Deep in the heart of Wildwood, there lies a hill, covered in ivy and deadfall. Beneath the ivy and deadfall, there lies a hole. And in that hole, burrowing deep into the earth, out of sight of the birds and out of reach of the citizens of the Impassable Wilderness, there lies a coyotes’ warren. Dank, murkily lit and suffused with the stench of wet dog and gunpowder, this makeshift underground base is more Barad-dour than Barad-dûr. Its ruler, however, the exiled Dowager Governess Alexandra, is not to be underestimated.
A charming yet ruthless presence, mistress of the coyotes and crows (yes, crows…), Alexandra is a woman scorned, long since out for revenge — and well on her way to exacting it — by the time Prue and Curtis find themselves in Wildwood. But there’s far more to the Dowager Governess than mutt manipulation and subterranean interior design.
As the man tasked with walking us down that darker road with the Dowager Governess, screenwriter Chris Butler — who describes Alexandra as the movie’s “most complex” character — sees a compelling connection between the film’s ostensible villain and its hero, who have both lost someone they love.
“They’re essentially flip sides of the same coin,” observes Butler. “The central question to this whole story is: ‘How far would you go for someone you love?’ And you’ve got Prue on one side and Alexandra on the other, and they’re both pretty single-minded individuals, and they both go to some pretty extreme places in answer to this question.” Adds Knight, ominously: “The difference between [Alexandra] and Prue is the lines they’re willing to cross. And when it comes to Alexandra, there is no line she won’t cross.”
Lighting cameraperson Peter Sorg makes adjustments.
Alexandra dabbles in dark magic.
“When we meet her at the very beginning of the movie, she’s not a villain at all, and you see how tragedy has completely upended her life and is the catalyst for everything that happens in the story after that,” reveals Travis Knight, alluding to the harrowing circumstances surrounding Alexandra’s fall from grace. Rather than the out-and-out villain of the piece, Knight instead frames Alexandra as “a tragic figure”, cryptically noting how “grief can propel us to do terrible things. It can propel us to do amazing things, perform amazing acts of healing and heroism, but it can also take you down a darker road.”
What with Prue and Curtis’ desperate search for Mac and tensions reaching boiling point right across Wildwood, the stakes at play here are already pretty high before throwing a vengeful Dowager Governess into the mix. And while we have seen our fair share of formidable foes in past Laika movies — who can forget Coraline’s Other Mother? The Boxtrolls’ Archibald Snatcher? Kubo And The Two Strings’ Moon King and terrifying Sisters? — we’re pretty sure that none of those had a fully-fledged army at their disposal, willing to quite literally fight tooth and claw for their leader. Alexandra does. And she is not afraid to use it…
Alexandra with her son Alexei in happier times.
MEET THE MYSTERIOUS FIGURE BENT ON STOPPING PRUE’S MISSION
Words: Jordan King
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The fearsome Dowager Governess Alexandra.
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