Hi, I’m Ella Purnell, and this is my last meal. Every person has exactly two things in common, we all gotta eat and we’re all gonna die. Today’s guest has starred in Fallout, Arcane, Yellowjackets. And her new show Sweetpea is out on Starz now. If you were ever in Croatia in the early 2000s, you may have bought chocolate because of her. Ella Purnell, welcome to the show. Hi. Wait, I didn’t get the chocolate reference. If I said, , what are the emotions that come to mind? Why do you know that? Well, you posted on Instagram a couple years ago. That was your first ever acting gig. You were eight years old in a Toffifay commercial. Oh, that made me feel so warm inside. I also, by the way, love Toffifay. Don’t tell me. Oh my god. Please, I have never had a Toffifay, so you are- You’ve never had one? Never. This is also, I went into a pharmacy, it was the only place where I could find it in LA. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And these are old and dusty, so I can’t speak- They are quite old and dusty, but I think they get better with age. Like, a fine wine. I love that. Would you like one? You’re not allergic to nuts? No, not at all. Cheers. This would be a terrible way to go, wouldn’t it? It’s harder than I thought. Yeah, they’re not supposed to be that hard. Oh, that makes sense. They’re not normally this hard. It’s the dry California weather. It’s different in London. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you know why the dub that you posted was in Croatian? Oh, sorry, I was just checking the expiry date. Please, please. No, it’s okay. We’ve got 30 days to go. Only 30 days, though? Yeah, and these things last like 10 years, so I don’t know. This may have come out when you did the commercials 20 years ago. Well, 20 years ago. Literally, 20 years ago. Yeah. Happy anniversary. Oh, thank you so much. No, I don’t know. And I didn’t actually know it was Croatian. Google Translate told me. I do not speak Croatian. My god. I was gonna ask ’cause you did that really well. How many times did you practice? I was walking around the office going for a long time. And it means Oh my god. “Inside toffee, there is fun”, which I think is a metaphor. Inside toffee, there is fun. Yeah. Yeah, I’d concur. Oh that sugar. Sugar is fun. Sugar is fun. There’s a hazelnut. I’m already feeling more alive. I really am too. I’m gonna have another one. We’re both so starving I know. Please don’t spoil your last meal. Speaking of which- I won’t. Have you thought about your last meal before? No, not before this. Interesting. Did you find anything out about yourself? I love food and I’m very indecisive. And I really couldn’t narrow it down. And I was really, I was thinking quite- I was thinking about when we were gonna film this as well as much as the last meal. ‘Cause it’s kind of early in the morning. I wanted like the breakfast pasta, which is carbonara. If you’re getting- Eggs and bacon. If you’re getting executed at 11:00 AM, you’re gonna want to have that carbonara. If I’m getting executed in the evening, it could be a steak. It could be different. Do you know what I mean? Interesting. I’m a bit of an overthinker if you haven’t gathered. Gathered that thus far. Believe me I gathered that. If you couldn’t tell, I am too with the obsessive memorization of Croatian. That’s like so, so sweet. I love that you did that. How often do you think about death? I don’t. I don’t think about death probably as much as you think about death. I feel like you probably think about death a lot more than me. It comes with the territory. Kind of part of your job. Yeah, a little bit. I think about the unfulfilled potential part of it. I actually think of it as like a healthy thing. Like, I am scared of death, but I also- You should be. You should be. You should be. You should be. You should be. It’s coming for you El, I’m sorry. There are people that aren’t scared of death though, aren’t there? There are, but I think what they’re actually doing is just distracting themselves from it. And so, I think facing it head on, like consciously thinking about it is something that’s really important. Yeah. I also had a near death experience quite recently. It wasn’t really a near death experience, but in my very dramatic mind, it was. I fell down the stairs and I got a concussion. Oh my god. And I hit my head next to my eye. Like, there’s a scar there. I probably covered in makeup, you can’t see it. But I had a head wound and a concussion. I feel like I could have died. Really, it blinded myself. It really was like kind of a pivotal moment. My life is really different. This happened like three months ago and I made a lot of changes in my life and I’m so much happier now. What were some of the biggest changes that you made? Ironically saying no