Simone Missick Talks w/411 About Misty Knight’s Changes in Luke Cage Season 2

411mania recently had the chance to sit down and speak with Luke Cage series co-star Simone Missick for an exclusive interview. Simone Missick has wonderfully brought the classic Marvel Comics character of Misty Knight to life for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Season 2 of the series has just launched on Netflix, and Missick was able to take some time to about the progression of Misty Knight for Season 2, Misty gaining her bionic arm and more.

Missick made her debut as Misty Knight in the first season of Marvel’s Luke Cage. She later resumed the role for last year’s Marvel Netflix TV miniseries, The Defenders. She returns as Misty in Season 2 of Luke Cage, and she will return yet again as the character in the upcoming Season 2 of Iron Fist later this year. Missick’s other acting credits include such shows as Ray Donovan, Wayward Pines, Scandal and American Koko.

Jeffrey Harris: What was it like for you as a performer to go through these changes with Misty Knight in Season 2?

Simone Missick: It’s so wonderful as an actor to be able to explore such a rich, emotional landscape with Misty this season. We saw in the first season, it was a lot of getting to know her. She has a lot of personal mountains to climb from the death of Scarfe and finding out that he’s crooked to being victimized by Diamondback and feeling powerless and helpless, getting shot. They don’t just give her one story to kind of ride or one emotion to kind of go through. Season 2 just picks up right where they left off with that kind of emotional work that I get to play around in. When we see Misty at the beginning of the season, she is just lost. She doesn’t really know who she is at this point anymore because she lost her arm, and she’s no longer a cop. For a woman who who holds so much of who she is based off her physical abilities, she is at a loss. To be able to explore that, the hurt, the vulnerability, the anger, the rage that comes from being victimized again and having something taken from you that you’ve literally had your whole life, that was a great journey for myself as an actor to get to that place of Misty getting her swagger back and being the superhero that the fans have been waiting 40+ years for her to become. It was very excited.

Jeffrey Harris: Throughout the first season, I was wondering, when and how is Misty going to lose that arm? When Misty got shot in the first season, and her arm was injured, I thought that was how it’s going to happen. Then the season ended, and your arm was OK. I thought it was a bait and switch, and Misty was going to actually keep her arm this time. I said, “I don’t think Misty’s going to lose that arm.”

Simone Missick: *Laughs*

Jeffrey Harris: And then comes The Defenders, and you get that arm sliced off. Did you ever think for a time that your arm was safe? Because in The Walking Dead, there was a character who lost his arm in the comics but not in the show. So, maybe Misty is not going to lose hers either. What did you think?

Simone Missick: I knew that it was coming. I knew that there was no way they could not do another season of Luke Cage and not have Misty in all of her prosthetic power glory. This is something that fans have been asking about literally from the moment she was talked about as being part of the series. When is she going to get that bionic arm? So, I knew that it was coming. I didn’t know how. I didn’t know exactly where. I certainly had no clue that was how she was going to lose her arm in Defenders, so it’s been a lot of fun to take the journey and to not know where you’re going but to know that you’re going to be safe.

Jeffrey Harris: What was it like working with the bionic arm prop? Was it a challenge or an easy part of the wardrobe?

Simone Missick: There is a special place in Heaven for the women and men of the props department who helped me get in and out of the arm because it is more than a notion. I think we went through 10 different generations of that arm. Having it designed and redesigned and fixed and re-fixed because it was a pain in the arm *Laughs*. It was, but it was all worth it. I took the longest of any character to get ready, both in Luke Cage Season 2 and Iron Fist Season 2, because of that arm. There’s so many pieces and parts you have to contend with, and it’s not terribly comfortable and mobile. But I will say this, all of that pain was 100 percent worth it to hear the fans’ response and reactions to seeing it. I hope that if and when there’s a season 3, there’s some kind of upgrade.

Jeffrey Harris: This show is called Luke Cage, but I feel like this season is just as much your show as well Luke’s because Misty goes through one of the robust, full and well-rounded character arcs. At the beginning of the season, Misty is struggling with her identity, and she ends the season in a totally different place. It was rewarding and moving to watch Misty go through these changes. Was it just as rewarding and moving for you?

