Interview: Nathan Owens stays hopeful for his character’s relationship on “Devious Maids”

Nathan Owens of Devious Maids

Even though us Devious Maids fans had to wait a year for our favorite show to return to Lifetime, it was well worth the wait. This third season of Devious Maids included many new faces to the cast, including Days of Our Lives veteran Nathan Owens.

Nathan Owens of Devious MaidsOwens’ character, Jesse Morgan, joins the maid services in Beverly Hills with the help of Marisol and her new business. Jesse might be the first male maid we’ve seen on the show but he has a very special reason why he wants to enter this particular field of work. Jesse explains that he was previously in the military and wants a calmer job. What Jesse soon discovers is that working for these residents in Beverly Hills is far from a drama-free zone.

Recently, Owens’ character decided to split with his new beau, Marisol, to return home to his sister. While the split was hard for me to manage, Owens stays hopeful for the couple in the future. So let’s hope this means Owens returns next season as Jesse!

Right before his departure on the show, Owens talked about how his character doesn’t have much of a background story and what he predicts for the future.

What made you say yes to the role of Jesse? What drew you in?
Nathan Owens:
Well, the opportunity drew me in, to be honest with you. The opportunity to work for Marc Cherry and work with the cast that was already on there as well, too — Ana Ortiz, Roselyn Sanchez, people that I have actually watched throughout time. Yeah, that opportunity …  And Tom Irwin. The opportunity to work with those fellow actors.

On a more personal level, would you say you’re similar to Jesse in any way?
Yeah, for sure. For sure. Actually, I’m similar in the ways that I can be very protective, as well, over my loved ones, and I have several close loved ones that can testify to that. Friends, my sister and brother, yeah, they know that. For me, it’s like I’m not as protective of myself, but with others, I am very, very protective. Let’s see, what else? I’d say I’m also pretty understanding as well. I feel like Jesse’s very understanding with Marisol and her history.

 

This show has really stuck with its main cast for a while until this season. How have the fans reacted with your addition and how have they been with you so far?

They’ve been great. I was worried at first. I was wondering if I was going to be well-received or not, and I know that the character Marisol, I know obviously we have a romantic involvement in the show and I knew that she had one as well, too, in the last season. I was wondering if people would be as receptive to a newcomer taking over that spot, and they were. They were immediately, so I was pretty happy about that.

Jesse mentioned that he wanted to take the maid job because it was so much calmer than the military and then we saw Marisol sneaking around the house because she thought he was suffering from PTSD. Do you think Jesse suffers from any sort of PTSD?
Hmm, okay. I would say, to a certain extent. Definitely, definitely to a certain extent — [there are] some traumatic things that have gone down in his backstory, in his past and in the war, and he’s lost some people close to him. I’d say I think it’s true for anyone that’s coming from that type of past and dealing with people in a violent … In a war that’s inundated with violence and losing people that you love, you’re going to have a little post-traumatic stress. I’d say, on a certain level, he does, but, for the most part, it’s pretty manageable for him. Well, for the most part, he can manage it, but I’d say he definitely does, to a certain degree.

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Nathan Owens as Jesse Morgan in Lifetime’s Devious Maids

Will we get to hear or see more of Jesse’s military story or background? Because I feel like we haven’t really gotten into that.
Yeah, no, I agree. You know what? Not really. Just to be up-front, no, we didn’t really dive too much deeper into that just because … I mean, he spoke about it on several different occasions just to reiterate the fact that he came from the military in comparison to where he’s at now, where he’s pretty much seen a lot more go down in the short amount of time than when he was at war. Yeah, I think that’s about as far as it goes for now, at least.

