Interview by Daniela Hernandez

There’s something comforting and foreboding about the open range: its rugged vastness, its perilous and imperiled nature, its connection to our culture and our very humanity—and our modern disconnection from it. An important message of Netflix new cowboy-theme drama Ransom Canyon is that nature, human or otherwise, can’t be fully tamed nor contained. Sprawling ranches hold long-buried secrets. Dreams clash with the weight of tradition. And past traumas haunt the present.

Lizzy Greene steps into this environment as Lauren Brigman, a teenager caught between the comfort of the life she’s always known and the allure of the unexplored. Lizzy first won over audiences as the witty and determined Dawn Harper in Nickelodeon’s Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn, showcasing a natural charm and comedic timing that made her a standout on the network. But her role as Sophie Dixon in A Million Little Things proved she had the depth to take on emotionally complex characters. Playing a teenager navigating the sudden loss of her father, she delivered a raw and heartfelt performance that resonated with audiences, cementing her as an actress capable of balancing both strength and vulnerability. Now, in Ransom Canyon, Lizzy brings that emotional range to a character who embodies youthful ambition and naïveté and the struggle between responsibility and desire. Lauren is the quintessential golden girl—head cheerleader, popular, well-connected and girlfriend to the high school quarterback. But beneath the picture-perfect facade, she’s restless, hurting, and yearning to escape. By Lizzy’s own telling, she and her character have very different values and priorities, but they do share at least one thing in common: they’re both out to make themselves into the heroines of their own lives. 

Photography Kevin Sinclair Styling Oretta Corbelli

Daniela Hernandez __ You are a Pokémon and anime fan. 

Lizzy Greene __ I am!

DH __ How did you get into that?

LG __ I love that's the question we're starting off with. This is going to be great! [smiles] I have Pokémon Lego balls on my table right now that I meant to build. [holds one up] I've been an anime fan my whole life. I grew up going to Blockbuster and renting the Pokémon films. Then, I got into Studio Ghibli and Naruto. I'm going to Japan in May, and I'm just so eager and excited because I'm going to be buying way too many things! [laughs] I love everything associated with anime, like the world-building. On the set of Ransom Canyon, we had nothing to do in Albuquerque and none of us drank, so we would fill our days with buying Pokémon packs and then trading. We also bought binders. I’ll show you! This is how I geek out. [brings out a red and white binder that looks like a Poké Ball]

DH __ Wow. That’s amazing. Did I get it right? The Ransom Canyon cast made Pokémon cards for each of your characters? 

LG __ Yes! That was a wrap gift to everyone: all characters on these custom Pokémon cards. They all contain little inside jokes. For Jack [Schumacher, who plays Yancey Grey], we always joked that he eats our scraps on set. That’s a thing about working with three boys—it was all about bulking and creatine. We'd be all eating lunch together every day and what I would not finish, I would just give to Jack. I ended up putting that on his Pokémon card. 

DH __ Is that why you also started weight training? 

LG __ Yeah, I did it after I broke my knee. Drew, my castmate was like, ‘Okay, we gotta fix your life now. This is it. This is a wake up call.’ I ended up hiring the same trainer as him and so now I'm in the gym!

DH __ That's awesome. Now you can be your own anime superhero!

LG __ Yes, indeed. I'm hoping to be my own heroine. We had a lot of fun on set. Anime’s been such a big part of me growing up, and it's one of those things that I'll love for the rest of my life.

DH __ Why? Is it the storylines, the lessons, the stories, or the art? Because you’re an artist too, right? 

LG __ Yeah. It's a little annoying to hear people say, ‘It's cartoons. It's not that interesting.’ I'm like, ‘No, you've not watched Naruto. You haven't seen how these shows have influenced modern media.’ I talk with my boyfriend about certain scenes, like one in which Naruto and Sasuke fighting is used as a blueprint for a scene in The Avengers.

DH __ I watched a YouTube video mashup of all scenes from your Nickelodeon days. One of the things that really struck me was the similarities between the formats used in that show, which started in 2014, with formats you see today on TikTok and other short-video platforms. How do you think that children’s TV influences the way we consume media as adults?   

