At only 21 years old Abigail Lawrie has had a pretty busy 3 years. Starting out in her first role in J.K. Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy in 2015, Abigail is now starring in the Sky Atlantic hit show Tin Star which is back for a second season this January. We caught up with her to chat about her speedy career progression, how she unwinds, and what we can expect from Tin Star season 2.

Season 2 of Tin Star is hitting our screens very soon. Can you tell us a bit about how you got here?

I joined a drama club when I was a kid as a hobby and to make friends. When I moved to London I had a really great drama teacher at my school, I was just doing school plays and then got by first role in The Casual Vacancy when I was in my second to last year of school. We filmed during the summer holidays over 8 weeks and then I just went back to school. When I finished school I decided to try to pursue acting further.

You went into acting straight out of mainstream school. Was drama school something that you ever considered or did you just want to jump into the deep end and learn on the job?

I think that drama school would have a huge number of benefits and I certainly considered it when I was at school. I’ve been lucky enough to learn on the job and have met some amazing people who I’ve learnt so much from. Right now I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing, but drama school is definitely something I’ve considered and researched. This is just the way I’ve started. I’ve spoken to a lot of actors who have gone to drama school and have loved it. I guess you can kind of do it at any time but I’m enjoying how I’ve done things for now.

Tin Star averaged over 1.7 million viewers per episode in season 1. It much be so rewarding knowing that so many people are fans of the show.

I had no idea it was that many people! That’s amazing! I’m just so glad that so many people are watching because we worked so hard on it. The cast and crew were out in Canada for 6 months and we all worked really hard as we wanted it to do well so that’s an amazing thing. We all hope that everyone will love the second series as well.

How was it working with Tim Roth and Genevieve O’Reilly?

It was amazing! Genevieve and Tim are incredible people and it was so nice to go back to film season 2 together. We’re all so close, we’re like family which makes working together even better the second time around because we now have this shorthand understanding of each other. I learnt so much from both Tim and Genevieve and also th

e new cast members, John Lynch, Anamaria Marinca and Jenessa Grant. It’s a brilliant cast and everyone is so lovely. It’s always great to go back to familiar faces and it was a lot of fun.

For those who may not have seen Tin Star before can you describe your character, Anna Worth, in season one?

Anna was someone who was dealing with grief. Her little brother was killed at the beginning of the season and there was a lot of confusion and trying to figure out what’s going on with her family. She also fell in love for the first time so there were all these intense emotions. I think Anna was someone who’d had a lot of stuff thrown at her in season 1 and she has to navigate it all which is a huge task for her.

At the end of the season the family is completely blown apart and Anna feels that she needs to get away from her mum and dad and discover herself. She finds solace in a new family and with that stability, routine, and community, which are things that she hasn’t had in so long, she finds a lot of comfort in that. Season 2 is more about her accepting her family and herself and also trying to forgive them.

Can we expect the same level of action and drama from season 2?

There’s definitely a lot of stuff to keep people on the edge of their seats. There’s a whole new family to explore and their characters and storylines, so I’m sure it will be just as gripping as season 1.

How do you decompress and leave your characters emotions on set?

We’ve had some amazing directors who were brilliant. A lot of my emotional scenes were with Genevieve and Tim and I just watch them and see what their process is. We usually had long drives back home from set in back into Calgary so I’d listen to music and just leave everything behind. We had a lot of fun in Calgary, it’s an amazing city and all the crew live there so we’d all meet up and go out for food, it became like a second family. Everyone that was from the UK were so far away from home that we’d all stick together. We were out there for 7 month, and while it went quickly, it’s a long time to be away from home so we all rallied together and have become a little family and have a lot of fun together.

You were filming in such extreme conditions. What was that like?

We started filming season 2 in January and it was bitterly cold, it was like nothing I had ever experienced before. It looked beautiful, the snow and the mountains were so stunning, they didn’t look real. It was quite fun filming in the cold and it works for a lot of the scenes that we were filming for the beginning of the season. It was really fun, it was an adventure. It was so extreme and then by the time we left it was desert heat.

What do you have coming up?

I just finished shooting a film in Glasgow based on the Alan Warner novel Sopranos. It’s completely different to Tin Star, it’s about a group of catholic school girls that are a part of a choir and they go down to Edinburgh for a day and it’s about what they get up to and all their lives and who they are.

You play a real range of characters, is that something that you want to keep pursuing?

Yes, I love to play people who are very different from me, it’s definitely what I like doing.

What’s your wellness routine?

I’ve never been very good at being healthy but recently I’ve started doing yoga which I’m really enjoying. I’m not very good at it but I find it really relaxing and it’s the only form of exercise I’ve stuck to for more than a couple of months. I have a lot of relaxing baths too.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

It’s so general but just don’t take life too seriously. Career wise, just don’t take anything too seriously, and learn your lines for auditions! Don’t dwell on what is out of your control, everything happens for a reason.

If you could give one piece of advice what would it be?

Never be afraid to ask questions!