WARNING: Spoilers for Kaleidoscope Season 1.Currently available to watch on Netflix, Kaleidoscope differentiates itself from its streaming predecessors by taking a non-linear approach to storytelling. While Leo Pap and his crew plan out their heist step by step, the show is designed in a way that allows audiences to shuffle the order of the episodes and still achieve a complete viewing experience. The limited series has been at the top of Netflix's charts, and even Stephen King took to Twitter to praise its high entertainment value.
Peter Mark Kendall plays the role of Stan Loomis, "the smuggler," while Paz Vega plays Ava Mercer, "the weapons specialist." Kendall is known for projects such as The Americans, Strange Angel, and Chicago Med. Vega has starred in several films and series, but There Are No Saints and 13 Minutes are two of her most recent works. Kaleidoscope also stars Giancarlo Esposito, Niousha Noor, Rufus Sewell, Tati Gabrielle, Rosaline Elbay, Jai Courtney, Jordan Mendoza, Soojeong Son, and Hemky Madera.
Kendall and Vega chat exclusively about their characters' endings in Kaleidoscope and share whether they would want to return for a second season.
Peter Mark Kendall & Paz Vega On Kaleidoscope
Screen Rant: Did you get to watch the series as a cast? Or did you all watch it on your own in different orders?
Paz Vega: I watched it in a random order. We didn't have any indication from Netflix or from Eric, the creator, of which order to watch in. I started with "Green" and I finished with "White" and the journey was amazing. It was a different sense because we know the story as the actors. The journey of watching is very exciting—to see all the episodes complete with all the new effects and the stories and the dots connecting and all the clues and the details there. I really enjoyed watching it.
Peter Mark Kendall: We didn't get to watch it all together. That would have been such fun if there was a cast screening or something like that. We all had to do it separately, and we have this big text chain between all the actors and Eric. That has been a very lively text thread over the past couple of weeks, which has been lovely.
This is loosely inspired by true events. Did either of you know about those beforehand? Or did you learn about it when you joined the show?
Peter Mark Kendall: I learned about it when I got the script and started researching after having a conversation with Eric. I had no idea that that happened. It's such a feasible thing, right? Especially when you have a storm of that magnitude that you can't really prepare for. It was all new to me.
Paz Vega: For me, as well. It was new, but I thought, "Wow. It's a great idea to use a hurricane like that." But I didn't know. I heard about Hurricane Sandy at one point, but I didn't know something like this happened.
In terms of the thieving, I loved the sequence at the very beginning of "Green." Were those segments difficult to shoot?
Peter Mark Kendall: It's so funny because all of these little details are these very specific and painstakingly crafted shots that you do a couple of times, and you kind of forget about them. Then, months and months later when they're edited and there's super cool, intense music behind it, and you have the continuity and the energy and the momentum of the show pushing it forward, then it comes alive and becomes something magical. In the making of it, it's almost like stop-motion or something. It's these very, very short little shots that cut together fast to make something amazing and really exciting to watch. A lot of that stuff in "Green," like cracking a window of the car with the lawn equipment or making the key out of soap and all these tiny little things...they're so nitty-gritty, but when it's all put together, it's magical.
Ava puts up a cold front, but she cares about Leo Pap, she cares about her nanny...how was playing a character with all these different sides to her personality?
Paz Vega: Ava is a very interesting character because she has to look like she's always perfect. She has this great and dark sense of humor that's very ironic. But at the same time, it's just a shell. You can see inside that she cares. She cares a lot about the people she loves. There are only two in the world—her nanny and Leo Pap. She would do whatever to save them or to take care of them.
Did you know her fate from the get-go? Or did you find out when you read the finale?
Paz Vega: The moment that they sent me all the scripts, I read it and I said, "This is sad that she has to die." In the beginning, I was thinking, "Oh my God, why does she have to die? She's a great character. She's good. She has to win." But when you see the show, I love the way that she dies. I love that she put all her energy into trying to save Teresa and Leo, and it was beautifully harrowing, [Ava] dying.
Peter, I would love to know your take on Stan and Judy's dynamic, because it's very complicated. Did you want them to work it all out in the end?
Peter Mark Kendall: Oh, I just love how open-ended it is at the end. In "Pink" when we see them six months after, we get to see them finally have some sort of relationship, even though it's incredibly stressful, and it's not the ideal lifestyle I think Stan would have envisioned for them. But I love at the end how open-ended it is whether they stay together or if Judy leaves him or what she does. I think it gives such amazing agency to both of those characters and creates a great cliffhanger of where these two people will go next.
There's a scene in the finale where the vault is flooding, and you're all waist-high in water. What were the mechanics behind filming that?
Peter Mark Kendall: It was wild. They built that bank vault from nothing on the stage, so it could sustain all of that water. We would film, put a little bit of water in, and it would increasingly go up and up and up. It's very hard and tiring work being in that vault full of water all day and shooting and trying to work over the sound and all the chaos of the noise. But also, it's just so much fun. It's like in between takes, I was saying before, that you could just kind of take a little lap around the vault and go for a little swim and then come back and do a scene again. Who knows if you'll ever get to do something like that again? It's so unique and specific.
Paz Vega: And we are not the only ones in the water. There are like 25–30 people around. Everybody was wet and protecting the camera, and it was exhausting, but at the same time very exciting.
All the characters have a special skill that they bring to the heist. If you could have one of their talents, which would it be?
Peter Mark Kendall: If I could have Stan's power of getting anything at any time or being that guy who would be like, "Oh, yeah. I've got a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy who can get that thing for you," that would be very fun.
Paz Vega: Yeah, I mean, for me...[Ava's] a very good shooter. If we are in a post-world or in a war or something, maybe that skill—shooting. It could be nice.
Peter Mark Kendall: If the zombie apocalypse happens.
This is advertised as a limited series, but it's been at the top of the charts on Netflix. It's doing really well. Do you think a second season is possible?
Paz Vega: I don't have that information. Of course, I would love to be alive and be Ava and be around, but I don't know.
So would you both be up for it?
Peter Mark Kendall: Yeah, absolutely. I would absolutely be up for a second season—a round two. The camaraderie and the friendships outside all the art making was so rewarding and fun. I've never been on a set where I was so excited to go to work every day and to be with my new friends who I know I'll keep in contact with for ages. It really was such a joy and delight to go to work. Of course, I'd love to do it again, but I have no idea about the future.
About Kaleidoscope
Spanning 25 years, Kaleidoscope (previously titled Jigsaw) is an all-new anthology series following a crew of masterful thieves and their attempt to crack a seemingly unbreakable vault for the biggest payday in history. Guarded by the world’s most powerful corporate security team, and with law enforcement on the case, every episode reveals a piece of an elaborate puzzle of corruption, greed, vengeance, scheming, loyalties, and betrayals. How did the crew of thieves plan it? Who gets away with it? Who can be trusted?
Check out our other interviews with the Kaleidoscope cast here:
Kaleidoscope is currently available to stream on Netflix.