Simone Missick: It was. It was. I think that sometimes with these types of shows and projects, we can really play an idea with someone. We can perpetuate the narrative of “strong black woman” and not really get to what makes her strong and what makes her weak? Where does her vulnerabilities play out in her life? And to be able to explore Misty’s rage and her anger and her frustration with the system and her inability to get Mariah, to get Shades the way that she wants to get them; the feeling as though she might have to perhaps take justice and matters into her own hands and plant evidence on someone that she knows should be behind bars, played beautifully by my husband [Dorian Missick as gangster Cockroach], that stuff — that kind of work as an actor is something great, but as a character for the fans to see, it’s a full life. It’s a full human being. It’s not just she comes in, she kicks butt, she leaves. It’s a character with real issues, real pain, real struggles — morally, physically and emotionally. She can’t go to a bar and pick up a guy without having to explain her disability. It’s an interesting character to be able to play. I feel very thankful that she is so rich and so wrought with emotion and so much depth of feeling.

Jeffrey Harris: Have you concluded your filming on Iron Fist Season 2 yet?

Simone Missick: Yes. We wrapped in May. I have to say, it was a definitely a pleasure spending some time in Chinatown. Misty came downtown and had a good time.

Jeffrey Harris: In the comics, Danny Rand (Iron Fist) and Misty Knight were quite the item at one point.

Simone Missick: Mm-hm.

Jeffrey Harris: But right now, Colleen Wing is going out with Danny. Misty and Colleen are friends. Is that problematic for fans who want to see something happen with Danny and Misty?

Simone Missick: Well, you never know. I can’t give any spoilers away. We don’t know what exactly happens with Danny and Misty, but I know that — I can guarantee what happens in Iron Fist Season 2 is a genuine respect and friendship begins to grow for both of them.

Jeffrey Harris: Maybe they can just go out for some coffee, right?

Simone Missick: *Laughs* Well, coffee in Luke Cage’s world means something different than coffee in Chinatown in Iron Fist. So, we got to be careful with how we throw around that thing.

Jeffrey Harris: A great loss earlier this year was Reg E. Cathey, who got to have some wonderful scenes and episodes in Luke Cage throughout this season. Can you speak at all about having the late Reg E. Cathey on the show this season?

Simone Missick: Absolutely. This show starts with his voice, and it ends with Reg E.’s voice. If there’s not a better actor to have graced our set and to bless all of our lives with his presence, it was Reg E. Cathey. He is a man whose work I long admired, and to be able to work with him on the season was such a tremendous honor. But the way that he approached life, especially the end of his life, with the dignity and the grace and the humor and the reflectiveness that he did, it only helped enrich all of us as actors. So, I think his performance this season will truly resonate with people all over the world as a man fighting for his family; fighting for a love that he lost. I think Reg E. did that beautifully, and it’s something that his family and friends could be proud of because he most certainly made quite the impact on our show.

Jeffrey Harris: Antonique Smith also has a very good role this season as Nandi Tyler, who is another detective in Misty’s district. In Season 2, a very interesting rivalry with Nandi and Misty develops. How did you like that Misty gets her own archenemy this season, especially that fight in the airport?

Simone Missick: That was so much fun to play because Antonique is truly a talented actress and singer. But she’s also really one of the sweetest people I have ever met. It’s so interesting to have to play the archenemy everyday, and then as soon as we yell cut, it’s like, “I love you!” “I love you!” “No, I’m not mad! Are you OK?! Are you fine?!” Because we truly enjoyed being around each other and developing a real bond. But it was nice to have Misty have someone that she could rival but also really — part of that really came from jealously — looking at someone in their position who doesn’t really deserve to be there. But also looking at yourself and recognizing your own faults as you see this person living the life that you want to have. I think with Antonique onscreen, it just created this really great competitiveness and a rivalry that I think a lot of women will identify with.

I think the way that we got to the meat of the matter, the root of the “why” — I don’t believe Cheo will have any issue with me bringing this up, but when we first got to the “why” of why Misty couldn’t stand Nandi, all of it was a basketball rivalry. I was better, and you weren’t good. It seemed as though it was coming from a place of something that happened 30 years ago when they were kids — 20 years ago. Cheo and I really got into the script, and I gave him a lot of suggestions about where I thought that distrust should come from — something more than just, “I don’t like you because I took your spot on the team.” When we got to lay the foundation of where that relationship started off wrong, which was that Nandi was a thief who was willing to put someone under the bus for her own benefit and she was willing to sell out on her teammates and put someone against someone in a really s***ty position, I think that helped not only to firm up who Nandi was, but to firm up why Misty couldn’t’ stand her the way she could. It was just a lot to have fun with as an actor and to play out and to discover in the writing first and then to get the page.

Jeffrey Harris: Thank you Simone Missick and keep up the great work.

Simone Missick: Thank you. Thank you so much.

Thank you to Simone Missick for taking the time to speak with us. Marvel’s Luke Cage Season 2 is available now on Netflix. You can also check out 411’s official review Season 2 of the show RIGHT HERE. Simone Missick will return as Misty Knight later this year for Marvel’s Iron Fist Season 2.