Julian Unthank is an accomplished screenwriter that has penned episodes of Robin Hood and Doc Martin over the course of his career. Currently, he is the creator and writer of the Acorn TV series, Queens of Mystery, and we here at Nerds That Geek had the opportunity to speak with Julian about the show and the craft of screenwriting.
 
John Betancourt: It is definitely safe to say that Queens of Mystery is one of the most refreshing crime shows on the market right now. Since it is free of the gritty detective trope. What brought about its unique structure and creation?
 
Julian Unthank: Well, that was kind of why I started this show really. Because I went out for dinner with an actress, an older actress. And she kind of said, she was a very well-known actress, and she said, when she reached the age of 40, the roles just stopped, you know, the offers. And after that she was just always given bit parts or, you know, mother in the background or grandmother, you know. And so, you know, I wanted to write a show about three women over the age of 50. But they were the lead characters. It wasn't a show about being a woman over the age of 50. Just to be the lead characters, you know, and then that's how the show kind of started. And also at the time, it's still happening a bit now. Everyone was making very sort of Scandi, noir type shows, and there was this huge Danish sort of Scandi influence. And, and that's what everybody wanted. And you think, well, shows takes so long to write and develop and get to production. By the time you've written what everybody wants today, it takes you two years down the line and the world moved on. So, the idea for me was to write something that was the exact opposite of what everybody was watching at the time. You know, it's just a standard. I mean, the Scandi thing is still very strong. But there is definitely a rise of cozy crimes, more shows are coming out like that.
 
John Betancourt: I’ve noticed that. That the cozy mystery is back on the rise right now, and speaking of that cozy aspect, what was it that motivated you to make this such a whimsical and almost magical show?
 
Julian Unthank: Yeah, I'm a huge fan of Amélie, you know, the French film. And I was heavily influenced, obviously, by Pushing Daisies but I think a lot of people that have seen Pushing Daisies maybe haven't seen Amelie and Pushing Daisies was massively influenced by Amélie. And I'm a fan of both. But Amelie was that kind of inspiration, and my starting point was what would happen Amelie was a cop? That was kind of the basis and that's kind of the basis of material we started from. And, and I love those sort of whimsical, sort of fantasy elements there. Because it was a visual medium, and we get you get fun director like Ian Emes. He's got this fantastic track record. And you've got someone like him, you know, he can just do so much with the written material. You know, I talked to him about keeping it light, and you know, I couldn't predict the pandemic, but I just think we just needed something lighter, and just less heavy and more, more, more fantasy, and Amélie is such a strong influence. For me personally, it's one of my favorite films, and it gives me as a writer, challenges to play around with and, you know, internal monologues and, and do all that sort of stuff you couldn't do in a straight drama in, you know, in straight sort of Scandi type drama. Because a lot of deaths are kind of comedic deaths. I wanted to go, I want you to sort of four quadrant show where I'm like watching with my nephews, and my nephews are sort of nine and 10, nine and 12, you know, they can watch it without—I haven't got to worry about them being offended or being upset. They just enjoy the visuals. You know what I mean? So, I think… I'm hoping it works. I wanted to show that worked as a family show. But without being that Saturday, corny, but it was a four quadrant sort of show, you know?
 
But I wanted that escapism. Television is about escapism, for me. And it's a chance to sort of put your worries and fears away for a couple of hours and, and to escape to another world. And a fun one, I want to do something, which was kind of had a light touch, but without sort of dumbing it down, you know, the scripts are really hard to write. They're really, really complex. They're massive, and I write reams and reams and reams of stuff before we ever get to the script. So, the technique is to make it look kind of simple and easy and light. But really, you hope that the viewers that are really into the show, can sort of dig deep and find lots of loads of loads of easter eggs in there and loads of little things in the background. And just if you're a casual viewer, you won't notice. But you notice that the people that are watching the show three- or four-times sort of tweeting and picking up on stuff. And it's seeping in, people are getting it slowly, you know, and it helps build in that sort of long term. Things like Twin Peaks, sort of massively, heavily conspiracy theory sort of shows go on talking about what's going on, what's she doing? Why are they doing that? I love that sort of stuff in a drama. And this gives you a chance to sort of build on and play around with it and Acorn TV are so generous. In terms of the sort of creative freedom they give you, they trust you enough to let you play around with the genre and do stuff that maybe other networks might not let you get away with, they might not let you experiment with as much.
 
John Betancourt: Now in talking about the freedom that you have to create. It does lead to me wonder, what it means to you to have created a show that is regarded as being so fresh and original?
 
Julian Unthank: Yeah, it's fantastic. It's my first show of my own. You know, I've been a Doc Martin writer for the last decade, and Doc Martin is one of the biggest, one of the biggest shows in the UK, we sell it to like 200 territories. And around the world. It's big, it's a big show, an icon on PBS in the States. And yet the opportunity to write my own show, and so few people get a chance to make their own show, but their own idea… that’s unnerving, you're always nervous about whether you can do it as a writer, and whether the audience is going to connect to it, you know, it's always a battle to get just even one show, get the show the ground, but then you get second season, and an Emmy nomination and kind of, it propelled us enough to sort of say, right, yeah, we will get a second season, we'll be able to explore that world more. And the hope is that, you know, that it will carry on, you know, for many seasons, you know. I've got long term plans for the show and the characters and what's gonna. And you just hope that the audience want the show enough and watch the show enough for it to carry on and give me a chance to sort of put the full narrative out.
 
So that's what I like about television is our ability to tell that long form narrative, you know, to be able to tell a story over dozens and dozens of hours as opposed to a two-hour movie script. And it's helped people invest. People really want to invest in the show, I love those sort of shows that you just get addicted to and you just have to watch the next episode. And you talk to your mates about and you sort of say What the hell does that mean? And what was what they were talking about when that happened? Or is that a complete red herring or what is that feeling? You know that sort of stuff. So, the reaction from the audience has been fantastic, much greater than I could have ever hoped for really, you know, I'm really grateful for the audience's reaction and for and for Acorn. We’ve just got to hope this season goes down well enough to get the third season and beyond you know?
 
John Betancourt: Well, I certainly hope it happens as well. You’ve got that amazing cliffhanger there in The Raven and I know that I certainly want more.
 
Julian Unthank: I mean, the show came out over here in the UK, just before Christmas, and the reaction to The Raven has been great. People sort of saying, you know, what's, what's going to happen Matilda? What's gonna happen with Daniel? Yeah, I mean, the love story is a strong element to it. I mean, all stories are love stories, really. But it's a strong part of the narrative to me. And it especially is for an audience. It's, you know, the whole, you know, Niles and Daphne thing, it's a reason you sort of come back to a show to see if it's ever going to be fulfilled. And we've got a little bit of that with Inspector Thorne and Jane, but obviously, the main narrative is with Daniel and Matilda, to see if that'll ever happen and what I mean, as a writer, you kind of you put a big hook at the end of the show, because you want when you want the audience to want more, you want the commissioners to sort of say, well you deserve one more. You know, there's this thing really, kind of producers want answers. And audiences want questions, you know, and as a writer, you're constantly… the pressure was on you, from producers to sort of finalize stories and finish the answers to everything, where I think the audience… for me, is this a journey… that's fun? We will find out what happened, you know, the mystery behind Matilda's mother, and we'll get to that in the end. But the fun for me is all the fun stuff you can have in getting there. And I hope the audience enjoys that as well.
 
