Having become a star via Nickelodeon’s Zoey 101 and Victorious, Victoria Justice is making a notable transition into more adult roles with the new MTV series, Eye Candy , debuting Monday night.

Victoria Justice in Eye Candy.

Lindy (Victoria Justice) and Connor (John Garet Stoker) in Eye Candy.

The 21 year old actress stars as Lindy Sampson, a young woman whose sister was abducted in front of her years before. In the time since, Lindy has become a hacker, attempting to find out what happened to her sister while also keeping her eyes open for other criminal acts. As the series begins, Lindy becomes involved in the hunt for a serial killer, targeting women he meets over the internet.I spoke to Justice about making the leap into the horror/thriller world, Lindy’s skill set and more.Definitely. I’ve always been into suspenseful, thriller movies and that sort of thing and I also love a good mystery as well so I think that’s what really drew me to this show. When I was reading this script there were so many twists and turns and things that I didn’t see coming. I was like, if I’m already on the edge of my seat just reading it, I can only imagine when we film that how the audience is going to feel, you know?I was super excited also to do something that was totally different than anything I’ve done before, coming from Nickelodeon and doing comedy for so long, which I love, but I wanted to be able to… As an actress you want to play different roles and experiment and try new things and challenge yourself. And I felt like this was the right project. It’s definitely a more mature role which I think is perfect timing for me. I’m a 21 year-old woman now so I’m ready to do something that’s sexier and edgier and darker. I think this show incorporates all of that. Not only that, I think the writing is really, really good and I think the characters are really interesting and dynamic. My character, Lindy Sampson, who is this really highly skilled computer hacker, she’s a very complex character and she has all these emotional layers and has dealt with a lot of tragedy. So those are all the things that sort of drew me in.Yeah, definitely. I feel like it’s the perfect way to age up. it’s not like I’m jumping all the way to HBO or something. MTV definitely understands their audience. They’re a cool network to be a part of and the show is very current; the fact that we live in such a technologically centered world right now and the show incorporates that.You find in the opening moment of the show, my younger sister, I see her get kidnapped in front of my very eyes and I’m not able to save her. Obviously, that’s something devastating. It’s left a huge impact on Lindy’s life and she’s made it her mission. The reason why she’s such a good hacker is because she’ll do anything to find her sister. She feels like the police obviously haven’t gotten any strong leads yet so she wants to take matters into her own hands and that’s really what drives her all the time. I think it’s constantly on her mind.Yes. You’ll have to watch the season as it goes on to see what happens but there definitely is a run in with another character who is a hacker and does not use it for good and has kind of turned to the dark side of things. But my character, Lindy, everything she does is for the greater good or with a purpose. She’s never trying to hurt anyone. She’s always trying to help. She has a really big heart and she’s definitely a woman on a mission. When she gets her mind set on something, she does not let go of it.Yeah and that’s really fun. The fact that she works in the IT department, with George - who’s also one of her best friends and confidant and kind of sidekick who’s always willing to help her out. I think one of the reasons that Lindy chose to work in this IT department is it’s a really under-stimulating, boring job for her but she’s also able to have access to a computer all day so she can still continue her mission there. The way that the IT thing is shot, it’s more drab and not very exciting but when we get to this club, "IRL", and Lindy’s going on these dates and on this mission to like find the guy and that sort of thing, it’s kind of like a much more sexy version of her and she’s turning the volume up and playing this siren character, in a way.Wait, about what?Oh! Horror. I’m sorry, I thought you said whore. I was like, Lindy is not a whore! [Laughs]Definitely, things get really intense. Lindy's not afraid to put herself in the face of danger to try and get to the bottom of something, so that’s gotten her into some very precarious, creepy situations and there’s also an element to the show where my character joins the Cyber Crimes Unit. So it also has a procedural feel as well, so there’s these other storylines that come into play where I’m trying to figure out another mystery or crime with the Cyber Crimes Unit.That underlying mystery, as the show goes on you’ll see that the relationship between the serial killer and Lindy becomes a very twisted, complicated thing. I don’t want to give anything away but I’ll just say that as the series goes on, she’s kind of getting these clues about her sister and still trying to figure that out, but the main thing she’s trying to figure out is who this killer is.

Eye Candy premieres Monday, January 12th at 10:00pm ET/PT on MTV.Eric Goldman is Executive Editor of IGN TV. You can follow him on Twitter at @EricIGN , IGN at ericgoldman-ign and Facebook at Facebook.com/TheEricGoldman