Sometimes it works like that. Yeah, you show up and you're like, I gotta play this person's wife or this best friend, and we've never met before, but in this case, we actually had a chemistry read as part of the audition process. But, it was over Zoom. *laughs* So, it's like, can you really tell over Zoom? The funny thing was you could feel it, like I think we all could. I connected with him and the producers, it just felt so right. We all kind of saw her the same way and we connected over this idea of brotherhood and, friendship and stuff. It was pretty special.
ROHAN: You're part of the flashbacks, so where you're seeing action, what kind of training did you undergo before filming?
TYNER: Oh, yeah. I mean, luckily, they connected me with all kinds of great resources, people that I was able to talk to and learn about their worlds and what it's like to be a private pilot currently, as Liz currently is a private pilot, but also to get hurt in that background, right? For the flashback and whatnot, of what it's like to be a Kiowa helicopter pilot in the army.
So yeah, I talked to some great people.In that aspect. I flew a plane, which is scary, but also just really cool. I feel proud of myself about that. Then, yeah, we did weapons training too. So, that was great working with Ray Mendoza, who as our military advisor. He was particular too. We had to learn the footwork and how people move and all that, it was just super specific, but also super comforting, and it brought a lot of security that they cared so much about doing it authentically and doing justice to our servicemen and women.
ROHAN: You also did Under the Banner of Heaven with Andrew Garfield recently, which is a very different genre. What was your experience like working on such a big-budget action series and would you like to do more stuff in this genre?
TYNER: So, actually, what's funny is I shot Terminal List before Under the Banner of Heaven. Terminal List wrapped in August, and then I started working on Under the Banner of Heaven in November, but then, Banner came out first. So, yeah, I mean, I hadn't done anything like action-oriented. So, there were times on set where I'd be like, “Hey, Chris, like this, would she be breathing really heavy right now? Did you do that when you do action stuff? Do you do this?,” and he would be like, “Yeah, I think so, but why don't you ask the director and not me?,” and I’m like, “But I need you.”
*laughs* Yeah, I mean, it was so cool, I would love to do more of that actually. I got to do some physical stuff on Under the Banner of Heaven too, there's that one scene where she's dragged out of the house and fighting and struggling and I don't know what it is about being physical and getting to move and maybe it's because a lot of times, as actors on-screen, you have to stand really still. I'm not sure, but something about that, it's fun.
Plus, check out our interviews with director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day; The Equalizer), author Jack Carr & screenwriter Dave DiGilio, stars Jeanne Tripplehorn ("Lorraine Hartley") & LaMonica Garrett ("Commander Bill Cox"), and Constance Wu ("Katie Buranek") and J. D. Pardo ("Tony Layun")!
Based on the best-selling novel by Jack Carr, The Terminal List follows James Reece (Chris Pratt) after his entire platoon of Navy SEALs is ambushed during a high-stakes covert mission. Reece returns home to his family with conflicting memories of the event and questions about his culpability. However, as new evidence comes to light, Reece discovers dark forces working against him, endangering not only his life, but the lives of those he loves.