John Betancourt: Oh absolutely, there’s so much in that ending to mull over with the mystery box and such. It’s amazing that this mystery show, has a giant mystery hanging over it.
 
Julian Unthank: Yeah, just finding out what the aunts know, and what don't they know, and what are they hiding? And, you know, what does Thorne know? But it's trying to eke it out, it's trying to sort of find he pace that is the difficult… it's very… it's harder when you haven't got an end date. So, if you said, you know, right, Julian, you've got five seasons to do this. You could plan over five. I'd like I'd like my pension; I'd like 15 seasons. Because I just enjoy writing. I just enjoy being in writing. I just love living in that world for so long. So, I'd like it to last as long as possible.
 
John Betancourt: Oh, I totally get that, fans love when a show can just keep rolling and rolling, just look at Supernatural. Now you mentioned writing there as well and that brings me to my next question, in that, what was it that got you into writing?
 
Julian Unthank: Well, I was working a whole variety of jobs. I used to be an animal trainer in film and television for quite a while. I was working at Pinewood Studios, which is the big, the big studio here that makes all the Star Wars movies, where they're all filmed. And I was sponsored by Primus studios to go to film school. And I went as a producer, to train as a producer. But when I got there, no one was writing. And so, I really sort of tried… I've never written before. I'm very, very dyslexic. I never read a book. I didn't read. I left school with no qualifications at all. And I didn't read a book until I was 21. And so, I didn't even go to film school until I was like 26, 27. So, I was given a writing exercise in class. And I thought, “Well, I'm gonna be terrible at this.” And actually found I quite enjoyed it. And, and so I sort of caught the bug there. And I’m sort of self-taught. And then I made a graduation film, which I got to Charles Dance to star in. Amazingly, he read the script. And it was called Potemkin: The Runner’s Cut. And it's all based. It's a very famous film by Sergei Eisenstein called the Battleship Potemkin. And it's taught, it's like one of the sort of pinnacle of film editing, you know, at the time, there was not these director's cuts coming out. So, I wrote the short film called Potemkin: The Runner's Cut, and later on got blind drunk at the wrap party. And the starting auditor, you know, wanted to see the film and so he hired this sort of 17-year-old idiot runner to edit the film for him, and started loving what would become the version we see now and, Charles Dance read the script and loved it so much, he agreed to be in my student film, and I had no money. And he came over, he flew over from Mexico. He paid for his own hotel, and he was in my film for like seven days, and then he flew to Mexico for filming, and he did all three for us. It was just amazing, and he was so kind.  
 
And I wrote the part of Starling. And I managed to get a copy of the script to Patrick Stewart. I was home one day, home one day, the phone rang. And he says, “Patrick Stewart here” and I'm like, Jean-Luc Picard is on the phone. And he says, one of the girls in costume, her mom got a haircut in the same place that his mom got a haircut and got the script to him. And he was in New York, on Broadway doing a show for the next 10 weeks, and said he couldn’t be in the film, but he loved the script. And he just wanted to, he just wanted to ring me wish me the very best of luck and hoped it worked out. And that from that point onwards, it just really sort of, it struck me how much I enjoyed writing and how, you know, the connections you can make. Yeah, and so from there, I wanted to make it a full-time career. And it's taken quite a while. And I mean, I've made a living, you know, writing in other shows. But this was the opportunity to make my own show.
 
And so, you kind of give it everything you've learned in the last kind of 20 years. And to pour that absolutely into your own project and sort of trying to try to put everything that, I'd learned as a screenwriter into devising a project that I could sort of keep running, you know. So, I got very lucky and lots of people are very kind, and I got lots of help. But that's kind of how I caught the bug from there really, and I still get lots of help. Since I’m dyslexic a computer reads everything to me, and it's proofread before I send it out and, and that sort of stuff. But I think, it's one of those things that if you want it bad enough… but writing is an acquired skill, you know, it's like everything else, you know? The more the more you write, the better you get. I'm constantly adding screenwriting books to my desk. And, I find, you know, the more I read about screenwriting… I hope, I'm a better writer now than I was like a year ago, and I'm hoping in a year's time, I'm going to be a better writer than I am now. And that's one of the best parts of the job really, is the fact that you're constantly learning and hopefully improving I think anyone can write. I think you've just got to get the discipline. It's just that, you know yourself, you've got to put your arse in the seat, put your hands on the keyboard, you just got to keep grinding.
 
You know, I always feel guilty when I'm not writing. I'm kind of moaning that I'm not writing, you know, and then I'm writing… I'm moaning. I'm writing a general thing that I'm moaning most of the time. I think it's a hard way to earn an easy living, I think you know, but when you get it, right, and when people really like the material, and you know, people connect to it, I find it's a real thrill getting on set. You can write some, you write some crazy, wacky things you've made up and then you go on set, and you find all this, you know… like the first episode, we had this castle made up of flags and everything and I’m all; “God. I made all this shit up.” And it’s amazing. I got a real kick from that, you know?
 
John Betancourt: Last question before we go today, what is it you’re most proud of when it comes to this series?
 
Julian Unthank: I think, well, I think I’m proud of that the audience has connected so well with it. Yeah. I’m really, really proud of the crew and the people around, how much… I mean you wouldn’t believe the hard work. I mean, in screenwriting, when I think about teaching it, I think screenwriting is such an incredibly collaborative process, amazingly collaborative. I mean, like, if you’re an author or graffiti artist or a poet, whatever, you know, it’s very, very, you know, to you absolutely distilled. But we’ve got amazing directors and amazing, credible actors, and everybody brings so much to it. And as a writer, you kind of get a lot of the credit for it and a lot of stuff. I’m not complaining, don’t get me wrong, but Ian Eams, our director, puts his heart and soul and so many hours of work into it, you know? He doesn’t get anywhere near the credit he deserves. The actors take the material and really work it, but people like… I don’t want to say the secondary characters, but people like Inspector Thorne and PC Foster and stuff. They take the material, and they really, really work it. You write stuff and think, oh, that’s quite funny, you know, and then they take it. And they’re so talented. And then they just make 10 times funnier. And just I never saw it that way, and Shavon does that a lot. And, I find I’m really proud of the way everyone sort of digs in.
 
I mean, when we say we punch above our weight quite a bit, we get so much stuff… like our opening credits, you know? Those pop-up credits, which aren’t computer generated, they are physically made pop ups. The guy that did the Paddington movie, in the second one, he opens that book, and it's a pop-up book of, of London and all the rest of it. And the guy that does that, is a fantastic pop-up artist, you know, and he's very highly prized, very talented guy. But he read the script, loved the material, and we didn’t have much money, and he just worked for like hardly anything for us, you know, I mean, and people time and time, again, people would come along and do stuff, but for very little money, because we don’t have a lot of money. But they give us the opportunity to sort of put as much on screen as possible. And I think thing I'm proudest of as opposed is just how collaborative the process has been. And for me, it's been a massive eye opener, because when you're a writer on another show, you kind of, you've got that point person, which is a script editor, who's your only real person you speak to, you go to a read or set you don’t speak to the actors all that much. For me, it was just a massive… I just learned so much by being involved with the production and, and being close to the producers, I've got some amazing producers who don't get anywhere near enough credit for the amount of shit that they have to put up with. And my admiration for producers has gone up, because, you know, they're the Fun Police. You know, everybody wants to spend money and do stuff, and they're the ones that step in and say stop all the fun.
 
