Co-created by The New York Times bestselling author of The Terminal List, Jack Carr, and season 1 creator/showrunner David DiGilio, The Terminal List: Dark Wolf is a prequel series with an origin story that follows Ben Edwards (Taylor Kitsch) throughout his journey from the Navy SEALs to the clandestine side of CIA Special Operations.
The series is an espionage thriller that explores the darker side of warfare and the human cost that comes with it. It also features Chris Pratt reprising his role as James Reece, along with Tom Hopper, Luke Hemsworth, Dar Salim, Rona-Lee Shimon, Shiraz Tzarfati, Robert Wisdom and Jared Shaw.
Earlier this month, we spoke with Tom (The Umbrella Academy) and Luke (Westworld) about their characters, Lieutenant Raife Hastings, a US Navy SEAL, and Jules Landry, a CIA contractor with a sinister side.
During our conversation, the actors reflected on how the camaraderie the cast shared on set factored into what we see on screen, and the intense training required to do right by both these characters and the military community.
Finally, Luke opens up on playing a heroic character with an inner darkness, explaining that he was “given license to be crazy as an actor,” and that what we see in the Prime Video series is best described as “legalised insanity.”
You can check out the full interview with Tom and Luke on The Terminal List: Dark Wolf in the player below.
You’re both new to the world of The Terminal List, so I’d love to know how, along with the rest of this cast, you balanced the gravity of this high-stakes story with the camaraderie you needed for an intense shoot.
Tom: Yeah, absolute carnage off-camera, basically. Just fully embracing the boys club. One thing that allowed us to create the bond on camera and create the authenticity was the fun we had off it. Because the story is so intense and serious and dramatic, and there and men and women’s lives at risk, it’s so important to get rid of that when you’re off camera and just have as much fun as possible. The social aspect is a priority.
Luke: I don’t think I’ve been part of anything where the cast was together doing so many activities outside of production. Usually, it’s a dinner or two and some drinks, but we were playing paddle, going go-karting, and there was so much food consumed.
Tom: And that’s just you and me.
Luke: [Laughs] That’s just us, yeah. But yeah, when you spend all of that time together doing things that don’t have to do with the production, you get to know people a lot better, and all of that bleeds into the performance and the camaraderie. The brotherhood on this set is like nothing I’ve ever seen before.
Tom: It’s truly special.
You’ve both done action roles, but when it came to prepping for the type of combat we see in this show, what was that experience like for you both, especially knowing how well the military community responded to the previous series?
Tom: The best thing we have on this show is the level of our military advisors. They’re all SEALs or ex-SEALs. Jared Shaw and Ray Mendoza were our shining light. Everything we did, they didn’t miss a beat. They put us through the wringer on making sure we knew exactly what to do technically, how we need to think from a mindset point of view. They were all over us, and rightly so. That’s a testament to why it does look so accurate when people from that community watch it. They can watch it and go, ‘That’s pretty bang on.’ There’s always that artistic licence, but within that, we’ve got to make sure nothing takes them out of it, so we make sure from a technical standpoint that it’s bang on the money.
Luke: It becomes the ultimate compliment when someone like Jared or Ray gives you the little [nod]. You’re like, ‘yes!’ It’s a lot of repetition. These guys were showing us how to do things authentically, and you want it to become like an appendage. Rep, rep, rep, and you do it until you don’t have to think about it.
Tom: That’s what they do in training. They’re doing it all day, every day, depending on what they’re doing in terms of tactical. They’re just drilling all the time, so it becomes second nature. That’s basically what they do with us. Again, again, again. That’s what makes it so authentic.
Luke, Jules is very capable, but as we discover throughout the series, he has some dark, sociopathic tendencies – what was the biggest challenge of playing a character like this who’s got this darkness bubbling beneath the surface?
Luke: I think all of that was what made it so attractive. We’re given license to be crazy as an actor. This is legalised insanity. It’s always a challenge doing those things that are against your own moral compass, right? The way I deal with it is by making it about the other person. You’re serving the script and storyline, so it’s all gotta be done, but there are parts of it that are very, very uncomfortable. You’re pushing those emotions down deep so they don’t bubble out. I know it sounds terrible to say you’re having fun doing these morally ambiguous, questionable things, but thanks to Shiraz, everyone makes that space so welcoming and freeing that you’re able to explore those things comfortably.
Tom: I think that’s also down to you and Shiraz as actors. There was a huge trust between the two of you, so it allows you as actors to then push those boundaries of what is acceptable because you have such a trust there. That’s a testament to these guys as actors. That she trusted [Luke], female to male, is a testament to them as people.
The Terminal List: Dark Wolf launches on Wednesday, August 27, exclusively on Prime Video with three episodes at launch.
