Richard Harmon – The 100

By starrymag | February 11, 2016

By: Lisa Steinberg

 

Q) There has been an epic journey that Murphy has gone through and there has been such great rich character development for him. To what do you attribute all of these layers for him?

A) I don’t want to take too much credit on myself, but obviously there is a little bit of me there. A lot of it I attribute to the writers seeing what I had to do in the pilot. I was probably not going to make it through the first season originally and they liked what I was doing in the pilot so they took the character I created – Originally, he was a henchman and there was really nothing interesting about him. I thought, “I’m going to try to do something with this guy.” They took that and started writing more for him. They just seemed to have a really good hand for writing for him once I brought the character to the table. Now, it’s a great combination of them writing awesome storylines for me and me feeling very, very comfortable in this character; considering it is a character I kind of created and just feeling free within him to do whatever I want with the writing that they give me.

Q) Over the past couple of seasons, what has been the most gratifying moment to play?

A) I remember the season premiere of the second season when they told me they were going to go for a little bit of a redemption arc for him. That was very gratifying for me that they liked the character so much that now they want their audience to like him. I just wanted everyone to like him. I knew from season one everyone was going to hate me and I get that, but I have always liked him since the first episode. I thought he was funny. He’s got balls, to say the least. So, for them to want to get the audience to like him I took that as an awesome challenge. It was very gratifying for me that they took one of the most hated characters on the show and made him likeable.

Q) Murphy is a little bit like Raven because he gets the short end of the stick every time.

A) It’s true; he really does. And you kind of realize that from the get-go where you are rooting for him to get the short end of the stick, but now you’re like, “Well, why is he getting the short end of the stick?” He doesn’t deserve it. He doesn’t really deserve it in so many of these circumstances. Certainly, there have been moments where he has set himself up for failure, but he is really trying his best to do what is right and he is getting slapped around for it at every turn.

Q) When we pick up with Season 3, I feel like Clarke and Murphy have a similar start, but opposite as well. Clarke is in the woods and Murphy has been in this bunker – both being stuck in a fortress of solitude of sorts. Can you talk a bit about that?

A) You are actually the first person to make me realize that. I never really thought about that, but you are right. We are in “fortresses of solitude,” being forced to deal with who we are and what we have done. That’s an interesting parallel. If there were ever two characters who were polar opposites it’s Murphy and Clarke. Clarke (Eliza Taylor) kind of wants to take control and be a leader and lead them to safety while Murphy is kind of all about himself – “Leave me alone. I’m going to survive on my own.” That’s all he cares about is himself, surviving, and she cares about the survival of others. I think this season we see them crossover a little bit more and Murphy care about the survival of certain people he does care about, which is interesting because he has only really ever cared about himself.

Q) We get to see his relationship pick up and broaden with Emori. I’d like to talk a little bit about that relationship as well. He’s a loner, but now he’s picking back up with an asset, but maybe not since she has crossed him before.

Q) It is very important for him this season with the decisions he makes and who he decides to trust. Emori (Luisa D’Oliveira) being the main one there – can he trust her again? If he does, I think it is important for the audience to understand the strength that takes for Murphy to be able to do that. Because he is a person who does not take grudges lightly, as we have seen before. If you have hurt him, he’ll go out of his way to hurt you until he has nothing left. I really want the audience to understand how important it is for Murphy to put things behind him with people who have hurt him in the past.

Q) Murphy has followed Jaha to “The City of Light.” What is it that makes Murphy become a follower?

A) I don’t believe him following Jaha (at least in the beginning) had anything to do with him believing in what Jaha (Isaiah Washington) is saying. He kind of saw it as an opportunity to be with people who didn’t necessarily hate him. I kind of saw it as a clean slate for him. It’s a bunch of people who he hurt and they didn’t dislike him for no good reason, he felt he could go off with them and be a part of something. The thing about Isaiah and how he portrays Jaha, it is infectious. His belief and his faith in what he does in that character is so infectious to watch – as Richard, not even as Murphy. I think Murphy kind of bought into that a little bit. I think he was very wary of what was happening, but thought it was maybe a way to get away from his past. That’s kind of what happened. I don’t truly think he is a follower of Jaha anymore.

