National Post (National Edition)
LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON?
THE SECOND SEASON OF CRIME DRAMA MOVES INTO EVEN DARKER TERRITORY
When you're the lead in a hit TV series that delves into the minds of serial killers and murderers each week, of course you'd pause a beat to consider whether all the characters involved can have a happy ending.
“I don't even know what that would be,” Prodigal Son star Tom Payne says with a laugh.
In its recent second season première, fans watched as Payne's Malcolm Bright — a profiler with the New York Police Department who is the son of a serial killer (Michael Sheen) — covered up a murder by his sister, Ainsley (Halston Sage), of season 1 villain Nicholas Endicott (Dermot Mulroney) in last year's finale. The new season picks up with Malcolm deepening his complicated relationship with his incarcerated father, Martin, a Manhattan doctor who helps his son catch criminals from behind bars.
Q Were you surprised by how the first season ended?
A I was a shocked. Halston is really this sweet lovely woman and she went completely nuts in that last scene. But it was great, it worked out exactly as it should have. I love at the end that tableau of them facing off against each other and then Martin being on the phone. Of course, he's the last person in the world that Malcolm wants to know about this.
It's like his worst nightmare. Now he's got this secret that he's got to try and keep and he's trying to protect his sister, but he's doing that by lying to her. Every time he sees his sister, he's on edge wondering, “Does she remember anything?”
Q How is the fallout from Endicott's murder going to play out this season?
A Malcolm wants to talk about it and the only person he can talk about it with is his dad. So it's the same thing as last season where all he wants is a hug from his dad, but he can't get one because his dad's a monster.
Q Is Malcolm slowly becoming more like his dad?
A That's always been his biggest fear — is he going to become like his dad? He still doesn't know if there was something that triggered his father. So he's afraid of that within himself, and he's afraid that one day that switch might flip in his own head.
Q What have you liked most about this role?
A From a behind-the-scenes point of view, it's been very nice to be the lead and to set the tone and be the leader and give everyone a nice experience of coming to work … In terms of playing Malcolm, I came off The Walking Dead, where I had been a bit frustrated that I hadn't had enough to do. I didn't have any weighty scenes with anyone. I didn't feel like I was being tested as an actor. Then Prodigal Son came along and it was like, “Here's the hardest test you'll ever have. Do everything, work every hour of the day” … which is great. This is the hardest I've ever worked and it's really stretched me in different ways, but it's made me a better actor and a better person in a lot of ways.
Q Stories about serial killers are popular in film, TV and books. Why do you think we're all so fascinated by them?
A Serial killer stuff is a murder mystery and people love solving a crime. Watching a show like ours where there's a murder a week, it's fun to try figure out who it is and how they did it. But as a real-life thing, it's scary. There are so many true-crime documentaries. This season, the showrunners talked to our advisers and they asked, “How would they get away with this murder?” and our advisers said, “Well, there's no murder if there's no body.” So that's what we had Malcolm do.
Q Season 2 takes place in a post-COVID world. But there's an early storyline with JT (Frank Harts) that touches on systemic racism and police brutality. Why was it necessary for the show to tackle that this year?
A I think it would have been odd if we didn't. We have a very diverse cast, and if we didn't mention it, it would be strange. I think some people might be uncomfortable with it, but this show is about serial killers and people being murdered … The only way we're not going to be uncomfortable with it is if we identify it and ask, “Why is that happening?” This is one person's experience with the world, and that's not my experience, but it might be helpful if I understood them. If we go through this uncomfortableness, we can have a conversation about it and come out the other side … Our show is so many things at once: it's super entertaining, super scary and, at times, super real.