Meet Ashley Nicole Williams, Motherland's Head Witch In Charge

What if the Salem Witch trials never happened? OK, right now here’s a thought: What if, alternatively, the United States military recruited those who practice witchcraft to protect the nation? That’s the option reality depicted in the Freeform series Motherland: Fort Salem, where powerful girls are at the forefront of America’s defense and young witches enlist to protect their fellow citizens from harm.


One such practitioner is Abigail Bellweather, a young witch who hails from a long line of powerful enchantresses. Alongside fellow magic users Raelle Collar (Taylor Hickson) and Tally Craven (Jessica Sutton), Abigail is enrolled at the titular Fort Salem, a boot camp where she’ll sharpen her mystical skills in hopes of one day serving on the front lines.


For 21-year-old actress Ashley Nicole Williams, stepping into Abigail’s combat boots is like standing in front of a resemble. Both Williams and her alter-ego are ambitious to a fault, and routinely willing to move forward. Though the show has just a couple of episodes under its belt, the witches have already begun taking up arms against rogue terrorist categorize, the Spree, who are accountable for some especially terrifying acts, like hypnotizing hundreds of people to jump off of ledges at a local mall to their deaths. However week right after week, Williams is at forefront because the confident young witch who refuses to fail.


MTV News discussed with Williams, who recommended some insight on the burgeoning cultural influence of Motherland, her character's powerful lineage, and the roles she has her eyes on next.


MTV News: Motherland is your first on-screen role. Congrats! Did you routinely know you wanted to be an actor? 


Ashley Nicole Williams: I began acting If I was five, plus it was sort of just something I habitually knew that I wanted to do. In my soul I was like, I hope to be a movie star. I was in an afterschool program and so they have things from gymnastics to dance so lus they had acting lessons. I happened to be taking classes with Catherine Sullivan in Texas, and she's the ultimate Disney Channel acting coach. She's worked with Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez. Everything sort of fell into place. Then I got my first agent in Dallas and then Los Angeles. That was my little path. My journey isn't done, this is just the starting, as I keep telling myself.


MTV News: What initially drew you to Motherland? 


Williams: Typically, any time If I have an audition, my boss or my agents will send [the script] over to me. I got the script and Initially I was like, "I have to be a piece of this." I ran to my mom and I was like, "This is so freaking cool." I instructed her to read it. Generally, I don't like scripts that I read, so the fact that I told my mom to read it was crazy. Nevertheless I loved the empowerment of ladies and the fact that every major role was a woman. It's spooky, although not spooky in the witchy Halloween way. We're reimagining the witch. There's so much kicking ass and taking names, and I freaking loved it.


MTV News: What do you suggest some of the misconceptions are surrounding the portrayal of a Wiccan lifestyle or witches once it comes to fiction? How is Motherland changing that perception?


Williams: We're reimagining a little overall. There really are no brooms and cauldrons and  black cats. They don't worship Satan. We’re not allowing society to demonize the witch anymore. Our magic, or our “work” as we call it, is we're attempting to help people and help the world. It’s just all about taking one narrative and flipping it, and I think we're changing the narrative. That's something that I really applaud our show on, because we're doing it in numerous different ways, from the witch to gender role reversals and addressing different toxic traits in our society and in our culture, which I think is really beautiful.


MTV News: What cultural characteristic of Motherland do you feel the show does a good job of exploring?


Williams: With my character, toxic masculinity is sort of what we're touching on, nevertheless in the role-reversal way. Abigail has a really tough persona and she puts that on because she doesn't want anyone to be able to see that she's scared or she's susceptible. From here on out soon after Episode 5, you’ll visualize her express that vulnerability and permit different layers of herself to open up. We also touch on gender role-reversal. The boys in our show take care of the children, they build our weapons. So it's just showing that we are, as girls, more than just housewives. It's really cool to flip the narrative and show that we can be in charge also. You guys can do all the things we do in back of the scenes.


MTV News: Abigail's a Bellweather, so she has all this confidence and strength that we don't habitually visualize in her friends Raelle and Tally. How has that aided her while in her own journey? Do you suggest it could have hindered her in some ways?


Williams: Just being a Bellweather comes with confidence.  So being the initial to try and learn something in generic training, that's where it cooperates with the Abigail — where she has so much confidence there with the army and learning new things. It certainly hinders her; she has a really big ego because she's a Bellweather, and she really thinks of herself rather than others in the beginning.


