Tom Stevens – Wayward Pines

By: Lisa Steinberg

Q) What are the recent projects that you are working on?

A) Right now, I’m just down in LA auditioning. I just signed on with a new agency. I’ll be that grindy actor again, which is always fun.

Q) How was your character Jason on “Wayward Pines” originally described to you and how did he evolve from there?

A) When I went out for Jason, he was one or two episodes with a possible reoccurring as a guest star. I went in the room for a guy named Nimrod Antal, who directed my first episode A Reckoning. Nimrod and I kind of meshed in the room. I did something in the room that kind of freaked him out. On the show, we have cameras that follow us and one thing you aren’t supposed to do as an actor is look directly into the camera lens. The camera is supposed to be the invisible thing in the room and you are supposed to avoid that and never acknowledge there is a camera there. With Nimrod, because I knew the show as based around this “1984 cameras watching” kind of thing, with the very last line of my audition I said it and then looked directly into the camera. It freaked him out. He jumped out of his chair! Then, we started meshing and meshing. One of the things that Nimrod said to me that really made me understand Jason was, “I don’t want this guy to have taken a breath until he has pulled the trigger.” That scene only worked because you could see that Jason was built up to the point where he needed to release his aggression, anger and violence because that’s what his education did to him. Once he said that, I was like, “I get that.” He’s a fundamentalist and is a result of a terrible set of circumstances. He was this broken boy who just needed to explode. That was Season One Jason. The weird thing about it was that I got killed in episode nine. On my first day, I showed up and Nimrod was like, “Hey buddy, just so you know you die at the end of the episode.” I was like, “Oh shit. I was hoping to make it to episode ten and get killed by an abby. He was like, “Ha-ha! That’s just the way it goes. You think you are going to get two episodes, but you only get one episode.” Four months later, I got a call that said, “Hey Tom, we’re re-writing the show and you’re alive!” I was like, “Okay. Awesome.” After filming, they told me, “If this goes to a second season, you’ll be the head bad guy.” I think it was a year and a bit later that we started to get the calls. It was the most amazing thing!

Q) It has to be incredibly flattering for you to hear that they changed the life of the character.

A) M. Night [Shyamalan] told me there was something he saw in my performance that inspired this character to be so drawn out for the second season. He said there was a humanity that I brought to it that was necessary for the next season. I was in the bible and they wrote me in for this season. They used “Jason” throughout the story so I was kind of necessary to them and they really wanted to pin me down.

Q) What are the layers that you have added to Jason and how it has it evolved now into us seeing you as a bad guy in Season Two?

A) In the first season, he was an object. He was supposed to be an example. I wanted to show what happens to you when you are given this form of education and brought them this very troubled person. When I found out I had to play him for four more months it was this big moment because I didn’t know how to bring him forward and find him redeemable. I knew that I had to have the audience in a 50/50 split as to whether or not I was a bad guy or good guy. Luckily, Mark Friedman (the writer) and I had really long talks about this. It’s all about him and his relationship to Kerry (Kacey Rohl) and his ability to fit in his power. He matured in his power and also kind of marinated. He knew that his rage wasn’t helping him so he kept that in check. He knew that his anger and violence wasn’t helping him so he kept that in him. But it is never gone. He’s got it in him, but he’s learned to show the right side of his personality. He is really sad and I think sad characters make redeemable characters because you can’t blame Jason for what he was gone through. He was literally raised by one person and then kept in a room on his own. He is a tragic story unto himself and then you have to see him be a leader in front of all of these people when he has no social skills and no developed social life. All he has is this education from Pilcher and that makes him in a sense this sad, sad person that everyone wants to be drawn to but then they are contrasted by the fact he is violent, he kills people and makes these rash decisions that can basically destroy the world. I think once I found the sadness in him and realized all he wants is to be loved by everyone then I knew that I could play that guy.

Q) There has to be a redeemable quality to the character in order to understand his motivation. So, there are so many perspectives for you to play.

A) That is what makes Jason a complex character. Jason has like five people in the show that really gives him advice and he always listens to them, but that is a fault because they are manipulating him. People are using him. Megan (Hope Davis) is using him. Kerry is using him. Dr. Yedlin (Jason Patric) is using him. CJ (Djimon Hounsou) is using him. Everyone is using Jason because they know he trusts them. It’s a screwed up system because everyone is trying to get ahead and not die. He is like the beacon of live or die in this story.

Q) What can you tease is in store this season for Jason?

A) With Jason, all he wants to do is survive. We just saw the shooting of the abby and Margaret (Rochelle Okoye) is loose now. Jason is really getting to the brink. He’s really getting to his breaking point and starting to batten down the hatches and hold to what he truly feels he needs in order to survive. That is really dangerous because you put a rattlesnake in a corner and he is going to strike. They have built Jason up as a very dangerous person, but you have only seen his angry side come out a few times. There is going to be some big decisions made by Jason that is going to result in some serious changes.

Q) You are a part of social media. Do you enjoy the instant fan feedback you receive?

A) I have had some pretty interesting ones, but one of them was really brutal. There has been a big surge in support on my Twitter and Instagram. There have been a few really good ones where someone actually attacked me as a person for saying some of the stuff that Jason has said. They were like, “I know it’s not your writing, but you are stupid as an actor for agreeing to say it! Why would you ever say that the abbies aren’t intelligent? It’s so apparent and you’re so stupid as an actor to do that!” I wrote back, “Sometimes a character is driven by pride and intelligence falls behind.” The person was kind of stumped by that for a bit and then responded, “Okay. That’s a fair point. I’m sorry for saying that.” It was awesome. [laughs] I got into a little bit of a Twitter battle with someone and it only took one response, but it worked. I’m pretty happy about that.

Q) Is there anything else you want to be sure that fans know about this season of “Wayward Pines?”

A) One of the things that has been really cool is that (as I said before) I wanted the audience to be 50/50 split on hating and loving Jason. Any time “Wayward” posts a photo of Jason it is a good 50/50 split of “I love Jason” or “I hate Jason.” That’s a barometer of audience opinion. It’s a great form of getting the audience’s opinion. It’s great!

Q) What have you taken away from your time on the series?

A) Getting that high on a cast list and being a leader of a town and a show…I have a lot of scenes on the show where I’m speaking to 300+ people and as a theater actor I’m used to being in front of big groups, but there is a serious responsibility that is put on your shoulders being in a position like that. I think it really educated me on how to treat every job now. I really liked that aspect of the show.