Just like no man, no character lives on an island.
Rabbit Hole’s John Weir has many people in his orbit, including a feisty FBI Agent, Jo Madi (Enid Graham), who is always one step behind him, a bad guy who is one step ahead called The Intern, or just Kyle (Walt Klink), and the man John is trying to protect, even if he doesn’t know it yet, Edward Homm (Rob Yang).
We caught a little time with them on a recent press day to see if they could shed some light on their characters, among other things. Take a look!
Let’s start with you, Rob, because you’re alive. Yay!
Rob: Yay. I made it through. I thought it was going to be a spoiler. I thought for sure that they would not want to include me in any of this because then you know that I’d survive.
No, but it’s 2023. Flashbacks are all the rage.
Rob: This is true.
But I’m glad that you’re here, although you do spend an awful lot of time bound and gagged.
Rob: Yes, yes. And they were very kind to keep it nice and loose, but it felt like Covid times for me. I hate wearing a mask, and it was pretty awful.
So what do you think Edward is thinking at this point, as he’s being dragged around on a chair pretty much?
Rob: I think he’s trying to figure out how to make it back home and how to get himself out of this situation. I think he owes his wife a call, and he just has not been able to… He didn’t show up where he was supposed to be. So I think there’s a level of thinking of all the responsibility he’s leaving at the door.
There also may be a level of having left the stove on possibly. Or maybe he’s running the AC really high because he shouldn’t have done that, he didn’t turn it down before he left. All the things he would do if he even just went on vacation. He didn’t get to do any of that. So he’s thinking about all that stuff.
Right, his responsibilities.
Rob: Yeah.
Walt, I was up and down about The Intern. I almost believed that he was at the police station to help John, and oh, I was so wrong. How bad is this kid?
Walt: Oh, it gets much worse. You haven’t seen anything yet, ma’am. No, it gets a lot worse.
And Enid, you are as close to acting on behalf of the audience as a character can get. How hard is it going to be for her to put the pieces of this together?
Enid: Yeah, I mean, she is pretty driven and pretty career-focused, and she’s a dog with a bone; she’s not going to let it go. But it turns out to be much bigger than even she was aware it could be.
Jo knows at the beginning that there’s something more to this, but I think it balloons out further than her imagination could imagine. I think it’s pretty tough because John Weir, her nemesis, is really tricky, and he has unbelievable skills to evade and obfuscate the truth.
And so she’s always being thrown off track or confused or led down a rabbit hole, but she’s not going to give up. So she ends up being a good match for him.
Rob: Such a good match.
Enid: Yeah, because she’s driven and obsessive, just like he is.
She is a match for him, but she already goes off-book, and I’m getting the feeling that she might identify with him in some way. How does that help her investigation?
Enid: Yeah, I think at some point in the script, someone describes him as her white whale, and it’s true. It’s like Moby Dick. She becomes a little obsessed and maybe not so in such a healthy way. And she’s also very ambitious and anxious to get her position back at the FBI.
And when someone is driven and ambitious, sometimes they cut a few corners or maybe color outside the lines. And once you start doing that, then you kind of wonder, “Well, what else will she do?” And so I think it makes for an interesting journey. You wonder how much Jo is capable of as the series goes on.
Walt, Keifer Sutherland is an icon on shows like this. What’s it like playing a bad guy to his hero?
Walt: It’s funny. It’s really weird, actually. It’s like this actor that I really respect, and I get to beat him up several times.
No, I said earlier, I called my dad, and I said like, “Yo dad, it’s this amazing thing. I’m going to beat up Keifer Sutherland,” and it feels like the beginning of something new, a new mark in my career or as an actor that I get to beat up Keifer Sutherland I guess, yeah.
As one of the bad guys, are you worried at all that your character might end up on the wrong side of a tall building or an explosion?
Walt: No, I think this character is like a cockroach. Doesn’t matter where you throw him; he will always survive and escape from the building. Yeah, he’ll always survive. I know that for a fact, they will never kill this character.
For a fact, good. Rob, this series says a lot about technology and media and what we know and what we think we know. How do you think this show speaks to the world today?
Rob: Well, there’s just so much out there now where the lies aren’t even hidden. You know somebody’s not telling the truth, and it’s just the themes that this show talks about. I think people are interested in authenticity now, after the past handful of years. Also, just personally and wanting to know the truth.
And this show is based off of this idea that what you see is not what you think. There’s this deception happening; there’s this manipulation. You’re being influenced, and you’re not even aware that you’re making decisions based off of some boardroom, like this remote boardroom that you’ve been set up.
And I think that’s what the world is right now. So I think it’s nice to side with somebody who’s trying to do something about that. And that means going outside of the lines. And then once you do that, you can’t go back, is the thing. You can’t unknow what you know. You can’t go back to sleep; I’ve tried.
Red pill, green pill.
Rob: Yeah.
Walt: Yeah.
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Did that help you understand Madi, The Intern, and Edward any better?
If not, there is plenty more to discover when Rabbit Hole Season 1 Episode 3 drops on Sunday, April 2, on Paramount+.
Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She’s a member of the Critic’s Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on Twitter and email her here at TV Fanatic.
