SPOILERS: This post contains details about The Copenhagen Test, Season 1

As The Copenhagen Test hits Peacock, viewers will undoubtedly develop some trust issues towards Melissa Barrera‘s spy character Michelle.

With Season 1 now available on the streamer, the actress told Deadline that was one of her favorite aspects of the femme fatale role in Thomas Brandon’s sci-fi thriller, which also stars Simu Liu as intelligence agent Alexander Hale, whose mind is hacked by a mysterious enemy using the intel to bring down his agency.

“It was an interesting challenge, and unlike anything else that I’ve ever done, where I’m having to give in a little bit and trust that the prep that I’m doing and the levels of these versions of the character that I’m portraying will pan out, even though I don’t know where they’re going,” explained Barrera.

Barrera’s Michelle plays a thrilling game of manipulation with Alexander, infiltrating his life to gauge whether or not he’s a threat. The pair then keeps up the façade of a blossoming romance, with both seemingly developing real feelings, despite neither fully trusting the other.

As Michelle, Barrera was left nearly as in the dark as the audience about the character’s mysterious backstory, which is never quite revealed amid multiple layers of lies and deceit.

“So, for me, I’m a very controlling, planning kind of person as an actor,” she added. “I kind of had to let go and be like, ‘You know what? I’m not going to know, because they’re still writing and I don’t know where they’re going to take her.’ And that was exciting in a way and anxiety-inducing in another way. But I think in the end, it helped with the mystery of it all.”

Starring opposite Liu, Barrera had “the most fun” during their fight scene, which she describes as having “very Mr. & Mrs. Smith vibes.” Meanwhile, the Shang-Chi star praised her as “a spectacular action star in the making.”

Two years after Barrera was unceremoniously fired from the Scream franchise, the actress is grateful for the fans who continue to support her work and “in their way, kind of lift me up,” following a recent Scream 7 boycott in her honor.

Read on about Melissa Barrera’s complex The Copenhagen Test character, her hopes for Season 2 and her reaction to the Scream 7 boycott.

DEADLINE: One thing I love about Copenhagen Test is there’s kind of a rom-com element within the spy thriller. Was that a fun line to walk?

MELISSA BARRERA: I am always drawn to romance. That is my favorite thing. No matter the genre, I always kind of look for the love story. And so, I thought that it was so cool that there was that element in this show, particularly, and that I got to be a part of it, because I would have gotten FOMO if it wasn’t my character involved. But I do love the performance within the performance within the performance of that dynamic and that you don’t really know how much of that connection is real and how much of that is performance on either side. And so, I think as an audience member, those that are drawn to the relationship will always be kind of rooting for them, for that to be real. But you won’t really know what the thing is because that’s the thing of the show, every episode you kind of get a new piece of information and it takes the rug out from under you. 

DEADLINE: Yeah, I definitely gasped a few times while watching it. 

BARRERA: Love that. Love to hear.

DEADLINE: And what was it like playing Michelle, who obviously has such a complicated past? It’s just so fun to watch her seem so sincere in one moment and then, the next—

BARRERA: I mean, I’m an actor, right, so it felt like a big part of her job. And that’s why I love that beat where we go back to the first episode and you get to see it from her perspective, where she’s preparing to go out and pretend to be this damsel in distress. And she’s asking questions about who is she, who’s her scene partner, basically, because she is basically an actor in a different setting. She has to prep in the same way that us doing movies and TV would, and really commit to a character for a lot longer than someone that is just acting on set would have to. But I found it kind of easy to think about it in that way. So, I wasn’t stressing out about all the information that I didn’t have, because we started shooting the show, and I didn’t have all the scripts, so I didn’t know where they were going to take her. And it was an interesting challenge, and unlike anything else that I’ve ever done, where I’m having to give in a little bit and trust that the prep that I’m doing and the levels of these versions of the character that I’m portraying will pan out, even though I don’t know where they’re going. So, for me, I’m a very controlling, planning kind of person as an actor. I kind of had to let go and be like, “You know what? I’m not going to know, because they’re still writing and I don’t know where they’re going to take her.” And that was exciting in a way and anxiety-inducing in another way. But I think in the end, it helped with the mystery of it all. And sometimes, I was like, “I’m going to play this a few different ways and you guys are going to use the take that you feel will be best for whatever comes next because I don’t know where you’re taking me.” So, it was kind of like an interesting experiment. 

