Tonight on THE MIDDLE, one of the summer’s familiar faces, Bailey Buntain (from BUNHEADS – say that 10 times fast) is stopping by as Sue Heck’s new freshman buddy.  The results are as you’d expect and we spent some time chatting with Bailey about what to expect for her character Jenna, along with what we might see on BUNHEADS next season!

Let’s talk about THE MIDDLE and your character there – how did you get involved in the show?  Were you a fan, and then auditioned to be a part of it?
I was a fan.  I’ve watched the show since the first season, but when I got the audition for it, I was like “oh my god, I have to get this, I love this show’ [laughs]!  So, yeah, it worked out really great.  It’s always fun getting a job, but it’s even more fun when you’re really into the show, and excited to meet actors

Talk about the character, who she is, what we’ll see from you?
I play Jenna Taylor. She’s an incoming freshman at the high school that Sue and Axl go to.  Sue is a hot shot sophomore now, so she decides to mentor a freshman, and she mentors Jenna.  Jenna doesn’t have to try very hard.  She makes friends easy, and she’s nice. She fits in naturally, and Sue… Sue struggled a lot as a freshman.  She had that one episode where she could not get to class all the time and she had to like walk through Shop, with saw all over her, so she had a hard time [laughs].  So her idea of mentoring Jenna is funny because Jenna doesn’t really need the help.  It was really funny to do, and I’m excited to watch it.

Is it a character that we could see come back?
I don’t know.  I hope so.  You should say that out loud 10 times again for good vibes [laughs].  I have no idea! I know that sometimes they bring back characters; it will depend on Sue’s storyline and what happens with her.

You said that you loved the show before you were a part of it – do you only have scenes with Eden’s character, or did you get a chance to work with the other people that you’re a fan of?
Most of my scenes are with Eden; there was one, which was awesome, I had a hard time not laughing in the middle of the take.  There was also one with Axl, like a group scene, not just me and him.  Axl was there, which was nice.  It was exciting to meet these people because I love the show.  And also, Carly was in one of them, Sue’s best friend.  I love the episode where she and Carly do that dance, that’s one of my favorites [laughs]. Most of them were with Sue.

Talk about this character in comparison with what we’ve seen with Ginny – how different and how alike are they?
I think they have similarities in the sense of they’re both nice characters.  Neither of them are the mean girl, even though Jenna becomes popular, easier, makes friends easily.  She’s not one of those girls who care if Sue is popular or not.  She likes her, so she’s going to hang out with her.  Ginny is a good friend to her three close friends on BUNHEADS.  She’s a nice intentioned girl.  They’re different in the sense that Jenna is easy going.  I wouldn’t say that Ginny is easy going [laughs]. She’s high strung, very pragmatic, thinks everything through.  And Jenna is kind of like, the kick back.  I can have fun!  They’re different in those senses.

Let’s talk about BUNHEADS and what happens now, where we go after we left the finale?
Yeah, so BUNHEADS finale was left on a very controversial note.  We start back up in a few weeks.  We have not been given any scripts, so none of us knows what’s going to happen.  We’re like pulling our hair out.  I’m really excited for our first table read.  That last episode, really, every character’s life, something happened.

Do you have hopes of what you’d like to see for Ginny?
I hope that the four girls in general, that we, our relationship with Michelle, I’m hoping she decides to stay in Paradise.  I hope that relationship kind of grows, because Michelle is a little restricted, she doesn’t want to be the authority figure, and she still wants to be a kid, and the four of us are feeling her out.  I hope that relationship continue to grow.  I hope we see a little bit into her home life.  Maybe some interaction with her mom.  We hear a lot about it, we hear Ginny talking about her interaction with her mom, and we hear her mom talking about her interaction with Ginny, but we haven’t’ actually seen it yet.  That would be really fun.

You’re involved in dance, obviously, and music – is music something you’d like to pursue beyond acting?
Never say never [laughs].  I did theatre, so am like a classically trained soprano.  I have yet to have the interest or the passion to go and do a recording artist type thing. I mean, never say never.  I still love theatre, and I hope that I get to do it down the line again, which that involves singing!

Now that you’ve gotten do to THE MIDDLE, which you love, what other shows would you love to guest star on, that you’re watching?
Oh gosh!  I was so excited to THE MIDDLE because of the style of it – 30 minute, high comedy.  That was definitely top of my list that I wanted to do, so I’m so grateful that it worked out.  I would also love to do something totally different, something dramatic, like a dying patient on GREY’S ANATOMY would be really fun [laughs].  I think something like REVENGE would be fun.  BUNHEADS has its own style, and THE MIDDLE is such a heightened thing – something in a different direction to sort of round it out!

Be sure to watch THE MIDDLE, ABC Wednesdays at 8/7c!  For more info, head to ABC’s THE MIDDLE site!