Darby and the Dead’s Riele Downs and Auli’i Cravalho Describe Their “Natural” Bond (Exclusive)

A star-studded ensemble is coming to Hulu. Darby and the Dead unites Riele Downs (Henry Danger), Auli’i Cravalho (Moana), Chosen Jacobs (IT), Asher Angel (Shazam!), and more in a coming of age story that blends the supernatural with the struggles of navigating high school.

While Downs is the titular character, she shares a substantial amount of her screen time with Cravalho. Speaking with ComicBook.com’s Liam Crowley, Cravalho revealed that their on-screen bond formed naturally.

“I think it came really easily,” Cravalho said. “To be honest, we all worked every single day. [Riele] is such a fantastic lead that really held the energy throughout our many months of shooting. She really started off strong. We had cheer rehearsals and choreography lessons. We got to connect during those times.”

Downs came onto Darby and the Dead late, as she replaced original lead Storm Reid, who dropped out due to a scheduling conflict.

“It was kind of funny at first, how long it took for us to meet,” Downs added. “Funnily enough, it’s like we almost didn’t even meet until we had a scene together, but she’s such an easy person to get along with. She was always so kind. It was just very easy to fall into it. I think we just naturally are people who put kindness first anyways, so it was just easy to kind of get a flow going. Once we were in it, we were in it, and it was solid till the end.”

Cravalho plays Capri Donahue, a no-nonsense popular girl at Darby’s high school, who dies in a freak accident. On the flip side, Downs’s Darby Harper has the ability to not only see dead people, but help them pass into the after life. This results in a forced pairing between the two characters, but one that both actresses were happy to bring to life.

Cravalho noted that her role of Capri taught her a lot, specifically in the posture department.

“After reading the script, I knew how important her carriage would be,” Cravalho said. “And I usually sit a gremlin, and that’s comfortable for me (laughs), but there is something about the power that is exuded with really great posture. Just figuring out that confidence in wardrobe and how to influence others in her iconic-ness, I suppose. I’m quite unlike my character, but she taught me a lot.”

For Downs, Darby and the Dead was a bit of a full circle moment for her career, as she began her acting days in movies before spending a bulk of her teenage years on television shows.

“It was a world I was familiar with, but I had sort of forgotten a lot about it,” Downs explained. “It was nice to get back to my roots. The long hours and the needing to memorize things really quickly, that was something I learned through doing Henry Danger. We always had to be on the fly. There were always new scripts coming in. It was super fast paced, so that really helped me.”

Downs and Cravalho can be seen in Darby and the Dead when it streams on Hulu this Friday, December 2nd.