So yeah, it's that is the collaborative nature of it, and how everybody's kind of got on board with it is what I'm sort of most proud of, and I just hope that it's gonna hope that it continues. And I mean, I get to play, I get the, I get the best part of it, you know, I get to be completely self-indulgent and write all this sort of stuff, you know, and there's very little interference in terms of the script from Acorn, or from the producers, they're really, really generous, I mean, certain production companies will be would be all over you, you know, every line of dialogue, every bit, you know, you've got someone on your shoulders, it’s quite oppressive. But not Acorn, they're just so smart. You know, they know that they will get the best out of you, if they trust you. They trust you enough. And not just me, but the director and the producer, to know that if we give them the freedom, and not just us, also the costume department, the art department, all the people that absolutely put so much into it. And they trust you enough to sort of say, right, do what you do, what you do best. And then and then you get the results. You know, hopefully you get the results. So that's what I'm most proud of. I think, you know, I'll be proud when we get a real Emmy. I mean, we'd like season six, or seven or eight or even better, but it's a long way to go.
 
This interview was lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

Anthony Fleming III and Lucien Cambric are a pair of rising stars in the industry that boast diverse resumés. Anthony for instance is a star of film and TV and stage, having acted in numerous plays while also landing roles in Prison Break, Chicago Fire and Divergent. As for Lucien, he’s made appearances in Shameless and Chicago P.D., all while working to grow as a musician and now Lucien and Anthony are joining the cast of Power Book IV: Force as Darnell ‘D-Mac’ McDowell (Cambric) and J.P. Gibbs (Fleming), and we here at Nerds That Geek were able to speak to both of them regarding their roles in this latest entry in the Power Universe.
 
John Betancourt: What was it that attracted each of you to your respective characters?
 
Anthony Fleming III: Reading the script, I felt like this character was written for me. He's a jazz musician. I'm not a jazz musician. But I'm a lover of jazz, it’s my favorite music ever since I was a kid. He's from Chicago. I'm from Chicago. And he's a cat who fiercely loves and fights for things that he believes in.
 
Lucien Cambric: Um, well, D-Mac is a character that's from the south side of Chicago. He's from the streets. And I think that that's representative of a lot of my people, me, and a lot of my family, you know what I mean? Because it's a reality, people grow up like that. And I think that D-Mac is a character that has a lot of potential. He can be whatever he wants to be. But he's a product of his environment in the same breath. So, seeing that his life can go in any direction, I think is, is representative of what a lot of my people back at home go through. So, I think he's a real character. And that's what drew me to the character.
 
John Betancourt: So, I have to ask the obvious question, because Power is a pop-culture phenomenon. What does it mean to both of you to be involved in the Power Universe?
 
Lucien Cambric: It means the world. It's really a dream come true to be a part of such a big show. And to have it come to our hometown… it leaves me speechless, to be honest. It is such an honor to be a part of Power Book IV: Force and working with such great cast members, all of my cast members are so talented, and great. They just, they bring it every time they come on set. And I like being a part of it. Everyone's passionate about it.
 
Anthony Fleming III: Indeed, you know, being a part of this show that has such a huge fan base, and people have invested so much time and energy into the characters and into the story. It's, you know, it's a dream. And to bring it, like Lucien said, to Chicago, where it's going to be such a big part of the show, the city is just ingrained into the story, and into Tommy rebuilding himself… it’s phenomenal. It's phenomenal, John.
 
John Betancourt: Now, everyone seemingly has an agenda in the Power Universe, or is searching for something, what would you say your characters are after in this series?
 
Anthony Fleming III: Yeah, Power is about a lot of things. Power is about, like you said, people have agendas. And it's about finding out who you can trust in this world. And I think that's something that, you know, Tommy's doing, a lot of characters are doing. But one thing that I hope… you know… is that J.P. comes across as someone who is figuring out how to deal with loss, you know, he's losing pieces of himself throughout the season. And he's trying to hold on to the things that he loves and the things that he wants to keep in his life.
 
Lucien Cambric: I think that D-Mac is searching for himself. I think that he's trying to find himself I think that he's trying to learn, like, learn himself and really come into his own being, you know, D-Mac is a young kid, he's 16. And you know, as 16, we got a lot to learn, you know?
 
John Betancourt: Yes, we do.
 
Lucien Cambric: So, I think that he's coming into his own as he's growing into a man.
 
John Betancourt: What would you say you’re most proud when it comes to this first season?
 
Lucien Cambric: I'm just I'm proud of the performances that I gave. I'm proud of being on set with other Chicago natives. And I'm proud of just being real and true to our culture, you know? I'm proud of Power Book IV: Force. I'm proud of being a part of it, you know?
 
Anthony Fleming III: You know, I come from a Chicago theatre background, where ensemble is huge, its everything. To be a part of this ensemble of the Power universe is everything. You know, it's great to show up to work and everyone is focused and ready and professional, and really at the top of their game.
 
John Betancourt: Now, obviously, this is a universe where people tend to operate in grey areas more often than not. What do you as actors to do to get into the mindset of working within such a world?
 
Anthony Fleming III: To work in that world, it's tricky. Because we're you meet people and people come into, you know, the story and you just can't trust them. What's their agenda? You know, what is their motive? And then at the same time, you know, you're trying to figure out and navigate how you're gonna move and operate around these people. And you know, like, with Tommy, everyone, he comes into contact with, they’re never the same again, their life has changed forever.
 
Lucien Cambric: I think that for my character operating in the gray area is natural for young black kids who come from Chicago, because it might not be… the things that we do might not be always good, but… we can still be good people. You know, I mean, it's a lot of good people in Chicago, that's just in the wrong circumstances and in the wrong environment, in the wrong situations. So, I think that D-Mac is a great, like, portrayal of reality for what it is like growing up in Chicago.
 
John Betancourt: Last question before I let you go, what are you most looking forward the fans to experiencing this season.
 
Lucien Cambric: I am excited for the audience to see Tommy's development. I'm excited for them to see all of the cast development. The character development in Power, I know is incredible. The way that the storylines kind of like all come together, genius writing on Courtney Kemp and her team's part. I love how it's produced by 50 Cent. And I'm just excited. I'm excited! Man, I can't… even put it into words.
 
Anthony Fleming III: Power Book IV: Force is going to be unlike the other shows. I mean, the other shows are of course, great. But it's the natural progression of the story. And I think Power fans are going to see Tommy Egan in a light that they've never seen him. You're going to see a rebuilt, different version, and I don't think it's going to be what they expect.
 
This interview was lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

Gabrielle Ryan and Shane Harper are a pair of talented actors that are quickly adding to their already impressive resumés. Gabrielle for instance, is currently shooting a recurring role in Debris on NBC and can also be seen in Bonding on Netflix and Tyler Perry’s The Haves and the Have Nots on OWN. As for Shane, his first role was in Rob Reiner’s Flipped, and his feature film career grew from there with roles in God’s Not Dead and Flock of Four on Netflix, and most recently he played Junior McCarthy on the STARZ series, Hightown and now he and Gabrielle join an incredible cast in Power Book IV: Force, as Vic Flynn (Harper) and Gloria Rogers (Ryan) and we here at Nerds That Geek were able to speak with both of them about Force and their characters.
 
John Betancourt: What was it that attracted each of you to your respective characters?
 