to more things so I can prioritize the things that make me happier. And then kind of putting a greater emphasis on friends and family. I realized I’ve like definitely been neglecting my friends and family a lot. I spent a lot of time doing that. Booked a lot of spontaneous holidays, went on a girls’ trip. I was like, okay, I’ve been working too hard. I gotta start living. Well, I am incredibly glad that you fit this into your schedule. Thank you so much. You ready to get eating? I am so excited. Thank you for having me. Let’s do it. Of course. I’m starving. Ella, for the first course of your final meal, we have the bacon breakfast burrito from WAKE AND LATE and then we have a vanilla iced latte here. Tell me about the breakfast burrito. I’m obsessed with this breakfast burrito. I eat this like maybe once a week. It’s really good. Breakfast burritos aren’t a thing in the UK. I think as far as… Okay, we’re getting stuck. I was being- No, no, no, no, no. But I was listening to you. No, I believe you. I wasn’t listening to myself. They’re not really a thing in the UK. So, it wasn’t until I came to LA that I had my first breakfast burrito. But what I love about this one is they put tater tots inside the burrito and they’re somehow still crispy. So, you get the mouthfeel, which is very important for food I think. You describe food like a food critic. Do I? Please open. Eat eat eat. You really do. Talking about mouthfeel. Are you kidding me? I think that was a real thing? This is a.. Oh, it’s hot? This is a well architecture burrito. I have. Yeah, yeah. It is maybe the best breakfast burrito. It’s so good. Not that we didn’t think you were gonna be legit, but we’re like, oh, she’s legit legit. Oh my God. Oh. Yeah. I feel good. Was it a big culture shock coming to America and realizing that our Chinese food does not have French fries in it? Not really. Not really. You know what’s funny is I didn’t… I’m trying to think the first time I ever came to the States, like for work, so actually first time I ever came to LA, I was maybe like 13, 14 and we went to Saddle Ranch straight away with my mom. That was the first time I really was like, oh, that’s American food. Like, it’s like all the stuff we eat at home, but we don’t call it American food. Like, I’d never really been to themed American dines and been like, burgers and fries and you know, whatever it is. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, no. You know what though? LA does have great food, I think. In London when I come back, I really miss, two things I miss, good tacos. Really hard to find like really good Mexican food in London. There are some spots, but not as many as here obviously. And a breakfast burrito. Talk to me about actually moving to New York for an extended period of time when you were shooting Sweetbitter. You were 21 years old. You said that you were kind of scared and alone in a big city for the first time like that. How did you overcome that fear? I was so nervous for that job. It really felt like a big step for me. I’d never worked in the States. I’d never done a TV show and I’d never been the lead in a TV show. And that was so terrifying to me. And you know, it was on Starz. It was so scary and such a big deal and there was so much pressure, and I was so lonely. And then I made these four amazing girlfriends. I won’t tell you how we met, but we met through unusual circle. Okay. We were dating the same guy. I am gonna tell you. Oh my God. All four of you? I’m gonna tell you because he deserves it. Incredible. No, not all four of us. No, no, no. Just me and one. Gotcha. Just me and one. And he made the mistake of introducing us and we obviously figured out we were dating the same guy who was not from New York. He was from the UK. And then we became best friends. Neither of us has spoken to him since, by the way. It’s kind of amazing. We became best friends and I became friends with each. And I have my very own Sex and the City little group. And they took me in and they showed me New York. It was just like a movie. It was like a dream. They’re still some of my closest friends and they made me feel so at home there. They’re the reason why I then moved to New York and I stayed there for, I think I stayed for three years, three or four years, literally because of them. They’re the reason. And we live five minutes away from each other. And it was just amazing. You said when you were initially reading scripts and trying to play roles, you were getting pitched the same character over and over and you actually started to predict the dialogue ’cause it was the same like love interest character. Do you feel a sense of duty to play more characters with substance? I’d say primarily, it’s just more like what I’m attracted to. Like, if I’m reading