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American Gods star Yetide Badaki explains why *that* sex scene is more important than you realise

Photo credit: Getty Images
Photo credit: Getty Images

From Digital Spy

Rainbow Crew is an ongoing interview series which celebrates the best LGBTQ+ representation on TV. Each instalment showcases talent working on both sides of the camera, including queer creatives and allies to the community.

Next up, we're speaking to American Gods star Yetide Badaki about Bilquis and her role in season three.

It's rather fitting that Bilquis has become a firm fan-favourite on American Gods. As an ancient goddess of love, the former Queen of Sheba is used to being worshipped by millions, drawing power from those who adore her.

And although Bilquis is not as strong as she once was, that hasn't stopped viewers from adoring Yetide Badaki's portrayal of her. When Bilquis first appeared in the very first episode, that literally all-consuming sex scene left quite a mark on viewers, but there's so much more to this deity than just love in its most hedonistic form.

"With the first season, we saw Bilquis trying to survive," says Yetide. "In the second season, she starts to thrive. And by this season now, we finally see her find her drive."

We sat down with Yetide to discuss the "journey of self-discovery" that Bilquis embarks on in season three. Along the way, Yetide also explains how the goddess of love empowered her in real life too.

Photo credit: Jasper Savage - Amazon Prime
Photo credit: Jasper Savage - Amazon Prime

How is season three different or even perhaps better than season two in your eyes?

It’s always a joy to dive into Bilquis’s life story, especially when we have eons of story to go into [laughs]. So the deeper we can dive, the more enjoyable it is for me as an actor. And finding out these different facets of herself, these capabilities that she’s forgotten, and seeing different sides to what the goddess of love can be, that has all been an incredible gift.

What’s it been like working with a new showrunner in season three?

We have been genuinely fortunate with this show in that we’ve had the constant of Neil Gaiman. We’ve had the creator – as we call him, the gods’ father – and he is so wonderfully accessible. If you’d told me 10 years ago that I’d be able to say, "Oh, hi, Neil, I have a question about this” – I would have probably laughed you out of the door.

So we’ve had this gift continuously through it. And as for changes, they’re things we see this season that I think people are going to be incredibly excited for. The agency that we see in Shadow – we see someone taking charge of his own future, and making those decisions.

We see Salim go on this beautiful journey with Laura Moon. And the combination of these characters is something near and dear to my heart. I just have the fuzzies whenever I think of those two.

And then we’re seeing all these iterations of Mr World. We’re seeing Dominique Jackson. We’re seeing Danny Trejo. And something that was, personally for me, as we talk about self-discovery, as we talk about going into our roots – as someone from Nigeria, the fact that we’ve introduced the Orishas – it was just a beautiful thing to behold.

Bilquis is an immortal god, but she still goes through these human moments. What's it like to connect with that as a performer and balance these two extremes?

That’s a wonderful thing about these gods that Neil Gaiman has written. They’re just a distillation of human thought and belief. And so you get to explore their really large feelings, and the large expressions of being, within these "gods'. So getting to play with it as an actor, you get to dive into these beliefs, all of these kinds of ideas.

Personally for me, being an immigrant in the United States, Bilquis’s story of coming from one place into a new space and trying to find relevancy in how she fits within this new world, that resonates deeply for me.

There’s so many deeply human stories and feelings that she has allowed me to express. I mean, I couldn’t be more grateful for that.

Bilquis is such an inspiring figure. Like you say, she’s been through all these experiences, and then of course, she's also very sex-positive, being the goddess of love and all. How does it feel to play an empowering figure that can have that impact on people?

I love that she has powers. I mean, maybe I’m biased [laughs], but I think if she actually existed in the world, that would be powerful. What’s incredible is that she empowers me. I found that there has been this kind of symbiosis. There are these moments in life where it’s almost like: what would Bilquis do? [laughs]

I was so happy to be having conversations about sexual empowerment and sex-positivity, because I think there is so much that goes on in the silence, in the darkness. That’s where things go in the cracks.