Gabrielle Ryan: Oh my god. I mean, you know, Gloria is a dream to play. From the second I even saw the audition script; I knew that I wanted this role badly. She is just so fearless. So determined. She's a feisty one, as you see early on in episode one. And she is just a force to be reckoned with. And I think, you know, she's underestimated sometimes. But really… she's just a feisty one.
 
Shane Harper: Yeah, I mean, Vic… when I first saw the, the breakdown, and the character and everything, obviously, you know, we're all fans of the show. And I think the immediate reaction is like, well, this is going to be different than anything that I've done, I'm in Power. It stands alone, and kind of the world that it occupies, and how big it is, and how much it's, you know, how beloved it is, and all of that. So, I think the character’s really fun, like, I like this, the whole idea of being this, you know, this family like Empire and trying to vie for like the throne of the family seat, at the table, and all that stuff is, is very reminiscent of like old school gangster movies that I love. And I know everyone loves and it's kind of at the heart of our show like we want it to feel kind of like that old school gangster kind of vibe, you know? Like old Chicago gangster stuff. So that that was a big part of it. But really also just the fact that it's Power. And it's a privilege to be part of something that's so flagship and so big.
 
John Betancourt: Shane, you bring up a good point that I want to expand upon. In that, with the Power Universe being such a huge hit, what does it mean to both of you to be a part of what is basically… a cultural phenomenon.
 
Shane Harper: It's definitely a privilege. I mean, I think you know, for all of us, we're definitely noting, you know; this is the Tommy spin off. It’s a Tommy show. And we all really love Joseph Sikora, and just how talented he is, and what a good leader he's been, you know, on and off screen. And that's a big part of it as well for us, but you’re right. This is blockbuster stuff. You know, this is not like some tiny thing. This is blockbuster. It's big. And we all worked really hard. And I think we're excited and certainly excited for the fans to see it and hope they respond to the characters really well.
 
Gabrielle Ryan: Yeah, you know, being part of the universe is incredible. What 50 Cent and Courtney Kemp and Mark Canton created, it's just, it's just amazing. And you said it, it’s a cultural phenomenon right now, you know, with social media, like the fan’s response, the fans are so loyal and like “ride or die.” Like they tell you if they like you, or they love you, or “I'll hate you!”, you know? Which doesn't happen with every show, it's a dream. And you know, it's a testament to Joseph Sikora, and how he's brought, you know, the Tommy Egan character, not just to life, but how he's just elevated it. He's incredible. And we were all just so excited to be part of Tommy's world. We’re guests in Tommy's world.
 
John Betancourt: That is very true, it IS Tommy’s world. Now, shifting gears a bit. What do you as actors do, to get into the mindset to play characters that operate within a supremely grey world?
 
Gabrielle Ryan: Yeah, you know, I, with any character, I'll always start with looking at if there are any similarities or, you know, and then the differences and then I go from there. I think that every day there are elements of every character on TV that you can relate to, in some capacity. You know, not that we're out here, drug dealing, or anything like that, but there's… there are elements of the… these human aspects of the characters, you know? Gloria's experienced a lot of loss in her life, and everybody can relate to that. So, you know, you start there, and then start working with that.
 
Shane Harper: Yeah, absolutely. I think something really kind of simple. One of my first days working on the show, was a quite intense kind of scene with Joseph and Kris, Kris Lofton, and it's funny because we were talking about where we're starting and Joseph kind of – he’s really, he's kind of, you know, not being a part of the show… I'm really looking to him. For the tone set and all of that stuff and he is such a great leader. He's like, “This is also very life and death, like most of these scenes, are like life and death, like literally life and death.” And you have to remember that as an actor as well, like it's obvious you see it on the page and whatnot. But this isn't just like any other show. You know, these scenes are at such a high frequency. Like what's happening is very intense and you have to remember that. But yeah, getting into character. I mean, a lot of it is like, you know, getting in with your hair/makeup department and costumes, is such a big part of building characters. For this show, particularly, absolutely a huge part of it for me and the team that I got to work with, you know, with the looks, and you know, the tattoos and how he walks and talks. And all of that really enables me to kind of have fun and explore things on the day and find the character as we kind of move through the season.
 
John Betancourt: What are both most proud of when it comes to this first season of Force?
 
Shane Harper: I'm really proud of the determination to you know, to find this character’s voice, or at least for me personally, like, you know, it definitely is an intimidating and big world and to sort of step into it, you have to be brave and walk into that fire. You know what I mean? It really is kind of trial by fire, especially in this world. But yeah, I'm proud of the shape of the character when I watch it back. I think it feels, you know, it feels like a person, but it also feels like, at least… he fits in with the Power Universe. That was a real nice feeling watching it back, you know, feeling like it's all kind of fitting in there really well.
 
Gabrielle Ryan: Yeah, I think that's it. I completely agree with all of that. And I think that I'm really proud that we've… I think we've done a really good job at keeping all the key elements of the original Power that everybody knows and loves. And then you know, adding in these new characters that everyone's gonna start to get to know and hopefully love as well.
 
Shane Harper: Absolutely.
 
Gabrielle Ryan: That's an awesome, awesome feeling.
 
John Betancourt: Last question before we go. What are you both most looking forward to fans experiencing this season? Without spoiling of course.
 
Gabrielle Ryan: Oh, I mean, like I said that the new characters that are coming in, they are all so colorful and exciting. And I'm very excited for the fans to see how they all interact in Tommy's world. Because everybody has their own very interesting experience with Tommy, good, bad. And I can't wait for the fans to see that.
 
Shane Harper: Yeah, I definitely echo that I think the fans are going to be put at ease to see Tommy back. Back like he was, you know, when they when they loved him in the original series, and excited for all the new things as well that Joseph is doing with this character as he continues to evolve it and make it you know, even more and more and more, and there's no ceiling with Joseph and what he's trying to do with the show. So, I think fans are gonna love watching Tommy, you know, kick ass and do what he does, you know, which is basically cause chaos and take over, so, it'll be fun.
 
Gabrielle Ryan: Tommy’s back!
 
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

Isaac Keys and Kris Lofton are a pair of incredibly talented actors that have appeared in multiple television shows and films. Isaac for instance was as series regular on Get Shorty and has popped up on shows such as Criminal Minds and Supergirl as well, and even stepped into the world of dinosaurs in Jurassic World. As for Kris, he spent three seasons on Ballers and spent time on Shameless and Snowfall, in addition to having a role in the Sundance feature, A Boy. A Girl. A Dream. and now he and Isaac are playing the Sampson brothers, Diamond (Isaac) and Jenard (Kris) in Power Book IV: Force, and we here at Nerds That Geek were able to speak with both of them regarding their characters and all things Power.
 
John Betancourt: What is it that attracted the both of you, to your respective characters?
 
Kris Lofton: What attracted me to Jenard was… he was just very layered. I love the fact that Jennard was not too far on either side of the spectrum. I love the fact I get to play a complex character. I don't like to say, bad guys, you know, people say that they can, they can box you in and typecast you as a bad guy. No, I call them complex characters. And I feel it takes a lot more emotion and, skill to be able to dig deeper for a complex character with layers than it does to be the guy that just smiles and he's happy all the time. You know, so that's what excited me about Jenard the most. To be able to just remove those layers, to give you comedic timing, but to give you fear, and to give you aggression, and to give you love and empathy, I just want people to empathize with the villain.
 
