Exclusive Interview with Christopher Larkin from The 100, Carry Hatchet, and D’Artagnan
Born in Taegu, South Korea before being adopted by parents of Irish and French-Canadian descent, Christopher Larkin was then raised in Connecticut.
With a history like that, he could probably try his hand at winning whatever award might exist for most diverse and ecclectic background. Instead, he has chosen to dedicate his time, energy, and passion to music and acting.
He just released his first solo album as Carry Hatchet entitled The News Today. He’s also currently filming season three of The CW’s Sci-Fi survival series, The 100, where he plays Monty Green. And, in whatever spare time he manages to find, he plays in a three-man band called D’Artagnan.
In the midst of his busy schedule, he took time out this week to talk to us and turned what was supposed to be a one-way interview with him into a two-way interview where we went back and forth asking each other questions. Keep reading to find out how that went!
So your album just came out!
“Yeah. It is very, very strange.”
Kind of surreal?
“Yeah. Bittersweet.”
Why bittersweet?
“I’m so glad to have it off my chest but simultaneously, I kind of miss it already. I just miss the entire process of making it. Now there’s like the looming question of what’s next, which is exciting but also terrifying.”
Yeeaah…is that why it took 13 years?
“(laughs) Like, will it take another 13 for a second album? Or will there even be a second? It depends whether or not I’ll feel a need to make another one. And I don’t know.”
How many tracks are on it?
“Ten.”
Do you have a favorite one?
“Oh man. It changes all the time.”
Like, all of them.
“Well, like every time I finish one it becomes my favorite one for a few weeks and then I write another one and all of a sudden it’s my new favorite.”
How long does it take you to write one?
“I think it depends on the song. Like some I can get down and record in a day. And some take just months and months. And some I just end up having to scrap and then pick up later on because I feel like I found the solution.”
How many bands have you been in now? I feel like I’ve seen at least three or four just in the time that you’ve been on The 100.
“Officially…I mean…how many bands? Do garage bands count? (laughs).”
I think so. Sure! Why not?
“I guess with that, this would be number four? Going solo is project number four. But seriously, the only other band that I play in now is the band called D’Artagnan.”
Ok, yeah. I was confused at first. I was like, ‘Wait, Carry Hatchet? I thought it was D’Artagnan. What happened?’
“(laughs) Yeah, no. It’s D’Artagnan minus everyone else.”
So where’d you come up with the name Carry Hatchet?
“I was watching a Ken Burns documentary about Prohibition and there was a Camden Tee-Totaler called Carrie Nation who used to go around smashing up saloons with a hatchet and everyone started referring to her as Carrie Hatchet. The second I heard those words together I was like, ‘That’s it. I found it.’ I just had to make sure it hadn’t already been taken. It’s so hard to find a band name now! They’re all taken.”
Where’d D’Artagnan come from?
“That’s a great question. We formed in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. There were three of us at the time. And I guess we were looking for, I guess, who was the fourth Musketeer, and the fourth Musketeer would be the audience. The audience is D’Artagnan. You have Athos, Porthos, Aramis and then we collaborated and the only thing we had to add to the mix was D’Artagnan, and that would be the audience.”
Oh awesome!
“It is a problem, though, because it’s such a famous character that if anyone would do a search, they’re gonna come up with the Dumas novel sooo…it’s probably not the best marketing move in retrospect, but…”
But it’s a cool name!
“Is it? I’ve had people who don’t know who he is. They’re like, ‘What’s D’artag…D’artag…D’artag-non?’ “
No, I know who D’artagnan is.
“Thank you! Yeah, it’s like 50/50. How can you not, though? We all grew up with, like – well, which movie do you remember? Like the Chris O’Donnell film?”
Yes.
“That’s who I remember.”
Yeah, I think I saw the one before that, but it bored me to tears.
“(laughs) I don’t think I’ve seen that one. Do you remember who was in it?”
I have no idea.
“Ok.”
I just remember I was very little, my parents turned it on, and I was like, ‘What in the world? This is just boring.’