a script and it truly surprises me or I’m, you know, reading for a specific character that I’m like, I have never seen that character before, and she makes me laugh or she has made me change my mind on something or think deeply about something, then I’m just automatically drawn to it. I do feel a sense of responsibility. You know, say I’ve got the job and they’ve rewritten the script in a way that I feel like is irresponsible. Or you’re doing TV so therefore, you don’t know what’s gonna be the next episode. And you get an episode in and you’re like… I don’t believe it. And I do think it’s harmful to continue, you know, creating unrealistic expectations or to not fully flesh out a female character or to play a female character in a way that’s harmful. And I have no problem playing an unlikable character or a villain. They’re fun characters to play. But yeah, now I do. I feel a sense of, I guess a sense of responsibility. Yeah. Well, what attracted you to your role in Sweetpea? Because you mentioned villain’s, unlikeable characters. Rhiannon Lewis is, you know, definitely like an anti-hero. Do you call her a villain? Yeah, She’s a villain? She’s a serial killer. She is a- Okay. Yeah. But like, what does that really mean? You play her in such a way that you end up with a lot of pathos, a lot of empathy- Good. Thank you For her in that way which means she is a very fleshed out character. What drew you to that role initially? The initial pitch I had from Patrick Walters, one of our executive producers. We sat down really just to talk about everything that he has on his slate. And I really was drawn to Sweetpea. I was drawn to the idea of playing a female serial serial killer ’cause I knew there were gonna be challenges associated with that. The way that they wanted to tell that story. Like, they wanna do female decks, that they wanna make the, or we, because I guess I’m now in it, we wanted to get the audience to, like you say, feel empathy for Rhiannon, relate to her emotions without necessarily relating to her actions. Yeah. And to do that with a woman, it’s harder. Dexter would’ve been very different if he was a woman. We all have a subconscious bias where we judge women a little more harshly than we do men. It’s just what society conditions us to do. The standards are just different. Yeah. And so it was important that we do spend the first episode showing you what her life is like. She’s so invisible. No one sees her. She’s so underestimated and overlooked. And she just takes it. She can’t stand up for herself. And so, by the end of the first episode, you almost just want her to just do something. You start to root for her- Yeah, you do. to kill somebody in a way. But only because you’d show that amount of pain that she’s actually been through. And I think you do a tremendous job acting that out, both, showing the masking when she’s in front of other people trying to put on the smile. But that smile dissipates- Yeah. Real, real quick. Well, good. I’m glad. That’s what we wanted. I’m glad you feel that way. How’d you practice your stabbing? With full method. No, we can’t joke about that. Where the body is buried? Check the description below. Publicists are just crying over there in the corner. No. You know, it’s very much choreographed like a stunt, you know, like a dance routine. It’s on a 5, 6, 7, 8 truly. So, you have multiple different knives. You have one without a blades that you can be more free with. And you have a floppy one which is just ridiculous ’cause you can’t even hold it without it just being like this. It’s like the pencil trick. And then you have the real one, which, you know, we treat with a lot of regard and we are very careful and very, very rarely use it. Would never ever use that in the stunt sequence. We’d only use it for inserts or if I’m picking it up, anything like that. You know, one of the scenes where I had to stab someone, it was a rubber body and there were blood bags that I had to try and hit and I couldn’t do it ’cause I wasn’t going hard enough, ’cause it felt icky. It’s bad. Yeah. It’s not good. That’s good to know that you don’t have it in you. No. That it didn’t awaken something in you. I think that’s good. Killing is bad. Killing is bad. Killing is bad. You have played a lot of characters that are in desperate situations where they do end up either killing or being killed. Seems to be a theme for you. What attracts you to humans being at the end of their rope? I dunno. I’m very interested in psychology. I’m very interested in the motivations why people are the way they are, they do what they do. I haven’t ever really had the courage or I think maybe the understanding, the life experience to get really deep and dark with that. And in the last couple years, I have, and I’ve