Interview: Aaron Ashmore Talks Syfy’s Killjoys & TV’s New Jimmy Olsen

Aaron Ashmore of Smallville and Warehouse 13 fame plays the character of John Jaqobis in the new Syfy series Killjoys.

The new show premieres tonight (June 19) at 9PM ET on Syfy. In the series, Ashmore’s character is a Level 3 “Killjoy” ho, despite his profession, is a peacemaker who hates conflict. Described as cheerful and kind-hearted, John prefers not to fight, but his sarcastic wit has put him into the fray enough over the years that he has learned how to do it well. He’s also quite resourceful: He can fix, build, or fly in any machine or situation.

And what is a “Killjoy?” They are interplanetary bounty hunters who chase deadly Warrants (fugitives) throughout the Quad, a distant planetary system on the brink of a bloody class war. Ashmore stars alongside Hannah John-Kamen as the “gorgeous, complicated and deadly Dutch” while Luke MacFarlane plays D’avin, the estranged brother of Ashmore’s John character.

“In this trio, he is the more diplomatic of the three,” Aaron told us about his character at a recent NBC Summer press event. “I think he’s willing to talk things through before he’s willing to pull the trigger. When push comes to shove, he will do what he needs to do, but these guys are definitely a little bit more quick to the guns,” he said.

John and his brother, D’avin, “absolutely” have a lot of conflict with each other, Ashmore told us. “When we meet them, they’ve been estranged for eight years, and Johnny doesn’t exactly know why; he just knows that his brother sort of disappeared. So, there is a lot of trying to figure that out and working that out. There’s definitely some conflict.”

There is also the conflict about Dutch, who might be keeping a lot of secrets the others aren’t aware of. “Johnny knows that she doesn’t know a lot about her past, but he also doesn’t need to [know]. He trusts her, they get along, they work well together, so he doesn’t pry into things, but throughout the story, her past becomes an issue that needs to be delved into a little bit,” Aaron said.

Ten episodes of Killjoys have been completed for the first season, and with success, there will be more. “I hope we get lots of seasons,” Aaron enthused.

Following our discussion of Killjoys, we asked Ashmore if he has any words of wisdom for Mehcad Brooks, the actor now playing Jimmy — correction: James — Olsen on the upcoming Supergirl series for CBS. Ashmore, of course, played the longest-running Jimmy Olsen of the 21st century in Smallville, even if he was “Henry James Olsen” for a good portion of that.

Aaron didn’t have advice, but he did have encouraging words to say about the CBS show’s casting. “No. I’m sure he’ll do fine. That character – it’s all in the writing, and it’s all there, so I wish him the best of luck,” he said.

“When I heard about the Supergirl show, I thought that maybe Jimmy Olsen was going to be a female character, and maybe they were going to be, like, best friends, and they’d go that direction – I think the casting is really, really interesting, to change him up in that, and I think Mehcad is a great actor, so I think he’s going to do a great job,” Aaron enthused.

And for fans who knew Aaron from Smallville and Warehouse13: What will they like about Killjoys? “Obviously, it’s genre based, and so if you like some things in the genre, you usually like other things, but I think that it’s fun; it’s sexy; there’s great character development; and we’re really world-building. We’re really creating a brand new world, and I think that people that are into sci-fi, that’s a big deal, and I think that the writers did a great job of doing that. So, I think there’s lots to offer,” he said.

Killjoys premieres at 9PM TONIGHT on Syfy. For more details about the CBS Supergirl series, be sure to follow @KryptonSite on Twitter!