“Well, isn’t the one that we’re talking about, isn’t that made by Disney?”
I think so.
“So it was, like, catered for a younger audience.”
Yeah.
“I mean, Chris O’Donnell. He’s a stud. Can I ask really quick…? Talk Nerdy…how long have you guys been up and running?”
I’ve been working with them for three months. I love to write and I’m super nerdy. Like, I write fanfiction, but I’ve been wanting to get into the entertainment side of writing, so Talk Nerdy has been a great fit!
“That’s awesome! By fanfiction do you mean – I don’t really know that world. I was at DragonCon about a month ago and they were all like, ‘Oh yeah, you guys should read some of the show’s fanfiction’ and I haven’t done it yet, but I’ve heard it’s pretty swell.”
(laughs) Don’t do it. Honestly, from a professional perspective and from everything I have heard, don’t read it if you still need to be getting into character. Because your character will be so bizarrely off the wall in so many different ways in all these fanfics that you may not remember what the real thing is anymore.
“Ok. So wait until the show’s over.”
Yeah, yeah. But hopefully that won’t be too soon!
“I mean, you never know, right? ‘Cause we don’t air again until March.”
Is that for sure?
“Yeah…they pushed us back to mid-season. We just do better ratings-wise because most of our viewers are all self-streaming. So they put it back in March and by then, we’ll be done filming and we’ll have no idea – “
I thought Jason [Rothenberg, creator of The 100] tweeted not too long ago that Mark Pedowitz [President of The CW] said that…he didn’t tell him exactly when, but that he [Jason] would be happy, so Jason was hoping that would mean more January/February than March.
“Oh, see, that would be cool, because the sooner the better, right? Before people become too, uh, what’s the word I’m looking for? Detached?”
I don’t know. I think – the one thing that I do think that fanfiction is doing for The 100 is that it’s definitely helping to keep people engaged.
“Ok. Do you think they’ll be disappointed, though? Like that the fanfiction is so much better than what we’re actually able to come up with?”
No way!
“Like the fans are so much better at creating story than we are?”
No way! Ok, I write fanfiction for The 100 and I know that my stuff is nowhere near as good as the actual writing for the show.
“Now I feel like I have to read it. You might be wrong. Your stuff might be, like, great story points that the writers room could use. You never know!”
(laughs) Ok, so if you read mine and then tell them that they need to hire me, I’d be all for that.
“(laughs) That would be…well, have you ever wanted to – I guess if you love writing and you love entertainment…”
I would. The problem is, I got my degree in psychology and did social work for 9, almost 10 years.
“Oh wow.”
Yeah, and now I’m burnt out on social work so I’m all ready to do something else but I have no experience in anything else. Which is kinda where Talk Nerdy comes in…
“Right.”
Ok, so let me ask this…you have so many different influences in your background…South Korean, Irish, French-Canadian, New England…what was it like growing up with all those things impacting you and how do they impact you now?
“How do I explain this? If anything, I almost felt culturally Irish. My dad was pretty hardcore with like the Celtic…like there was a constant Celtic soundtrack playing in our house and River Dance was just, like, always on repeat. I mean, we had a VHS copy of River Dance and Lord of the Dance. My first goal early on was to be like the Asian Michael Flatley.”
Awesome!
“The first Asian-American to star in an Irish step-dancing show (chuckles). That dream faded pretty fast. But, yeah, for growing up in an all white community in Connecticut, I actually didn’t think about race or culture. It wasn’t until I moved to New York, where I was surrounded by diversity, that I started to really be aware of my make up.”
Was it hard?
“Not too difficult. I think it just became an issue when it came to casting. I became hyper-aware of the roles that people saw me as capable of playing and, more importantly, the roles that they saw me as NOT capable of portraying.”
Really?
“Yeah. Because in my head it was all equal opportunity and that there would be non-traditional casting all around but that’s totally not the case and it’s still an uphill battle. So having to embrace my Asian roots became just front and center.”
So how have you handled that?
