There’s more to LaDonna Landry than meets the eye. Over the first few episodes of The CW’s 4400, she leaned into her reality star persona, appearing self-absorbed, obsessed with her phone and desperate for attention. However, “That LaDonna Life” began to peel back those layers, revealing the computer whiz and charismatic leader underneath. What’s more, she proved just how calculated that facade truly was when the press stopped by, turning on the charm when the cameras were rolling and then applying her secret skills when they weren’t.
Speaking to CBR, 4400 star Khailah Johnson promised LaDonna’s computer skills will continue to come in handy. She dove into the complex relationship between LaDonna and her parents, including the heartbreak she felt when she discovered her mother’s reaction to her disappearance. She broke down the research she did in order to accurately play a reality star from 2015 and why LaDonna finds herself drawn to Doc Andre. She also revealed what makes LaDonna’s power so right for her personality, teased more powers to come and more.
CBR: Tell me a little about how you landed the role and how you found the character of LaDonna.
Khailah Johnson: So I got the role through my manager, and I did about a month of auditioning while I was still in college. So that was pretty fun! I was auditioning for this during my senior year of college, and it was stressful and exciting all at the same time.
I did a lot of research about the time. Obviously, I’m around her same age, so I put myself into 2015 as my age right now and did a lot of research of current events that were happening at that time. Then I did a lot of research of women in the media, who was big at that time, who she would have been following, who she would have been looking up to, who she would have been trying to emulate and the way that women were being perceived in the media.
The early 2000s, the mid-2000s, a lot of women in media were being treated really unfairly and dealing with all of that. So I put a lot of that into her as well and let that affect her map, her way of approaching life, her way of approaching strangers. Yeah, a lot of research about 2015 and how all of that would have affected her meeting a whole new group of people outside of her regular environment.
Introduce me to LaDonna. If you were taking her out on a night on the town with your friends, what would you tell them about her?
Okay, I would say, “This is my friend LaDonna! She’s super fun. She loves to party, loves to be the center of attention. She’s gonna ask you where you got your outfit from, where you got your hair done, tell you to follow her on Instagram.” I’m gonna say, throughout the night, there’s a lot more to her than what she presents. If you ask the right questions, if you show her you can be trusted, she’ll let down a few walls, and you can have a really great conversation with her. There’s a lot more than what meets the eye.
Which aspect of the character do you relate to the most and why?
I think that LaDonna really values connection, because that was something she was deprived of early on in her life, especially with her parental figures. So I think that is something that I relate to the most, especially coming from the year we just came from. I really put a lot of value into my friendships, my connections in that way.
Yeah, when I was learning about her and reading about her, that was one thing that really drew me. When she got to this place, I mean, all they could do was just rely on connectivity and human connection. They didn’t have anything else. She really found herself through connecting to other people, in seeing other people and talking to people and creating these foundations for friendships. I think that’s something that I strive to do in my life.
I love that we’re getting to see all these layers of LaDonna, particularly where she is so much smarter than some of the other characters give her credit for. What other surprises might she have in store for us?
I think that her knowledge will start to become very useful. Her knowledge of current times, especially her knowledge of COBOL and everything. So I think more of this will come to fruition and help aid the mystery.
LaDonna is unique, in that you’re throwing back to a time period you’ve lived through. How did that help you approach her mindset?
Definitely! It helps so, so much. I honestly went back to my old computer and looked up a bunch of pictures to see what I was doing at that time. I was 16, in high school, which is not that far from 21. But I just put myself in my 16-year-old self’s life, and just imagined what I would have done differently, and then imagined myself as a reality TV star! [laughs] It helps a lot! I knew what’s going on. It was really cool to be a little nostalgic, too, to live through that time. 16 was a great year.
We got to see some flashbacks to LaDonna’s life before she jumped through time. How will the show continue to explore her dynamic with her family?
I think that once there’s a bit of leeway, and if they ever get out of this hotel, the interaction between her family will be very interesting and unexpected and hard to predict — unpredictable. I think that both reactions, from both her mother and her father, might be very vastly different. She’ll have to deal with both of those.
Also, she’ll have to deal with people knowing her and people thinking that she was somewhere where she wasn’t. People thinking, having preconceived notions of her now that her mother enforced to keep the public at bay for herself. So I think she already had a little fame, and now, I think she still has it, but it has shifted the way people see her. It’s in a different light, and she’ll have to deal with that.
LaDonna recently learned that her mother told everyone she was in rehab and that’s why she’s been missing since 2015. What do you think was going through LaDonna’s mind in that moment?
I don’t think she was entirely surprised, but I don’t think that she thought her mother would go that far. I imagine she would think her mom would do some damage control but rehab, you know, that’s a big statement, which is gonna cause people to look at her different. It’s gonna cause people to make speculations that just aren’t true.
Also, I think there was a lot of hurt going on, that her mother was not concerned where she was. Even though they didn’t have the best relationship, you expect your parents to be setting up search parties and everything. I think, when she heard that, it was really hard for her to take in. I think she expected a little bit, but it was simply nothing. Yeah.
Aside from her mother, which other character does LaDonna have the most interesting dynamic with and why?
It’s between Claudette and Andre. I’m going to say most interesting is Andre, just because they’re so vastly different and from two very entirely different worlds. Mostly, all the things she says, Andre doesn’t understand. So I think it’s fun for her too! She gets to teach him about the new hip way that is current. I think that he’s so far removed from her reality that he can see through her. He can see through the mask, the dress, the shoes, makeup, everything. He just sees her. I think that’s what draws her to him. I think they have a really serendipitous relationship. I do.
We also saw LaDonna reach out to Mariah, Shanice’s daughter, with the leaked video footage. What’s in store for LaDonna and Mariah’s relationship?
I think LaDonna reached out to her specifically because she knew the mother/daughter relationship and that the foundation of that — also, that’s something that she does not have, that’s not very positive or stable, but she understands that it can be. So I think that was a real tug of she knew she would help her mother — as LaDonna would herself, even with that relationship. So I think in that aspect, she admires a mother/daughter relationship that started off rocky and broken and is building. So I think, yeah, she’s really drawn to that. I think they’ll maybe share in that a bit.
So LaDonna has begun to show signs of having this supernatural ability. How would you describe it, and how would you say she views this new talent?
Okay, I think she views it as like, “I want it, I got it!” [laughs] But it’s very much in line with her and her past life. What she wants, it suddenly appears. It’s there, and she can use that to her advantage. I would describe it as casting an illusion.
What is one moment or scene you can’t wait for audiences to see?
There’s so many! I can’t wait for everyone to see everybody master their power and come together with that. I think that’s going to be really cool. It’s going to be a big climax. I think when we see people really mastering their powers and using them together, it’s going to be a great, great, great moment.
What would be your dream story arc for LaDonna? If you could choose any direction for her, what would it be?
I really love where she’s going already! That’s a really good question. I really want her to become the leader of something, or a teacher. I feel like she has so much to offer. I feel like all that knowledge needs to be spread. I would really love to see her become an expert or a master of some sort and share her knowledge with people. I think that would be really cool.
What is one of your favorite memories from set?
Honestly, any time that we’re all in a scene together, on set. It’s super fun for everyone to be there together and hang out. I just love my cast so much. I really, really, really do. So, yeah, anytime that we’re all on set together, and we’re doing a big, huge scene and we get to talk in between and act with each other, it’s really something special. This cast is really something special. We genuinely love each other. I think that radiates on the screen. So that’s that’s my favorite moment all the time, just whenever we all get to be together and get to do awesome work.
4400 airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.
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