From season 4 has been slowly but surely laying the groundwork for the horror show’s epic conclusion in season 5, and the events of “Best Laid Plans” and “Heavy is the Head” suggest that the townsfolk finally have a weapon against the creatures. Fatima Hassan (Pegah Ghafoori) may have gained the ability to control the monsters who terrorize the protagonists nightly, but it comes with a high physical cost.
After her traumatic pregnancy resulted in the rebirth of the monster known as Smiley, Fatima felt a strange connection to her “son”, which allowed her to rescue Kenny from him in episode 7. But as nothing comes easy in From, resident medical experts Kristi and Marielle discovered that not only has Fatima developed varicose veins all over her stomach, but her heartbeat has also slowed drastically — to the point that she shouldn’t even be alive.
Rather than rail against her possible fate, however, Fatima is ready to make use of her new abilities no matter the consequences in From season 4. Ghafoori is equally as prepared, and she explained why in a new interview with ScreenRant, in which she also waxed poetic about the importance of Ellis and Fatima’s steady romance amidst the chaos.
How From Has Prepared Fatima For Her Terrifying Situation
ScreenRant: What does Fatima understand about what is happening to her right now? In episode 8, she says she doesn’t care what her connection to Smiley does to her as long as she has control and can help, but how true is that? Is she processing it as well as she seems to be?
Pegah Ghafoori: She knows a lot more about what’s happening to her now. I don’t know if she understands the gravity of what is happening to her, or the lengths she is now able to go to, but I think she knows what her purpose is. She knows what this means for her, and what this means for her future.
In season 1, she already knows she’s no longer who she was. Even if she got to go home, her life as she knew it is over, and she has the mindset of stepping back and looking at things from a bird’s-eye view. She knows things are different now, so the question becomes, “What do we do about it?”
Since then, she’s had three seasons of preparation to really come to terms with, “I will never be who I used to be, and that’s okay. How can I make the best of who I’m becoming?” So, I think she’s well prepared.
ScreenRant: What is the process of stepping into the physical signs of Fatima’s transformation, such as the marks on her stomach, like on set?
Pegah Ghafoori: Yeah, they experimented a little bit with what would be on my belly. At first, it was prosthetics that could be a little bit raised, but they didn’t love that, so they ended up just hand-painting every single vein and every single color onto my belly. It’s all paint, can you believe that?
And as soon as there are visual cues for anything, I’m immediately in. As soon as I saw those veins, I was like, “Oh, I don’t feel too good. I don’t like what’s happening to me!” It was just paint, but they’re great at their jobs, so it feels so real.
Why Ellis & Fatima’s Relationship Is Important To From Season 4
ScreenRant: Ellis and Fatima have had a very stable relationship over 4 seasons of From, which feels very rare in television. Why do you think it’s important to highlight the support and mutual affection of their relationship amidst the horror, rather than potential drama?
Pegah Ghafoori: I think they have enough drama as it is! They don’t need any more of that. The only thing people in this town need more than an exit sign is love and hope, and that’s these two. As much as Fatima is hope, Ellis is love, and these two together are doing much more for this town than people give them credit for.
I think when we get to season 5, you’ll realize just how much we’ve needed them all along. I can’t wait for myself, as well as for the audience, to figure out what that means.
ScreenRant: Speaking of people who have done plenty for this town, how would you describe the evolution of Fatima’s connection to Boyd, as well as your own working relationship with Harold Perrineau?
Pegah Ghafoori: It has grown immeasurably. He was someone who barely came to Colony House because of the rocky relationship he had with his son – but Fatima, having lost her own dad, always saw him as a father figure. Now he really is her father-in-law! They’ve gotten a lot closer, and they’re genuinely family now.
Harold Perrineau is just as incredible, if not more so, than Boyd Stevens. I’m always learning from him, and he is such a light to be around on set. Everything good you’ve ever heard about Harold Perrineau is true, so being guided by Boyd on the show and by Harold off the show has been an experience that I’m going to take very far in my life with me.
Pegah Ghafoori Wants 1 From Question Answered By Season 5
ScreenRant: Given that season 5 is the final season, is there a question that you personally still want to see answered, or anything that you hope to portray for Fatima, whether it’s a flashback or in the future?
Pegah Ghafoori: Fatima-wise, I always want there to be a spinoff of her life before she ended here, because they’ve given us so little and yet so much about her. She’s a character who’s already been through hell and back, so I think that Fatima before and after From could be its own show!
Otherwise, I really want to know what happened with Abby. We’ve gotten glimpses in some way or another, but the Abby storyline still bugs me. It’s just this open-ended question. I’m so close to her family members now that I think, more than anything, I want them to have some closure.
New episodes of From season 4 drop Sundays on MGM and MGM+.
Check out our previous interviews here:
- Release Date
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February 20, 2022
- Network
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Epix, MGM+
- Directors
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Jack Bender, Brad Turner, Alexandra La Roche, Bruce McDonald, Jeff Renfroe
- Writers
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Vivian Lee, Kristen Layden, Brigitte Hales, Jeff Pinkner, John Griffin
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Harold Perrineau
Boyd Stevens
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Catalina Sandino Moreno
Tabitha Matthews