"Terminator" franchise star Linda Hamilton is alive and well, but that didn't stop her from somehow possessing Natasha Lyonne on the set of the hotly anticipated second season of the hit Netflix dramedy "Russian Doll."
"I do think that the spirit of Linda Hamilton entered my body — of course she's still with us, but she's got spirit to burn," Natasha told emmy during a photo shoot for the cover of the magazine's April 2022 issue, which hits newsstands on April 18. (Wonderwall.com has an exclusive first look.)
After channeling the iconic Sarah Connor actress, Natasha got "very into stunts this season."
"There was this one sequence where [my character] jumps out a window. We didn't have time to get the shot and later we were trying to get it. I don't remember exactly what happened — I just remember climbing on some bedsheets and scaling a wall and then just jumping and being like, 'Did we get it?!'" she recalled.
These days, it's not jumping out a window that scares the "Orange Is the New Black" alum — it's failing to steer "Russian Doll," which she co-created with Amy Poehler and Leslye Headland, in the right direction. (Natasha also executive produces, writes and directs the series.)
"The bigger terror becomes not making the day and not finishing the show and not getting the story told," said the Emmy nominee.
Fortunately, she unlocked a new skill this season: "I don't think of myself as someone who's particularly good at crying on cue. I just sort of never learned. But it was the weirdest thing this season on the show: It was, like, just on command if it was called for," Natasha told emmy. "I'd written the whole thing out: It says right here, 'Nadia cries.' I'm not gonna be the guy that blows this. I'm the director. I'm writing. I'm in charge of the budget. This was a nightmare. This lady must cry — and that lady happens to be me. Something just happened where it was like being possessed and it was really pretty amazing."
Natasha has one more fear to contend with on set: coming into contact with Amy and another close colleague, Maya Rudolph. (While Amy co-created "Russian Doll," Natasha and Maya founded a production company together.)
"I feel so lucky that I get to be so close with them," Natasha said of the two "Saturday Night Live" alums. "They truly are as extraordinary as you want them to be, and I'm always a little bit starstruck even though we're so tight just because they're mind-blowing human beings. I don't know that I really lucked out too much in the actual family-of-origin department, but I made out pretty good in the chosen-family department. I really scored big there."
For more on the upcoming second season of "Russian Doll" — which officially returns on April 20, 2022 — check out the video below and pick up a copy of the April 2022 issue of emmy magazine on newsstands now.