Arcana 2:

Aileen Kwon’s Profile of Amy Stirling and Kris Middendorf for Livewire Magazine

SHOWMANCE IN THE MOONLIGHT: HOLLYWOOD’S LATEST MAGICAL IT-COUPLE

Written by Aileen Kwon

Published in the May 2029 Edition of Livewire Magazine

One is an overnight Hollywood phenomenon fifteen years in the making. The other is a mind-reading witch who is literally redefining our idea of what entertainment can be. For two years they’ve commanded the public’s attention. Now that they’ve combined their powers, they are fully primed for world domination. 

* * * 

It’s 4:49 PM on a Tuesday, I’m two sips into a Negroni, and I am sitting at a bar, sandwiched between two people I never expected to talk to in my life. On my right? Her, dressed in a rock and roll t-shirt, combat boots, and a black leather jacket, her eyes covered by a pair of designer sunglasses. On my left? Him, dressed in a crimson Robert Graham blazer, the shirt beneath open just enough for hint of a scar over his heart to be visible. As I ask questions, the two of them laugh and flirt at each other quite literally over me, making my head spin and my cheeks burn from being within the blast radius.

I should start from the beginning. 

Like most people in the world, I’d never heard of Kris Middendorf before 2026. That was the year that Reign of Terror came out. Lynn Alverson’s swashbuckling story of high adventure in the darkest lows of the French Revolution - adapted from the runaway historical lit sensation that nobody outside of BookTok saw coming and everybody on BookTok saw coming - boasted a star-studded cast, enormous sets that more or less took over a quiet Belgian town for its ten month shoot, and a Colin Grist script that would go on to win an Oscar. Not that anyone remembers or cares about any of that three years later - all anyone could talk about was that guy, the guy who’d played the cruelly depraved Commandant Gaspard Saint-Just. The guy with the eyes that seemed to burn like sparking pieces of coal, the guy from that scene in the Tower, the scene in which Saint-Just fought and killed two of the film’s heroes while completely nude, the one that instantly cemented the arrival of an all-time villain and a brand new male sex symbol all in one. But just who was that guy?!?

That guy was Kris Middendorf, Hollywood’s latest overnight sensation fifteen years in the making. And just because I didn’t know about him, it doesn’t mean others hadn’t been further ahead of the curve. Those who saw 2022’s indie darling Grand Central were already familiar with the dangerous glint in Middendorf’s eyes. Everyone who saw the horror-drama series Crossroads (all thirteen of them) knew what he could do with a deranged killer. New York theater-goers have seen him pop up in various high-end off-Broadway productions, including bold revivals of Twelve Angry Men and Richard III. Now, of course, he needs no introduction. As Matthew Diamond, Cypher Rose’s will-he-won’t-he-turn-out-to-be-a-villain love interest, Middendorf has captured the imagination of movie goers all over the world. With the recently released sequel already grossing more than 300 million, his star seems poised to climb farther and farther.

Middendorf is also famous for wanting to do as much as he possibly can of his onscreen work, famously putting on weight and then shedding nearly eighty pounds for his best supporting actor nominated turn in Marie Wiśniewska’s The First Step to Hell. But was that really him in those horseback riding sequences in Cypher Rose? “My mother owned a few horses out in a stable in Warendorf. I love horses, I’ve been around them ever since I was a baby.” Okay, what about the sword fights in Reign of Terror? “As much as I could. As much as they’d let me. There’s a point at which blades are getting too close to your face and the insurance company puts their foot down. But about eighty percent of it is me.” The underwater fight scene in Cypher Rose 2? “I’m not saying it was fun,” Middendorf says with a laugh, “but I did do it. Went through the whole training about how to convince your body it’s not actually drowning, and then spent four days shooting it.” 

It’s part of why, even now that he’s a huge movie star, Middendorf is still finding the time to star in theatrical productions. “I think as humans we recognize when something real is happening in front of us. There’s a heft, a weight to it, that takes our breath away. Even if sometimes it’s an illusion, the fact that it’s still something humans did is what makes it compelling to our eyes.” Middendorf famously made headlines last year when he very loudly and publicly walked away from the production of disaster epic Maelstrom when it was revealed that part of the script had been written through generative AI. Was that motivated by the same impulse for real connection? “Absolutely. Look, end of the day? We’re not curing cancer, we’re not ending famines. There is no absolute good at the end of what we do to justify the means - the good is that we are actually doing it and connecting at a human level. The moment you start to subtract the human element out of that equation, it very quickly loses any appeal to me. I’d rather do another production of Shakespeare instead, even if it’s just in a small blackbox down in the East Village or something.”

