Jovan Adepo has been having a busy yr. He’s hopped around the globe filming for Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” and now he’s back in Europe working on the second season of Netflix’s “3 Body Problem” — all as his performance as Major Leroy Hanlon in “It: Welcome to Derry” rolls out on HBO. The actor has at all times had a restless talent, though. He made his big screen debut in 2016’s “Fences” opposite Denzel Washington (who also directed), and he’s since appeared in Darren Aronofsky’s “Mother!,” Damien Chazelle’s “Babylon” and on television in “Jack Ryan,” “Watchmen” and “When They See Us.” Adepo previous dipped his toe into the Stephen King universe playing Larry Underwood within the 2020 Paramount+ adaptation of “The Stand,” but he’s now becoming a outstanding fixture inside it as Leroy Hanlon in “Welcome to Derry.” (Season 1 concludes on Dec. 14.)
The Hanlon family plays a very important role in King’s “It” novel and its adaptations: Mike Hanlon is considered one of the important characters within the book. He’s depicted as a baby in Andy Muschietti’s 2017 film adaptation (played by Chosen Jacobs), and as an adult (Isaiah Mustafa) in its 2019 sequel. Because “Welcome to Derry” is a prequel to those movies, Leroy Hanlon is Mike’s grandfather: considered one of the few Black men living within the titular Maine town circa 1962. He arrives from Louisiana together with his wife, Charlotte (Taylour Paige) his son, Will (Blake Cameron James) and a combat wound on his amygdala that forestalls him from feeling fear.
©HBO/Courtesy Everett Collection
Given the role that fear plays in Derry, Hanlon becomes an integral player within the military’s quest to infiltrate and extract the town’s dark curse. Despite his condition, though, Hanlon still showcases the gamut of emotions throughout the series, showcasing Adepo’s range while still remaining a gradual, assertive presence.
Ahead of the finale, Variety caught up with the actor to speak about his part on the show, his relationships together with his co-stars and his globetrotting yr of performances.
Tell us the way you landed the role of Leroy on ” Welcome to Derry.”
I met Andy possibly 5 or 6 years ago. We had spent a while together in Vancouver, but we hadn’t worked together before. It wasn’t until the premiere of “Babylon” in L.A. that Andy got here as much as me after the film. It was obviously good to see a friend, but then my agent was like, “Hey Andy, I do know that you simply’re working on something, and I feel Jovan will probably be right for it.” Apparently they’d already been in communication, so he knew what she was talking about. After that, all of it happened relatively quickly. We had a pair conversations, and I did one tape with Andy. He just desired to see if I could do a selected scene that handled me and my son. After that, he was similar to, “You bought the part.” If only all auditions were like that.
Were you a fan of Andy Muschietti’s two “It” movies? Had you read the book by Stephen King?
I had not read the book. I watched the unique miniseries starring Tim Curry, after which I watched each movies. I used to be a fan of Andy’s before I met him in Vancouver — not less than the primary movie had come out, so I used to be already a fan of him as a filmmaker, and the prospect to do the prequel version of this character was really exciting.
The Hanlon family is basically present within the novel, and an older version of Leroy is briefly introduced in Andy’s first film, played by actor Stephen Williams. Did you study any of this source material to higher understand the family and character?
After I used to be forged, I read the book and tried to take as much as I could from it. But Andy was really an excellent tool — he’s so well versed in your complete “It” universe, and the Stephen King universe. If I had any questions or any ideas about Leroy and the Hanlon family, he was the very best resource to make use of. He was really just instrumental in me playing Leroy in a way that honored the the Hanlon legacy within the franchise.
Courtesy of Brooke Palmer/HBO
Was Leroy then mostly an invention of of Andy’s, based on the main points from the book?
I feel it was a mixture of individuals, Andy and [executive producer] Barbara [Muschietti], after all; Jason [Fuchs] and Bradley [Caleb Kane], the 2 showrunners; after which also [writer] Cord Jefferson. Cord was a giant a part of the creation of Leroy, which I used to be enthusiastic about because I worked with Cord on “Watchmen,” so getting a probability to play a personality that he had hands in again was very exciting.
Leroy is unquestionably an interesting character, having this amygdala damage that forestalls him from feeling fear. How do you approach playing a personality who doesn’t experience fear without making him feel like a robot?
It was an issue that I had for Andy and Barbara once we first began: “Is he actually proof against fear?” I like to think about that he has just the next tolerance for it. My concern was finding a strategy to prevent Leroy from being a boring character. Because when you can’t feel fear in a horror project, what are we doing? Andy and Barbara put my concerns to rest really early, by saying that if he doesn’t feel fear, he feels every part else extra. He still feels insecurity, still feels anxiety. He feels anger, passion, happiness, all of that. He gets opportunities to precise just about every other emotion on the spectrum.
And I never felt that he was completely absent of fear, either. I just think that there’s something really particular that will trigger it. What scares him is feeling like his family’s in peril, especially if it’s from his doing, or he thinks it’s his fault. The standard jump scare might not be as as crippling for him because it is to other characters within the show, but I feel when it comes right down to his son and his wife being in a predicament that he can’t control or he can’t immediately fix, that’s what he’s afraid of.
And that’s what makes the character so wealthy. He’s not only a soldier, but a husband and a father as well. Tell us about constructing that on-screen family dynamic with Taylour and Blake.
