Cintaine Schutte on Wyfie and how unexpected love can be

Wyfie has become an awards machine for Showmax, winning at MIPAfrica and Silwerskerm and earning nominations everywhere from Cannes to Seoul. Next up it’s in line for five National Film & TV Awards South Africa in November: Best Scripted Series, Afrikaans Series, Actress (Beáta Bena Green, also nominated at Silwerskerm), Newcomer (Mienke Ehlers, who won the category at Silwerskerm), and Supporting Actress (Marguerite van Eeden, who won the category at Silwerskerm).

Watch the trailer for Wyfie S2

2024 Naledi winner Cintaine Schutte (Fynskrif, Dinge van ‘n Kind) joined the cast for Season 2 as Maggie, Shay’s older crush. She steals the show in this week’s episodes, as Maggie and Shay (Green) host their first meal as a couple, and then Maggie accidentally wakes up in Die Grot and gets a taste of student life when she starts day drinking with Amanda (Celeste Loots from Trompoppie and One Piece).  

Roz Els spoke to Cintaine about her role in the hit university residence telenovela: 

How did you become part of Wyfie?

I did an audition on a Friday; on the Monday I went for a chemistry test with Beáta; and two days later I started shooting! I was quite surprised when everything happened so quickly.

I am very happy that the role came my way. I had already watched a bit of Wyfie, and it looked like a great project, but I also wanted to challenge myself. 

At the time, Marcel Spaumer [head writer] and his team already had an idea of ​​Maggie’s storyline, but not too far into the future. That was also a new experience, because, usually, when you star in a series, you get all the episodes’ scripts before you start shooting, but here I had to surrender myself completely to a new process, because they wrote as they filmed, block by block.

At first, I thought my character would only have a small story arc, just be in and out of the series, but then it was so cool that they decided to make Maggie’s role bigger.

Tell us more about Maggie.

Maggie is a professor. She’s head of the Political Science department at Eike. She is friends with Ragel [Therese Bam], who works in the same department. She meets Shay quite by chance and, as the story goes on, they frequently run into each other and start to connect, with Maggie not knowing that Ragel is actually Shay’s mother. This is where things get intriguing because you also catch Shay in the middle of her storyline where her relationship with her mother is not great, and then on top of that she starts this relationship with one of Ragel’s colleagues, and someone older than she is. 

Are there similarities between you and Maggie?

I’m not like Maggie at all but I think Shay evokes a softness in Maggie and that is something that I have as Cintaine, a softness. It’s my golden rule in life to do everything from a relaxed place, because then you can manage anything. And that’s what Shay brings out in Maggie. She tears down all those walls, so Maggie can just be.

How did you decide to approach how you played the role?

Maggie is almost 20 years older than Shay but I decided that I didn’t want it to be about an intergenerational relationship or a gay relationship. I wanted it to revolve around her falling in love with Shay, and how unexpected it is. 

Maggie has just returned to South Africa after being in Germany for 12 years, where she was in a relationship with a man, Ruan. It didn’t work out and she came back to South Africa. Maggie promised herself that she was going to start a new chapter, grow new roots, be focused, build a life and maybe be single for a while. But, as life goes, Shay captivates her, and now they must navigate the challenges and criticisms of society together. She’s an intelligent woman: she knows what people will think. But this time she’s a bit selfish, in the sense that she no longer cares about what other people think or expect of her.

What do you think viewers’ reaction will be?

It’s going to be interesting to see what the audience makes of it. I’ve already had my first Facebook auntie who rapped me over the knuckles. It’s going to happen, and that’s what I want. People need to have conversations about these things, even if they fight within themselves about it.

As storytellers, the greatest duty we have is not to judge our characters. When someone has something to say about them, you have to stand up for them. Whether you’re playing a villain or an angel, you have to be able to justify why they do what they do. Here it is about two people who fall in love with each other, and love each other.

How was your experience playing opposite Beáta?

Beáta has a similar working methodology to me in terms of how we outline scenes and characters. So it was very nice for me to work with her. On the days she had off, we quickly went for a coffee and talked about what was next in our storyline and how we wanted to approach it.

And the rest of the team?

Jeez, the Wyfie set is a well-oiled machine and the shooting process is very collaborative. You could feel on set how much everyone cared about the story. And of course the actresses who play the four wyfies – they are fantastic.

How do you think Wyfie has impacted how we tell stories in Afrikaans?

I love that there is no censoring. They don’t shy away from anything that is taboo or difficult to talk about or watch. That’s exciting for me.

While I was shooting Wyfie, I was also teaching the third years at Stellenbosch University’s drama department, and it was very interesting to hear that my students were bingeing Wyfie. Why? Because they relate to it! 

And then there are some of my friends who are 37 with three kids and Sunday is their sacred Wyfie time. Their husbands aren’t allowed to bother them, children are kept busy on the tablet, and then they binge a few episodes. 

I also have friends who are in their 50s who don’t understand why they watch it, but they can’t stop! (laughs) 

I think what Marcel and his team have managed – to keep the story relevant and alive – deserves all the recognition it’s getting. I’m very glad I was a part of it.

Binge all 45 episodes of Wyfie S1 now, with new episodes of S2 every Tuesday until 7 January 2025: 

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