Last year Fox gave viewers a reason to be scared again with their new television adaptation of the iconic horror film ‘The Exorcist’. Season One was a smash hit, but it told a complete story and left things wide open for what could happen next should the show move forward with a second season. Luckily for fans it did, so the adventures of Father Tomas and Father Marcus will continue in Season 2 of ‘The Exorcist’! But with a new season comes some new additions to the cast, with a number of new faces joining the series as other familiar faces depart. Perhaps the most exciting new addition to the cast for Season 2 of ‘The Exorcist’ is fan favorite actor John Cho!
No stranger to genre films, John Cho is best known for his role as Sulu in the ‘Star Trek’ franchise. ‘The Exorcist.’ however, is his first real foray into horror, and there are plenty of reasons to be excited about him joining the cast! John will be playing Andrew Kim, a recently widowed man who acts as a foster parent to a number of misplaced children. Things are a little shaky in their isolated island home, and they’re only going to get worse from here! We were lucky enough to sit down with John Cho recently to talk about his time on the series so far and what we can expect to see in Season 2 of ‘The Exorcist’! Check out the full interview below!
First off, we love your character Andy!
John Cho: Oh I’m sorry! It gets bad for him. I won’t tell you why, but its uh… not good.
Is it because he loves the kids so much?
JC: Don’t try to trick me! My bosses are here! I was just saying, children are often victims in horror movies. Basically, innocence is the victim, in a beautiful young girl or young child. But I feel like the victim in this season, this version of innocence is true love. Andy’s true love for his deceased wife or his true love for his children, and it’s extraordinarily tragic to me. It’s a bummer! Although it’s also very beautiful, and I love tapping into that. But I was saying it’s been a rough couple of weeks actually. I’ve just been coming home and it’s so depleting… staying in that space for days upon days.
How do you let it go? How do you decompress?
JC: I just buy Rolexes! I buy hats like Julia Roberts in ‘Pretty Woman’! I go hat shopping, and fling the hat boxes, and feel good about myself! But honestly, the last couple of weeks I’ve been going home and watching ‘The Office’. Steve Carrel’s ‘The Office’! He just makes me so happy. I met him very recently, I was just at the airport and I ran into him! I found out where his flight was, and I followed him… in an unmarked cargo van… with duct tape and trash bags. But no, I did just run into him at the airport, and after I met him I think I was smiling for like three days! Because he just makes me so happy.
Has this role changed you in any way? Like how has being in the role of this character affected you emotionally?
JC: Well, it’s too early to say. I don’t know how it’s changed me, but I’ve been having an enormous time learning a lot. It’s very fulfilling work! I enjoy the actors, it’s a strong cast, and I love working with them! They’re very supportive, and we really try to help each other with our performances. That’s not 100% always the case, but it’s been a very supportive cast, and I love the writers! Also, Jeremy and Sean have genuine love for the people that they’re writing, and it’s really extraordinary, and the material! So the passion is there moment to moment. It’s a very potent atmosphere.
You’re new to the cast for Season 2, did you like Season 1? Were you watching it on your own before joining the show?
JC: No, I went back and watched it, and yeah I thought it was really well done! They had a rough job too, and I think we have it easier because we’re starting a little ahead of them. They had to sort of “deal with” the movie. The gift that they gave us is that we no longer have to deal with it as such, We have become our own thing! And that’s so huge! I’m just happy to join a cast that didn’t have to do that.
What first attracted you to the role of Andy? Were you a big horror fan outside of this show?
JC: I wasn’t a big horror fan, although I was curious about it! They really attracted me with the character, that was it. Then I started going “maybe it’d be interesting to see what this genre is about and really get into it”. And on a macro level? I was pretty interested in putting an Asian face in American horror. Because American horror has been… very white. Like it almost travels in these wasp fantasies of white picket fences, you know? So what it says to me is that “this is America, this is the previous America, and this is what is in peril!” and I liked messing with that, with my face! I thought it would be interesting, particularly because there’s all of this great horror out of Asia but American horror remains fairly monochromatic.
With the show being so dark and intense as it is, does the cast find time to have fun and unwind on set at all?
JC: Yeah! I mean, I’m just unable to remain serious. Because I’m not very professional! So yeah, lots of laughs. I think you kind of have to, I don’t know how to do that for an entire shoot. You’ve got to have fart jokes, or you’ll die.
How soon before you cross paths with the rest of the cast like Father Tomas and Father Marcus?
JC: Not long! When they cross paths… when the storylines collide, it is titanic! I was very happy with the way they clash… and I’m going to stop talking about it! But I think it’s great, I really enjoyed it.
Do you know the full arc of where the story is going to go? Or is it more that you read it right before you do it?
JC: For me I think, and everyone is kind of gathering it as they go, but I was given an idea, and then it started to form, and I was getting more and more information.
You’ve got a few big projects, but specifically, you’ve got ‘Star Trek’ which was TV and became a film, and now you’ve got ‘The Exorcist’ which was a film that became TV. Which has been the most challenging to do?
JC: It seems to me that everyone is fascinated by the idea of these properties reemerging, and they could be extra critical of it. So there’s pitfalls, and big rewards either way. What ‘s interesting about doing ‘The Exorcist’ as a television show is I think that these days it’s hard to make… I don’t know if you could do ‘The Shining’ again, with all of that setup. You know? And in a way, for TV, in a ten-episode run, you can have a lot of set up! You could make ‘The Shining’ again, but I think there might be an action sequence at the top. So that’s what I really like about the Tomas and Marcus storyline, it’s allowing Jeremy and Sean to really paint the family well so that it sets up for when… um… an ‘undisclosed event’ is going to occur.
Is this show just a ‘one season’ for you, or will Marcus and Tomas sort of pick up good people along the way?
JC: You’re trying to trick me again! As far as I know, it’s just one season.
And what about ‘Star Trek’? Have you heard any rumblings at all about another film ?
JC: I have not heard! I mean… listen. They’ll call me, and they’ll ask me or they won’t. But I don’t know.
You can catch John Cho starring alongside Alfonso Herrera, Ben Daniels, Kurt Egyiawan, and Zuleika Robinson in Season 2 of ‘The Exorcist’ which airs Fridays at 9PM on Fox! Be sure to stay tuned to ScienceFiction for all of the latest updates on ‘The Exorcist’ and more!