been… You know, with Yellowjackets, I really wanted to take this buried together, you know, queen bee kind of character and just like destroy her. I just wanted to unravel her and see what was left underneath and see, you know- I say this a lot, but we all think we know how we’re gonna respond to certain situations. Like I think, oh, if someone came and broke into my house in the middle of the night, I’d beat them up. But I wouldn’t. I’d probably curl into a fetus position and just shut my eyes and hope they go away. I mean we don’t know. You see mothers, you lift burning cars off their babies. I mean, you just have no idea how you’re gonna respond to those situations. And so, it’s nice to be able to try on all those different costumes and outfits with acting, I suppose. Ella, for course number two, we have dumpling mania here. We have the pan-fried gyoza with the crispy lace on the bottom. We have the triangular shaped gyoza here. Then we have our soup dumplings. We have the original pork. Eat these while they’re hot. And then, we have a special one underneath. But I want you to get to the first one. A special one? We have a special one. We have a special one. But I want you to try these first. I am so excited. I love soup dumplings. I’ve got a bit of an issue with chopsticks. Okay. Do you want me to like- I can load it onto your spoon. Sort of, be like your desk doula but for the last meal. I can usher you into- Possibly. I’m also not good with chopstick, but I fake it. I’ve got it. So, you gotta like, kind of, get it the nipples thicker. Can you help me? I got you. Oh no, wait. Oh, no. Dumpling down. Okay. One dumpling down. You also have one sacrificial dumpling. Oh, there you go. Oh, thank God. Thank God. Thank God. Okay, perfect. Oh my god. What’s your technique with these? ‘Cause everyone’s is a bit different. These are quite hot. It’s gonna burn my mouth. I bite a hole in the side and then I slurp out half the juice. Oh, you go for the side, not the nipple. No. Do you go for the nip? I don’t go for the nip. You never go for the nip. That’s a cheap shot. No, it’s too thick. It’s a cheap shot. What have you just put on there? The vinegar. A little bit of black vinegar. I’m a huge fan. Okay. And sometimes, I chase it with a little bit of raw ginger. Oh, I dripped quite a lot. No, that was great. You’re gonna love it. Am I? Oh no. Do you remember the first time you had soup dumplings? Yes, I do. I remember very, very specifically. I was in New York doing Sweetbitter and our producer Stu took us to Joe’s Shanghai in New York and he would not shut up about soup dumplings. And I thought it was dumplings in soup. I didn’t know. And they became my favorite food. And I must have gone back to Joe’s Shanghai, I mean, hundreds of times. And now, it’s my favorite thing to introduce to people. When people come to New York, we have to go to Joe’s Shanghai ’cause it’s an interactive food experience. And I always make a joke about biting the nipple and it always lands very well. I feel like I stepped on yours. Can we run that back? No, no, no, no, no. It was great. No, you take the nipple jokes. No, ’cause you are an experienced something… Sumpling… Sumplings… Sumplings? Sumpling duper. Sumpling duper. Yeah. Sumpling duper. Isn’t it crazy that brains do that? It is. And we don’t even know. No. We know nothing. It’s a mess up there. Yeah. It’s crazy. What’s that called? Which one? When people do that? When they swap the first letter of the words? Is there a name for it? There’s a word for it. I only speak Croatian. It’s true. You do speak fluid Croatian. I’m gonna burn my mouth now. No one look. Don’t look at me soup dumplings. What is that dumpling dance? So, it’s kinda like a hitting the wow a little bit. When I have really good food, I do food dance. We have a second soup dumpling. We can keep these. We’ll keep these on the table. But what’s so special? The second soup dumpling. You said that chicken ramen is like a hug and a bowl. Don’t argue with me. Do you remember where you said that? No, I don’t. Eat the soup dumpling. We made a chicken miso creamy soup dumpling to try and put a little hug into a dumpling for you. Oh my God. You’re just breaking my heart over here. I’m not even gonna try with a chopstick. Don’t do it. Just grab it. You’ve done so many nice things. No, we appreciate you coming on the show. Oh my God. I feel so flattered. I’m so excited. Oh my God. Why is that so good? Oh man. Oh my God. What? That’s something new. That’s amazing. So, we boiled down the ramen broth for a long time to concentrate it. Turned it into a jelly effectively. Added that into the dumplings. Thank you so much. You talked about chicken ramen being like a hug in a ball in a mental health anthology called It’s Not OK to Feel Blue . You wrote a chapter called “A Week in the life of a madwoman” that I thought was super vulnerable and moving. And it inspired this actually. But why was it important for you to- You are so nice. I can’t believe you read that. And you are right. I did describe actually quite a lot of food analogies in that chapter. Yeah, you really did which was really cool to see ’cause food is is comfort, it’s culture, it’s enjoyment. You physically felt the Toffifay, not an advert this time. Like, rise your blood sugar and you know, ignite your endorphins. It totally does. I think also food, cooking specifically, has helped me out of a lot of sticky situations. I mean we talked about this a little bit before, but like using your hands and going through the process of making food. Also, when you are in a depressive state, getting out of bed to cook for yourself is the hardest thing. It might to be like climbing a mountain. It’s the hardest thing in the world. And I’m definitely guilty of ordering way too much you know, food and not the best food. And I think that only contributes. The best thing you can do for yourself is the hardest thing, which is get out of bed, take a shower, and cook yourself a nice meal. And like for me, it’s like things like this. It’s ramen, it’s stews. It’s warming. And it feels- It’s the greatest act of love you can do for yourself, I think, is feeding yourself and nourishing your body. I’m gonna have another one because that one’s- Now. Please. Really, really good. I’m gonna do it too. These are unbelievable. And also sharing experiences with people. Like, taking people to Joe’s Shanghai for the first time. Exactly. Exactly. These are like… Great job, team. I’m intrigued by these. You called this a lace. Crispy lace. Crispy lace. So, what you do is you pan fry the dumplings. All these are homemade. You pan fry the dumplings, but then you add cornstarch and water and it actually evaporates around the dumplings contributing to their steam. So, if you were to turn this over- Oh, it’s the dumpling. Turn it over like the pancake. Oh, you fried and flipped it. I’m just gonna manhandle. No, do it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You wash your hands right? More or less. Listen, there’s so much Purell in the world now. That’s so true. It’s just everything smells like plain needles. Okay, I see. I see what’s going on here. You break the lace apart and then you get like an extra little textural component. Mouthfeel. Mouthfeel. Mouthfeel Mouthfeel. Sweetbitter should just been called mouthfeel. I don’t know. It’s Looking back. Yeah, I dunno. That might be your reason. No, we didn’t call it mouthfeel. You said you’re not really a sauce person. Are you a sauce person when it comes to dumplings or not at all? I have a bit of like- I don’t know. I have very weird preferences that as I’m getting older, I think, are just like things that are left over from childhood. So, I am trying to get into sauces. What I can’t get into, custard, rice pudding, risotto. I don’t know. There’s something about- In my mind, there’s some sort of common denominator with all of those things that I don’t do. Is this a whole mouthful situation? Yeah, it is. What was it like watching the cast of Yellowjackets eat your charred corpse? Sorry, we were talking about- You were saying…? I have a habit of blurting things out. You know, that question never gets old. Every time I get asked that question, I get a sort of flashback. Yeah. To be honest, I haven’t watched that episode because I’m not a squeamish person and I don’t really, I don’t really care about a lot of stuff. But I was filming Fallout and I kept getting text messages, pictures of my friends, my castmates on Yellowjackets of selfies of them with my charred dead body. And it really looks like me. It really does. It really does. Great job. And they went there. It’s my body. It is. It felt weird ’cause she’s not wearing any clothes. So, I was like, I’m kind of naked. It was a very weird thing. But it’s not you. It’s, you know- But it looks like me. But then, I don’t remember them ever scanning me. So, then there’s loads of questions I have. But it really freaked me out seeing it. And so, I didn’t watch the episode. It’s not natural for us to see our dead selves. Is it? It’s not what we’re going to do. No. I don’t think anybody in history has actually seen their dead self. Let alone their dead self being eaten by a fantastic ensemble cast. Yeah. You usually as well. When you’re on a set, it’s different. When you’re on the set and you see the prosthetic of your own ear being passed around and painted and glued and stuck on people and thrown around. You’re like cool. I’d say not my thing anymore. It’s not my ear. It’s a piece of, you know, property. But it’s different