LG __ If you look at how TikTok has influenced the world in terms of our attention spans and also how we like to consume content, how we've become very into quick videos, like things that give us immediate gratification—it's very interesting. Gen Z tends to be the blueprint for how things have shifted and evolved over time. TikTok has been very transformative in that sense. It's very easy to get wrapped up in a cycle of scrolling, but in moderation it’s actually taught us a lot. It's helped to move us along in the world to being more progressive and more accepting. So I think that there's been a lot of great things that have come out of a Gen Z-backed social media movement.

DH __ How do you think it affects creativity?

LG __ There's definitely been pluses with that, but as always everything in moderation with social media is good. There are times where you can hit a bit of a glass ceiling because media these days is consumed in shorter, quick videos under a minute. In the acting world, it might be harder for some people's attention spans to sit down and say watch an hour-and-30-minutes-long play or movie. That is where we have to be careful. Being able to get into other art mediums like reading or painting— that's very important for our own development.

DH __ You like to draw. How do you use art in your everyday life?

LG __ I love art. When I’m between projects or get downtime, I try to take classes. I'm actually taking a class with one of my best friends right now. It's a way to destress. My parents have always encouraged me to make art and try to sell it. But for me, the minute it becomes a job, I think it loses its healing properties. My friends and I are trying to hold ourselves accountable by making a lot of art. I also like the idea of looking back on it in the future. It's nice to have pieces that remind you of a specific time and show your growth. It's a huge part of me that I don't really talk about all that much. So, thank you. 

DH __ Yeah! Your character, Lauren, on Ransom Canyon loves to draw too. Was that something you incorporated into her backstory?

LG __ Yes! Once we received all of the scripts, I spoke with our showrunner. I felt like Lauren's storyline might have been a little too dependent on the boys in her life. I felt there was an opportunity for her to have another outlet and show something about what really makes her who she is. She is so much more than just a romance story line. With scripts, you can only fit so much information in and so it’s important to find those moments of nuance where you can show something more about the character. While these details might go unnoticed by some people in the audience, her drawings give insight about her character traits. 

DH __ Did you make Lauren’s drawings? 

LG __ Some were mine. They did ask me to do some in the beginning, but time just got ahead of me. When we were ramping up production, we were in cowboy camp. So we ended up commissioning an artist to do most of the work that you'll see in the inserts. That said, there's a drawing in Lauren’s school locker, and I did that. If you look around her room, you'll see lots of drawings that I did too.

DH __ Little Easter eggs! [laughs]

LG __ Little Easter eggs. Yes! [laughs]

DH __ How do you create emotional and physical memories for the characters you're playing?

LG __ That has always been something that I've been trying to get better at. I have a journal I keep for all of my auditions. You only get five pages of material to build a character and they give you a tiny log line of what a movie or show is about. Sometimes you don't know anything at all. Sometimes they give you dummy sides. 

DH __ Dummy sides?

LG __ A script that is not even in the movie or TV show. They just wrote it specifically for the audition. And so, I'd write journal entries for my characters. Sometimes, it would be a letter to one of the other characters, just to give my character some backstory. I would list things that I think she would like or wouldn't like. I’d give her small memories with her parents or create details that would help influence and make her decisions make more sense to me. That way, I can believe in everything she's doing and portray that more accurately. For me, it all starts with writing as that character. I try not to see it as like, ‘I'm going to make up a story for this person.’ I think, ‘I am this person and this is what I'm choosing to put down in my journal today.’ I'm kind of lying to myself in a way so that things make more sense when I'm doing them. 

DH __ A few months ago, I had a very interesting conversation with a character actor who started out as a clown, which is a very physical trade. I asked him whether that experience had helped him create his characters not just in voice but in his body. Since you started out in physical comedy, I was wondering if you’d had a similar experience.