As notorious as Middendorf has been these past few years, the person sitting on the other side of me at this downtown Manhattan bar is one of the few on the planet that could actually eclipse him. With one notable possible exception, no one has had more digital ink devoted to them in recent times than Amy Stirling, the magical telepath who performs under the stage name of the Silver Witch. In just two short years - and it’s hard to believe it has been barely more than two years - Ms. Stirling has gone from a grad school dropout to one of the world’s most popular entertainers, headlining a world tour that performed in over fifty American cities and sixteen different countries. (Her new tour, Hearts and Minds, has just kicked off, and is set to raise those numbers to seventy and twenty-two respectively.) Along the way, she also took time off to support the Andrea Shepherd presidential campaign, survived an assassination attempt, and even drew the ire of controversial religious group the Agnus Dei. 

Comparing the Amy Stirling that is here at this bar to the woman in the shaky iPhone videos from her first performance at the South River Tavern, it’s a startling transformation. The Silver Witch of 2027 was a little jittery, a little awkward, her untested nature on display. “If I could do it all over again?” Stirling muses. “I think maybe I’d do a few months of stand-up before I got started. Or busking in the streets. Something to build up my showman’s callouses. Because I had zero of them when I started performing and I got thrown into the deep end so fast.” 

“The deep end suits you,” Middendorf chimes in. It’s easy to see his point. Stirling carries herself with a steely assurance now, her every move both sharp and precise and graceful in an unbothered way. Her voice is sonorous and steady, all trace of jitters gone. She wears her leather jacket like it was an extension of her skin and her sunglasses like they’re shielding the world from her glow rather than the other way around. Even her shows have evolved from what they once were, with her recent blowout at Madison Square Garden earning rave reviews for managing to be both larger and more intimate than last year’s performances at smaller venues. 

“In a way,” Stirling says, taking a sip from her French 75, “I guess I got my own version of that training, the one about not feeling like you’re drowning even though the water’s over your head.” 

Reports that the two of them were going out began to swirl with the arrival of the new year, following sightings of them at various restaurants, social events, and even a movie premiere. How did the two of them first meet? Stirling bursts out laughing. “We had our meet-cute at the president-elect’s Christmas party, in a rooftop bar in Manhattan, surrounded by NBA players and rock stars.” 

“We are America’s least relatable couple,” Middendorf quips, joining in on the laughter. 

They played coy about their relationship for a while, dodging questions from reporters and paparazzi for almost three months. Now, they are very publicly embracing the couple label. What changed? “We figured out what we were doing,” Middendorf says. “We had some conversations. Before those, we didn’t know what we were doing, so we couldn’t tell anyone what that was. It really was that simple. But then a couple of things came into focus for us.”

The timing of when things came into focus - along with Stirling and Middendorf’s public announcement that they’re a couple - has not exactly been subtle or easy to ignore. The reversal in their public position came just days after Lawrence Donahue’s public threats of violence against Stirling around the inaugural show of the Hearts and Minds tour. It’s the latest public display of public sentiment against Stirling, and one of the most overly violent. The investigation into that incident has led to the arrest of more than two dozen individuals, lending credence to the idea that Donahue’s were serious, credible threats. Having made it to the other side of her Madison Square Garden performance, how does Stirling feel about the whole debacle? Her answer comes with little expression besides a terse shrug. “Everyone’s a critic.” 

Is that really all she has to say on the matter? Did Donahue’s threats play into their relationship at all? I start to ask my next question before I feel a tap on my shoulder. “We’re not here to talk about Lawrence Donahue,” Middendorf says. “We’re not giving him any more free coverage. That’s not what today’s about. Next question.” As a series of moments, it feels like a good microcosm of their dynamic as a whole. Light and bubbly until it’s not. Self-deprecating, but with enormous amounts of admiration for one another. And ready, at any moment, to jump to the other’s steely defense. 