when it’s your whole body. I don’t know. Didn’t love it. We got one more dumpling. I’ll try and reserve all my grocer questions for later after this dumpling. I promise. That’s very nice. Yeah. I like that. Little peanutty ginger sauce. You look at me trying sauces and stuff. I’m very proud of you. I do like sauce. I dunno why. Every time I eat, every time I try it, I’m like, I do like this. Why do I say I don’t like sauce? ’cause I do. Well, you talked about getting stuck in depressive spirals, which I think, you can get stuck in a lot of patterns that you think are helping your life in a sense, but don’t always actually serve you. But you said something in “A week in the life of a madwoman” that I thought was really cool. You were like, I accept that this sadness will never go away. I just wish the world would also be okay with that. How do we get to a place where we can actually make the world okay with that and to accept people as full human beings capable of the entire range of human emotion. We are not good with a discomfort. Why would we be? Our brains are literally just there to keep us alive. And the way that it keeps us alive is by predicting what’s gonna happen so we can prepare for all of the possible things that could happen. Right? And so, there’s this phrase that I love of, I’m gonna mess it up, but it’s something about your brain, your subconscious, whatever, would always prefer a familiar hell than an unfamiliar heaven. And I think quite often, you know, when we are angry at our brains for doing annoying things like having panic attacks or being anxious or having OCD or it’s trying to keep us safe in just a really messed up way. And that’s really helped me, I think, to sit with discomfort. ‘Cause I’ve realized that it feels scary and it feels like it’s gonna kill me when I’m uncomfortable or I’m moving through negative difficult emotions. But it’s not. And I think the sooner, the earlier you learn to sit with discomfort, sit with uncomfortable feelings, sit with your fear or your nerves or your anger and let it just kind of go through you, the better. We don’t like being uncomfortable. We don’t even like hearing about our friends going through a hard time. ‘Cause we have empathy and it makes us feel bad. We don’t know how to talk about cancer. We don’t know how to talk about death. We don’t know how to talk about, you know, sexual assault. We don’t know how to talk about these things because it’s uncomfortable. Yeah. And I think we also should have been taught in schools how to deal with our brains. We should have been taught about psychology. We should have been taught the basics of therapy. We should have been taught the language and vocabulary around uncomfortable subjects to allow us to connect in moments of grief and hardship instead of being isolated and isolating. I dunno, I think- I’ve forgotten what your question is ’cause I kind of went a bit of a ramble. Did I answer it? Judges? That is correct. Speaking of which I’m distracting from uncomfortability with humor. You’re in a lot of dark comedies. They deal with a lot of- I love a dark comedy Of very, very serious subjects. Do you think- Hold on, dumpling break. Do you think that humor is a valid way to process emotions or do you think it can veer into just coping and distracting? I think in film and TV, it’s a fantastic storytelling device to kind of bring levity to a moment. The audience are gonna laugh harder after they’ve cried or cry harder after they’ve laughed. Yeah. And it’s this very well needed, like breath, and release when there’s so much tension. But I also, we all know people that, maybe, that joke about their situations or joke about trauma in a way that perhaps signifies that they haven’t fully processed it or accepted it. And it’s funny. Look, trauma makes you funny. A hundred percent. It’s true. But I think you’ve gotta kind of be able to do both. I just think again, sitting with it, talking to someone about that you’ve been through, I think it can be a really helpful tool in recovery. Comedy using humor. It can be like a mask instead of an actual salve. Yeah. But then I say the arguments say you wouldn’t joke about it unless you were okay with it. Sometimes when things are really raw and somebody makes a joke about it, God, that hurts so much like you wanna punch ’em in the face. Or stab them. Or stab them. No. Killing is bad. Killing is bad. It’s the theme of today’s episode. Kind of the theme of this whole press door for me. I just keep ending every interview by being like, just so everyone knows, killing’s bad. Just wanna go there again. Ella, for the third course, we have your breakfast pasta. We have the spaghetti carbonara. We have the rendered guanciale. We have the emulsified egg yolk with the Parmesan cheese, the black pepper on top. Enough explanation. Dig in. This is getting cold. We got to eat. I’m so excited. And then a diet coke. A diet coke. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which cures all ailments. It really does. I put it on my wounds actually. I’ve been to the hospital for staff a bunch times. How many wounds do you have on a regular basis? That’s fair amount. You know what I mean? Cooking… Oh, that’s right. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’m a really bad cook. That’s why I have the wounds. You are not. There’s no way you’re a bad cook. Didn’t you say you fell downstairs and got a concussion like a couple months ago? Yeah, I did. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I just put some diet cook on it. That was fun. I just bathed in that for a while and- Like Cleopatra and the wine. Yeah. I went back to the doctor and they were like, well, you cured and then moved on, you know? Who was the doctor? Dr. Pepper? Are you not entertained? It was good as hell. That was so bad. I know. I’m not proud of it. So bad it was good. Thank you. God, I’m stealing that bit. Do it. Do it. You can take it. I wanna talk about your character in your new show, Sweetpea, Rhiannon. How much of yourself did you put in Rhiannon? Because you said in the past that you’re one of those people who lets emotions build to a breaking point. Rhiannon certainly does that as well albeit in a more stabby spectacular fashion. Did you put a lot of yourself into Rhiannon or was Rhiannon’s character already, sort of, like that and you found similarities? The show is based on a book, but the book’s quite different. So, I knew where I was gonna end up with Rhiannon. I was gonna end up- You know, the show is like a prequel to the book. I knew I was gonna end up chapter one of the book, but we didn’t know anything for them. Oh, interesting. And because I was an executive producer on the show, I was able to get in the writer’s room early and help them, you know, build up the series outline and map out our episodes and figure out everything we’re gonna do. We really wanted to explore loads of different things but also show that murders aside. This is actually quite a sweet coming of age story. Yeah. As she discovers this sort of addictive and intoxicating taste for murder and she builds in confidence, people notice her more and she starts to win at life. And you know, she goes on a date and puts makeup on for the first time and kisses a boy. And it’s all like, it’s quite sweet to see this girl who’s sad and had not the best life grew up in this way. So, I did pull from a few life experiences when we were mapping out how she was gonna grow in terms of letting emotions build up. I don’t really do that anymore. I’ve now luckily been to therapy enough times to know that I need to air my resentments when they come up and not just let them build. I feel like we have some similarities but mostly- I’ve actually never played a character so not similar to myself. Oh, interesting. Yeah. We are not that similar in a lot of ways. But I relate to the themes. I relate to her feeling like, frustrated that she gets overlooked and not feeling like she can stand up for herself. I have a big problem with confrontation. Yeah. I’m getting better at it, but I really do struggle. I’m that person that’ll be awkwardly like, “Excuse me. Sorry. Hi, can I just-” I really can’t speak up. Yeah. I mean is there a lot of pressure to perform likability in the industry? There is, yeah. Especially as a young woman. And there’s a certain pressure on us to look a certain way, act a certain way, be likable. We have to just smile more and be nicer. God forbid, you have any self-confidence and brag on yourself a little bit. ‘Cause then people just tear you down for being stuck up or arrogant. And growing up under that kind of pressure definitely led me to some people pleasing tendencies for sure. Now, I feel like the last couple years, it’s changed. There’s so many badass women just doing what they want. It’s hard. It’s scary. It’s kind of scary to just be yourself on camera and doing interviews and stuff. And the people on the internet are mean. They are mean. Please be nicer. Most of our fans are very, very nice. But in general, every- Except the one that said you slurp with. Yeah. Well, that’s hundreds of them. They’ve actually created a separate faction and they’re warring with- It’s a whole subset. It’s a whole thing. Ella, for your final course of your final meal, I got the jazz hands going. This is your famous Christmas crack. Despite the fact that it is on matzah, I gotta ask about the religiosity difference there. And then we have the rhubarb crumble. Feels incredibly British. Very homey. Tell me about it. Oh, I’m so excited that we have