Emily Alyn Lind Embraces Her Inner Villain
Emily Alyn Lind on playing a vicious Cadence, idolizing villainous women and flawed heroes
Image: Instagram
Emily Alyn Lind is no stranger to layered characters. In a new cover feature for We Were Liars, the 22-year-old actress opens up about why she loves playing Cadence Sinclair, a character whose moral compass is far from flawless. Over a candid chat with writer and videographer Charlotte Amy Landrum, Lind dives into her fascination with villainous women on screen—those who can be spiteful, awful and undeniably cool all at once.
Playing Cadence Sinclair
In the upcoming Prime Video series We Were Liars, based on the bestselling novel by E. Lockhart, Lind steps into the shoes of Cadence Sinclair Eastman. The story follows four wealthy cousins on a private island estate, where family secrets and obsession spiral into tragedy. Lind describes Cadence as “imperfect, impulsive and unpredictable,” traits that she finds thrilling to embody. “I love to hate a villainous woman,” she says in the feature. “It doesn’t have to be the villain with the guns and the sexy suit, it can be Cate Blanchett in Tar. She can be spiteful, awful and so cool all at the same time, and that’s what I look up to.”
Emily first teased her role on Instagram (@emilylind), sharing striking black-and-white shots from photographer Lewis Vorn and creative director Ione Gamble. The frames capture Lind mid-scene in Cadence’s signature fierce glare, hinting at the character’s restless energy and simmering resentments.
Tar On Her Mind
When asked about real-life inspirations for Cadence’s edge, Lind doesn’t mince words. She points straight to Cate Blanchett’s performance as Lydia Tar in Todd Field’s Tar. “Tar isn’t a classical villain, but there’s an elegance to her cruelty,” Lind explains. “That duality makes her magnetic. I want Cadence to have that same unpredictability.”
Her admiration for on-screen antagonists isn’t new. On a previous Instagram post (https://www.instagram.com/p/DKzsJVrxOWs/), Lind spoke about stepping into a character beloved by readers of the novel, noting how she appreciated the chance to bring depth to someone who could be both sympathetic and infuriating.
Championing Flawed Women
Over two decades, evolving audiences have demanded more complex female roles, and Lind is all in. “Why should heroines always be virtuous? Women are allowed to be messy,” she argues. The actress points to Cadence’s journey—grappling with grief, betrayal and her own sense of identity—as proof that imperfect women make for richer storytelling.
Lind’s own career has been marked by surprising turns. She began acting at age seven in a 2008 episode of Cold Case and later appeared on All My Children. She earned praise as young Peggy Carter in Marvel’s Agent Carter and tackled horror-comedy in Netflix’s The Babysitter. Most recently, she joined the Gossip Girl reboot as Audrey Hope, cementing her status as one to watch in Hollywood’s next generation.
“Each role has pushed me to explore different facets of vulnerability,” she says. “With Cadence, I get to blur the lines between protagonist and antagonist. That line is the most exciting place to play.”
Red Carpet To Cover Shoot
Beyond the set, Lind’s fashion choices echo her on-screen boldness. For the We Were Liars premiere, she teamed up with stylist Elizabeth Saltzman to wear a black Patou tailored jacket—complete with gold buttons and structured epaulets—paired with a Jennifer Behr hair bow and glossy Jimmy Choo pumps. “I could see Cadence wearing it to a funeral,” Lind laughed in an earlier post, “but I’d probably save it for a wedding.”
Her Instagram feed is a window into that duality: glamorous styling sits side by side with candid behind-the-scenes shots of her diving into script pages, running lines and rehearsing intense emotional beats.
From photo shoots to set life, Lind remains grounded in what drew her to acting in the first place. “I want to tell stories that challenge expectations,” she says. “When people see Cadence, I hope they feel both repelled and fascinated. That tension is where storytelling lives.”
As We Were Liars prepares to premiere, Emily Alyn Lind stands ready to upend the idea of the perfect heroine—and prove that embracing your inner villain can be a powerful act of storytelling.
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