Sterling Point Cast Tease Annie’s Crossroads, Fan-Favorite Romance, and the Moment Everyone Will Be Talking About
Following her acclaimed films The Fallout and My Old Ass, Megan Park makes her television creator debut with Sterling Point, a new series about first love, sisterhood, and choosing your own path. When high-strung Annie learns that she and her twin brother have inherited an island in Canada from their mysterious late grandfather, it sends her on a journey of self discovery. In a conversation with Pop Culture Planet’s Kristen Maldonado, the cast opened up about Annie’s crossroads, fan-favorite romances, and the moment everyone will be talking about.
For Ella Rubin, Annie’s journey intentionally mirrors that of her late mother, leaving audiences wondering whether history is destined to repeat itself. “I love that that was your perspective on it because I felt the exact same,” she said of the comparison. “That was such a big intention in the show. She's mirroring her mom's life and the question is really: is she going to make a different choice? Is she going to make the same choice? And is she going to be afforded the chance to follow her dreams? [It’s] something her mom was obviously very unfortunately not able to do and have the life she took a risk for come to fruition.”
Annie reaches a point where she’s forced to decide between the comfort of the life she’s always known or taking a risk on something she can’t fully explain. “We're watching a girl who really doesn't like to take risks or be impulsive in any way be tasked with a desire for something different,” Rubin explained. “The show is really about her discovering herself and being able to become a more open, vulnerable, risk-taking person.”
Even her central love triangle is about more than romance, but about what kind of life she wants to live. Rory and Ellis each represent different versions of Annie’s future. “Spot on. That’s exactly what makes the love triangle so interesting in this show is it's really a choice between two different walks of life,” said Daniel Quinn-Toye, who plays city guy Rory. “It's not cliched. There's a lot of thought into it. It's two different kind of worlds.”
“Rory and Annie knew each other when they were children. They both grew up in Manhattan. There's this shared history there of home and of the city, but there's a difference between knowing somewhere when you're a child and then seeing it through the eyes of yourself as an adult,” continued Quinn-Toye. “Annie's very caught up and stressed. Rory sees that as an opportunity to introduce her back to New York. Going out and clubbing and dancing and drinking and socializing and letting loose and having fun. He wants her to be his New York companion. She has a choice to make for sure.”
Rory represents a chance for Annie to rediscover New York through fresh eyes, while Ellis offers her a quieter path. “At first, I think Annie sees him as this introverted nature boy that doesn't really have the same references as she has. She definitely doesn't get him at first. I think she finds that Ellis is pretty hard to read, but as the show goes on we get to know Ellis a little bit more,” explained Jacob Whiteduck-Lavoie, who plays island native Ellis. “Ellis is that peace that she finds out later in the show that she needed in her life. You know, that peace and quiet that she didn't know she was looking for.”
“It’s interesting ‘cause how it's written, it's much deeper than just it's this guy or this guy. It goes far beyond that. I think Megan did an incredible job at writing both of these characters and their different values in life,” said Whiteduck-Lavoie. “It's not even, here's the good guy, here's a bad guy, ‘cause they're both good guys. It’s different sides of her life Rory embodies that more city boy style and Ellis is much more rural, nature boy, I like to say.”
Fans will also be rooting for Ramona and Oona, or RamOona, as we’ve dubbed them. Amélie Hoeferle said her chemistry with co-star Bo Bragason developed naturally throughout filming. “Thank you, first of all, for being the first person to say it. Building that chemistry with Bo felt very natural. It's funny because we didn't really spend much one-on-one time together outside of set. When we all hung out, we all hung out and it was rarely a one-on-one type of thing,” said Hoeferle. “But it felt very intuitive with Bo. Bo is so incredible to work with and I really, really enjoyed having her as Oona and having Ramona have her as Oona. It was very intuitive. I feel like we really built our chemistry through just being together on set and we were lucky enough to have a lot of time before our first closer scenes. It really did feel like we were building that friendship that then turned to love.”
Bragason echoed the sentiment. “Honestly it came really naturally between the two of us, I'd say, even just from the first time that we met in person during the chemistry reads in Toronto. We did two takes, but within the two takes there's just something. When you know that something's going well and that you connect on a creative way, you can just feel it. Amélie is such a good scene partner and so good to act across ‘cause she's so natural, she's so giving. She's so funny. I'm so excited for people to see RamOona in action. I would have died watching them when I was 14, so super excited for people to see it.”
Another character balancing humor and deeper emotions is Connor, played by Keen Ruffalo. While Ruffalo brings plenty of laughs, including planning a Camp Rock-themed birthday party, the comedy masks a more vulnerable side. “I'm glad that comes through during the show. I know that it's always something an actor's afraid of is only being able to portray that funny side of a character. That was a concern for me ‘cause, at the end of the day, no one person is just a single emotion. A lot of the time I feel like people use humor to cover up when they feel uncomfortable or anxious or [have] insecurities and I feel like Connor has a lot of that. At the end of the day, he's a very funny guy and — I wouldn't say he's charming — but I think he's very emotionally aware aware of himself as soon as he feels comfortable to be open about it,” he explained. “It's just a hard balance of finding where that lands.”
When asked about their favorite memories from production in Canada, the cast unanimously agreed it was the close friendships they formed off-camera. From renting a cabin during their final weekend in Muskoka to birthday picnics in Toronto parks and late-night stargazing, the experience became just as memorable as filming itself. “Core memory. Core memory,” confirmed Bragason. “It was perfect. I wouldn't have changed anything about it.”
Finally, Rubin and Whiteduck-Lavoie revealed one of the season’s biggest romantic moment was never actually in the script. The idea evolved on set with the director and DP who ultimately came up with the signature pull-into-a-kiss that changes everything. “That idea came up on the day. That was not written in the script. We were talking about the kiss a lot,” shared Rubin. “I thought that it should be in an enclosed space and the closet thing is something from my childhood. I was a kid who wanted to be in enclosed spaces in a closet like that.”
“It was Megan and KII, the DP's, idea for the pull thing. That wasn't me,” added Whiteduck-Lavoie. “We were like Ellis has to make a move for the first time. I think Megan said people would go crazy. I was trying something. [Kay] was like, ‘No, no, that's not it. Let me just show you.’ She just sat on the ground with Megan. She just did it in front of me. She was like, ‘Like that.’ I was like, ‘Oh, okay. That works.’ We rehearsed it. Ella's obviously an amazing scene partner. It felt super natural and, yeah, I'm just really glad it worked out.”
“It's a really fun, sweet moment and I think it's just a perfect thing to happen in that moment. Annie needs him literally and figuratively to pull her and make this decision for them after this insane slow burn,” continued Rubin. “Truly that's all Jacob. Annie and Ellis are very sweet and I think that scene is a great sort of, finally, the beginning.”
Ready to choose a side? The first season of Sterling Point is streaming now on Prime Video.