What originally attracted Middendorf to Amy Stirling? “Well, she’s someone who just spent a year making something that so many people thought was impossible happen. That’s always attractive. But she’s also smarter than I am, and more well-spoken, and funnier, all of which I take as a personal challenge to do better and get at her level.” He says that last bit with a crooked grin that wrings a laugh out of Stirling. “But no, really it’s that she can do something amazing and is using that to push forward our ideas of what entertainment can be and what an artist can do with a platform. I’d be all about that even if I didn’t also like her shows - but I do like her shows! Before I was her boyfriend, I was her fan, which I imagine helped a bit with the initial burst of simpatico.” 

What about Ms. Stirling? What drew her to Middendorf? “I mean, I saw that tower scene in Reign of Terror. I saw the naked.” After the laughter’s died down, she adds, “No, Kris is exactly the kind of artist that I’ve always admired. He never wants to do the same thing twice, he’s always trying to push an envelope. And so he makes things that are really human, and which really connect with the hearts and minds of his audience. Really, he’s doing the same thing that I do, but without the cheat code of a magic Harbinger ring.” 

“That’s what got my attention,” Stirling continues, “but what has held my attention is the way he is when he isn’t working. He’s kind, he’s considerate. He has the smallest ego of any actor I’ve ever met. He’s thoughtful, he’s attentive. He notices when people are having a bad day, and he will go out of his way to cheer them up. It’s rare to be so at the center of a hurricane and still be thinking about others more than about yourself.” She stops for a moment, a slightly distant look in her eyes. “I really admire it.” Another pause, a sip of her drink, and then, “Plus, you know he has the prettiest eyes in the world. Those sure don’t hurt.” 

Now that they have outed themselves as a Hollywood couple, what are the two of them doing to celebrate? “Well, we’re trying to spend as much time together as we can, while we still can,” Middendorf says with a laugh. It’s a valid concern - the actor was supposed to be in Norway right now, shooting an upcoming detective drama before its temperamental detective shut down the production to do an eleventh hour rewrite on the script. Following an initial bout of shows, Stirling’s tour is on a brief logistical hiatus, but she’s about to plunge into nine months of non-stop travel. Are the two of them concerned about making a de facto long-distance relationship work? 

“No,” Stirling says. “Some couples find romance in building every part of their life together. I think we’re more the sort of people who enjoy sharing our lives with one another precisely because we have very rich, busy lives when we’re apart. It makes those moments when things overlap and we can be together so much more special and meaningful.” 

So what are they doing with this moment when their lives are overlapping? How are they spending these next few days while they’re both in New York City, where they both have recently-purchased apartments? “Mostly we’re keeping each other up way too late,” Middendorf says. 

“It’s not what you think,” Stirling says with a guffaw. “We’re seeing a lot of shows. A lot of plays, a lot of Shakespeare, some musicals. We’re basically trying to see everything in town, and then we just end up spending hours wandering up and down the city, talking about whatever we just saw that day.” 

It sounds nice, if a little tamer than what most would expect from a Hollywood couple. “There’s a party or two along the way,” Stirling admits. “We know how to have fun. Kris knows how to have fun. My dates with him are a lot more fun than the ones I went on back when I was in academia.” 

I can’t resist digging a little into that, and I ask if she means back when she was with Dr. Adam Blackwell, the magician who was famously responsible for saving Mr. Middendorf’s life nearly a year ago by assisting with a heart transplant. I’m not ready for the way that Amy Stirling rolls her eyes, or for what happens next. “Okay, let’s get one thing straight. I was never with Adam, all right? He and I just went on one date way back in the day, all right?”

My expression must be truly astounding, because Stirling’s face drops as she recognizes what just happened. “You meant back when I was… in grad school with Adam, didn’t you?” I nod meekly. 

For a good twenty seconds, there’s only silence. Then, a burst of laughter at my side, from Middendorf. It makes the muttered curse from Stirling just barely audible. A thousand and one questions swirl around my head, but the Silver Witch is faster: 

“Nope. I’m not here to talk about Adam Blackwell. That’s not what today is about.” She grabs her glass, and drains what’s left of her cocktail in a single go. “Next question.” 

The vault of Harbingers Arcana closes again on April 8, 2026. And the other pieces will be locked… forever? Help us make Season 2 and unlock more Arcana by becoming a member today.