It's sort of that aspect of there's no I in team that she hasn't really mastered nevertheless. So the confidence can get in her way in that aspect. She wants to be a leader, however I feel like you can't be a leader without acknowledging others and accepting the help from others, which is something that she needs to learn.


MTV News: Abigail’s mother has habitually been a constant source of pressure for her daughter. Do you know that's been detrimental or helpful to her growth in general and why do you suggest that could change in the future?


Williams: I do think that the pressure accommodates keep Abigail on track. That's the only way I'd mention it's not detrimental. Although Abigail desperately just wants her mom to, I don't know, give her a hug. She desperately wants to be loved. Nevertheless her mom will mention, "Oh, I'm delighted of you, in the event you get to this point." That's even a maybe. Her mom's just like, "You can't fail. In case you fail, the Bellweather name fails and you'll be the opening one to have us fail." So I don't know, I think it builds character, although that's certainly where most of her insecurities lie and it also stems from her mom and all of that pressure.


MTV News: do you know you have any similarities with Abigail or are you pretty different from each other?


Williams: I'm certainly Abigail through and through. She's such a queen bee, right? I don't think I'm that big of a queen bee, although she puts a lot of pressure on herself. We discussed about pressure coming from her mom, although Abigail puts pressure on herself and I, as Ashley, do as well. Neither of us aspire to fail. We're both perfectionists and we strive to be the ideal. Whenever I was portraying Abigail for six months and Abigail was learning about herself, I was also learning about myself, which was sort of cool. It's a pressure thing and not wanting to fail and let people down, although also letting yourself down. I think that's the hugest similarity.


MTV News: It's a very physical efficiency as well. How much training went into the role?


Williams: We did stunt training for three weeks. The rope training — rope dart is what it's called — was intense. I didn't know how to use a rope dart. We're shooting while in the week, yet on the weekends if we have a fight scene, I'll have to learn the fights. We had a big dance number in Episode 4, so there was certainly a lot of training going into it, which I appreciated, because we desire to be as authentic as we can in these roles.


MTV News: Did you have immediate chemistry with Taylor and Jessica once you began working with each other or did that just sort of grow of course while in filming?


Williams: It was immediate. I couldn't have asked for a higher end vibe between us three. We just instantly meshed from the starting, which I was a little bit concerned about, because I didn't know how it was going to be and this was my first time on a show. I hear some horrific stories about actors not getting and also their castmates. I'm like, "I hope we get along." Although we did. We're literally best companions and sisters, which is so cliche to mention. Although we talk each day, although Jessica's in South Africa, [and] there's a time difference, yet we'll WhatsApp each other. I converse with Taylor all of the time. We can't stay away from each other. That's how tight-knit we are. Which I'm so grateful for, because I don't know how it could be if we weren't.


MTV News: There’s definitely a sort of power in having so several ladies involved in Motherland’s production. So what was your experience like working with all of those different ladies directors who brought their own vision to the show?


Williams: It was so cool. I was so thankful that Eliot [Laurence] had the idea to bring female directors in, because they're female, so they have our female vision as well. Just being led by another woman was just astonishing. I was just so in awe that Eliot not only wrote this all-women cast, yet also he's like, "No, I want female directors, I want everything to be diverse." He's flipping the narrative, honestly, in each aspect. We had a lot of diversity in the crew as well, which I was really thankful for.


MTV News: In the spirit of females inspiring other girls, who is someone in the industry that you admire?


Williams: My all-time preference actress is Taraji P. Henson. If I can ever work with her, that would just be a dream come true. Being able to not only work with her, nevertheless just soak in everything she has to mention like a sponge, to be around her for a conversation, could be astonishing. I wouldn't even have to work with her, just to be a sponge around her. I feel like she can just embody any character and freaking kill it. So yes, Taraji P. Henson.


MTV News: You said this is the starting of your journey, not the end. Where do you visualize yourself in five years?


Williams: I hope Motherland is still going in five years, just to be able to see where we are. I also wish to venture into movies. As soon as the movie theaters open back up, I’d even like to appear in a big box office movie. I've routinely wanted to do a Pixar movie. I'm a Disney nerd. If they ever did a live-action The Princess and the Frog, I'd wish to be Princess Tiana. The list goes on and on. So in five years, I aspire to be writing as well, not just acting. I’ll get my bachelor's degree in film and digital media in May. If I may write something. I'd love to write a movie and maybe cast myself in it!


Motherland: Fort Salem airs on Wednesdays at 9 p.M. ET on Freeform. You could also stream it on Hulu.