Teresa Palmer on ‘A Discovery of Witches’ S3, Emotionally Preparing for the End, and Matthew Goode as a Scene Partner

She also talks about the effect grief has on Diana and how Peter and Benjamin compare on the villain scale.

The following contains some spoilers for A Discovery of Witches S3 .

In the third and final season of the drama series A Discovery of Witches, adapted from Deborah Harkness’ best-selling All Souls trilogy, sees vampire Matthew Clairmont (Matthew Goode) and witch Diana Bishop (Teresa Palmer) returning from 1590 to the present day, where they must deal with a growing list of enemies. To protect their family as well as all creatures, the duo searches for a new way to unite their power that will successfully ensure their survival.

During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider, Palmer talked about how her first day on this series compared to her last, what she did to emotionally prepare herself for the end of this story, the effect grief has on Diana, how Peter Knox (Owen Teale) compares to Benjamin (Jacob Ifan) on the villain scale, what it’s been like to have Goode as a partner throughout this experience, that everything comes to a head in Season 3, and whether she’d consider ever returning to this character in the future.

Collider: I love this show and I love the look of this show, with the atmosphere and vibe that it has. When you went into your first day on this series, what were you most hoping for? What were you most looking forward to and what was your hope for what it would be?

TERESA PALMER: Day one, I just remember being riddled with nerves. I was so nervous. I never sleep the night before the first day of a job. It’s just my thing. I just don’t sleep. So, I probably had about 15 or 20 minutes of sleep the night before. It was that excited anticipation of what the series could be, how it would unfold, and how we could really bring these magical, pardon the pun, words to life that Deb Harkness had written.

I was just filled with so many different emotions, but mainly I would say the prominent feeling was being nervous because there’s such a huge fan base of the book series and I knew there’d be a certain expectation on me, coming from those fans.

But honestly, none of those nerves needed to be there because I was so warmly embraced and encouraged and supported to forge my own version of Diana. I had massive hopes for the show, and my hopes were completely exceeded when we found out the numbers. And then, when Season 2 and Season 3 were ordered before we had finished filming Season 1, that was really overwhelming and certainly just a very exciting time in my life.

Diana seems like a character that you became very comfortable living with. What was your last day like? By the time you got to the end of this, how different did it feel?

PALMER: I think I had been really anticipating the end because I’m a sensitive individual and I was navigating so many big emotions, thinking about departing this world and these characters, and then the crew and the cast. So much of it was mental preparation. Once I got to the final last two months of filming, I just switched gears and was like, “All right, this is my final goodbye. How can I weave in those moments of grieving the character, every day, so that the last day I’m not completely falling apart.” And I wasn’t.

By the last day, I think I had stretched out the grieving process, so that by the last day, I was excited. I was excited for everyone’s journey, moving forward. Some of the cast have booked new things. Everyone felt like it organically came to an end, where we all were okay with letting it go.

Certainly, it was bittersweet, but I love where Diana finishes this series. Her growth is so immense, from the first time you see her on-screen to the last time you see her, that it felt like she’d come full circle and it was time for her journey to come to a close on-screen. I felt at peace, in many ways.