Joseph Morgan has performed some nice villains all through his spectacular profession.
He presently performs Sebastian/Brother Blood on Titans Season 4.
TV Fanatic received the prospect to chat with Morgan about Titans Season 4 Episode 6 — the midseason finale — an hour that modified the trajectory of the sequence.
We’re now delving into spoiler territory so contemplate your self spoiler-warned, Titans fanatics!
Could you communicate a bit about how you bought concerned with Titans?
It got here by means of my agent. I suppose they submitted me for it. And the primary I heard of it was speaking to my agent, and he mentioned, “look, there’s this, they’re quite interested in you for this show Titans.” I mentioned, “well, what do I have to do?” And he mentioned, “nothing, just sit tight and, and we’ll see.”
And then it took place a short time after that. I received the provide to come to the present, and I mentioned I needed to have a Zoom with the showrunner to communicate to him concerning the half and all the things. And they mentioned, “good, because he wants to talk to you as well.”
They despatched me a few episodes as a result of I hadn’t seen the present earlier than, so I received the tone of it and the texture of what it was. Then I talked to Greg Walker for about an hour, simply concerning the character and their concepts for the story.
The huge draw for me was that it was an origin story — that it was seeing this man from when he was not in any manner an excellent villain from when he was this man who felt fairly insecure and disenfranchised and actually sort of slightly bit resentful of how the world had handed him by. He was an absolute outsider.
And so to take him from that place to this virtually polar reverse character who’s assured and andic and highly effective and broken, it was a extremely attention-grabbing journey for me.
I’m an enormous fan of the DC world, simply when it comes to having grown up studying many graphic novels and watching the previous Batman sequence once I was a child and all of that stuff.
I’ve all the time been fascinated by the villains, particularly the Batman villains. And so coming onto Titans was an opportunity to discover that world and attempt to floor it and root it in one thing actual. That was thrilling for me.
Sebastian has been such an excellent addition as a result of the Titans excel after they’re serving to somebody. What have you ever loved essentially the most about enjoying this position?
I’ve actually loved the one-on-one scenes that I had, particularly the stuff with Teagan that I did with Rachel. I really feel like constructing that bond between these two characters was actually essential to us and performs an element later within the season.
I hope it provides a manner to join with Sebastian as a result of you may have the primary three episodes the place he would not actually have something to do with any of the Titans. He’s on his personal journey, separate from them, which is very nice that the present did that gradual burn.
You meet this man, and you sort of get to know him, and you see all these items begin to occur to him, and that is manner earlier than he will get concerned with the Titans. He would not even see any of them till the tip of episode three!
I suppose simply enjoying these scenes that I felt had been integral emotionally, and giving individuals a manner into the character and giving me a manner in as nicely as a result of I used to be nonetheless discovering him over the primary few scenes I did.
You’re nonetheless exploring all through, however you realize, actually sort of discovering his speech sample and his demeanor, and the costume helps so much with that as nicely. But yeah, that was in all probability essentially the most satisfying factor: doing these one-on-one scenes with characters and getting to discover the character.
We’ve witnessed Sebastian’s previous and his battle to discover that means, however by the tip of episode 6, he is prepared to awaken Brother Blood. What are you able to inform me about his mindset within the temple as he apologized to Rachel and the others earlier than making that fateful choice?
All of his life, Sebastian has needed affirmation and affection and to be preferred and accepted. And he had that by means of his mom, and then he misplaced her. He had it by means of his girlfriend, Julie, and he ended that as a result of he felt like he was going to lose her. So he let that fulfill itself by getting in the way in which himself.
And then the Titans, he seems like they tried to assist him, however in addition they let him go. So he seems like they let him down.
All these instances, by means of Rachel and then by means of Jullie, by means of his mother, he is been provided this acceptance and affirmation and love that he is so desperately craved, and it is let him down. So when he’s provided energy as an alternative by Mother Mayhem, it is one thing totally different, and it is one thing that appeals to him and to Sebastian’s egoic aspect.
In the tip, he chooses that. He chooses energy over love as a result of he cannot stand the considered being nothing for the remainder of his life. He desires to imply one thing on the planet. He’s been looking out for that means, and this is somebody who’s telling him, “you are the prodigal son. You have a destiny. You are the chosen one,” and he cannot say no to that, for higher or worse. He cannot say no to it.
