FIRST LOST, NOW FOUND
Watros stars in new drama
Cynthia Watros says it wasn’t hard to understand the emotions of a mother who is reunited with her teenage daughter years after she was abducted.
The mother of 12-year-old twins connected to her own powerful feelings about her daughters to play Elizabeth in the new drama series Finding Carter, premièring Tuesday on MTV.
“It’s so close to the surface, the emotions of being a mother, and the possibility of ever losing a child is so painful,” Watros said in a phone interview. “I didn’t have to do much research to tap into the pain and the anger and joy of finding her again, and the confusion.”
Watros, 45, is known for playing Libby on Lost, in which she was Hurley’s love interest and appeared in mysterious flashbacks.
Billed as an unconventional family drama, Finding Carter stars Kathryn Prescott (Skins) as 16-year-old Carter Stevens, who has grown up believing that her abductor was her real mother. When the police uncover the truth, she is reunited with her family and biological mother Elizabeth.
But it’s not the warm reunion for which Elizabeth had hoped, as Carter still loves her abductor Lori (Milena Govich) and wants to track her down before officers put her behind bars. Lori was a fun-loving single mom, while Elizabeth — a cop herself — is more strict and protective.
“Lori was sort of more of a friend to Carter than she was a mom. I find Elizabeth being more like, setting down the rules, and still being loving but definitely she’s very strict. It’s also something that comes between Elizabeth and Carter because Carter’s not used to that,” said Watros. “Carter won’t even call me ‘Mom,’ and I have a lot of anger and resentment around Lori, her kidnapper.”
Watros praised Prescott as “not only talented, but just a superb person.” She said the show’s title refers to Carter trying to discover who she is after her life has been turned upside down.