Lily Santiago Talks About Her UNTAMED Character and Filming on Location

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Lily Santiago stars alongside Eric Bana, Sam Neill and Rosemarie DeWitt on Netflix's newest series, Untamed . The show follows Kyle Turner (Bana), working as a National Park Service agent, who is investigating the death of a young girl. As he begins looking into this death and working alongside Naya Vasquez (Santiago), he discovers there is more to the death than an accidental fall.
Santiago's character is a rookie in the National Park Service, but comes with a heavy background story that is set in LA. As a young mother, she does everything in her power to protect her son while simultaneously working a case that might change her career forever.
I recently had the opportunity to chat with Lily Santiago about her work on Untamed , working on location and her cute toddler co-star.
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This interview with Lily Santiago has been condensed for length and clarity. Lily Santiago Pictured: Lily Santiago and Eric Bana in Netflix's Untamed
Lara Rosales: It's very exciting to see you again on screen. Last time we talked, you were on La Brea, and that was also a show where characters spend a lot of time outside. This time, the characters are in a National Park, and nature is an adjacent character to everything happening. How do you, as an actor, prepare or approach a project that spends so much time outdoors, and your character has to be part of that nature?
Lily Santiago: It's so funny. For some reason, I don't want to be indoors. I'm constantly filming outside. We're on location a lot for this project. First of all, all the locations I've been able to film for La Brea and now for Untamed are just stunningly beautiful. For episode one or two, the director, Tom Bezucha, said he wanted the characters to take it all in and acknowledge the beauty. We both agreed that it shouldn't be too hard.
Luckily, my character, Naya, she's new to the park. She's from LA, and I, as Lily, come from New York, and so the character and I were both getting used to the wilderness at the same time. It was really convenient because I actually didn't have to do much preparation for any of the outdoor adventuring we do. And I love that you say that nature is like an adjacent character, because people keep asking, 'Who's untamed?' And I'm like, 'Nature is untamed. That's what the title is about.'
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LR: Your character comes from LA into this wild world. Is there anything in particular about how you play her that gives away her background or helps the character better understand how she got into this situation before her story is revealed?
LS: Initially, she has a couple of conversations with the captain, Paul Souter, played by the incredible Sam Neill, and he's like, 'How are you settling in? How's the kid, how's it all going?' That's one of the places where you can see it. In another way, it's her initial discomfort with all the aspects of nature, the animals, and the fact that Eric's character, Kyle, rides horses. Even the first time you see Naya on a horse, there's this stiffness, this fear, and this discomfort.
Also, how she approaches the investigation itself is much more coming from an LA city cop perspective of, 'Well, this is the procedure and this is how we should take our next steps.' And she has to learn the new ways she can navigate things in the wild. Riding Horses in the Wild Pictured: Eric Bana and Lily Santiago in Netflix's Untamed
LR: In the first episode, we immediately see you having to ride a horse. Was that also something you prepared for? Is it easier to approach it from the aspect that your character is coming from the city into a new world?
LS: We had the most incredible horse team. We have the best horse trainers and horses that exist in the film world. They luckily got me out there to ride the horses a couple of times before we started filming, so that I could be comfortable and then act out the further discomfort. But I'm such an animal lover that on day one with the horses, I found it fun, and I was so happy.
It was funny because Danny was in charge, as it's his horses and his show. He told me not to try to get it perfect. If my character came in looking like she knew what she was doing, then we were screwed. It just luckily lined up for me where it was, and I've always wanted somebody to hire me to learn a new skill. This is the best new skill to have now.
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LR: Sometimes, as the audience, we watch a character, and we know it's a limited series, and that's all we get out of the character. But do you think Naya's character is one that you would love to continue exploring beyond Season 1 and what we get to see of her?
LS: I think of all the characters — and yes, I am biased — she has the biggest arc in this series. As we've been discussing, [it's] because of how much she has to adapt to her new environment and her new surroundings. That was so fun to play over the course of this first season. So, I think in a Season 2, you could see her finally settling in and accepting a newfound power. Also, her new abilities to navigate these things and analyze them differently based on what she's learned about where she is, who she is, and what she's capable of. Working With Omi Fitzpatrick-Gonzales Pictured: Lily Santiago in Netflix's Untamed
LR: Your character is a mom, so we see her toddler onscreen. How was it working with a toddler? Do you prepare for that differently from when you work with adults?
LS: People always say, 'Don't work with animals or babies.' I did both, but it was honestly one of the greatest gifts of this whole process. I was a nanny before for a couple of years at the start of COVID. So, I'm really comfortable with children, and I love them. Then, I met Omi, who plays my son, and he had just turned five, so he's basically four, and he'd never acted before.
There were scenes that we would do one time. My character says, 'Go pick a book,' and he looked at me and he said, 'For real?' because his reality was starting to blur. 'Wait, Lily, are you going to read a book with me? Are you lying to me?' It was adorable. We had so much fun. And I think his nature and the childlike sense of excitement made it so easy for us to bond.
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LR: Something you just mentioned — him having this excitement. Is it just as exciting for you when you start a new project, and you have a different cast? You spent so many years working with the same people on La Brea , so is there an excitement in starting over with something new?
LS: It makes me revert to feeling like a child on the first day of school, [those] nerves and excitement and wanting to do a good job and wanting to make friends. And I was so lucky with this group of people that it was all possible very quickly to feel comfortable, to feel capable. We had the absolute best time. But also, we dug so deep, so quickly. I don't know if I've ever been more excited for a show to come out.
LR: Without giving too much away, is there something you're most excited for people to discover about this series, whether about your character or the show as a whole?
LS: Watching Naya and Kyle together, their dynamic. It was like, 'Come on!' Just in the reading, it [was] like, 'You guys could be a great team.' So, I'm excited for people to watch how their relationship develops and goes from this awkward 'don't want to work together' to partners-in-crime.
Untamed premieres Thursday, July 17, on Netflix.
On Location: The Original Mr. Beef on FX's THE BEAR By day, Lara Rosales (she/her) is a solo mom by choice and a bilingual writer with a BA in Latin-American Literature known as a Media Relations Expert. By night, she is a TV enjoyer who used to host a podcast (Cats, Milfs & Lesbian Things). You can find her work published on Tell-Tale TV, Eulalie Magazine, W Spotlight, Collider, USA Wire, Mentors Collective, Instelite, Noodle, Dear Movies, Nicki Swift, and Flip Screened.