Malia Baker Dishes All Things ‘Are You Afraid of the Dark?’ In New Interview (Exclusive)

Malia Baker is opening up all about her new show Are You Afraid of the Dark?: Curse of the Shadows!

The 14-year-old actress stars in the second season of the anthology series as Gabby.

Gabby is a sporty and smiley girl who gets straight A’s, runs on the track team and even works weekends to save money for college. She doesn’t have much of a social life because of her parents’ high standards and her responsibilities, so she often looks to her time with the Midnight Society as an escape from reality.

JJJ spoke to Malia about switching from a more light hearted show, The Baby-Sitters Club, to the horror of Are You Afraid of the Dark?, her most and least favorite parts of the show and more!

“I am most excited for everyone to meet my character Gabby. I feel like a lot of people can relate to her and she can teach a lot of people, especially young girls, many things,” Malia told us. “There’s a lot of moments where Gabby stands up for herself without hesitation, and I feel like that doesn’t happen very often in film. Where a smart young woman stands up for herself and doesn’t back down, and I think for a lot of young girls watching they will be able to take that advice from her and don’t back down!”

Tune in TONIGHT (February 12) to Are You Afraid of the Dark?: Curse of the Shadows at 8pm ET/PT on Nickelodeon!

Click inside for our full interview with Malia Baker…

MALIA BAKER INTERVIEW

Just Jared Jr: Can you tell us about your ‘Are You Afraid of the Dark?‘ character?

Malia Baker: I play Gabby Lewis, who is a smiley, sporty and optimistic character. She’s a recovering perfectionist who uses The Midnight Society as a way to escape her reality of her parents’ high expectations. Although she’s the sweetheart of the town she can’t wait to leave it; she even has a job on the weekends to save money for college! Gabby goes through a huge arc in the series and you end up seeing her thriving and finally letting loose. I can’t wait for you all to meet her!

JJJ: What was the most challenging part of working on this series?
MB
: The most challenging part about working on this series has been growing as an actor. I haven’t had the opportunity to work in a horror series before so this was very new to me, and I loved all the challenges that this show provided me with. With my fantastic castmates, writer and director by my side I think I’ve really grown, not only in my abilities as an actor, but as a person too.

JJJ: What’s your favorite part of the new show?
MB
: My favorite part about the new show is the timeless effect it has. Bringing this show back from the 90s not only brings a nostalgic factor for the parents watching it, but gives something for the parents to hand down to their kids and watch together. Although this show has scares, it also has something for everyone and you can see yourself in at least one of the characters.

JJJ: Least favorite?
MB
: My least favorite part about this show is how amazingly scary the Shadowman looks! Kyle Straus, the man who plays this terrifying creature, would sneak up behind me and say my name as he would do all of his Shadowman lines. It scared me to death every time!

JJJ: How did you prepare for it? Did you watch any of the past seasons, OG or season one of the Nick version?
MB
: I watched the original ‘90s series when I was younger so I still strongly remembered everything from then, but I did re-watch old episodes so I could familiarize myself with the show. I also of course watched the first season of the reboot of ‘Are You Afraid Of The Dark?’ which they did an amazing job on. I feel so grateful to be able to continue with such an awesome show!

JJJ: You went from ‘Baby-Sitter’s Club’ to this, besides the genre, what was the biggest difference?
MB
: The biggest difference between BSC and AYAOTD was drastic even from just the vibe on set. On The Baby-Sitters Club, it was all about being with your friends and overcoming real life obstacles together with the power of these strong young women entrepreneurs’ friendships. In AYAOTD it was also about overcoming some real life obstacles, but also some other not so real life obstacles, like trying to defeat the Shadowman!

JJJ: If you could be one of the other characters, who would you be?
MB
: AAH this is hard…if I could be any one of the characters it would probably be Jai (played by Arjun Athalye). He’s the voice of reason, he’s smart, he doesn’t care what other people think and he’s our shield! (You guys will find out what that means once you watch the series 😉

If you missed it, check out our 10 Fun Facts with Malia, and our fun facts with all of her AYAOTD co-stars!

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