Laya DeLeon Hayes is an 18-year-old performer who has built an impressive body of work in a short period. She currently stars as Delilah Fulton on the CBS hit drama ‘The Equalizer.” Hayes sat down with rolling out to talk about season 3 and what viewers can expect from her character.
What can we expect from season three?
A lot has changed in season three. The most significant difference with season three is the vigilante life for Mccall and her family. They’re going to have to intertwine, and they’re forced to. You’ll see characters interacting with characters they’ve never had a conversation with before, and it’s exciting to see those worlds collide.
My character is coming into her own, and she’s getting a lot of inspiration from her mom and what she does for a living. We saw at the end of season two, Delilah took it upon herself to be an [junior] equalizer and get justice for her friend, and in season three, we’re tackling that even more and even stronger. There will be many more twists and turns that people aren’t going to expect.
What is different about Delilah this season?
She’s changed. She’s growing like teenagers[do] and becoming [her] own individual. For instance, for me going from being 15 years old and on the set and now like, “Okay, I just graduated, and I’m coming into my own.”
Delilah and I are kind of in the same boat when it comes to that. We started in season one with her not understanding the power she has within herself. In season two, Delilah is figuring it out, but she also has had a lot of experiences like Jason’s shooting, and now she deals with PTSD and has to go with therapists. She’s still figuring out who she is and how to balance these relationships and dynamics in her life.
In season three, with a lot of that innocence lost, we’ll see Delilah coming into her own, which has been so exciting for her, but also [for me] as an actress to play. I relate to Delilah in many ways, and her becoming her own individual and taking agency over what she wants is going to be nice for audiences to see.
–by jacquelene clarke
