The second season of “13 Reasons Why” continues to push boundaries and show the provocative, and somewhat graphic side of teenage bullying and sexual assault.
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ET Canada sat down with one of the stars, Justin Prentice, who plays the teen rapist Bryce Walker, and chatted with him about the difficult process of filming the brutal sexual assault scenes and how the series has educated him about teen trauma.
“Many, many conversations happen beforehand,” Prentice said. “We get together with the writers, producers, we talk about it beforehand. The director comes in, and they work us through the blocking, how it’s going to be shot, the exact camera moves, what will be shown, what won’t be shown.”
Prentice’s character is the notorious villian of the series, who is responsible for raping two characters – Hannah and Jessica – in season one and season two viewers learn that they aren’t the only ones that Bryce has attacked.
But the 24-year-old actor is nothing like his character, and said that it was always important for him to ask ahead of time what was comfortable for whoever he was working with during those difficult scenes.
“They make sure we’re all comfortable which is fantastic, and then usually I will and the actress will get together, whether it is Alisha [Boe] or Katherine [Langford],” he said. “I ask them beforehand, what’s no go, what are you comfortable with… what are you not comfortable with and both of them were like, ‘We trust you, do whatever you need to do in the moment. We know you’re not being yourself.'”
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As a cast, Prentice said that each one of them have talked about the serious issues the show deals with, which he says has allowed for conversation amongst viewers.
“We’ve had a lot of people in our lives come forward and be like, ‘this same thing happened to me’ and we’re like, ‘Oh, we never would have guessed.’ So it’s really neat, more compassion and it’s cool too realizing the statistics and just how big of a deal some of this stuff is,” he shared.
With the sensitive topics, comes controversy and the makers of the show have made it their mission to reconcile the criticisms by providing trigger warnings, creating a website with links to resources for those who are struggling with their mental health, as well as videos which urge anyone that is affected by the show’s themes to seek help.
Netflix also created “Beyond The Reasons”, a follow up show with the cast that delves deeper into the subjects of the show.
In one of the clips, Prentice made headlines when he became completely overwhelmed with emotion while reading a letter from a sexual assault survivor.
“It’s just really cool to see how much it’s impacted some of these kids’ lives,” he said. “They’re heartbreaking letters and I think, all of the cast has gone through with at least one, if not many of the issues that are addressed in this show. So, all of these issues kind of hit close to home for all of us,” the actor said. “It’s a beautiful thing to be able to be a part of something that’s affecting people so positively, that was the goal of this show.”
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If you’re affected by any of the issues discussed in “13 Reasons Why”, head to 13reasonswhy.info.
