Rising Canadian star talks working with Hollywood icons on new show

A rising Canadian star has on-set details about working with two icons on an upcoming hit show.

Yaga —  set to premiere on Crave next week — features established Canadian-Hollywood idols like Carrie-Ann Moss (The Matrix), new heartthrobs like Hudson Williams (Heated Rivalry), and the stars of tomorrow like Sam Krochmal, who was able to sit down with yourcitywithIN ahead of the show’s Oct. 23 premiere.

“I mean, talk about all-stars; there were a couple of times I had to go off set and look in a mirror and go, ‘okay, you deserve to be here,’ you know? Because it was just remarkable to work with so many iconic Canadians,” Krochmal told yourcitywithIN. “There was such an unspoken sense of buy-in from everyone; nobody was phoning it in.”

The show (which had a massive sneak peek at the recent Toronto International Film Festival) is adapted from a play of the same name by prominent Toronto playwright Kat Sandler and delves into the nature of feminine power and how it is reflected in folklore and the contemporary world, all while a mystery unfolds in a gloomy coastal town.

Without giving too much away, what follows is a tale of ancient magic and secret lives as a cast of unlikely characters slowly get caught in an unfolding web of intrigue.

As for Krochmal’s role in Yaga, he plays Billy Granger, a character he found interesting to tackle because traces of his own personality hid in the margins of both the script and the character.

“In this industry, it is often overstated to find something that you’re good at and get known for doing it very well. I’ve managed to crack that door in terms of opportunities — being a funny guy comes pretty naturally to me,” says Krochmal. “The rewarding challenge I got while making Yaga was the feedback and direction to not make Billy become this comedic device, but instead, let the comedy come from the stakes of the situation.”

While on set, despite backing from big production names with equally big production wallets, Krochmal notes a certain scrappiness to Yaga, reinforced by the fact that most of the talent, on and off set, was homegrown.

[The stars of Yaga at its TIFF debut. Photo provided by Crave Media]

Beyond that, for Krochmal, as a young actor balancing the attention of producers on both sides of the border, being surrounded by consummate professionals with decades in the game — and some who just skyrocketed to stardom — gave him an irreplaceable baseline for the future.

“I mean, Carrie-Anne [Moss] is just like an ethereal being. I remember the first thing she said to me on set: she asked how old I was, and I told her that I was 29, and she just looked through me and said, ‘Ah, you’re in Saturn-return phase.’ It felt like she was reading my soul, and immediately, I was like, ‘I love this woman,’” says Krochmal.

As for working neck and neck with Williams while Heated Rivalry became an international sensation, Krochmal noted it further reflected the wheel of fortune that the film and TV business can be.

Having worked with Williams on a humble web series back in 2022, Krochmal found sharing the set with him on Yaga to be another day at the office, as the two of them only months prior were both earning their stripes in a noisy and tough industry.

“It was such a full-circle moment and was really special to reconnect, but frankly, it was in the process of things changing so much for him. I remember sitting next to him in the makeup trailer talking about our weekend plans. I told him I had to go back to the hotel to do laundry, and he was like, ‘I gotta get ready to go to the Oscars’ — it was the height of him going nuclear,” says Krochmal.

While being surrounded by big players would likely put pressure on a young up-and-comer, Krochmal instead took all of the advice given in stride, and allowed himself to “take some pressure off the handlebars,” and in turn, deliver a knockout performance.

Beyond the scope of those on the call sheet, Krochmal also felt that Yaga is coming at an incredibly important time, where productions in the great white north are breaking through the fringes of Canadian content (CanCon) and are having their moment in the sun.

“Canadian TV is finally getting its flowers after what honestly feels like a long time,” says Krochmal. “As a result, everyone was at their best.”

As for what people can expect when they tune in to Yaga, Krochmal — while eager to spill as much as he could — implores the audience to not only enjoy the mystery as it unfolds, but also the messaging beneath its surface surrounding the inherent magic that comes with femininity.

“More than ever, I hope not only people enjoy the ride of the mystery, but they also take away that just because a woman is enigmatic or mysterious, and maybe a little hard to access, does not mean she is malicious — in fact, it could be just the opposite.”

Yaga premieres in Canada on Oct. 23 on Crave.

[Headline photo provided by Kristine Cofsky]