Isaac Keys: With me, as Kris said, you know, the characters are cut from the same cloth, but yet they still throughout their growth, they kind of you know, develop their own different characteristics and how they handle certain things, and their personality traits. With this character of Diamond, I didn't feel it was too far from who I am. But it also allowed me to be able to get to some of the dark and gritty side of me at some point to be able to relate to, you know what I mean? Like the human aspect of him being the struggle, the internal struggle that we are all kind of faced with. Who are we becoming? Who are we now, who are we before? And who do we want to be? And how do we take the steps to be that person? And I think that was really attracted to me, attracted me to Diamond, I think it was important to be able to try to hopefully convey that to people.
 
John Betancourt: That’s interesting, in keeping with those flaws and those complexities, what did you each do to get into the mindset of playing your flawed and complex characters?
 
Isaac Keys: Um, I think it was just… I understand growth, and I understand having to make a transition, coming from football, I learned by trying to make the transition into acting, it was a transition where I had to make sacrifices with no guarantees. So, it was like, you know, I didn't know, I was making decisions and hard decisions upon, but not knowing what the outcome may be. And I think that's where Diamond kind of lies in. He's making some decisions for his growth and evolution, but he doesn't know where that's gonna lead him. In this life of Power, and the streets of Chicago and coming from the south side, any decision that Diamond makes could end him. Take him right to the grave, you know what I mean, they can put him in a graveyard. He can die that quick, you know, because that's just how quickly decisions are made. So, I think with that, it's just, it was just important to be able to really try to tap into that.
 
Kris Lofton: For me to prepare for Jenard, I, uh, I think I did more homework than I ever have in my life for any role ever. And I think it was because I knew what this what this job meant to me because of the whole Power Universe and how much this truly meant, I felt like I would do myself a disservice. And I'd be doing a disservice to the Universe and to all the people who supported me, up until this point, if I didn't give it 10 times more than I've ever gave on any of the other roles I've been a part of. So, I did what I call… I respected the position. I did the work, I did the homework, and I created the backstory so I could feel real emotions of resentment toward my brother. Like I pulled the school that I thought I would have been accepted to, what my major was, what my first girlfriend's name was that he took me away from or this and that I just, I really created that and I wrote it all out I still have it all in my notepad I wrote out a whole backstory about the conversation we had with each other before he went to prison.
 
So now those moments on screen to me, it felt real, because I'm thinking like this is what you took from me and now it feels real, so I did that. Along with… I did a lot of a YouTube video watching, I watched a lot of table reads, like, I don't know why… table reads were thing for me. But I watched table reads of Breaking Bad. Like a lot of them. Because I knew that being series regular was a different level of commitment and responsibility. And I just wanted to be ready for the big responsibility of it all and not just the acting side, the responsibility of it all, the table read aspect and element of it. I wanted to have that down. And then I remember our first table read I was asked to lead our table read and I was like wow, I subconsciously prepared myself for this before I got the role because I was watching hours of table read footage on Breaking Bad and I led the table read. So, I feel like I did more homework than ever for this.
 
John Betancourt: So, to shift gears a bit, what does it mean to both of you to be a part of the pop-culture phenomenon that is the Power Universe?
 
Kris Lofton: It means everything to me. I was a diehard Power fan. Like real, real diehard fan, I can quote the lines. I know things about --- I think I've talked to Joseph, our fearless leader Joseph Sikora. I've talked to him, and I think I've reminded him of things that he had forgotten, like, I'm that much of a fan. So, this means everything to me. And it still doesn't feel real. Sometimes I have people pinch me just to make sure I'm not sleep or dreaming or anything like that. So, it means a lot. And it's an honor to be here. And I'm just extremely thankful to STARZ and Courtney A. Kemp and 50 Cent, Mark Canton, everybody for making this a possibility in the universe that they created. I'm happy to be a part of it.
 
Isaac Keys: I mean, the fact that we are tie in universe right along with Power is extraordinary in its own right and 50 Cent, Courtney A. Kemp, everybody, we keep, you know, we have to give homage to them and thanks for everything. But not just for, giving us these roles, but everything they created. Like this has become, you know, a household type of environment of TV watching now. And you know, and I've been a part of that, because I was there when it first started. I was running home trying to watch it or having talks about it with friends later on. And, you know, like, we had to DVR, you had to DVR if you couldn't get there in time, you know, so, you know, it was important and so was having watch parties.
 
So, to be a part of it, like I'm still trying to embrace… like, there’s a scene with me and Joseph, it was me and Tommy. And it's like, he just gives me this, this eyebrow. He gives me the Tommy eyebrow. And it was like, I almost lost it! I had to keep it together. Because I was like, I felt like I was watching it on TV. But now I had to come to grips with it and it was like a coming to, you know, a coming to earth moment and I was like; “No, I'm in this. And now I have to make sure I bring the value and raise the bar to make sure this character belongs here.” So, it was just, you know, it's things like that man, that you kind of really just, you kind of grasp upon.
 
John Betancourt: What are you both looking forward to fans experiencing in Force? Without spoiling anything, of course.
 
Isaac Keys: I think my I'm really looking forward to the fans being able to see Tommy Egan again. And seeing his, his transition, his transformation. I'm really excited about that, like, because I feel like people have been longing for this. They've been longing for that. And I think along with that, you know how he comes in, there's gonna be new things that he brings to the table, you know what I mean? That it's going to excel, but also just the other storylines with this amazing cast, like, we got the Flynn family then you have, you know, the Sampson brothers between myself and you know, Jenard, and it's like, and so many amazing characters, and then all the people that we brought in that are actually from Chicago, you know, including Kris. But other characters, like, you're going to be opened up to a world of characters that I think is gonna blow the fans minds, on just how they have to act and what's going on with them in life.
 
Kris Lofton: And to piggyback off what Isaac said, I'm most excited for the fans and myself, because I'm still a fan and to see Tommy again, like you said, bro, that that's what it's about. He's the fan favorite. We want to see Tommy and I think… Power Book IV: Force, has the possibility to be one of the greats! Because of the fact that Tommy is such a fan favorite. And we get to finally see him outside of his element. He's not in New York, he doesn't have any friends anymore. He doesn't have any family. He's just alone. He's just the man on the road with himself. You know? And I think that's a that's a crazy place for us to meet Tommy and, to see where he goes from there…. it's going to be amazing. And like Isaac said, as well, the new characters that we introduce in this world, I think the fans are gonna love them. And I hope that we can just match up with the rest of the characters in his universe, man, if we can stand toe to toe with them or even half of what this universe is created. That'd be great.
 
This interview was lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

Yael Stone is a supremely talented actor that is known all around the around. Courtesy of her many roles on Australian television and by way of her turn as Lorna Morello on the hit series Orange in the New Black. Currently, Yael is starring as the mysterious vampire, Eleona on the AMC+ series, Firebite, and we here at Nerds That Geek had the honor of speaking with Yael about acting and all things Firebite.
 
John Betancourt: What was it that got you into acting?
 
Yael Stone: Oh, wow, I didn't expect that. Do you know what, I was kind of like a pretty sickly kid. I was always in and out of hospitals with like asthma and pneumonia and things like that. And so, I didn't do like sport or anything like that, you know, I swam because that was supposed to fix my lungs. But you know, I wasn't good at anything like that. And I wasn't particularly good at school when I was little and but on Friday evenings, and Saturday mornings, I would ride my bicycle to this woman's house, named Robin Fraser, who was a local lady who did Speech and Drama. And in her little extra room in her house, we would sit, her and I, and we would look through poetry books, and through stories, and I would read them out loud and we would talk about them. And then I would learn them off by heart and start performing them and writing my own little scripts. And it was a place that felt… it was just a magical place. And she treated me like that, like an adult. But she treated me with, I guess respect, and that imaginative world that grew out of that was so safe and so precious. And when I you know, when I started reading, you know, some of the great poets, it kind of made me come alive in a way that nothing else had. So yeah, that was that's really the start of it.
 
