On FOX’s Almost Human, which premieres at 8PM tonight, we’re invited into the future to see a new TV partnership between a man with synthetic parts and a synthetic with what seems to be a human soul.
Those characters, John Kennex and Dorian, are the two leads of Almost Human as played by Karl Urban and Michael Ealy. Hopefully you’ve seen some of our previous coverage of the show to know more about these people, but before you jump in, how about some words from the two actors about their characters, from our recent visit to the Almost Human set? More specifically, how do the two characters get along?
“We’re starting to kind of grow on each other,” Ealy tells us of their character journey which begins in tonight’s pilot episode. “He sees my value and I’m starting to see his humanity now,” he continues, before pointing out that Dorian’s range of emotions will still vary widely in the show’s early episodes. “For Dorian, his range of emotions can go from very, very emotional to pretty stoic, and that’s been kind of fun to play. There’s times when – especially in action sequences – where he’s just unstoppable,” he says, prompting Urban to joke that he’s unstoppable “like a machine!”
“I think that Dorian is a wonderful way for John to get in touch with his humanity,” Urban reflects. “Dorian’s sheer inquisitiveness about why humans behave like they do, or the mere fact that Dorian will question John on his actions, and in doing so, provokes a bit of soul-searching and deeper thought on John’s behalf… and I think it’s a two-way street. I think that Dorian has learned lessons from John as well, and I think that’s what makes the partnership so successful. And also, I think it’s wonderful because these characters have fun with each other, and it’s just a great chemistry and rapport, and there’s a great banter. There’s a lot of fertile ground,” he says.
Many of those character-defining interactions to build that chemistry will happen on scenes taking place in the car. “We’ve found a lot of connective tissue in the car scenes that I think are just nice. It’s actually been quite nice to discover that,” Ealy enthuses, and Karl Urban begins talking about the kind of scenes he likes doing the best. “I enjoy where I get to play with Michael where his character sort of oscillates between being one of the most highly intelligent beings you’re ever going to encounter, to suddenly flipping to like a six year old child, and you’re stuck in a confined space with him and he’s constantly at you, and you’re just trying not to blow! It’s a lot of fun,” Urban says.
What will come as the series progresses? For Dorian, we can look forward to the character becoming “a little more human.” “”You definitely see more of a good, strong sense of humor, which is fun. It’s really fun to play that. And somewhat of a melodious voice,” Ealy jokes, offering that Dorian’s backstory – including meeting another DRN that will also be played by Ealy – is coming in the future.
“At the end of the day, we want the audience to have fun,” Urban says of the series in general. “We want to deliver an action-packed, fun, intriguing episode every week, where we’re going places that you’re not necessarily going to find on any other contemporary show. I think if we do it right, and we do it well, then we’re going to give the audience a really kind of wonderful mixture; this combination of a fun, action-packed cop show that’s a little bit different. We want to show the audience stuff that’s just a little bit different than stuff you’re going to see on other shows. That’s the challenge.”
Almost Human premieres tonight at 8PM (ET) after football on FOX. Check out some of our other interviews from the show’s set and if you’d like, come talk about Almost Human on our forum!