Q) After their journey there and being locked in to the bunker, then seeing who ALIE really is, he doesn’t believe in either of them.

A) He knows. That’s the cool thing about him at the beginning of the season, he’s the one person who knows the unbiased truth.

Q) Does he become a man on a mission after he comes out of the bunker?

A) I wouldn’t say man on a mission, but in a way he always is. He has something on his mind and he’ll do whatever it takes to get that. Usually, it has to do with him surviving the world that they are in, which is a very hard world to navigate and survive through. So, I think his mission is to protect himself so if there is anyone that he trusts, supports and develops a rapport with he will take them with him, support them and make sure they are okay. In the future, later on in the season, we’re going to see him put the needs of others above himself, which is a first.

Q) Some of my favorite Murphy moments are when he is at his most surly. What is it about snarky, surly Murphy that makes him so appealing?

A) I think what makes that so appealing is that we all want to be like that sometimes, but we just don’t have the guts in real life to put someone in their place when they say something you disagree with. Murphy always does. He is never embarrassed, which is a good thing about him. He does not get embarrassed. If he has a problem with you or what you are doing, he is going to say it and he does it in a witty way with the dry kind of humor he has. It’s perfectly relatable because we all want to be hitting people with those one-liners at times in our lives, but we just probably never do.

Q) There are so many areas of the show shaded in gray. Quite often they are faced with bad choice, worse choice and the worst choice possible. How will this be a running theme also with Murphy? Will we see him jump in with both feet?

A) Absolutely! That’s just how Murphy operates. My favorite part is that there is such a gray area with everybody. All the cast, people who you thought were your main protagonist, who you thought were the perfect moral compasses, have now messed up almost as much as I have if not more. And I was supposed to be the guy with the absolutely skewed moral compass. I just got to where everyone on the ground is a little bit earlier. I think Murphy will continue to jump into whatever decisions he makes whole heartedly whether it is a good one, bad one or worst one. But I think this season we are seeing him make some better decisions as far as morality is concerned. Will the good decision for morality coincide with his decision for his survival is the big question?

Q) How will we see him cope with the consequences of the decisions he is making?

A) The way I see Murphy this season – I don’t want to say too much. He is not a broken man, per se. But I think you see the weight of what he has been through haunt him a little bit more. Things he has been through he would have been okay seeing in the first season are a little bit harder on him. Like seeing death in front of him and people just die or fight or these bad things happen, it is starting to weigh on him more than it used to. He used to be able to push past it and it really does affect him this season which is a big difference for Murphy.

Q) What is a moment that you are nervous or excited for fans to see of Murphy?

A) I was excited for people to see the first scene of season three. That was the scene I was most excited for people to see. Other than that, there is a moment later on in the season that I can’t say what happens, but it is a moment where in typical Murphy fashion everything goes wrong all at once in front of him. He tries to do the right thing in this situation and it all falls apart around him anyway. That’s a moment I’m excited for people to see.

Q) What can you share about Murphy’s dynamic with ALIE? Will he seek to just get away from her or now he knows who she is will he try to out her?

A) I think with Murphy and ALIE (Erica Cerra), he obviously doesn’t trust her at all after what he has seen in the bunker. So, I think his first priority is going to be distancing himself from her. He’ll try to do that, but her whole thing is to make her reach very long this season. She is trying to broaden her influence over the world. I think Murphy knows that and is one of the few people who knows how dangerous that can be. He’s going to make the right decision. I think he has to man up and be a part of the solution. He has to be.

Q) After seeing the video in the bunker, I hope he feels an obligation to shield others.

A) He does. He has to reluctantly take the hero hat and put it on, which is something he doesn’t like to do. I think he understands the gravity of the situation regardless if he wants to or not.

Q) What do you hope viewers take away from watching this season of “The 100?”

A) I hope enough fans watch enough that we’ll get a season four. I hope they’ll take away from it that we’ll get more. I can only speak for myself, personally, for Murphy what I hope they take away is a better understanding of who he is and why he does what he does. I think this season you definitely see a lot more than that. I hope they are taking away everything that I have put into him this season.