Chase Sui Wondersand herCity on Firecharacter have a lot in common.
Wonders' life fortunately hasn’t necessarily aligned withthatpart of the storyline, but instead with Sam’s “coming-of-age journey” that’s explored in the first two episodes of the series. The actress tells PEOPLE that the journey Sam is “presenting to the world is outpacing the journey she’s actually going through.”
“To everyone else, she’s got it all together. She’s cool, she’s calm, she’s confident, she knows all the answers,” Wonders explains. “She can walk into any room and chameleons herself to that room.”
Wonders sees connections between Sam’s ability to acclimate to unfamiliar environments and her own experience as a Hollywood actress.
“I definitely think in this industry, it throws so much at you at any given time,” says Chase. “And a lot of times you have to rise to the occasion, or at least pretend like you know what the heck is going on.”
The actress points out that her ability to adapt — combined with a bit of imposter syndrome — has helped her in “the past couple years” of her career.
“Just pretending I know what the freak I’m doing. That matched Sam’s journey, weirdly,” says Wonders, who’s previously starred in HBO Max’sGenera+ionand is currently costarring with boyfriendPete Davidson, 29, in his Peacock comedyBupkis. “But inside, she’s still a kid and she’s still trying to find her people … her chosen family.”
City on Firedelves into Sam’s backstory throughout the eight-episode drama, with flashbacks from her past and the investigation into her shooting happening in parallel with her hospitalization from a coma.
Sam’s friends — and potential suspects — are among the characters who are forced to reflect on their own lives, actions and morals.
Chief among those is Charlie Weisberger (Wyatt Oleff), a lost soul struggling to cope with the death of his father on 9/11 when he meets Sam.
Oleff tells PEOPLE he had a “very parallel journey to Charlie” in real life. “I got to follow this journey of finding my own confidence. This is the first project I’ve been on without my parents around.” The 19-year-old had to find his “own self” on set, he added.
Sam decides to make Charlie — or “Charles” as she flirtatiously calls him — her “project.” As a photographer, writer and artist, she’s entrenched in New York’s underground music scene, so introduces him to her anti-gentrification, pyromaniac friend Nicky (Max Milner), his band Ex Nihilo and two pals he considers his “family.”
While Oleff says he “loves” Charlie because of his evolution from an “awkward, in-his-shell kind of guy” to this “very active character” who becomes a crucial component in the crime case, Wonders had to stretch herself a bit to embody Sam’s outgoing concert kid persona.
“I am at my worst on the dance floor and in front of live music. I hate myself when I’m watching music,” she confesses. “Honestly, my hardest acting was dancing and jamming out to the music. I remember [the producers] being like, ‘You need to be having way more fun than you’re having!'”
“Certainly in high school and first years of college, I had no idea who I was,” the Harvard University alum recalls. “And I was so not confident. Such a wallflower. I was happy being a ghost.”
Now, she says, “I think I’ve definitely grown a little bit more into my own skin.”
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
source: people.com