It was fun. I met with Taylour first, because so far as I do know, we were the primary two people forged within the show. We met up, had coffee, and we just sat on the coffee shop. It felt like hours, just attempting to work out what the dynamic was going to be. Obviously, Charlotte and Hanlon are two drastically different characters, but we wanted to search out the through line. They very much love one another, but they bump heads on how they see the world. So far as Leroy being within the armed forces, I used to be lucky enough that my father was within the Air Force. He was an airman from Tennessee, very similar to Leroy. So I actually had an excellent resource in what it felt prefer to be a young man raising a family, but in addition attempting to pursue a profession within the military. I talked about that with Taylor and we form of built up a relationship together in our journals, about how Charlotte and Leroy got here from Louisiana, are going from base to base, and are doing our greatest to boost a family. When Blake got here into the image, I remember Andy sent me his audition tape. He was like, “That is the child that’s going to be your son.” And I used to be like, “Oh, this kid is fucking amazing.” By the point we had met and he got here to do the scenes, it was kind of seamless. Blake, for his age, takes the job incredibly seriously. All the youngsters on this show take the work very seriously, but I’m keen on Blake because I spent essentially the most time with him. He was desirous to learn, very respectful, very driven and bold. He’s not afraid to make mistakes. He’s not afraid to try recent things. So bringing that form of variable into the equation of what me and Taylour had already talked about, it just really got here together in a very cool way.
Leroy also has a singular dynamic with Chris Chalk’s character, Dick Hallorann. What was it like constructing that dynamic as two Black soldiers, not only coping with their unique psyches, but with navigating Nineteen Sixties America?
Chris is a superb buddy. I’ve worked with him before, so this wasn’t like an introduction to Chris Chalk in any respect. Constructing the connection between between Dick and Leroy was really interesting, because they’re coming from different sides of the planet. For Leroy to be ranked officer as a Black man within the early ’60s, he needed to have been an exceptional person, an exceptional airman or soldier, because if for any reason they were going to advertise any individual, they 100% would have on condition that job to a white officer. But in the event that they gave it to Leroy, you’d must assume that he’s just an exceptional guy, and he’s still pretty young. Chris is older than me, but when Dick Hallorann comes into the image, Dick remains to be a non-public. So there’s a dynamic that we naturally had, where I used to be coming in as a man who’s earned his stripes and commands respect from everyone. Then Dick comes along, and there’s a scarcity of respect. I feel Leroy doesn’t like him, because he doesn’t understand him and he doesn’t want to know him. So there’s this weird friction that they’ve at first where they’re attempting to work out who the opposite person is, but over the series, you see them form of work out that they need one another. They need one another in a way that they probably didn’t realize until each of their backs are pushed against the wall. Attending to play that with Chris was fun, and it was relatively easy, because we all know one another pretty much. We understand how one another works, but in addition we’re each very competitive and we each wish to push one another to be higher.
Did filming “Welcome to Derry” conflict in any respect together with your schedule filming “The Odyssey”?
No, it was perfect. We began “Derry” just as we finished Season 1 of “3 Body Problem.” We stopped for like 5 or 6 months through the strike, after which we began again. We finished production on “Derry,” then I got here home and I got “The Odyssey” and I did just about all of the locations for it. We filmed in Morocco, we did Greece, after which we went to Italy, we went to L.A., then went to Iceland, Scotland, after which finished in L.A. again. In between those pockets of time, I possibly had like 4 or five days of pickup shoots for “Derry.” And after that, I went back and finished “The Odyssey.” Production resulted in August, and I went straight into “3 Body Problem” Season 2. I used to be lucky that all of it form of just worked out. The one thing that was tricky was, once we got here back from the strike, all the youngsters grew like three inches, and a number of the kids had facial hair. Puberty doesn’t care in regards to the actor strike, but we got it done.
Are you able to say who you’re playing in “The Odyssey”?
Nope. They’re still keeping every part under lock and key. I can’t even try to say anything because I’ll probably get in trouble, but you possibly can’t complain whenever you’re working with Christopher Nolan. He’s considered one of the highest dogs within the industry and incredibly talented. He and Andy are two filmmakers of a couple of that I’ve just been really honored to work with.
And the way are things happening “3 Body Problem” Season 2?
It’s been good. I don’t understand how much I can say, nevertheless it’s a giant season of evolution for Saul. He left off in Season 1 being anointed as considered one of the three Wallfacers and probably not wanting the job. This season gives audiences a probability to see if he does the job or not. How he goes about that, I can’t say, nevertheless it’s been going well and we’ll be here until the top of January. We’ve gotten a lot of the of the show within the can. Now we’re just getting the larger set pieces done. Also the forged is good. We’ve added some recent faces to the show, and it’s a think it’s gonna be a fun one.
The dimensions of the show— fighting a worldwide threat that won’t arrive for 400 years— is an element of what makes “3 Body Problem” unique, nevertheless it’s also something that may feel hard to attach with at times. Does the conflict get any more immediate or personal in Season 2?
I feel things change into a bit more immediate. The dimensions of the situation remains to be the identical— it’s still an impending alien invasion. What I feel feels different is that the primary season was creating the world for the audience. It was introducing the characters and the scientific idea and theory of the Three Body Problem. Season 1 was very science heavy.
What stood out to me after I read the scripts this season was that, now that we all know the context, it feels far more personal. We see more of the the private lives of the characters from Season 1. All the choices that they make directly affect the opposite characters in rather more aggressive ways this season. I feel that the fans will really enjoy that, because they’ll get a probability to actually connect with the circumstances of the story. It’ll be different, but in a superb way.
This interview has been edited and condensed.