Daniela Vega has praised The Power for its trailblazing LGBTQ+ story.
Based on the award-winning novel of the same name from Naomi Alderman, the Prime Video series envisions a world in which all women – and people with higher estrogen levels – gain the superhuman ability to generate electricity from their hands.
Led by Oscar nominee Toni Collette, The Power also stars Auli’i Cravalho, John Leguizamo, Toheeb Jimoh, Ria Zmitrowicz, Halle Bush, Nico Hiraga, Heather Agyepong, Eddie Marsan, Archie Rush, Gerrison Machado, Pietra Castro and Zrinka Cvitešić.
Vega, who memorably starred in the Oscar-nominated drama A Fantastic Woman and subsequently became the first trans person to present an award at the ceremony, stars as Sister Maria, a nun from the Sisters of Christ convent that takes in Allie (Bush).
Maria reveals that she was rejected by her family after coming out as a trans woman, and later turned to God.
The show could’ve easily taken a transphobic approach by citing “biology” as a reason as to why trans people can’t have the power – known as “EOD” (electric organ discharge) – but in the season one finale, Allie passes it onto Sister Maria.
For reaffirming that trans women are women through this storyline, The Power was met with universal praise from fans and critics, particularly as Alderman’s novel didn’t originally feature a character of the trans experience.
Vega tells GAY TIMES that it was a “powerful statement”: “Every single woman can get the power, so it doesn’t matter if you’re trans or cisgender. It’s just that you need to be a woman and you need to have faith in the power.”
On filming the aforementioned scene, she adds: “It was very intense and beautiful. The show has given us a lot of diversity because life is about diversity. We are telling stories about people with something to say. It’s very positive.”
An admirer of Alderman’s work, Vega admits that embodying the role was a “big challenge” because Sister Maria’s faith isn’t reflected in her own personal life.
“But, my family are big believers,” she reveals. “I’ve been researching faith and rebel nuns. When you take off the veil, you can see faith in humankind; faith in something beautiful, which is an energy.
“My character is a real rebel nun but at the same time she has faith. When we talk about her being trans, yes, she is trans but it’s just one episode in her life.”
As well as Sister Maria, The Power boasts LGBTQ+ characters such as Zmitrowicz’s iron-fisted character Roxy Monke and Hiraga’s intersex student Ryan, who also gains the ability to harness EOD because of his high estrogen levels.
Additionally, the finale saw Collette’s character, Seattle Mayor Margot Cleary-Lopez, acknowledge ongoing violence against trans women in the United States as she says in a debate that, since the emergence of EOD, “there have been no reports of missing or murdered trans women of colour”.
It’s rare for any show, particularly a mainstream fantasy series on Prime Video, to highlight anti-trans violence.
For its unwavering commitment to representing marginalised LGBTQ+ people, Vega commends The Power: “It’s like a wish come true because we’ve been wanting more spaces. Now, we’re walking through those spaces. We can walk, all of us, everybody, in the same beautiful way.”
While Prime Video are yet to confirm a second season of The Power, Vega says she would like future storylines to combine “power, electricity and faith”: “I want a mix in this beautiful story”.
The first season of The Power is now streaming on Prime Video
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