John Betancourt: Now jumping forward a little further… what was it that attracted you to the character of Eleona?
 
Yael Stone: A big jump, again! You know, I read some… I don't get a billion auditions. But I read some stuff. And a lot of stuff is just not for me. But because I'm a little odd. You know, I'm a character actor, really. And it's got to be right for me, it's going to be right for me. Do you know what I mean? I'm sort of not in the… I'm not in the big swathe of the middle ground. It's like, the hitting zone is quite specific. And when I read something, and not necessarily it's not necessarily a character thing, like with this, the whole concept was I just thought: “Wow, this is such a great concept.” And, and the coming together of, of Warwick Thornton, who's a big figure in Australia, and this particular kind of world was really fun. And I didn't know how heavily genre it would be, I didn't know how far we were going to go. I certainly didn't know I would be doing lots of fighting, you know, martial arts kind of fighting and doing lots of stunts. I did not know that.
 
But conceptually and character wise, it just felt really cool and really right on. And, you know, I have to say like, this is not a role that was offered to me, I auditioned multiple times for the role. I really did just feel quite strongly about it. And it's also… I didn't consciously think of this, but it's unlike anything I've ever done before. And she really is, we can say now, she's a bit of a she's a bad guy. You know, she's done some really terrible things and motivated by you know, her own ways of justifying things but she does some really God-awful things and in the next few episodes we'll come to see just how kind of misguided her decisions are. So yeah, I guess I played some misguided characters before, but she's violent and at times evil.
 
John Betancourt: Now, it is definitely safe to say that the reveal about Eleona is one of the biggest surprises of the season since no one saw it coming. How did you as an actor, work to keep that so seamless and so secretive?
 
Yael Stone: Um, I guess it's just like playing those intentions around. Like, the link between. Eleona is a vampire who's trying to find a new way to operate in the world. Eleona as a woman, before, we know the rest of that, is a woman who's trying to find a new way in the world. She's trying to eke out an existence in this strange town. So, I guess if you play both of those intentions, they meet up quite nicely. And then… it was a relief, I guess. What I remember the feeling of getting to, I think it was episode four or five, when we started shooting stuff where I could sort of let it loose a little more and let her energy out a bit more. Really before that, there wasn't a lot for me to do. Just, I mean, screen time wise, but what I did get to do was still really fun. You know, the stuff with Tyson with Rob Collins, you know, who's just fab and the kind of building energy with Callam is very cool. So yeah, I think playing the intention from for both those stories, the human story in the vampire story, they seem to marry up nicely.
 
John Betancourt: Speaking of the actor’s perspective. How do you get yourself into the mindset to play a character that’s basically born to do evil things?
 
Yael Stone: Well, I think there's kind of two parts of that, there's like the feeding element, the hunger element, which, which to me makes, again, you can kind of extrapolate from your own humanity, we know what it is to be hungry and to have physical needs. So, I kind of changed gears from the wanting world into the needing world. And so that there's a need for blood. And that was kind of interesting. You know, we were working the script quite actively along the way and making some pretty big decisions, you know, things were getting written as we were shooting. So, I would get to have these great conversations, specifically with Brendan, for episodes, seven and eight. And, and I sort of, I put it to Brendan like, this should be like, this should be like a vegetarian having their first steak in a while, you know, I say that as a vegetarian. Like, it sends her off. The taste gives her this whole new energy and power.
 
So yeah, finding those useful analogies, I guess is always helpful as an actor, I think there's so few working acting theories around that. It's the like, ‘what if’ kind of world. Yeah, so and then in terms of the second part of doing terrible things, so there's the feeding world, and then there's some really weird, misguided decisions she makes that have some double layers because of the race element. So, her decisions... that gets into a really sort of sick place of like… deep subjugated racism. And I think the setup is essentially that the vampires are essentially racist, and then a kind of metaphor for our for deep, deep racism, unchecked racism. So, in a way, I sort of see her like a parable, comparison to modern day colonial Australia and some of our still unchecked racism as we, as we even view ourselves as allies. And I say this, as you know, about myself as a person who has an Aboriginal partner and an Aboriginal child. Of course, there's unchecked racism that we have, of course, there's a notion of being “Saviors” as allies when that is in fact not helpful. So, I think Eleona is kind of a bit of, for me, it's a bit of a thesis around that.
 
John Betancourt: What would you say you’re most proud of when it comes to Firebite?
 
Yael Stone: Um, that’s a good question, that there's, there's different kinds of things, I guess, getting out of a comfort zone and really embracing a genre world. And that includes doing fights, you know, and I really wasn't prepared for that kind of stuff. And, and giving, I guess, always giving everything despite, you know, on paper, these silly, crazy outlandish stakes, “stakes.” But that's the game, right? Like I was talking to my friend, Eamon Farren, who's in The Witcher at the moment. And we were just talking about, like, there's only joy in that full commitment, you know, when the scenarios kind of get wild and, and outside the zone of our kind of lived life. It's the joy in performance has to be like really just always going there, and always going for what you really, really want to bring to the scene. So, that's what I'm proud of.
 
John Betancourt: What are you hoping fans take away from the finale?
 
Yael Stone: I mean, I hope that they feel conflicted. Yeah, I hope they feel conflicted about Eleona’s journey because here she is. A woman who's been subjugated and pushed down, down, down and kind of terrorized by her partner this, by a vampire king over centuries. And she's stood up and she's taken the reins. She's faced her fears and beaten him. Right. Which is exciting, and definitely a part of us is cheering for that. But then on the other hand, she's doing this, like violent, racist, horrible shit, and getting high on her own supply. You know, yeah, she's just getting off on the power. So, I hope they feel conflicted and, and kind of drawn in and asking bigger questions about who she is and what she's going to do next.
 
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

Lili Simmons and Tommy Flanagan are a pair of talented and accomplished actors. Lili for instance has appeared in such shows as True Detective and Westworld, and Tommy Flanagan is nothing short of a screen legend and they are part of the cast of Power Book IV: Force as Claudia and Walter Flynn, respectively, and we here at NTG had the chance to speak with both of them about all things Power.
 
John Betancourt: What attracted you both to your respective characters?  
 
Lili Simmons: Gosh, Claudia is such a complex, strong, powerful woman. She's quick, and she's sexy, too. She's got it all. And I think her knowing her arc of the show, and what she can do and what she's not able to do, but what she wants to do, what she needs to do… was so great. And I honestly read the role and I was like; I have to do this. I have to play her.
 
Tommy Flanagan: Walter’s a memory for me of people from my past. From way back when. So, a lot of ghosts are playing in my head when I’m playing Walter. So, it's been a real pleasure and pain. Love and hate... playing Walter… and I was just talking earlier. It really took a minute to shake him. When we left Chicago. I mean, months, months, probably still lingering somewhere around me. But yeah, I really, I really immersed myself in ol’ Walter. And it took me way back. To the way back. So, it was a journey for me.
 
John Betancourt: Now what did the both of you do to tap into the mindset of these complex characters?
 
