Anna Chlumsky talks 'Halt and Catch Fire' spark between Katie and Gordon
Talk about a sexy librarian! This week’s episode of Halt and Catch Fire introduced Anna Chlumsky’s new character, Katie Herman, a library science grad who becomes the chief ontologist at Comet.
Comet is growing by leaps and bounds, and Joe (Lee Pace) and Gordon (Scott McNairy) decide to staff up to meet demand. They hire a bunch of web surfers with expertise in restaurants, sports, news, etc. (though comedy is still the domain of Gordon’s daughter, Haley). And in comes Katie to help organize burgeoning categories in the Comet directory.
But she isn’t just there to file things; the effervescent librarian also catches the eye of Gordon, whose dating life has been woeful lately.
Chlumsky chatted with Yahoo TV about Katie and Gordon, ’90s fashion, and returning to shoot the final season of Veep.
First, can we talk about Katie’s look? Because it gave me almost a violent flashback to the mid-’90s!
Me, too! Yeah, we really wanted to establish who she was as much as we could without saying anything. I know that the guys wanted her to have a Janeane Garofalo vibe. So, we know she’s this kind of alterna-chick. The rings were my idea, because I remember all the accessorizing — all those chains and leather chokers.
We did love the idea that she was into heavy metal. I think she tended a bar or two in her life. So, yeah, we just went for it with the accessorizing and the metal and the baby florals. That was what was going on!
And Katie is so different from Amy on Veep. That must’ve been fun.
That is what I look forward to doing when I choose other roles. I love playing Amy, obviously, but I’ve done it for six years and I think it’s vital for an actor to stretch when they can.
It’s funny, I actually know several librarians. My neighbor is a librarian, and I had a friend whose wife is a librarian and she’s super goth-industrial. There’s this kind of sensitive/hard thing with librarians. They are also really kind and sensitive women, so I was really pulling from these people I know to inform what I did with Katie.
Katie and Gordon definitely had a spark between them. What can we expect from them in the future?
More spark! That’s not on accident. She and Gordon hit it off. She is somebody who cares a lot about what they’re doing, both on a professional and on a personal level.
Katie really is a breath of fresh air on this final season of the show.
All the guys kept on saying, “Oh, we’ve never had an energy like this on the show.” As somebody who loves the show, I was like, “Oh no, I hope I’m not taking it to some opposite direction from what I love watching.” That’s going to have to be revealed, whether I do that or not. But I’m sure they would’ve told me if they didn’t feel like I was a good part of the puzzle!
What’s next with Veep? [This interview took place before the announcement that Season 7 is the HBO comedy’s last.]
We’ll start the seventh season shooting by the end of the year. They hold their dates close to the chest until it’s time to start rolling. We really don’t know.
What can you say about what will happen on the show? Do you know much yet?
We’ve talked about it. I definitely have chimed in with my desires for my character. I would say last season was, I always call it the identity crisis season. And I think they’re certainly stepping out of that. The staff, Selina, even Jonah — everybody’s got a fire under their butt this season.
Halt and Catch Fire airs Saturdays at 9 p.m. on AMC.
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