chocolate crack here. This is, I don’t really cook a lot, as much as I would like to, this is the one thing I always have in my fridge, in my freezer, and people come to my house and they just go straight into the freezer. And I’m constantly remaking it. Everyone loves this. You go crazy for it. It’s so good. It might be literally the best tasting thing in the world. I think there’s this scientific element to it. I’m so excited to know. The salt. It’s good. It’s the salt that gets you. It’s the salt. Tell me about the rhubarb crumble. My great nana used to make this, so it was very nostalgic for me. Also, funny story, one time, I thought I’d make rhubarb crumble over here. Thank you. But as I said, I don’t cook a lot and I don’t really know a lot about vegetables, I bought chard. I think that could work. Hear me out. It does look like rhubarb. It looks just like rhubarb. It’s stalky. The red bit is a bit shorter. I was like, God, the rhubarb looks weird in America. ‘Cause sometimes things are different over here. I was also young and quite stupid. And I bought chard and I made chard crumble and it was awful. I served at a dinner party. It was humiliating. It does seem like something outta a sitcom though. It does seem very in a way. The all time I was chopping off the chard, I was thinking, God, what a waste of money. It’s all leaf. They’re not gonna like my spinach jello for dessert. They thought it was basil. It was so stupid. You know, one of those moments you’re like, how am I alive? How have I made it this far in my life? Just served a chard crumble. Hey, the stairs couldn’t take you out. You’re here. I know. You’re rocking it. Yeah. I think I’m better for that experience. Now, I read the label more. Vegetable-based desserts. Fantastic. Incredible, right? You have a tattoo of a teacup on your ankle. Tell me why it’s so special to you. That’s the nana that made the crumble. It’s literally the same one. My nana used to write letters to the whole family really. And she would draw this teacup in the top right corner. And these letters, you know, she got beautiful cursive handwriting and the letters would be four or five or six pages long. And she’d want you to sit down with a cup of tea and read her letter and then respond. And so, I mean she would send these letters, I wanna say, once every couple of weeks. So, I had, when she passed away, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of these letters. And we went back through them. We were looking at them and like, I just thought it was such a beautiful thing that even when she was older and her handwriting was shaky, that she would draw this little emblem. So, I got it tattooed on me. Yeah. We have to ask every guest. This is your last meal. What do you think happens after you die? I’d rather just be dead forever. You know, you don’t remember when you’re asleep. And I just want it to be like that. I just wanna be done with it. Eternity is a prison. Give back to the earth. Grow some mushrooms outta me. Grow some chard so you can use it in a crumble for dessert. Please. When I’m gone, just turn me into chard. It’s beautiful. Ellie, you ready to get the lightning round? Yeah. Who’s the one person, dead or alive, you’d want to share your actual last meal with? My… Just have to be one person? Yep. Gotta choose one. My dog, please. Your dog? Yeah. I was gonna say my parents, but I can’t do two, and then one of the parents would be upset I chose one and not the other. It’s very confusing. Neither except you chose the dog. What song do you want played at your funeral? A Sunday Kind of Love, Etta James. Who would win in a fight? Lucy from Fallout or Jinx from Arcane? Jinx from Arcane. Who’s your dream eulogizer? I don’t know. You. Yeah? Sure. I booked. What’s your biggest fear? Oh. Wasps. Don’t like wasps. If you had access to Power Armor for a day, what’s the first thing you’d do? Crush my enemies. That’s not true. Killing is bad. Killing is bad, everyone. What’s the hardest goodbye you’ve ever had to say? My nana. And finally, are you happy? Yeah. I’m not sure. I was like, no. No, this sucks. This is my cry for help. The Swiss chard tasted like crap. Ella, I can’t thank you enough for doing this. Again, Sweetpea is utterly incredible. Everyone check that out. Ella, if you wanna deliver your last words to that camera right there. My last words. It’s been fun. Is that too dark? No, that’s great. And it really has. Everyone, Ella Purnell, give it up for her. Everyone, Sweetpea is out now on Starz. Also check out Arcane Season two. Yes. Can’t wait for it. November. Thank you. Beautiful. Thank you all so much for stopping by. I’ll see you next time. Face the reality of mortality. Head on with our new Last Meals hat and tee available now at https://www.mythical.com.