NICK OFFERMAN

The Parks and Recreation and Making It star, 49, steps away from comedy to take on a dramatic role in the upcoming sci-fi thriller series Devs (March 5 on FX and Hulu). Offerman stars as Forest, the CEO of a cutting-edge computer company at the core of a tech-based conspiracy investigation.

What about Forest intrigued you? He is a human man with foibles—the heart, emotions and susceptibility to narcissism—who also has his fingers on the buttons of quantum physics and the multiverse. That’s something I’ve never even contemplated, let alone seen presented. So the whole thing has been a fascinating thought experiment.

Are you a lifelong fan of sci-fi? I am, although the first formative fiction that I read was The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia and books in that realm. Neil Gaiman is a writer that I’ve really stuck with, and I obsessively read everything he writes.

How technologically savvy are you? I’m only as tech savvy as my life requires me to be. I enjoy the accessibility that it gives me to family or friends, but beyond that, I resent the amount that the business requires me to pay attention to it when I’d rather be reading a book, performing husbandry upon my wife [actress Megan Mullally] or working in my woodshop.

Why do you think people love Making It, co-hosted by you and Amy Poehler, so much? It boils it down, in the crucible of reality television, to “Here are some popsicle sticks, here’s some glitter, here’s some paint. Go.” We just find the most absolutely incredible magicians in that genre. I think that human beings will always love to see that kind of ingenuity.