After her breakthrough role as the compassionate Mamma Rosa in the Warner Brothers/DC film Shazam!, Marta Milans is showing audiences a different side of herself in Peacock’s M.I.A. Milans plays Caroline, the daughter of cartel boss Issac Rojas (Edward James Olmos) and half-sister of the hot-tempered Mateo (Maurice Compte) and the methodical Samuel (Gerardo Celasco). After the death of the patriarch, Caroline plans to continue to launder her family’s blood money through her real estate empire while Mateo and Samuel attempt to expand their hold on Miami.

Though Caroline is the professional front of the Rojas cartel, she is every bit as ruthless as her brothers. “Their father wanted Caroline to be the legitimate child,” explains Milans. “Though, blood calls blood, and Caroline ends up running with the dark side to aid her family’s business.” While she strives to make deals through legitimate methods, Caroline does not hesitate to get her hands dirty when people stand in her way. “She is a very savvy, very assertive, and very intelligent woman,” said Milans. “She has no boundaries, so she will stop at nothing to get what she wants.”

After the Rojas cartel murders the family of Etta Tiger Jonze (newcomer Shannon Gisela) in front of her, the orphan vows to take her revenge on the men responsible for this heinous act. Caroline’s name gets added to Etta’s kill list once Caroline shockingly murders the kindly Ms. Cherie (icon Loretta Divine). Ms. Cherie got in the way of Caroline’s latest development project when she refused to sell her home to the lethal realtor. “I don’t think she has a guilt at all,” said Caroline when asked about her character’s gruesome act. “Ms. Cherie is standing her in way, so Caroline does what she feels like she has to do.”

Milans stopped by the Decider studio to have a spoiler-filled chat about the series, discuss working with the incomparable Cary Elwes, and dish on what a potential Season 2 could look like for Caroline.

DECIDER: Caroline Carver is the half-sister of Samuel and Mateo and seems much more polished than her brothers. How do you think her childhood differed from theirs?

MARTA MILANS: It differed a lot. Their father wanted Caroline to be the legitimate child, so her childhood was very different from that of her brothers. She was protected. Isaac kept her away from the family business and sent her to great universities. Her brothers have a chip on their shoulder about that. Though, blood calls blood, and Caroline ends up running with the dark side, so to speak, to aid her family’s business.

Do you think her brothers underestimate her? After all, they might be running the cartel, but she controls 51% of RRG Holdings.

She really impresses her brothers throughout the show. They think: “oh, we can control her. We can tell her what to do.” Remember, their father warns them at the beginning of the show to stay out of Caroline’s way. When they do not heed the warning, they suffer the consequences.

You have such great chemistry with Maurice Compte and Gerardo Celasco, the actors who play your on-screen brothers. What was it like building that chemistry?

We were really lucky to all love what we do. The whole cast lived in Miami for several months. I was renting this lovely apartment, and I held a lot of rehearsals for my on-screen family at a conference room in the building. We talked a lot about the arcs of our characters. We have a wonderful showrunner [Karen Campbell] who helped us with our characters’ biographies leading up to the show. The prep work was really important. The Rojas family felt more much tangible to us when filming began. I think that connection comes through on-screen, and I’m really proud of that.

One of the first big reveals of the season is that Kincaid is Caroline’s hired PI. What did you make of that twist? And what was it like to work with the great Cary Elwes?

Oh, I loved that reveal. I loved working with Cary too. He’s such a prop-obsessed actor. He made his character so funny and real. We had a quite a few scenes together on the show. He was fantastic.

Caroline’s hiring a personal PI was my first clue that she is just as crafty as her brothers. She’s also just as ruthless. Does she assuage her guilt about her ruthlessness by contributing to the communities she infiltrates?

She is a very savvy, very assertive, and very intelligent woman. She has no boundaries, so she will stop at nothing to get what she wants. I don’t think she feels guilt at all. I think it’s all part of a plan. She knows that by making contributions to the local community, she can acquire the land she wants. Money speaks louder than most other things. She knows how to use the family’s wealth to her advantage. That’s how she operates.

Caroline is willing to throw millions of dollars at Ms. Cherie to buy her house, but she is also willing to take drastic measures to get what she wants when Ms. Cherie won’t sell. Why was it important for Caroline to handle that final offer herself?

Because buying Ms. Cherie’s house will guarantee her own legitimacy. If she could have managed to get Ms. Cherie to accept her offer, the deal would have been done by the books. Caroline wants to accomplish all her dreams while keeping her family’s business up and running. At the end of the day, Ms. Cherie is standing her in way, so Caroline does what she feels like she has to do.

Loretta Divine is such a legend. What was it like filming that scene where Caroline pushes her down the stairs?

It was a lot [laughs]. There was an electrical storm that night. It was hot and humid. We had a stunt coordinator and stunt supervisors everywhere to help us with the technical aspects of the scene. I was wearing these ridiculously uncomfortable Tom Ford shoes and an Alexander McQueen suit with shoulder pads that made me so warm. We couldn’t really move without sweating.

There were a lot of outside factors that we had to deal with, but we did it. Loretta was so gracious. She has a great sense of humor. We did a lot of takes, and I kept having to emerge out of the shadows. She kept saying, “stop scaring me, you’re scaring me!” [Laughs] I thought, “I bet I am.” She was fantastic. I really enjoyed meeting her.

The final episode is a big one for Caroline. Why were politics the next logical step for her? Well, don’t we see what politics can do in this country?

There is a lot of ruthlessness in politics. Not just in this country, but in the world these days. Running for City Council is just another way for Caroline to make sure she gets everything that she wants. It’s the next logical step because she has enough money to run a successful campaign and win. We see that in reality. We see that in fiction. It makes sense that she would choose the political arena as her next step.

Who do you think has the edge in a battle of wits: Caroline or Kincaid? Because it sounds like he’s coming for her…

He is 1 million percent coming for her. He literally says to her, “I’m going to put murderers in prison.” She’s sort of like, “who is he talking about? Me?” [Laughs] Hopefully, if we do get season two, their dynamic will be interesting to explore. What a joy it would be to do that with Cary. I absolutely adore him and his performance as Kincaid. It’ will be about the chase with our characters. Caroline is such a fox that it will be hard for him to catch her.

It is revealed that Caroline is Matthew’s mother—who happens to be Etta/Dani’s new boyfriend— in the final scene! How surprised were you when you got to that part in the script?

I was very surprised! I did not see that coming at all. Obviously, I have no scenes with Shannon Gisela’s character until the very end, or with Tyler Tomás Perez, who plays Matthew. Tyler wasn’t told about the twist until the very last minute. I knew before he did. During table reads for different episodes, I would look at him and think, “if only you knew I’m your mother, but you’re going to find out!” [Laughs] It was great.

During the season, we couldn’t film the front of my character’s house, which was this insane mansion on San Marino Island. We were always filming from the back where there was this big yacht parked behind the garden. I kept thinking, “why we can’t shoot from the other entrance? What’s the deal?” The closer we got to that scene, I realized that the house was part of the big reveal. It made a lot of sense at the end.

What are your hopes for Caroline in a potential Season 2? I’m excited for you to finally have scenes opposite Shannon, who is so good on this show.

It is very interesting to play such a ruthless character. I don’t think I’ve played anything like her before. Caroline has such a clear agenda and does not stop at anything to get what she wants. I hope Caroline continues down that path; whether she’ll get caught or not, I don’t know. It will be interesting to see where having no boundaries takes her.

All nine episodes of M.I.A are streaming now on Peacock