What are you able to inform me about our first introduction to Brother Blood when the sequence returns? Is the Sebastian we all know gone?
Well, I’ll let you know this, it is not like a swap the place he is simply this different character now, proper? He’s going to be Sebastian. He’ll be the identical character all through the entire present, however it’s simply that different aspect of him. He has this energy now.
So that confidence and that ego and that feeling that, like, I do deserve this, and I deserve to have a spot on this world, and I do have this future that is going to come extra and extra into play. And his humanity and his kindness will probably be much less and much less as a result of it is going to be the little cracks of it that we’ll witness, however it’s going to be his ego driving.
My thought from the start was not to make it a lot of a Jekyll and Hyde however to have it as one regular transition all through. So once we first see him once more, he is nonetheless altering.
He’s discovering who he’s now, and he is feeling these emotions and not solely this bodily energy that is manifesting itself inside, but in addition these totally different emotions and nonetheless this sort of remorse over the connection with Rachel that he jeopardized by doing this, but in addition there’s this different factor of he is turning into this individual now that individuals are taking discover of and individuals are even afraid of.
That is kind of intoxicating for him. As the journey progresses, we’re going to see that extra and extra come into play.
I’ve to ask, what was it like taking pictures the scene with Sebastian immersing himself within the blood?
It was intense. It was a reasonably tough scene to shoot as a result of there have been two totally different blood swimming pools in actuality—one with a inexperienced display screen that was so much deeper. And one on the set of the Temple of Azarath.
It was coloured water within the set, however within the pool, the deep pool with the inexperienced display screen there, it was like a sort of thick glucose liquid, which was extremely buoyant. So it was actually tough to go under the floor.
I ended up having to maintain a 40-pound dumbbell in every hand simply to be heavy sufficient to sink beneath.
I had to be sewn into my costume, so it did not float up round my head as I went underneath. It was fairly, fairly taxing. But that was nothing in contrast to once I come out of the pool. So simply wait for that as a result of that was an entire different factor!
You’ve performed some nice villains all through your profession. I do know Klaus just about began off as a villain when he was launched on Season 2 of The Vampire Diaries, however we received to see a extra human aspect to him as his arc developed. It’s fairly the other of what we see with Sebastian/Brother Blood. What are your ideas?
Like you say, I’ve had some success enjoying a relatable villain. So from the start with Sebastian, I knew that the important thing could be to make him, so he isn’t simply evil for evil’s sake. He’s received to have a motive, and he is received to have battle in there.
And that is why it was integral for me from the get-go to present that he was sort and he was weak and that he had this, you realize, when he found this relationship with Rachel, that he actually latched onto that and that turned a vital factor for him.
I knew that additionally having had success in a present the place household is the middle of it, I knew that that relationship with Rachel would actually present that sort of disadvantage to his humanity. So there could be that battle. Then when he received the facility and received what he thought he all the time needed, he was shedding what he did not even know he needed, so there is a battle there.
It was virtually like enjoying Klaus for so a few years was good analysis for enjoying this half. There was so much that I used to be in a position to take from that, and to know that these are the essential issues that I believe individuals will reply to and, I believe for me, will enable me to floor this character in a actuality that folks will probably be empathetic too.
Mother Mayhem was the instrumental drive in getting Sebastian to flip to the darkish aspect. Could you communicate a bit about their relationship when the sequence returns?
Be cautious what you want for as a result of she’s been in a position to sort of manipulate and management him to a sure extent up till now. But as he will get extra highly effective and begins to query that dynamic, it is now not straightforward for her to management him. So it is not like they simply turn into this group united in like, “now we take out the Titans.”
It’s not that in any respect. There’s drama and battle there between the 2 of them, and in order that’s attention-grabbing shifting ahead. Certainly, that relationship has its sort of push and pull, and that is an attention-grabbing a part of the primary few episodes after the break that we’re going to see that dynamic sort of play out as a result of he wants to really feel like he is taking his personal energy.
He’s not going to really feel that whereas he is underneath her thumb or underneath her safety, and he additionally begins to query her motives.
Titans returns to HBO Max in 2023.
Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.
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