Maisie Richardson-Sellers has long made a name for herself through grounded, magnetic performances across genres from playing Amaya Jiwe on DC's Legends of Tomorrow to embodying a queens cunning in The Originals.With each role, shes carved out a space for complex, emotionally rich Black women on screen. Now, she brings that same depth to Hulus Nine Perfect Strangers, portraying Wolfie, whose exterior slowly unravels to reveal pain, resilience, and growth. Its in episode 4 where Wolfies story truly breaks open, offering a layered look at her past and peeling back the quiet survival shes been operating in since her arrival at Tranquillum House.In her conversation with Out, Richardson-Sellers shares how she fought to ensure Wolfies backstory felt full and authentic, not just a passing detail. She also revealed she had to unlearn an emotional habit of staying silent in moments of pain, a personal breakthrough that deeply informed her performance. Maisie Richardson-Sellers in Nine Perfect StrangersHuluYouve played everything from time travelers to psychological thrill leads, but in Nine Perfect Strangers, we meet Wolfie through her relationship. How much of her identity did you build from who she loves versus what shes survived?Maisie Richardson-Sellers: Wow, that's a good question. What I love about Wolfie is she is such a collage of things. She's the onion right at the heart of everything. Shes this beautiful, powerful, dedicated spirit. As the years have gone on, she's been covered, cloaked, dimmed, and sort of trapped largely by herself in this sort of toxic relationship. Also, the fact that she didn't have the finances to afford going to school to study to be a violinist, which was her passion, is one of the things that kind of dampened her magical spirit. Shes free falling at the moment when you meet her. I think she's trying to find some kind of a lifeline to grab onto and at the moment, its Tina. We go on a journey throughout the season of her trying to figure out who she is independently and how she can survive. In episode 4, we get to see her beforehand, which is beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time because you see who she was and who she's become and it gives you hope of who she could be.Whats a version of yourself that only shows up on set, and what part of you never makes it to camera?Thats a smart question, Ty. I think the best version of me that shows up on set is I'm extremely professional and careful in my work and the way I present myself because I think respect, discipline, and commitment are sort of my pillars of the way I work. I'd say the part that shows up least is actually the cheeky, spontaneous, slightly more erratic and mischievous side as that one stays in the streets I'd say. [laughs] King Princess, Dolly de Leon, Maisie Richardson-Sellers, Murray Bartlett in Nine Perfect StrangersHuluYouve been in front of the camera and behind it, so when you direct, do you ever find yourself protecting your actors in ways you wish someone had protected you when you were just starting out?One-hundred [percent]. My main thing as a director is to listen, provide, and create a safe environment where people feel safe to play, to share, and to be vulnerable. Quite often, those things get lost in the madness and chaos of the set. I've seen it happen too many times. Ive seen people do things that they later regret because they felt pressured to do it, or they'll hide something during their scene when I know they could have gone deeper or pushed themselves harder or be challenged because they feel insecure or unsafe. My first priority is creating a bubble of protection so they can be the best versions of themselves on my set. Its collaboration, with making sure that everyone feels like their voices matter and everyone's also listening to each other as well as listening to myself and themselves.If you could teach a master class for young, queer creatives of color but you could only teach it through storytelling no advice, no lecture what scene from your real life would you use to educate them?The first thing that's coming to my mind is an audition. I was auditioning for Legends of Tomorrow. I hadn't had much experience and I was 23 years old at the time in Los Angeles. Ive never been a series regular before. Everyone was looking glam and glitzy and gorgeous. Back in the day, you used to have to wait and see all your competition [laughs] and I came in a tank top and jeans. Everyones kind of like looking at me and everyone's chit chatting. They all know each other. I felt so small and I just sat there. I was like, no, I refused to question myself by asking, why not me? I gathered myself and got my self motivation and power together. I went in and I smashed it. I gave my best, and I gave my true self. I didn't try to be like any of the other women. I just was like, this is me and it was a very honest performance. I was the underdog. I was the misfit. I use those things to my advantage and as a result, I won. I think especially as queer people, as people of color, often we are not the dominant voice in the room. We're not the one who's necessarily given the microphone. We're not the most numbered. I think it's even more important to lean into what makes you an individual and not try to blend in or try to dim light for the comfort of others in that space. King Princess and Maisie Richardson-Sellers in Nine Perfect StrangersHuluA lot of queer love on screen still feel like it needs to be explained for a mainstream audience. How intentional were you on Nine Perfect Strangers about showing the different perspectives and challenges of love with your character?One thing that was really important to me and in the work I create as well, is that queerness is not the center of that storyline. I think we need to move beyond that. It's one facet of our many, many faceted identities, right? I think what's good about this relationship between Wolfie and Tina is it's not about them being queer. It's about them being a couple who are struggling, who happen to be queer, and that's a part of their storyline, but it's not the main story and it's not about their queer sorrow or their queer trauma. One thing that was really important to me, which did not exist in the early scripts, was that Wolfie had a clear backstory. Why is she who she is? I fought really hard with the producers and the writers, and they wrote it. I'm so glad they did because now you understand her.In Nine Perfect Strangers, Wolfie is in a relationship that isnt built on fantasy, but its layered, its heavy, and its real. What did you learn about emotional intimacy by stepping into Wolfie?Emotional intimacy for me is intrinsically linked with a sense of safety. The safer that I feel, the more vulnerable and intimate I can be. I think with Wolfie, that's what she's craving. That's all she wants from Tina, which is to gain emotional intimacy. Tina's refusing her at every point, and that's making her feel starved. Its almost like her food sources being cut off by Tina denying this. It showed me just how someone can slip into survival mode when they're not being fed and stimulated and allowed to feel safe emotionally. She doesn't recognize herself. You see her just spiraling because a lot of the time you see Wolfie just acting on impulse and not being true to herself. Thats such a disorienting experience. Maisie Richardson-Sellers in Nine Perfect StrangersHuluWhats one emotional habit Wolfie has in her relationship that youve either unlearned in your own life or are still working through?I'm working through and have made huge progress on sometimes putting other people's comfort before my own. So therefore, not saying the thing I really want to say because I'm worried about sort of disrupting the peace or upsetting someone or making them feel a certain way. Sometimes I'll just swallow it. I think seeing that Wolfie does that to the extreme made me realize that that's not productive for anyone. It's not productive for me because then I build resentment and it's not productive for the person because they're never going to learn. It taught me to take more power over my voice and more autonomy over the way I feel, and to refuse to be treated in any way other than the way that I feel is just and fair for myself.Nine Perfect Strangers is now streaming on Hulu.