Tatiana Maslany on portraying a female Hulk: 'Our culture is so obsessed with female bodies'

The story of 'She-Hulk: Lawyer' is, at its core, about one woman's experience, and the femininity of lead character Jennifer Walters inspired the writers and stars of the new Disney+ series to wondering how his green life might differ from the traditional male Hulk.

Tatiana Maslany stars as Walters in 'She-Hulk,' which premiered August 18. Walters' life as a hardworking lawyer is turned upside down when she accidentally receives a blood transfusion from her cousin, who happens to be Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), also known as the Incredible Hulk.

For Maslany, the changing nature of her character - thanks to the powers received from this blood - offered a unique opportunity to explore how women are perceived in various spaces and to play with the prejudices and preconceived ideas of the public on femininity. "His anger, his magnitude, his taking up space in a room — all of that is fertile ground to play," she told POPSUGAR during the Television Critics' Association panel on Aug. 3. flip the norm on its head so you can laugh it off, but you're also aware that it's the truth of every woman who walks into a space."

For Maslany, the dual nature of his role was rich in symbolism. "The duality of his two bodies, I find it so fascinating," she said. "What's it like to walk into a room as a 6'7" woman, and what's it like to walk into a room as a 5'2" woman? It's so prevalent, and because our culture is so obsessed with women's bodies, whether it's aesthetically or politically or in terms of rights or in terms of autonomy, what we're doing on this show is touching to all of these concepts - again, through the hilarious brain of [editor] Jessica [Gao]. So it's really deep, but at the same time, it's clunky."

Gao also said that she used Maslany's specific experience as a woman to shape the script, especially because it contrasts so starkly with the experience of a very well-known man. "There's been a lot of thinking and thinking about – what's the experience of a woman going through all of this?" she told POPSUGAR. "The fact that the Hulk already existed, and was thus established in the public mind, required special attention and consideration." Gao continued, “There is an existing character related to him who has gone through this exact journey, but at the same time, they are very different. You cannot expect two people to go through a similar situation but react the exact same way. It's kind of the heart of their relationship on the show - kind of seeing that there are things they can relate to, but at the end of the day, it's two people different."

She agreed that Walters' gender ensured that she would have a different experience than her cousin and would be perceived differently by the people in the film and by the audience - just like women and...