DEADLINE: And I really appreciated how you never really discover what happened in Michelle’s past, and then at the end, Parker burns the file. So, I’m wondering if you and Thomas discussed her backstory, or is it something you kind of filled in in your head. 

BARRERA: I filled it in in my head. I had an idea of what I needed it to be for me to be able to play that moment of relief, and what she’s running away from, because for her to accept this mission where she knows that if she becomes visible and recognizable by the enemy, that means that she can’t work anymore. The enemy will know who she is, and she decides to take on the mission anyway. So, I’m like, what could make a person take on that mission? What happened? And so I had to fill in that storyline, but I hope that I get a Season 2, so that we can learn more about her and see more of what her life is and what she ran towards or ran away from. It’s an exciting character for me in a very different way than other characters have been. Like when I was doing Vida, I was excited to return to a character because I loved playing with her and I had fun, but here I’m excited to return to Michelle when we get a Season 2 because I was always surprised by where they took her, and so, it’s exciting to play something like that. 

DEADLINE: Well, I definitely hope there’s a Season 2, especially after that little teaser at the end of her being a “loose end,” but I also love the dynamic between Michelle and Parker. I felt like they’re just girls bonding over gaslighting boys, and it’s my favorite. 

BARRERA: Yes, there’s a level of innocence and unexpectedness to that friendship. And I love that pairing because it feels very high school. It feels like, even though they’re in such a high-stakes situation, girls are girls, women are women, and like the existential crises that we go through are kind of always the same since we’re teenagers. And I think that it’s really sweet that Michelle becomes Parker’s friend. The way that I played those scenes with Parker, I tried to keep it always in truth, obviously, but keep it ambiguous enough to where you could believe that she’s being honest and that she’s letting herself be vulnerable and let Parker in, like it’s actually a genuine relationship. But if tomorrow, the writers decide that in Season 2, it was all fake and she actually never—it wouldn’t surprise me if she was also playing Parker. That could also work. So, it was finding that fine line in the performance of, it could go either way. And if you watch it back with new information later, you’ll believe it. That was the challenge.

DEADLINE: There are quite a few fight scenes in here, and I just have to say you’re such a badass, watching you. What was your favorite fight scene to film, or do you have a most memorable fight moment? 

BARRERA: The most fun that I had on set was doing the physical fights. I think I was very much looking forward to that final fight with Simu, just us in his apartment, because it was very Mr. & Mrs. Smith vibes, and I would have loved if it was like five times as long. I could have just kept going, ’cause he’s such a fun scene partner to have, not only in acting scenes, but in physical scenes. He’s so good. Obviously, he’s an action star, right? So, he’s got it down, and I had to do a lot of training and a lot of practicing, a lot of rehearsals to get to the point where I didn’t have to think about the fighting and think about what comes next, and I could focus on the storytelling. And we had an incredible stunt team that was very patient with me. I asked for a million extra sessions on my days off, and they would always be available to me. I just wanted Michelle to really look like she’s been in this life for a while, and she knows what she’s doing, and there’s a reason that she keeps getting paired on these important missions where she is trusted to protect this person or take him down, and I love physical stuff. I loved it. And so, that was a fun day on set, because we got to move through the whole apartment. I would have loved it if we like destroyed the whole thing, but you know, I think we still had scenes to shoot in different order, so we couldn’t really do that. I proposed it, but maybe next season. 

DEADLINE: Separately, the trailer for Scream 7 came out recently and a lot of people have even started a boycott. How does it feel to have these loyal fans after the last two years? 

BARRERA: Obviously, having support always feels great, and I’m so grateful for the love that I’ve been shown, and for the support and the new people that have come into my life, and that are now supporting the other things that I’m doing and that are trying to, I think in their way, kind of lift me up. So, that honestly feels really nice.