My stuffed reindeer It is the perfect storm for Netflix: it has a challenging but uncomfortable story, a devilishly decadent pace and, because it is based on real events, it is causing countless headlines. But, between one news item and another, it is also being of great help to the actresses involved such as Nava Mau, who plays Teri in the fiction and who until now was known for her secondary role in generation from HBO Max.
According to the 31-year-old Mexican actress, who is trans like her character, there is a part of the story that we did not see in My stuffed reindeer: a scene that, despite having been written and shot, did not make it into the final cut of the Serie. It was a scene where Teri left Donny, the character played by Richard Gadd and inspired by himself, a voicemail message five months after leaving him.
Nava Mau, known for ‘Generation’, is Teri in the series.
Ed Miller/Netflix
“For me, I got that feeling of closure because Teri had it too,” he explained in an interview with the magazine GQ. She gave him “a lot of comfort” because, from that message, Mau knew that the characters “found peace regarding their relationship.” Let us remember that in the series Teri and Donny had had a turbulent relationship due to the harassment he suffered and the traumatic baggage he carried as a victim of sexual assault.
Mau is also grateful that, even if it is not with the protagonist, his character has his “happy ending.” “Teri found a new man, she didn’t lose her friends, she didn’t lose her job, she didn’t lose her smile. Alright. And I think this is notable, because very often we see stories of trans people that end up with them broken,” she reflected on her work and on the representation of women in the collective.
“I got that sense of closure because Teri had it too.”
The visibility and notoriety of Nava Mau is not only an example of the success of My stuffed reindeer, which entered the Netflix catalog with hardly any promotion and now has viewing data that would be liked by a bet as ambitious as The 3 body problembut also the journey it wants to take in parallel: it has become, in an improvised way, one of the platform’s big bets for the Emmy Awards in the miniseries category.
It is a British production but, as shown by series like Fleabag either I could destroy youthis does not imply that it will be ignored by the American television academy: Fleabag won six Emmy Awards in 2019, including best comedy and actress and writing for Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and I could destroy you won two statuettes in 2021, including best miniseries script for Michaela Coel.
Richard Gadd, hurry up and get out.
