You may have seen the gorgeous Texas native Jaz Sinclair in hit films such as Paper Towns, When the Bough Breaks, and Slender Man. She has been on BGN’s radar for a while now, as we covered the red carpet premiere of When the Bough Breaks with Morris Chestnut and Regina Hall. She is also on our recent list of #StrongBlackLeads to watch out for. October 26th you will see her on Netflix’s The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Jaz plays Rosalind Walker in the upcoming series. She is Sabrina Spellman’s best friend and a kickass feminist to boot.
BGN got to sit with Jaz on the set of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and talk about her views on the show and how friendship, female empowerment, and strong female characters make the new Netflix show what it is. In reality, Jaz is an amazing young woman who is an absolute joy to talk to. I look forward to seeing her crush it on Netflix and anything else she decides to do.
Ideas on character and how she appeals to younger generation…
One of the reasons I wanted to take this character is because she’s a feminist and I like that the friend group is unconventional. The “Core Four”, as we call them, Harvey, Susie, Roz, and Sabrina, they’re not necessarily people you would expect would be friends. Which is how I feel most friendships are. It is different! It’s definitely different! It’s something that I feel like people can relate to having, when I see a show where everybody looks the same, I don’t really relate to that. When I see a show where groups of friends look different, come from different walks of life, to me, that resonates more. I think that our show does a good job of that, which is exciting for me!
Thoughts on the W.I.C.C.A Club…
I was pumped! I’m still super pumped! Anytime they gave me some feminist rant or mission on the show, I’m all in because it’s exciting for me! I love the idea of high school kids caring about the things that I didn’t really learn to care about until I was a little bit older and just general representation in our show is timeless, so we hint that it’s not so open as today is. I love W.I.C.C.A. I think it’s really fun. Anytime that we get to go on W.I.C.C.A (Women’s Intersectional Cultural and Creative Association) missions, I have a good time.
Showcasing Black female empowerment…
It kind of started that way with mention of The Daughters of the Black Panther Club being rejected. It got shelved a little bit, honestly. I was excited about that part too! They even had lines at the beginning like, “Did you say this because I’m black?”, and then they cut those lines. So, now, it’s just like, “Women!” So, it’s a little less specific but still activist-y; still excited!
The balance between witch and teenager…
I really love the way that this show rides that line of wanting to have a normal, young life and then also being this magical person. When I watch the show myself, both elements are so sweet and so full. You watch every scene and you’re not like, “Ah! I want to get back to the other stuff!” Everything has so much life in it and I think that makes it harder for the audience too, because you don’t want to be like, “Yeah, go full witch and leave your friends”, because you love the friends, but then you also want her to go full witch at the same time.
Women’s fascination with witches…
Yeah, because we are witches! We’re all magical as hell and that resonates! Sometimes things happen that don’t make sense. I probably have magic! I love witches. I’m a big fan of all things magic. Magical friends, magical shows, magical everything, but that was one of the reasons why I really wanted to do this show. It’s like, “Oh! I get to do a show about witches where I get to play a feminist at the same time?” I think that people falling in love with the idea of witches is totally in alignment with people falling in love with the idea of women as powerful, magical beings. That just resonates in a way that I think is so beautiful and our cast is so female-heavy, which is amazing, and it always feels like we’re representing a full story. It doesn’t just feel like this is just for women, but there are a lot of female leads on the show, which gives it a nice flavor that I really love. So many talented women too! Oh my goodness. I could go on and on about our cast. I love them a lot.
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (Part 1) hits Netflix October 26, just in time for your Halloween binge watching. Check out the trailer below.