I was wondering why Jesse wouldn’t take Marisol’s advice about staying away from this crazy Olivia that’s come back, especially when Blanca was murdered and then he’s going to go be a maid for her.
Right. I think that, right now, he’s caught up in a couple of things: One of them is he thinks that she’s just incredible. She just thinks the worst of everyone at this point in time, so I think it’s a residual effect of her accusing him of the worst and he’s pretty much just come to the fact that he thinks that she has a terrible outlook on anyone and everyone. Obviously he’s pretty adamant about not being a killer, so he knows that she’s wrong in that sense and she’s blaming him. I’m sure that it has to do with him thinking that she’s just got a deluded way of just … a terrible way of looking at every person, and he also just needs the money. I think it comes down to having a job and needing the money and then also not believing her two cents on people. Because of what she’s blamed him for.

Jesse and Marisol broke up and it hurt me to see that happen since I want them to be together. How do you feel about the breakup, do you want them to be together?
You know what? Knowing what I know about Jesse and knowing what I know about Marisol, I think they should be together on a lot of levels. Obviously they have their hiccups, but everyone does. I think, as far as understanding each other and having somewhat of a mature relationship, I think they definitely should work it out. They’re cute.

Rosie has this whole thing going on between trying to be with Spence and Ernesto. Do you side with one? Team Spence or team Ernesto?
I’m going to have to say I side with Mr. Spence on this one. I can just leave it there. I just think he’s a great guy and he just seems like a pretty good guy and I don’t know too much about Ernesto, but I do know that he’s got some Cartel connections and that’s not healthy for anybody, so I’m going to go with Mr. Spence.

How does working on this show compare to what you’ve worked on in the past?
You know, essentially there’s more preparation overall, for every scene, there’s more preparation for the episode. I came from Days of Our Lives previously, so it’s a lot quicker over there. Everything’s a lot faster pace over there, so with your responsibilities, there’s a lot of urgency to a lot of things that isn’t in prime-time soap opera world. At least to my knowledge. It gives a little bit more time to see where a scene grows and see what you can find in it and go from there. I’d say that there is a lot more preparation involved on all sides. On the crew’s side, on the cast’s side, everywhere. Writing. We get to work out a lot of stuff.

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Ana Ortiz as Marisol Suarez and Nathan Owens as Jesse Morgan in Lifetime’s Devious Maids

Working with a predominately Latino cast and the fact that they’ve thrown in a lot more Spanish in this season, have you learned any Spanish?
Muy poquito. You know, I passed Spanish II in high school and I’ve worked with quite a few Spanish-speaking folks and I’ve caught on to just a few different things. One that stuck out for some reason is, “mentirosa.” I don’t know why, but I feel like that one stuck out for me a lot. You know why? Because it’s tied into that Pitbull song, I believe. I didn’t even know what he meant and then they explained to me like, “mentirosa” so that helped. Yeah, they helped me with that. Ana helped me with that and Roselyn helped me with that. Yeah, I love seeing all the different ethnicities onscreen together.

If you could switch roles with anyone in the cast, who would it be and why?
Ooh, okay, okay, okay. If I could switch roles with anyone and why? I would … Oh, man. Let’s see. Do I have to switch roles with anybody? Yeah, you know what? I’m happy, I’m happy where I’m at right now. I don’t really want to disturb anybody. They’re doing just fine. You know what? If I had to say anybody, it might be … What’s his name? Deion! Because I feel like he has no inhibitions, he says what’s on his mind, he’s just straightforward, straight from the point. There’s no BS. I’d say I might want to switch with that little dude. It’s a little weird when you’re my age, but hey, why not? Yeah, but I definitely can’t flirt with Marisol.

What’s something you’ve learned and then we’re able to take away with you while being a part of this show?
Well, I learned not to beat myself up so much about a scene or what you’ve done on day-to-day work. I was pretty guilty of walking away just not feeling like I completely did the best job I could have or finding something later on that I didn’t see before. It all changes too, once you see it onscreen, you’re like, “Man, I could have done so much more with that.” Being able to let it go and move on is something that I learned and spoke to a couple people on the cast about and they helped me with that.

Devious Maids season 3 finale airs Monday, Aug. 24 at 9/8CT on Lifetime.

Photo Credit: Bob Mahoney