I do love Peta Rutter’s performance as current-day (at the time) Udonna, but I remain curious about who played Udonna in the flashbacks. It’s not entirely because I really like that purple dress of hers. Although in hindsight, it’s very sweet that Udonna wears her sister’s color in the flashback but on the other hand it’s somewhat odd that Niella is only shown in her formal Gatekeeper attire.
The credits didn’t help- possibly because she didn’t have any lines? Then again, Antonia gets listed as Niella in the closing credits. And I’m not sure, but young Leanbow looks like Chris Graham by a lot. Either they just powdered his hair in the present day or they found a really good lookalike actor. Attempting to search the internet only results in Peta Rutter being the only one said to play the role.
In any case, she does effectively portray how much happier Udonna was before she was left the sole known survivor of her team (Daggeron & Leanbow both got cursed). She seems more stunned than anything else in the bleaker parts, but I suspect that might have been the directors’ choice to avoid depressing the young viewers. Although I regret the show didn’t depict her actually fighting in the battle, which is particularly weird as it doesn’t have a problem showing her fight in the present day. Maybe the casting went for someone who could pass as a younger Peta rather than finding someone capable of fighting & stunt work?
If anyone more in tune with the behind the scenes stuff has information, I’d appreciate it.
Obviously I was feeling rather nostalgic to get out my PRMF DVD set and get these screencaps across a handful of episodes.