When you originally read the pilot script, did you think Brody had been turned?
It was clear that Brody was going to be set up as the threat, and someone who potentially might do something violent and dangerous. But I was keen to take the part only if there weren’t these lazy associations made between Islam and violence. Because I think that’s irresponsible. What just happened last weekend in the most recent episode, explains a little bit about Brody’s motivation. I was aware that there was going to be something like that when I took the job. He was going to be a little more complicated, a little more surprising than yes, he’s just been turned into a terrorist.We obviously have so much more to learn with Brody’s back story. Are we going to see more Isa and more about their relationship?
Well, I think there’s opportunities to do that if Brody survives this season. You know, there might be opportunities to do that next season. You would want to find out about his life over there. But for this season, that introduction we had in the last episode, to his relationship with Isa, this sort of surrogate son relationship that he has and the way in which he provides a dad for Isa that Isa’s never really had — a loving dad. That’s probably what we’ll see of that this year.There’s obviously a big gap of time between when we saw Brody with Isa and when Brody was found by the Americans. Are we going to see what happened in that gap of time?
Well, yeah, that’s not going to happen this year. If I’m around next year, maybe they’ll dip into that a bit.I hope so. Do you find it difficult to get into the mindset of someone who was tortured?
No, I find it very easy. I was at boarding school at age eight, abandoned, fighting for myself. So, no, it is difficult but it’s enjoyable because you have to — it’s the most enjoyable part of what I do, which is trying to understand other people and other people’s experiences and then trying to interpret that in a credible way. That’s what I do, so no, it’s fun. And anything that it behaviorally extreme or foreign to me, just becomes the most fun thing to do because I have to travel the furthest distance.
Read the full interview at The TV Chick.