Night Country star Kali Reis on that ending

HBO broadcast the first women’s boxing fight in 2018, between Kali Reis and Cecilia Brækhus. Just six years later, Reis is one of the stars of HBO’s “True Detective: Night Country,” where she plays Detective Evangeline Navarro alongside Jodie Foster. That could very well be the first time an HBO leader was first seen on the pay cabler during a boxing match.

“What’s really great about this whole journey is that things that are so far-fetched are virtually impossible in a part of my brain that understands that it’s a possibility,” Reis says. Variety‘s Awards Circuit podcast. “And I think that’s one of the many things that makes me grind so hard.”

In the series, Reis plays Evangeline Navarro, a half-Dominican state trooper in Ennis, a fictional town in rural Northern Alaska. Reis spoke to the Awards Circuit Podcast about her interpretation of the ending and whether she thinks Navarro is still alive. Listen below!

“Catch the Fair One,” which follows a young Native American woman trying to find her younger sister in a sex trafficking ring, was the first film Reis ever starred in. She says the film’s writer and director, Josef Kubota Wladyka, reached out to her for her advocacy for missing and murdered indigenous women.

Reis, who is Indigenous and Black, says boxing wasn’t an outlet for her at the time. She thought about taking up acting and felt that if it was meant for her, it would find her. A week later, Wladyka sent her a DM on Instagram asking if she had ever considered acting.

“He kept telling me, ‘You have that something, you have that sauce K,’” Reis says of Wladyka. “…It was something he saw in me and I saw him see it.”

Reis’ character in “True Detective” is somewhat alienated from her indigenous Iñupiaq heritage, as she lost her mother at a young age. Navarro and Detective Liz Danvers (Foster) investigate the disappearance of scientists at a local research station, with Navarro plagued by flashbacks to her time in combat abroad. Her past experiences match the reality her younger sister Julia (Aka Niviâna) faces.

Reis said Navarro’s background helped her relate to the character, who she said “walked in two different worlds.”

Of Foster, she said, “(Working with Foster) is like being able to train with Marvin Hagler in his prime. There is no better person I could have met from this beginning… She is just an amazing person.”

Reis is currently working with Chris Pratt and Rebecca Ferguson on a film titled “Mercy.” But is she ready to return to boxing? ‘I haven’t officially put them up yet. I will always be in the gym,” she says. “I will always be involved in boxing, even outside the ring commentating or coaching. My husband is a manager and we coach fighters together. Acting is now at the helm. The only way I can jump back into that ring is if something makes sense, if it comes at the right time, with the right fighter. It may or may not happen, but I won’t force it.”

Also in this episode, “Mr. Monk’s Last Case” star Tony Shalhoub discusses why the time was right to bring back “Monk” and how that ending could very well lead to more films. He also talked about how much he hated “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”, the action film he will shoot next, his award success and much more.

Variety’s “Awards Circuit” podcast, produced by Michael Schneider, is your one-stop listening place for lively conversations about the best in film and television. Each week, “Awards Circuit” features interviews with top film and TV talent and creatives; discussions and debates about awards races and industry headlines; and much more. Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or wherever you get podcasts. New episodes are posted weekly.