Tommy Flanagan: I tapped into past memories of people I really love. And I carry them with me. And a dear friend of mine. I lost at the start of the show. From back in Scotland, and I carried Joe with me through the eight months of filming. And yeah, he was in my head a lot. I think just my past, was my go to for Walter.
 
John Betancourt: That is… very powerful and I’m sorry for your loss.
 
Tommy Flanagan: Thank you.
 
John Betancourt: Lili, what about you?
 
Lili Simmons: I would have to say going along with what Tommy was saying. My past and a lot of my present. Being in this industry… I mean, any woman in any industry, dealing with rejection with you know, saying “I'm sorry, sit back and smile.” You know, Claudia very much so has to deal with her father's old ways and trying to prove herself over and over and over again. She's hitting her head against the wall. And I very much have to do that anyway, in my line of work, but yeah, just stepping into my power, stepping into what I really would want to do on a daily basis. She does. So, I have to say it was thrilling to get to do that. And I love Claudia. Yeah. And I think I still have a little bit of that in me from her, which is nice.
 
John Betancourt: Now the Power Universe is a place where everyone is searching for something and has some kind of agenda. What are your characters searching for?
 
Lili Simmons: Recognition, recognition, and power. She's, she's ready. She's ready to take over. She's ready to run her family's business correctly and get them even bigger and higher than they are. And yeah, so I think she's searching for recognition, power… love from her father.
 
Tommy Flanagan: He's got a sense of immortality. And he sees that more in his daughter than in his son, I believe. But he drinks and he smokes like a motherfucker, and he's in this world of violence and death any second. But he's… he's untouchable. He's been doing this for 30 years, this guy, and he's still on top of his game. So… there's a lot going on with ol’ Walter.
 
John Betancourt: What does it mean to each of you as actors, to be a part of the pop culture phenomenon that is the Power Universe?
 
Tommy Flanagan: Very cool. Fucking cool. I mean, this whole universe… it’s huge. You know. 50 Cent. Courtney Kemp. Joseph Sikora our beloved fucking leading man, producer, and other things. He's just amazing. Yeah. Exciting.
 
Lili Simmons: We're so excited! I'm so thrilled to be a part of it. As Tommy said, Just, Courtney Kemp. 50 Cent. Joseph Sikora. Our beautiful cast. The world is already amazing. We're gonna make it even better.
 
John Betancourt: What would each of you say, you’re most proud of when it comes to season one?
 
Lili Simmons: Getting through it. -laughs- Yeah, we trudged along, you know, we shot in the pandemic, and we had to shut down a couple times. We were pretty, pretty, damn safe. And it's just what it is, its the world we live in. So, you know, what I thought was interesting is; I think we live in such a dark place with scenes with such high stakes of: “Am I gonna die today or not?” And thank God, we loved each other. Thank God, the guys loved each other because I don't know what I would have done without them. We I think... we kept each other alive--
 
Tommy Flanagan: Yes, we did.
 
Lili Simmons: --with levity in between takes and just lots of lots of fun and laughter between. So yeah, I would say I would say there wasn't necessarily like a really hard part… just trudging all the way through and making sure we make a good show for everyone.
 
Tommy Flanagan: You know, we come out of 2020 locked down and right into Chicago from one bubble to another kinda. And it was tough, but it was fulfilling and magical to be a part of this exciting world. But we were so fucking contained! Sometimes you were ready to explode. You knew you were a part of something that was so exciting. You wanted to run around and scream and shout, not literally, but you know what I mean, and you couldn't. You just felt as though you're in this bubble, and you couldn't be tuned to your fellow actors. And anyway, getting through it was great. And hopefully we've delivered something spectacular with a 100% cast. Which is… yeah…
 
Lili Simmons: Rare.
 
Tommy Flanagan: Rare!
 
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

Timothy Miller has a brand-new novel out entitled The Strange Case of the Dutch Painter, and we here at Nerds That Geek had the distinct honor of sitting down with Timothy to discuss his new book, it’s Sherlock Holmes inspiration and the craft of creative writing.
 
Nerds That Geek: This is the second installment in your “Strange Case” mystery series. Why did you choose Vincent van Gogh for Holmes’ latest case?
 
Timothy Miller: It was more that I choose Holmes for the Van Gogh investigation. I became intrigued by his story, and certain discrepancies I saw, or imagined in it—was he really mad? Did he cut his ear off? Did he actually commit suicide? If you start to look at a story from a different angle—well,  I finally felt I had to call on Mr. Holmes to help me discover the truth. He’s a far more logical thinker than I am.
 
NTG: Are you an art aficionado yourself, or did you end up doing a lot of research on the Impressionist era? You’ve included a lot of very interesting facts on the period.
 
Timothy Miller: Both. I’ve always had an interest in art—and in art forgery and theft, but this novel required a huge amount of research over several years, beginning all the way back when the internet meant AOL. I had to hit the stacks. I even bought the entire set of Van Gogh’s letters, which is lost now somewhere in San Francisco. It actually became easier and easier as more information migrated online (including the letters) and as later research tied in with my idle conjectures.
 
NTG: Do you think Sherlock Holmes would have good taste in art? Why / why not?
 
Timothy Miller: Watson claimed that he had dreadful taste in art, but then Watson was something of a Philistine himself. But I think Holmes would have been more apt to analyze art, to try to derive clues from it rather than simply enjoy it. I think he would have been more comfortable with abstract art, Kandinsky, for instance, which would have allowed his mind. to release its grip, the same way that improvisation on the violin did.
 
NTG: Why do you think Holmes forever holds a staple as one of our all-time-favorite detectives of all time?
 
Timothy Miller: Because he can never be fully known, so he’s very much open to interpretation. Writers talk so much about character arcs these days. I think characters without arcs, who remain unchanging from story to story—Robin Hood to James Bond—tend to become icons. It’s the mystery that makes them appealing. A bit like gods.
 
NTG: Of course, we loved Holmes in print, but we’re also curious if you have a favorite movie or series on the detective? Always looking for recommendations here at Nerds that Geek!
 
Timothy Miller: The truth is, and you’re going to hate me, I don’t care greatly for most of the movies. I mean, Basil Rathbone IS Sherlock Holmes, but the writing was not up to par. The Granada series always felt a bit stilted, as if it were trying to be too faithful. Benedict Cumberbatch is brilliant, but can you really take Sherlock out of the Victorian fog? That said, I have a weakness for Nichol Williamson in The Seven Per Cent Solution. And I have a secret heart throb in Jeremy Irons, who played the Great Detective in an SNL skit some years back.
 
NTG: We saw that you are a screenwriter as well – where did you get your start?
 
Timothy Miller: Well, you might say I’m still hoping to get my start, if you mean Hollywood. I’ve only done a couple of indie productions which more or less fell into my lap. But if you want to know what my first screenplay was, it was called Art in the Blood, later (much later) rewritten as this same novel, The Strange Case of the Dutch Painter. Which, by the way, I could do nothing with, as Sherlock Holmes was still very much under lock and key by his estate at the time. I waited.
 
NTG: Is there a unique story or genre that you haven’t tackled yet?
 
Timothy Miller: Oh, yes. There’s the story of the theft of the Mona Lisa… and Picasso’s involvement. I want to tackle it like a Cubist painting, showing all sides at once, and including some of the characters from this novel. And there’s a hard-boiled detective story I want to meld with the Pirandellian.
 
NTG: In regarding Timothy Miller the author… what’s next for Sherlock?
 
