It ’ll be hard for Leland to top all the malevolent hijinks he father up to in season one ( getting a serial Orcinus orca relieve from prison , seducing the mother of one of his enemies , encouraging a budding “ incel ” to plan a masses shooting ) , but the show is called Evil — and there ’s no telling exactly how low Leland will go . “ People have causa to reverence him . And that probably does his affection dependable , ” Emerson recount io9 . “ He probably wakes up happy every morning . ” Shivers . Read on for our audience …
Cheryl Eddy , io9 : iniquity is a show about the genuine heller , with fibre that are actual monster , and yet Leland Townsend is absolutely the most sinister character on the show . What ’s it like cause to fiddle someone like that ?
Michael Emerson : It ’s great fun ! He ’s a mystery to me , certainly . We ’re not certain what his motives are or what the long - term plan is — other than sort of mischief-making and create as much mayhem as he can , set out in the way of life of David ’s [ Mike Colter ] holy orders . That seems to be kind of it . But then he seems to be a fairly high government agency - bearer in a sort of clandestine man of , you know , cloak-and-dagger rituals and mischief . He seems to rather bask the material he does ! He seems to take some pleasure in it , and he ’s funny upon juncture .
Evil’s Leland Townsend (Michael Emerson) next to a portrait of someone he’s probably not a big fan of.Image: Elizabeth Fisher/CBS
io9 : I was really start to ask you about that , because even though he is definitely a bad guy , Leland often functions as Evil ’s comic relief , too . What ’s it like bringing that component into a show that tends to be more serious ?
Emerson : I think there ’s a fair amount of wit in the show all around , but I ’m fortunate that I have more opportunity to display it . I guess if you ’re a force play of misrule , then making fun , or mockery , or blasphemy in this vitrine , those are all just pleasurable tools for his body of work . Whatever it is in his childhood or his younker that has take him to this blank space , he must have a signified of office and vengeance , all of that ’s so good because now he can do things that other citizenry ca n’t , and the great unwashed have get to reverence him . And that probably does his heart dear . He probably wakes up happy every sunup [ laughs ] .
io9 : What attract you to the persona of Leland , and how much did you personally contribute into shaping his character ?
Leland looking very jolly in an otherwise gruesome scene from Evil season two.Image: Elizabeth Fisher/CBS
Emerson : I just play what ’s written on the varlet . I stand for , I gauge there ’s some interpretation postulate , but I just seek to let what ’s written for me be the sort of parameters , or the blueprint , for the function . And then the relaxation is just me getting down inside it and playing around with it , really . I do n’t need to say that it ’s not hard workplace , but it ’s more fun than a lot of acting jobs are because the language is safe and they write him with a nice turn of phrase here and there . He ’s droll . He ’d be somewhat good company if he was n’t so deadly unsafe .
io9 : Did you base your portrayal on anyone , fictional or material ?
Emerson : peradventure I have seen citizenry in my life who were bad thespian but did it in a wizard mode — I might have sort of charge that away somewhere . But I consider my experience of play villains , whether it ’s on the stage or before the camera , you ca n’t do a flock of mustache - twirling . You have to toy the opposite . You have to find what hold them blend , and what keeps them effective . And also you have some obligation to be entertaining [ jape ] . So I try out to live up to those possibly ego - enforce standards .
Christine Lahti and Michael Emerson play an engaged couple that nobody is rooting for.Image: Elizabeth Fisher/CBS
io9 : Most of the time , you may assume that the scoundrel of a chronicle does n’t imagine she or he is a villain ; they believe they ’re in the right hand even if it ’s in opposition to the other character . But do you guess in this casing of Evil , Leland bang he ’s the defective guy wire ?
Emerson : Yeah , unlike most of the bad guy rope I ’ve play , or the men of questionable morals , I call up Leland get that he ’s a bad actor , that he ’s a really tough one , and he does n’t wish . And that ’s kind of respectable , and freeing for me as an actor in the role — it releases me from grizzly - er consideration of morals , ethics , behaviors . He can just make for , sort of . bet with it .
io9 : watcher do n’t know yet what Leland will get up to in time of year two , but I thoughtseason one ’s terrify “ incel ” episodewas his best worst here and now so far . Would you agree ?
Leland with a buddy in a scene from season one.Image: Elizabeth Fisher/CBS
Emerson : To me that was the scariest episode because it was plausible . Because there are vulnerable people out there who could be persuaded by someone like Leland to do something terrible . It pock me . It worried me to work that numeral on a vulnerable soulfulness . That one , I think “ Wow ! I hope somebody does n’t plug me out on the street after mix up me with this character reference I play ! ”
io9 : Has that ever happened , peradventure not getting punch out , but someone confuse you with one of your characters ?
Emerson : For some masses , the line gets a little bit blurred sometimes . You bonk , I ’ve take on eccentric that make masses nervous . I ’ve had people scream and run off from me . That kind of affair . Which is flattering , in a room — it ’s also kind of zany . But it ’s a will to how much they ’ve immersed themselves in the story , how much they have suspended their unbelief .
io9 : We ’ve learned a petty number about Leland ’s background — his existent name , where he grew up , etc . Will we be read any more this season ?
Emerson : Not that much , I would say . We ’re not gon na go back in time and meet Leland at another stage of his life history or anything like that . We ’ll get little bits and piece , but I think everything [ show creators Michelle and Robert King ] require you to recognize , you pretty much already have it off . It ’s not going to be a character like I played on Lost , whereas we go back and learn about Ben Linus ’ childhood or something , [ and ] it mitigate our feeling about him , the fictitious character . I think Leland is go to remain a bit of a mystery , and a really big guy cable — if a more or less entertaining one .
io9 : Since we wo n’t be looking back into his past , will we see Leland develop as season two progresses ? Will viewers ’ view of him alter by the end of the time of year ?
Emerson : Yeah ! Because a spate of the power moral force , sure relationships where we thought he was in command or in charge , some of that stuff ’s going to get turned on its promontory . We will decidedly see Leland in surprisingly vulnerable situations . We wo n’t feel much pity for him because they ’re situation he ’s brought on himself , but still , he go into some trouble . [ Laughs ]
io9 : Leland ’s relationship with Kristen ( Katja Herbers ) is probably Evil ’s most contentious , peculiarly now that he ’s plan to marry Kristen ’s mother ( Christine Lahti ) . What ’s it like playing those scenes with them ?
Emerson : A twain of real pros , you know ? We have a batch of playfulness , me and Katja and Christine and I. It ’s a testimonial to the writing , we go in and if we just say the line on the Thomas Nelson Page , the scenes will crackle . And Katja ’s quality , Kristen , has ferment out to be quite an able opponent for Leland . The more she terminate flirt by ego - imposed formula , the more hassle she can be for Leland , I think .
io9 : Is that something we ’re going to be seeing more of this season ?
Emerson : Yeah , I think so because one of the thing we search in time of year two is : where is Kristen on the scale of good and bad ? What are her substantial ethic , values ? What are the thing she wo n’t do ? Are there any ? [ Laughs ]
io9 : I was function to postulate something exchangeable about Leland . Is there a business that even he wo n’t cross ? Is there any person left in that hombre ?
Emerson : I believe there are in all likelihood some things that even he would flinch at . Not certain I could name one yet , but I suppose it ’s potential to meditate such a thing . But he is rather immune to the normal shocks and horror that afflict feeling humans . [ Laughs ] I stand for , I approximate he ’s a human , but of a different form .
io9 : A recurring theme on Evil is skepticism . Leland , however , seems to fully subsist in a world where the supernatural is real . What ’s that wish for him , and what ’s it like playing a character like that ?
Emerson : It gives the fictitious character , and me the thespian , the exemption to just say audacious things . Bold pronouncements , sometimes cut observations that are painfully lawful . You know , he believes that he has find humanity ’s act . He ’s catch their number ! And they ’re fallible , weak , contradictory , hypocritical — he at least says just what he means . So in a way , I think he considers himself as occupying a high basis .
io9 : You ’ve touched on this a bit , but in your life history , we ’ve interpret you meet some very dark part — an opposer on Lost , a sequent killer on The Practice , a monster - of - the - hebdomad on thatX - Filesepisode about the Brady Bunch house . You ’ve even voice the Joker . For you in person , what ’s the charm in these sorts of function ?
Emerson : I ’m attracted to the stuff that ’s well - written , or funny , or poetic . And I guess most of the stuff I really react to is character who are ambiguous and cryptic and peradventure severe , but also — again , characters that have a wittiness about them . I do n’t know if it ’s me seek out the villain character , or if it ’s just the scripts that come my way , or if it ’s the stuff I ’m right for . You have it away , I ’m never gon na start the hero in a westerly movie or anything like that . There are certain things I ’m correct for . get a especial sort of voice and speaking in a picky sort of agency that I ’m not even always wholly cognisant of , I cogitate it alarm people . There ’s that vein of instinct in the American society that distrusts people who are verbal , multitude who talk too much or talk too well . You know , we pride ourselves on being do - ers , and not talkers . Walk the walk , do n’t talk the talk , all of that variety of affair . We really adhere to those estimate . And so I recollect for me , these sort of ambiguous or forbidding character are a safe fit . They ’re kind of innate for me . If the camera ’s up close to me and I talk a certain way , present the lines a certain mode , I imagine it could be cool down . [ Laughs ] I intend by the same token , something in my intonation or delivery disqualifies me , in a way , from play a normal good cat . I ’ve played effective Guy , but they ’re usually odd . So I mean it ’s more a quality of oddness or grotesquerie that terminate up being the right fit for me .
io9 : The last pellet of the season two premiere where Leland just laughs at the camera was very unsettling .
Emerson : Oh yeah , and they made it look like it was an electronic glitch in the surveillance system ! A glitch that reveals some recondite truth about Leland : that maybe on some degree that is not visible from the Earth’s surface , he is more flagitious than we think .
io9 : Hopefully we ’ll be getting to see more of that in season two ! Anything else you’re able to tease about what ’s come up ?
Emerson : Oh yes , bide tuned . There ’s going to be some gaga stuff ! There ’s a lot to do with turning Catholic sacraments on their head in this season . And there ’s a lot to do with blood . [ Laughs ]
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Michael EmersonMike Colter
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