LG __ Physicality is such a huge part of acting. You have to know your lines, of course, and you have to bring emotion to it, but also every character might walk a different way or have a tick of some sort or might have nervous habits. Knowing yourself is such a powerful part of it. You have to feel grounded in everything you're doing, so the character feels almost second nature. 

DH __ Lauren seems like a really cool girl, but also someone who's fighting with herself. How do you ground yourself for a character who is ungrounded?

LG __ There's a youth to her that helps. I'm 21. Lauren is 16. Some decisions she makes, while I might not agree with, I have to find a way to be okay with. I had to ask myself—how would it make sense that she would be doing this? Her youth and naiveté of being in her first relationship are part of that. She does not have all the answers to solve certain problems and deal with certain challenges, especially given her family life. There's also a part of her who is a natural fighter. She's seen her mom fizzle in and out of her life and she's seen her dad be really strong about keeping her in town so that she can take care of her mom. I think she's lacked having choices in her life, and that might cause her to act out at times.

DH __ What drew you to her character?

LG __ She is a lot of fun. She's spunky. She's driven. She's very fun to play, I will say. When I got the audition, Lauren already felt like such a part of my life. My mom was a University of Texas cheerleader, and Lauren is aspiring to be a NCA cheerleader. It takes place in Texas. I'm a Texan. I love Texas so much. The show is all about love, family, and priorities in life. Plus, it's athletic and I've always wanted to do something that would require me to get back to doing gymnastics. And so that really excited me as well. 

DH __ Did you train as a gymnast?

LG __ I did. So, there's a story there. My mom was a professional gymnast who did it for years and then ended up becoming a cheerleading coach. I grew up doing gymnastics. I loved it but then I ended up switching to acting and so I've always felt like I've missed out on that part of my life. Then, when I got this role, I told production, ‘Just train me in everything.’ They wanted to know how much I could do, and I was like, ‘Anything, if you teach me!’ Anyone can do anything if you teach them. I really believe that. I was just a little rusty. I ended up achieving a roundoff back handspring that I was supposed to do on the show. But two weeks before shooting, in rehearsals, I ended up breaking my knee. So I had to use a stunt double, which really sucked, but I still got the experience, which was great.

DH __ So, being from Texas, you're probably a Cowboys fan.

LG __ Yes! 

DH __ If you had to choose between the Cowboys and the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, which team would you choose?  

LG __ I love those girls! As a kid, I did the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders camp because I wanted to be one of them. But I just love football so much so I have to pick football! As I got older, I got more interested in the game itself. I'm rooting for the Cowboys this year. 

DH __ Ok, back to the show. The environment; the way the shots are structured, the lighting—all of it seemed to reflect the characters’ inner lives. What was it like to be on a set like that?

LG __ Our producing director, Amanda Marsalis, is so unbelievably precise. When we first came into the production office to meet everybody, she showed us her office and her walls were just plastered with images she wanted to either pull inspiration from or use. It's almost like the visuals came first. When you picture the show, you have this town that feels larger than life. It has to feel like there's this world-building with three ranches in West Texas framed by rivers and valleys and mountains. You have that as a foundation for your story to feel real. Our VP, Eric Koretz collaborated closely with Amanda. When you were on set, you would look up and there would be a crane shot when your character was dealing with something, they always were on their toes about having some angle of some camera personify that emotion. And so whether that's in the lighting or a tight shot on someone who’s really uncomfortable or a wide shot that captures a sense of ease. Every visual choice worked seamlessly to enhance the storytelling. 

DH __ Do you think that the environment you film in affects the way you play a character?

LG __ It is very much a part of it. The vastness of the world is tangible on our set. In contrast, actors on other shows with lots of special effects and blue or green screens have less to draw inspiration from. I did that for one movie, and it's very claustrophobic. When you're in that kind of space, you feel more inhibited. You feel like you have nothing to hold onto, even though you're on this big blue screen. You don't even know how they're going to edit it or where things will end up. You don't know if there's going to be a trash can there or if it's just an open space. What I appreciated so much about this show is that we had tons of horses. We had an entire set to play with and when you were in it, you were in it. I think most actors appreciate that because they feel like they are living the role rather than just having to pretend they're living the role.

