You may have never read a Nancy Drew book a day in your life but if you are a certain age, you have seen a copy at the Scholastic Bookfair. The iconic book series, which was first published in the 1930s, follows a young heroine who is on the search to figure out various mysteries. Over the years, the book has been rewritten to try and remain current with the times. Nancy Drew has most recently been adapted to a TV series and has leaned into the supernatural aspects of detective work.
For two seasons, The CW’s Nancy Drew has had its audience continuing to figure “who did it” with a slew of ghosts always making an appearance. We recently had the opportunity to speak with Tunji Kasim, who plays Ned “Nick” Nickerson in the series, about Nancy Drew‘s third season, how he got his start in acting and what we can expect next from him.
Tunji is a talented actor who grew up in Nigeria and Scotland, where he was born. He shares a little about what it was like growing up in the two very different countries.
“Being ethnically mixed, half Black, half white, it’s interesting. Me finding myself in the world has been an interesting kind of thing. I’m fairly secure in myself as a human being but obviously, it’s when you come in contact with society and with the world, it reminds you that you’re not quite this or you’re not quite that. So growing up in Nigeria, honestly, I was a light skin brother and so I never quite blended in because of that. And then when I moved to Scotland, I was a dark skin brotha, so I never quite blended in there. But I was received, more or less, very positively in both countries and kind of accepted as one of each.”
Tunji got his start on stage and tells us the difference between acting on stage and acting in front of the camera.
“It is very different. Performing in front of a thousand people live where you only get one take. You got to get it right. Or being on set where you get take seven, take eight, take nine, provided you have the time. Time is money. It’s quite a shift in craft and skills that are required from you. But I’ve been very fortunate to be able to do both.”
Outside of there being plenty of ghosts in season 3, Tunji says he is excited for the audience to learn more about Nick’s past.
“He [Nick] comes from Florida. He’s from another state. He’s had a whole life before he came to Maine and there’s a lot of things… Nick’s kind of made a clean cut between his Florida life and his Maine life. This is him now, but he hasn’t quite dealt with the him of the past. In season 3, we’ll get a few people from Nick’s past kind of come in to say hello in Maine and kind of forcing Nick to evaluate his life.”
Hear more from Tunji in the full interview.
Nancy Drew season 3 airs tonight on The CW at 9 pm ET.
