Actress Samantha Brown is Welcomed as the Newest Member of the FROMily, So Why Don’t Fans Trust Her Character?
Brown joined MGM’s cult hit in this, its third season. Being the new kid in the mysterious town is no easy task, as both characters on the screen and fans off screen can be discerning and mistrusting.
Those who have never been to Toronto will never fully understand the vibe of the city, which is both unique and yet familiar. It might seem like a daunting metropolis, easy to get lost in like Manhattan, but it also feels smaller. Visitors might also notice the multicultural flavors that create the living tapestry that is the city, which somehow makes it seem more inviting. Yet there’s also this strange unspoken spite towards Toronto that comes from other major cities across the country, in fact, sometimes it’s not unspoken. Many Canadians think that Torontians think we’re the center of the universe, but that’s simply because we’re better than everyone else.
The point is, when you grow up in the Greater Toronto Area, you have a strange familiarity with both ‘community’ and ‘mistrust’. You learn to foster one, and easily shrug off the other.
Samantha Brown, a born-and-bred Torontonian came into ‘From’, one of the most talked about cult shows, when her green-behind-the-ears cop, Acosta joined the ensemble. The series is set in a rural nightmarish town that mysteriously traps those who are unlucky enough to somehow find it. The unwilling residents strive to stay alive while plagued by terrifying nocturnal monsters and nightmare situations, all while trying to find a way back home.
Never mind feeling nervous in Toronto, never mind living in this nightmare town, if you’re ever daring enough to check out the comment section of a ‘From’ fan page, you’ll learn about mistrust. Fans are weary of any new character, even the established ones at this point, as theories have been running rampant for almost three complete seasons. What that means is “new kid” Acosta is often a topic of discussion, but the fans are keeping their eye on her.
Check out the full interview with Brown, below, or continue scrolling for the remainder of the article.
“What I've learned in my acting journey is you never try to play the likable character. That's not my job” grins Brown. “My job is to do service to the writing and be truthful, and whatever the audience makes out of that, the audience makes out of that.” The great reaction Brown’s performance, and by proxy, Acosta has been getting this season is because right off the bat, she was in the face of the established power structure of the tiny town that the show’s characters find themselves trapped within.
“I do think it's fun to play a character that is polarizing and has an opinion and sticks up for what she thinks is right, whether people like that or not. I also think that's why I personally watch television, is to see characters make mistakes and learn and grow. It'd be really boring if you just watched the show and every character was making these incredible decisions, you would have no conflict. So I enjoy that aspect of Acosta where she's not perfect, she makes mistakes, she can get confrontational. She breeds a little bit of chaos. I think that that just adds to the show.”
Brown is, naturally, absolutely spot on. If a character, especially one the audience mistrusts or perhaps even dislikes is getting a reaction out of the fans, the character (and by association the actor) is doing their job. As Brown mentioned, actors often relish roles like this. When Acosta showed up, within minutes of getting thrown into the nightmare town, she ended up shooting her firearm wildly at the creatures, and mortally wounding one of the townspeople. She wasn’t exactly welcomed with open arms after that. Even if Acosta is not meant to be an antagonist, (and the audience is still making up their mind about that), part of the actor’s journey when playing a controversial character is justifying their actions. Something Brown has done quite a bit, and those who might be on the fence about Acosta should listen up.
“Acosta is unlike any character I've ever played, and very much not like my own self. When you play a character that's on the front lines, whether you're an EMT, a doctor, a police officer, you have to wear a proverbial mask when you show up to work. You have to use the left side of your brain, be very logical in a situation, suppress your emotions, because you are showing up to arguably the most chaotic moment of someone's life, and you're trying to help them.”
Which is the ironic part regarding Acosta and some of the ‘hate’ the character has been getting. Granted, she’s caused a death, but she’s only trying to help. Fans seemingly don’t like that kind of take-charge attitude from anyone who isn’t an already established character, but that dynamic, and that challenge that Acosta creates for other characters is exactly why she’s interesting. Not to mention, it’s interesting to see how human she is, as Brown mentioned. Part of that humanity is that she keeps a lot of emotions close to the vest. Well. Most of the time.
“Granted, Acosta does have some sort of outburst moments - she has killed someone and taken a life, and I can't even imagine what that would be like” laughs Brown. “She has all of these emotions swirling inside of her, but she doesn't really have a confidant that she can sort of talk like that would take years of therapy to even get through, and she doesn't have anyone in the town to sort of talk to. Even the diner scene with Kenny, when she sort of has that outburst at the end, that she probably hates herself for losing her cool, but it was the first time she was able to sort of just let loose and, you know, sort of get everything out that she's been feeling over the course of what's been going on in from so I do like this sort of journey that she's going on where she can't really trust anyone”.
In fact, Brown says fans might not realize it, but they need Acosta to be on edge and uneasy. Fans have pointed out that she often reaches for an unloaded weapon, or sometimes looks as if she’s about to radio something in, only to realize, that radio does have anyone on the other end any more. But the minute she becomes comfortable with all of this insanity, Brown thinks she won’t be as productive of a police officer. Which brings us to arguably the biggest fan issue with Acosta… when is she going to change out of her uniform?
Immediately Brown laughs at the question. “Well, it's only been three days for her” she defends, “but I understand why people want to know that. The way I'm justifying it is, she's not wearing her uniform to try to prove something. She's just wearing her uniform because she's still in denial that she really is stuck here. I think she genuinely believes that within an hour, she's gonna find some little pocket of service and be able to contact someone over the radio and get help. So she hasn't come around to the fact that this really is her new world yet.
While fans have to wait for season 4 of ‘From’ until 2026, at least there’s a good visual cue in terms of Acosta perhaps finding her place in the chaos. Or at the very least, perhaps a change of clothes might let fans trust her a bit more. Luckily, Brown has a couple years for people to soften on the character.