DH __ That's really interesting. What did the cowboy culture, which is such a big part of the show, feel like?

LG __ That was magnificent to experience. In January, when we all first got to set, they sent us to cowboy camp. We had a month where everyone was learning how to herd cattle, gallop horses, and ride in tandem. That really set us all up to get into this physicality mindset. Horses are hard to manage. You don't understand how sassy they are! [laughs] If you don't show them who's boss, they'll do whatever they want. I think that was a learning curve for everyone. A lot of the cowboys and background characters in the show were actually our crew members—the same people working with the horses. Instead of hiring actors to pretend they knew what they were doing, they brought in our friends from cowboy camp. Sometimes, they’d even come up to us in character and teach us things in real time. It was such a cool experience—I absolutely loved it.

DH __ What was it like for you to learn to ride a horse and maneuver a large animal?

LG __ I've ridden horses a lot throughout my life, but I've never been able to learn the particulars of ranch life with horses. They were teaching us how to brush them, how to put on their saddles, how to take them off, how to feed them, everything. And so a lot was learning how to care for them. I was basically learning it all over again. Unfortunately in the show I don't get to ride any horses because I'm too busy cheerleading.

DH __ When you were with the horses, was that therapeutic?

LG __ It was really a gift to be able to have that experience. They're gentle giants, and they're so attentive and emotional. It's very gratifying to be able to care for them and get to know them. Everyone on set had their own designated horse for their characters. I would hear stories from my friends ‘my gosh I just love this one’ or ‘this one was so funny’ or ‘this one was giving me a hard time today.’ But it's all coming from a place of love.

DH __ So, the tagline for the show is Love. Land. Legacy.

LG __ The three L’s.

DH __ How do you think that relates to what's going on in the world today?

LG __ I think leading with love is something we all forget sometimes. With everything going on in the world right now, it's very easy to let things just fizzle down to headlines.  But we, as humans, have a moral obligation to care about our friends, family, and also people we don't know. The minute we lose our love for people and humanity is when we lose ourselves. This show is like a warm cup of tea. I know there's a lot of really tumultuous stuff going on in the world right now, so I hope this is an escape, our little corner of Texas. At the core of it, we all need to be kinder and lift each other up. We have to be there for those we love.

DH __ Every character, regardless of whether they're a teenager or an adult, they're all products of their emotional and physical environment—which includes their personal relationships.

LG __ Which is real life.

DH __ The show can feel demanding because all the characters are in some kind of struggle. You have people who have lost loved ones, people who got cheated on. Your character's mom has an alcohol problem. How did you add some lightness to Lauren?

LG __ Unfortunately, some scenes had to get cut for time. There's a few scenes I have with my parents that explain more about my mom's addiction and why my dad feels obligated to keep me in town. I think Lauren feels a bit abandoned. She's not had a good support system at home, nor does she have an ideal partnership dynamic with her parents. She's never really seen that. That's probably why she doesn’t know how to treat Lucas and Reed [her love interests]. She's not been around a healthy environment in that sense. Her moral code is a bit out of whack. Over time, she understands more about the consequences of her actions and how to be better for the people in her life. She has some great moments with some of the other characters in looking for guidance and support. Through those moments, she's able to alter how she operates. She's also young and in love and what she feels with Lucas, she's never felt with anyone before. So I think there's a part of her that just wants to run towards love. Admittedly, she could be a little more clear with her intentions, but it's coming from a good place.

DH __ In one episode, Kirland says that it's important to remember something to be happy about every day. What is that for you today?  

LG __ I am truly grateful for my family. I'm grateful for my parents. They've just given me so much so that I can do what I love. 

Photographer Kevin Sinclair, Fashion Editor Oretta Corbelli, Interviewer Daniela Hernandez, Stylist Assistant Allegra Gargiulo, Makeup Kara Yoshimoto Bua (A-Frame Agency), Hair Kat Thompson (The Wall Group), Producer David Gargiulo, Actor Lizzy Greene (Viewpoint PR)

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