But when we are able to own our own sexuality, and actually have conversations around it, that becomes something that’s healthier for everybody involved. I always say that regression comes from repression. When you’re actually able to face whatever it is, that’s when growth and evolution can occur. So that’s been something that I’m very proud to be a part of.

American Gods is also very sex-positive when it comes to LGBTQ+ representation too. What are your thoughts on how the show approaches queerness?

We have these characters, like Salim, and the discussions happening there with that. We have the wonderful Devery Jacobs. I’m so excited, this season, for everybody to meet Dominique Jackson as the goddess that she is.

I feel like this show is always willing to have these conversations, and always willing to open it up. I’ve experienced personally how that kind of open discourse allows for personal freedom.

I came out as bisexual last year. I would say it’s very much thanks to this show, and the discussions they’re having.

In season one, Bilquis swallowed a man whole during the show's most memorable sex scene. There’s a version of that this time round in episode two. How did you approach such an unusual scene again and how was it different this time round?

What is wonderful about this team is that they’re very open to discourse. I would say that one of the major differences is that I feel like I was even more involved in the conversation.

Photo credit: Amazon Prime - Instagram
Photo credit: Amazon Prime - Instagram

What’s different – I’m glad that we’re talking about this – was that it was important to see that there’s more than one side to Bilquis. If we’re having this discussion, we also have to talk about how women are not any one thing.

And so at the beginning of this season, we see her with the walls closing in. She’s fighting the labels, and the preconceptions others want to put on her.

So while she is this incredible being that also has the ability to – yes – consume an individual, that is not all who she is. And you see how it maybe has affected her that she’s been encased in only that image. And that’s what this world knows her as. So you see her feeling the need to break the walls.

When we see her do it this time round, we notice that it doesn’t do the same thing for her. We notice that there’s something shifting, and she almost feels a little lost within it. That’s when we then embark on that journey to discover: what are the other parts of herself? What are the other capabilities that she’s forgotten and has lost through time?

And it’s forgivable if she forgets, because, again, she’s lived for eons [laughs].

Later on, Bilquis takes the lead in a major fight scene. What was it like to explore the physicality of that on set?

I just geek out from being able to play with action. That’s just a gift. I had a wonderful stunt double who was very kind with me, whenever I said, "Can I go in and do this?" [laughs]

I love that we are cementing this idea that love is not passive. It’s not just something that rolls over. There is a lot of fire behind love, and there’s a lot of passion behind love. And that love does work to move things forward.

If you push up against love, you might be betting on the wrong thing there.

It sounds like you’ve had a really positive experience with season three, but was there anything in particular you found challenging this time round?

I think you see that I go to some deep, dark places with Bilquis in this season. You hope, as an actor, that you get to really go there, and bring that across. I will say: I woke up on many a day with puffy eyes and a sore heart [laughs]. So I would say: that’s a challenge.

But I can’t wait for you to see the rest of the episodes, because, with that, then came an incredible shift.

One moment that I will tease, and I think it’s so important that we see it on television, is: we see Bilquis have a moment of softness, of joy. And especially now, I will say as a Black woman, to see a Black woman on television have a moment of ease, to have her just breathe – and I’m not the first to say it – is revolutionary and necessary.

Would you like to continue on this journey with American Gods in a potential fourth season, and perhaps even beyond that?

Oh my goodness. Bilquis has been – I mean, "gift" is the word of the year. I continue to use it because she has been a gift – she has taught me so much – as well as my first series regular. I was but a child, in that sense, coming into it [laughs].

So I will always have nothing but gratitude for this role. I mean, I couldn’t have asked for – and I’m going to use the word one more time – I couldn’t have asked for a better gift.

American Gods season 3 airs Sundays on Starz in the US. It airs on Amazon Prime Video every Monday in the UK.


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