Josie Totah Wants The Buccaneers Fans To Demand A Mabel & Honoria Spinoff

Mabel Elmsworth is finally done hiding, and nobody is happier about it than Josie Totah. In fact, it was The Buccaneers actor’s idea for her closeted debutante character to plant a kiss on her girlfriend Honoria (Mia Threapleton) in front of all her friends in the penultimate episode of Season 2. Well, actually her pitch was for something even more shocking.

“I wanted it to be at a ball, like at a big party, just full drama,” Totah tells Elite Daily. For the 24-year-old actor, it was time to either bring Mabel’s sexuality out into the open “or you have to kill her.”

“Give me a dramatic ending, or send me to prison for being gay. Do something wild, but don’t just let me be OK in the shadows,” Totah says. Luckily, the producers were receptive to her vision for Mabel’s future. “I was like, ‘Let’s take advantage of the fact that this isn’t necessarily period accurate, so that in future stories, she can have a journey that feels more fleshed out. I either want a dramatic ending, or I want to have her story be bigger and bolder and better.’”

Going big has always been Totah’s M.O. as an actor, from her scene-stealing beginnings on Disney Channel’s Jessie to her absurdist take on a high-school it-girl in the gone-too-soon Saved by the Bell reboot. Her next project is another over-the-top delight: Mike Flanagan’s reimagination of the iconic horror flick Carrie.

But while Totah got to let loose in Mabel’s liberating moment, it was undercut by Honoria’s decision to accept a teaching position in France. Honoria’s departure is sad, but Totah sees as it a necessary next step in allowing her to freely explore her sexuality. “It’s bittersweet, but she has to have that growth,” Totah says. “Honoria is a baby gay. She’s less experienced than Mabel, so I think Honoria has to go on that journey for herself now.”

That said, Totah can see a romantic reunion in Mabel and Honoria’s future. “It’s not totally the end. I’d love to shoot in Paris,” Totah says. And she has some homework for fans who wants to see the two back together: “Comment a hundred thousand times on every Instagram post that Apple makes and tell them to send us to France so we can do a spinoff. Mia and I both want that. We want to do this gay love story in France.”

I was like, “There should be a Grindr for the 1800s.”

While Apple has not yet announced if The Buccaneers will return for Season 3, Totah already has a debaucherous vision for where Mabel is headed. In the Season 2 finale, Mabel approaches her friend Conchita (Alisha Boe) with the idea for a matchmaking service for closeted LGBTQ+ lords and ladies. As with the Mabel-Honoria kiss, Totah pitched this arc as the height of promiscuous drama.

“I was like, ‘There should be a Grindr for the 1800s, and Conchita and Mabel should run it.’ And they were here for it. But all of my ideas get a little watered down,” Totah says. “I want Mabel and Conchita to start throwing underground parties for closeted gay people, and they get the circus involved, and they do a bunch of opium and twerk.”

We’re trying everything we can to make Conchita a bisexual woman.

While the drugs and twerking may still be up in the air, the finale does tease a partnership between Mabel and the now-widowed Conchita in a potential Season 3. Totah and Boe have already discussed a new romance for Boe’s character... which was actually explored in a suggestive scene that was cut from Season 2.

“Alisha and I want Conchita to have a queer awakening,” Totah says. “We've been shipping Mabel and Conchita for several months, at least. We're trying everything we can to make Conchita a bisexual woman. There’s a deleted scene that we had a lot of fun doing, which I can’t say much about, but it would've changed the trajectory of everything.”

As Totah waits to see if Season 3 gets picked up, she shares the Sabrina Carpenter song that needs to be featured next season, her true Sex and the City astrological chart, and why White Chicks is the most rewatchable movie ever made.

Elite Daily: I saw the Buccaneers guys have a group chat called “Short Kings.” Do the girls have a group chat name?

Josie Totah: Yes, it’s “Deb Gals.”

ED: What is your favorite romance show?

JT: I love Feel Good. And another one I like in a more soapy way that’s like candy to me is Elite.

ED: What’s the last show you were obsessed with?

JT: Probably Baby Reindeer. Or my re-obsession with Girls. I’m always re-watching Girls; I re-watch it every week of my life.

ED: Same! I actually just talked to Allison Williams recently.

JT: I’m obsessed with her. She’s so cool. I would kill to have a fourth of the impact Marnie’s made.

I’m a Samantha sun but a Charlotte moon. And maybe a Carrie rising.

ED: Speaking of similar shows, I saw in your Cosmo profile with Dylan Mulvaney and Miss Benny that you called yourself a Carrie, of the Sex and the City girls.

JT: That was an absolute lie, by the way. I’m not Carrie. The girls were telling me that I’m Carrie, but I don’t think so. I am very Samantha in the way that I speak, but I don’t necessarily act like her. So I think I’m a Samantha sun but a Charlotte moon. And maybe a Carrie rising.

ED: What movie have you re-watched the most in your life?

JT: White Chicks. It’s one of the most incredible films of all time. And I don’t re-watch movies; that’s not something I do. But White Chicks is just absolutely peak cinema.

ED: What is your favorite song of this past year?

JT: It’s got to be something by Addison Rae. I would say “High Fashion.” I've also been listening to a lot of Blood Orange, Jammie XX, The Marías. And Sade, I am always listening to her.

ED: What’s your go-to karaoke song?

JT: Anything by Alanis Morissette. Or “Don’t Rain on My Parade,” the Glee version.

ED: Is there a song you’d love to be on a future season of The Buccaneers?

JT: I love the Sabrina Carpenter song “Dumb & Poetic.” Or “Manchild.” That should play over a prison sequence where Barney [Fishwick]’s character is getting beaten up.

ED: What’s an underrated emoji you use all the time?

JT: I love the one with the hand over the mouth smiling, because it’s such a mischievous emoji that can be used in so many different ways. Like “I love you so much” or “I want you dead.” It’s kind of perfect.

ED: Would you rather have a rom-com marathon or a horror movie marathon?

JT: Horror movies. I famously do not watch rom-coms. My brain can’t process them. I have no idea why. I’ve never liked them, but I’d love to be in one. I don’t like watching other people experience joy, but I love horror movies. I could watch a hundred a day.

ED: Is there a TikTok hole you’ve fallen down recently?

JT: It’s really unfortunate, but the murder trial of Karen Read. I could literally testify based off of the knowledge that I’ve acquired from my TikTok scrolling.

ED: What are you manifesting for the future?

JT: I want to grind. Not on a person, I mean with work. I also want to cook more. And to just experience more joy in the stillness of it all.

ED: That’s beautiful.

JT: Yeah, I read that on a mug.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.