Timothy Miller: Well, about a month ago, I had a pat answer for that, a novel I was working on that takes place near the end of Holmes’s career that involves the curse of King Tut. But--and my editor won’t be pleased to hear this—I’ve been seized by a new story that takes place at the beginning of Holmes’s career, and involves a fellow named Ebenezer Scrooge. So… I’ll keep you posted.

​This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

Joseph Sikora is an accomplished actor that has appeared in a bevy of iconic television shows and motion pictures. But he is arguably best known for playing Tommy Egan in the Power Universe on STARZ and it just so happens that Joseph is reprising the role of Tommy for Power Book IV: Force, and we here at Nerds That Geek were fortunate enough to sit down with Joseph to discuss his time as Tommy and what we can expect from this latest chapter in the Power franchise.
 
John Betancourt: Let’s start with the obvious question. What does it mean to you for Tommy to have his own series?
 
Joseph Sikora: You know, I'm just so happy that the fans demanded it. I'm so happy that 50 Cent made it happen. And I think that we have a lot of more exploring to do with the character of Tommy Egan to find a man who has lost everything and needs to build everything up from scratch. I think we get a little bit of a peek into the window of the persona that is Tommy Egan. How did he get to the Tommy Egan that we were introduced to in Power? The original Power, Power: Book I, in episode one season one, day one, hour one, second one. So, it's a lot of the evolution that actually takes us takes us back to the beginning, because Tommy now has to build everything from scratch.
 
John Betancourt: Now outside of the fan demand for Tommy to have his own series, what on the back end allowed for Force to come to life?
 
Joseph Sikora: The desire of Curtis ‘50 Cent’ Jackson to satiate his fans and the fans of the Power Universe and he wouldn't take ‘no’ for an answer. And here we are on the air.
 
John Betancourt: What does it mean to you, to play a character that is so beloved through and through?
 
Joseph Sikora: You know, it’s a super honor. And you know, I do wear it as a badge of honor that, that people love Tommy, but I think one of the reasons that people love Tommy is that it's a shared experience. The luxury of me to bring that character to life, truly is a luxury, but it's you know, it's not singularly me. It's a shared credit for everybody. It's a shared credit for Mark Canton and Curtis ‘50 Cent’ Jackson for the inception of the series. It's a credit for Courtney A. Kemp, creating the series and these wonderful characters. It's a credit to Gary Lennon, who really fleshed out the character and it's a credit to the rest of the original cast of Omari Hardwick, Lela Loren and Naturi Naughton, and that we all got to play bounce off of each other and support each other. And this was really… I mean; you were there. It was, it was a grassroots movement. I mean, it was a slow build. And then it became this kind of a nerd juggernaut that boom, is still rolling to ‘till today, that became the Power World into the Power Universe.
 
John Betancourt: You’re right. It just kept building and building, and I am sure we can attribute some of where we’re at today with your show by way of the cameo that Tommy did in the season one finale of Ghost.
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Joseph Sikora: Yeah. People were pretty, I mean, just numbers wise, I think the people came and they were really excited to see Tommy. Plus, I'm so proud of Michael Rainey Jr. He's doing an exceptional job leading that show, along with other Power alum of Shane Johnson and Naturi Naughton and they did just a great job and then coupled with the Method Man and Mary J. Blige. It's, it's a really, it's an exceptional cast.
 
John Betancourt: Absolutely. It’s a great show, he's doing a great job, and I am totally hooked on it, and it was great to see Tommy pop in. Now. Since you’ve obviously been synonymous with Tommy for years now, what’s changed preparation wise in getting into character now vs. Power?
 
Joseph Sikora: Well, I try not to take anything for granted. I always try to keep you know, staying in the character giving the time that I need. I'm not as method as a lot of people. I, you know, because I'm a theatre actor, originally. And I still prepare in the same way, I do a lot of homework at home, and I get up, and I show up being prepared. But I also show up being very malleable. So, if I show up with a certain idea of how the scene is supposed to go, I'm not rigid if it doesn't necessarily jive with the other actors and the director and the situation and what's happening. And it really allows me to stay in the present and come up with something that's organic, real and that's where the magic lies. I think.
 
John Betancourt: Now you mentioned that Tommy is on a vastly different journey in this story. What would you say… because I’ve found that in Power, everybody is searching or moving toward something. What would you say Tommy is searching for in Force?
 
Joseph Sikora: Tommy is starting off. He's… he's searching for some kind of peace. And he's searching for a sense of identity because everything that he's associated himself with, and his own identity, New York, Queens, you know, Ghost, the St. Patrick's, money, his hustle, his organization, his mother has turned her back on him, everything is gone. So, I think that he wants to find some peace. and almost a redefining of his identity. And I think a lot of people can identify with that too, just moving to a different city. So, Tommy's moving to a different city, what happens when we move to a different city? You kind of re-find your identity and how you operate and work in this new, this new topography. So, I think that it's very, it's very relatable. And also, Tommy is extreme as he is, he's a true 360-degree person, he's low, he's high. He's somewhere in the middle. Sometimes he's really high. You never know, with Tommy Egan. But it's… he's a very exciting character that I think a lot of people are able to relate to and see themselves in.
 
John Betancourt: Now since you’ve been in just about every corner of the Power Universe, minus Raising Kanan, what would you say you’re most proud of when it comes to your time in this franchise?
 
Joseph Sikora: Being kind, respecting everybody's job. Knowing that we are here to entertain and at our best, we're vessels of entertainment. So, people can maybe make their lives a little bit better by seeing our experiences, actors, and vessels and to say, hey. You know, even though these times are awful and bad, and there are repercussions for actions, we can kind of see our lives in the lives of these characters and maybe learn something about ourselves.
 
John Betancourt: Now, you mentioned kindness there and how important is that to you and that does bring up an important question for Tommy’s future. In that, do you think Tommy Egan is someone that can find redemption and kindness and let all of this go and enjoy peace?
 
Joseph Sikora: No.
 
John Betancourt: Okay. Emphatically, there you have it, folks! (Laughter erupts from Joseph and John.) That’s good to know. So, last question before we go to today, what are you most looking forward to fans experiencing in Force, without spoiling anything of course.
 
Joseph Sikora: You know, really, this is not a staged or lame answer… but the rest of the cast. There's so many of these cast members that are so incredibly talented. The great Tommy Flanagan, who has been gracing our screens big and small for years is exceptional as Walter Flynn you will not be able to not watch him. Chicago theater legend Guy Van Swearengen plays his Conciliary, to see some of that incredible homegrown talent and he's phenomenal in his subtlety and his delivery is incredible. The two offspring of the Flynn family, Shane Harper and Lili Simmons are great. But also, Gabrielle Ryan. She is as beautiful on the inside as she is on the out and as talented as she is beautiful. So, it's wonderful to act with somebody like that and just be in their presence. The two Sampson brothers, Kris Lofton, who plays Jenard, Isaac Keys, who plays Diamond, are excellent. And another homegrown talent, we've got two of them. We've got Lucien Cambric and Ahmad Ferguson, who are both products of the South Side of Chicago. And they add a certain amount of not only gravity but reality to our series. And I'm really proud of that. And Anthony Fleming, the third, my Columbia College Chicago Alumni is really great, too. So, I've just been blessed with an incredible cast.
 
John Betancourt: Perfect, well, thank you for your time today, Joseph. Can’t wait for folks to see the show, it’s phenomenal. 
 
Joseph Sikora: Thank you, John.
 
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.