Harold Perrineau is a tremendous actor with a deep list of television credit that would be the envy of any performer. They go way back to his early appearance on the ahead-of-its-time network drama I’ll Fly Away (1991-93) to memorable roles on the HBO prison drama Oz (1997-2003), FX’s Sons of Anarchy (2012) and probably his most well-known role, that of Michael Dawson on ABC’s Lost (2004-2008; 2010). Movie fans know him best from The Matrix Trilogy.
He’s back as self-appointed, bell-ringing sheriff Boyd Stevens in FROM. The second season of that shot-in-Nova Scotia horror series is streaming now at Paramount+ in Canada (one of our sponsors here at brioux.tv) as well as at MGM+.
As you can quickly tell from the short video interview above, Perrineau is much more of a happy-g-lucky fellow than the frightened, damaged character he plays on FROM. Once we get past my beard, the interview starts with some discussion of his very compassionate performance on a recent series that was a big hit in our house, the crazy-ass caper comedy-drama Claws (2017-2022).
On that series, Perrineau played Dean, the autistic brother of lead character of Desna played by Niecy Nash. Nash’s Desna led a group of outrageous female nail salon sirens (played by Carrie Preston, Judy Reyes, Karrueche Tran and Jenn Lyon) who were all in when it came to finger painting as well as committing a little thievery on the side.
“I loved working with every one of those ladies,” said Perrineau, who agreed that his role was very intricate. “You really got to find the right balance to strike so that nobody’s making fun of you.”
That he did, as he does on FROM, which was created by John Griffin. The series takes place in a small town where, as in the Hotel California, people can visit but they can never leave. Worse, monsters come out at night. Some character take refuge in a place called the “Colony House.” Others are on their own.
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That the series is shot in peaceful little North Beaver Bank, Nova Scotia, makes it all the creepier.
Astonishingly, this is Perrineau’s first time as the lead actor on a series. His talents were already well known to executive producers Jack Bender and Jeff Pinkner, who both worked on Lost.
The opportunity to be No. 1 on the call sheet certainly appealed to Perrineau, but, more importantly, so did the writing. “What was super interesting to me was this idea of the town, and the Colony House is very reminiscent of what was happening in the whole world,” he said, referencing the pandemic. “The idea of these different ways of dealing with this monster that we don’t know, that we have no idea of how to deal with it.”
One of Perrineau’s co-stars in Season One was Shaun Majumder, the Newfoundland-born actor/comedian best known for his work on This Hour Has 22 Minutes. The always improvising Majumder, who played the town priest on FROM, kept things loose on the set — especially when he cracked Perrineau up between takes.
“He jumped into this Jamaican accent that’s better than any accent that I will ever have in my whole life,” said Perrineau. “I can practice it forever I’m never going to be as good as Shaun.”
Hear Majumder talk about FROM‘s first season on this brioux.tv: the podcast conversation.
Season Two finds some new visitors to the town, including a few other Canadians. Fans of Jann Arden’s sitcom JANN will recognize Deborah Grover, who played Jann’s mom Nora, among the mysterious newcomers. Reid Price, Kaelen Ohm and A.J. Simmons are also new to the series. They’ll join Scott McCord (Victor), who has been upped to a series regular.
The first and the 10-episode second season of FROM are both streaming now on Paramount+. Click on the buttons below to jump directly to FROM:
