Why Tally Craven From Motherland: Fort Salem Looks So Familiar

The fantasy drama show "Motherhood: Fort Salem," which debuted in 2020 on Freeform, quickly developed a dedicated following due its bizarre — yet wholly entertaining — premise. Set in an alternate reality where persecution of witches in America ended after the infamous Salem witch trials, the show follows three young witches — named Raelle, Tally, and Abigail — who are recruited into the military to fight against an anti-witch terrorist group called the Spree. 

The show blasted through its first two seasons with plenty of intrigue and melodrama. A third and final season is also already on the horizon, and promises to bring the story of the young witches and their fight against the Spree to its thrilling conclusion.

While watching the show, some viewers may have wondered why one of the central three witches, Tally Craven, looked so familiar to them. The character is played by Jessica Sutton and fans may indeed have seen her other popular work from the past few years. In fact, Sutton actually played a major part in one of Netflix's biggest movies from 2018, as well as making an appearance in a certain notable horror film.

Jessica Sutton notably starred in Netflix's 2018 romantic comedy sensation "The Kissing Booth," which chronicles the burgeoning high school love story between girl-next-door Elle and heartthrob Noah. The actress plays the part of Mia, the leader of a trio of high school mean girls that serve as the primary antagonistic force for the first part of the movie.

Ironically, perhaps the most important mark that Sutton's character makes on the film is that she is indirectly responsible for sparking the flames of passion between the movie's central couple: Mia is established to have a crush on Noah early on, and she tries to get closer to him by greenlighting Elle's idea of a kissing booth school fundraiser, so she can have an opportunity to kiss him. Her plan quickly backfires, however, with Elle and Noah sharing an intimate moment at the kissing booth right in front of her, instead.

Though "The Kissing Booth" proved to be a huge hit for Netflix, Sutton did not return for either of the sequels to the original movie, presumably to work on other projects like "Motherland: Fort Salem." The character continued to appear in the next movies, though, with the part instead being passed on to Camila Wolfson, another actress who may seem familiar to avid film and TV watchers.

Eagle-eyed watchers of the 2019 horror movie "Escape Room," which focuses on a group of six people trying to survive a series of deadly escape rooms, may have noticed that Jessica Sutton makes an appearance there, as well. She pops up near the beginning of the movie as the unnamed roommate of protagonist Zoey, a reserved Physics student. When Zoey receives a mysterious package, Sutton's character convinces her that it's most likely a gift from her physics professor. Of course, the package is later revealed to be an strange puzzle box — and essentially Zoey's ticket into the deathtrap that she spends most of the movie attempting to survive. 

Sutton's role is limited only to this initial part of the runtime ... however, considering the movie's big reveal about who the perpetrators of the deadly escape room are, there is at least some ambiguity regarding whether Zoey's roommate could have somehow been in on the plan or not. However, neither Sutton nor Zoey's roommate make an appearance in the 2021 sequel "Escape Room: Tournament of Champions" so a definitive answer to that particular plot thread is unlikely. Either way, this appearance a cool cameo for fans of Sutton's work on "Motherland: Fort Salem."