In Charmed Season 3, The Charmed Ones meet their estranged cousin, Joséfina, who opens their hearts to questioning their practiced magic. After realizing that The Charmed Ones’ current magic is based on the flawed concept of a gender binary and Western-based practices, the sisters seek to reconnect to their Puerto Rican roots through Joséfina and Brujeria.
In an interview with CBR, Mareya Salazar discussed bringing Joséfina to life, how she lovingly challenges the world of The Charmed Ones and what adventures are ahead for her character.
CBR: This is your first television role, so my first question is what’s something about working in TV that you just didn’t expect?
Mareya Salazar: How quickly everything moves, and how fast the industry is able to recover in this pandemic. It was really nice to see how lovely everyone is — that was a surprise. It was definitely a lovely treat to meet everyone, and everyone gets so close and personable, even at this time.
Joséfina is the first family member from Puerto Rico that really connected with the sisters. What can you tell us about Joséfina’s presence that helps The Charmed Ones connect to their Puerto Rican roots that you can tell fans?
I think it’s very important for them to get attached to their Puerto Rican roots. They’ve traveled all over the world, and help witches around the world, but it’s important for them to be in touch with their roots — the history of the type of witchcraft in their family, and where they come from, too. I think it’s a blessing to be reconnected with their family.
It’s a blessing for Joséfina to also have these role models to look up to as well. And continue developing her powers and looking for her powers with her cousins nearby, too.
It also feels like the introduction of Brujeria into the show is just so needed. It’s something that’s a part of their family legacy that viewers didn’t even know about, and watching them grapple with it, too, is just so important. They’ve been practicing this colonized, pretty Western-magic, pretty-White magic.
Exactly. Brujeria, if you really get into it, it’s steeped in indigenous history through Central America, and especially from Puerto Rico. It’s quite astonishing. There’s Santeria from South America — there’s magic everywhere in this world, and it belongs to several cultures, and it’s nice to see them come together and share in this.
Since Joséfina is coming from practicing Brujeria and self-teaching herself this kind of magic, did you do any research around the origins of this magic?
In the first episode that I was in, I researched about the Aztecs and the Taínos and their history from Puerto Rico, and [specifically] the Taínos people and their Brujeria practices. It was very important for me to look up Brujeria and where it came from — and the Aztecs, the Taínos, and the pronunciation of their spells as well. There are several online resources to sort of look at, and we also have excellent people who know these spells and the proper pronunciations [on set], who give us the information for us, which is excellent.
But I just love how passionate Joséfina is about each of her skills and about her family and her roots in Brujeria, and it’s really important that she’s come to the family and shared this side of their story that the Charmed Ones weren’t really aware of yet.
Personally, I’m someone who is non-binary, so when I heard of the role and then saw you in the role — just the joy of seeing you and being like, yes! I didn’t even know that in a show like Charmed that I needed someone to be like, “Can we just step back and question this whole gender binary of magic for a hot second?”
Exactly.
One thing that stood out to me was how they talked about the trans struggle in the way that — her family accepted her as a woman, but they don’t want her to have magic. And I feel like it’s that real-world issue of being seen as a trans woman, but not like a woman, yanno? And you’re like no, no, no.
Exactly.
I feel like the show used magic to get at that point. So I would just love to hear your thoughts when you were reading the script, when you were digging into the character, like how that felt to be doing that work?
I definitely identified with how emotional and attached she was to prove that she, herself, could be magical and become a witch. Regardless of her gender, her gender doesn’t define her destiny. And she kind of takes a big leap to come so far to see her family and just expose herself like that. And she knows she has more to gain from taking this big leap of faith towards gaining her powers. I think that’s what the big takeaway is, is that you have more to gain by taking risks in life, and getting out of your comfort zone and pushing yourself towards your passions, and just being straight up who you are.
One of my favorite things so far is watching Mel and Joséfina’s relationship dynamic. Mel is just really stubborn and doesn’t really think about how this is affecting other peoples. So, I was curious about your thoughts on how their dynamics and how it plays out on the show?
I think it’s lovely. I love working with Melonie Diaz because she’s such a sweetheart. I think their dynamic — Joséfina and Mel’s — is is very heartwarming to see. Mel’s kind of that motherly figure and very kind of stubborn sometimes. But, you know, I think [Mel’s] a bit more of the realist whereas Joséfina is more of the ready to go and try these new spells and try whatever she can to discover this new world for her. I think it’s it’s a nice hot and cold dynamic between the two. They’re really cute.
What’s one thing that you think Joséfina brings to The Charmed One’s dynamic that was missing until she came around?
I think they’re missing a connection to their Puerto Rican heritage. Not only that but also their understanding. They have a trans cousin who needs support, who needs that sisterhood, who needs a little bit of guidance through the magical world and to the world in general. And I feel like she can look up to them in that way. And they are really just loving and accepting and really encouraging to Joséfina to show her that other people don’t define your destiny. And you don’t have to conform to this world, and the expectations of other people, just because of your assigned birth or the expectations other people put on you.
What is it like to wield powers on-screen?
It’s definitely unique. I admire all the visual effects people. There’s a lot of imagination that goes into it on our part, and they kind of carry the rest. It’s unbelievable because you kind of use your imagination, a lot of your imagination. And it’s empowering, too.
Any closing thoughts about this interview or your approach to this character?
I think this is surreal still for me — this opportunity.
And I can’t wait for what else is in store for this show and in the future. I’m a trans girl from New Brunswick and not a lot of actors come out from the East Coast of Canada, but here we are! And I really want to make my community proud. And not just the region, but I want to make the trans community proud as well. And I want to grow as an actor.
Charmed stars Sarah Jeffery, Madeleine Mantock, Melonie Diaz, Rupert Evans, Jordan Donica, Poppy Drayton, Mareya Salazar and JJ Hawkins. New episodes air Fridays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.
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