“That’s a good question. I think I’m still working on it. I think it’s something that’s constantly evolving. I’ll never fully solve it. But that’s also exciting. Let me gather my thoughts on that one. That’s a really big, great but big, question. I think recently, I’ve seen it as more of a selfless struggle, because when I first started acting it was totally for selfish reasons. I enjoy acting and this is what I wanna do. Now I see it as more of a movement of Asian-American performers to improve the image, try to progress everything forward. And it’s become more of a selfless profession than I thought it could be.”
Interesting. So what do you think of…I don’t know. It almost seems like fans of The 100 are divided on that particular issue [how race is represented]. Some are like ‘Oh my god, what are you talking about? This is the most racially diverse cast we’ve seen in a long time’ and then there are others who are totally calling the show incredibly racist and –
“Are they? See this is interesting. You have much more – like, I don’t follow as much as I should. This is interesting hearing this from you because this is a newsflash for me.”
Yeah. There are some who call it very racist and say that it is for white feminists.
“What?! (laughs) Oh man! I gotta, I gotta read! I need to get in on this fanfiction and everything! I know that’s not all of it, but I gotta – ok, so there’s the white feminist camp, what’s the other half?”
The other half is saying that it’s racist because it has killed off so many of the prominent people of color and, like, that Anya was killed and replaced with Lexa who is white.
“Right.”
And that in and of itself is racist.
“Right. Well, then there’s Indra…”
Right.
“Who should be – I mean, look at her, she’s terrifying.”
Right, but then they’re saying that she is the stereotypical angry black woman.
“Gotcha. And then Raven is like the sassy Latina mechanic.”
Well, with Raven they just don’t think she’s getting the appropriate storylines.
“Ohhh.”
Like she’s getting some stereotypical storylines where she needs a man to be happy and that a lot of her story has been paired with whoever, whether it’s Finn, or her fling with Bellamy, or now Wick and that she can’t seem to be alone when she’s a kickass character who…
“She’s totally independent.”
Right.
“That’s interesting. You know, this is the most, easily the most interesting question I’ve ever gotten. Probably half because it’s, like, novel, and half because it’s just blowing my mind right now. I think I’m divided between or amongst both camps. I do think it’s important – white feminist is tricky, because I do think there needs to be a stronger female presence across the board. Writers, producers, directors, actors. It’s a male world. So the more we can have strong female characters, I’m all for that. But…I guess I do think in the make up of any show, there’s always the hierarchy. There’s no such thing as an ensemble show. You always have your leads.
I go to Lost all the time because I’ve pegged that one as one of the most diverse shows of all time. But still, your focal point is always Jack, Kate, and Sawyer. They’re the white triangle. Then you kind of branch off to your Michael, Walt, Jin, Sun. They’re a bit further down the pyramid. So, I mean, I’d love to think that race and gender are both priorities in the writers room and that the network – and I think that we’re all trying to improve, but obviously, I think the fans are right in noticing that there’s work to be done. So, I don’t think we’re there yet but I think everyone’s conscious of it. It takes time.”
It does. Rome wasn’t built in a day.
“Wait, which camp are you in? I’m sorry, I’m interviewing you, but I’m just curious. (laughs).”
No! It’s fine! This is – you know, The 100 is my absolute favorite show of all time.
“Oh, it is not!”
Yes! I had been seriously obsessed with Veronica Mars but after the kickstarter and the movie, the interest just kind of faded so I was really looking for something else to be that excited about.
“I haven’t seen Veronica Mars. Was that Kristen Bell?”
Yeah. And Jason Dohring and probably a lot of others that you haven’t heard of, but that cast was pretty diverse as well. The main character’s best friend was black. A black guy, actually, which was really different for that timeframe.
“We had the Clarke/Wells thing. Which, they were supposed to be lovers. And then something happened. I don’t know if he didn’t test well…I think the audience just wasn’t fond of that relationship – I don’t know if this is race-related, but they weren’t fond of that duo. So Wells bit it. Early.”
Yeah, and now there are a lot of people who are upset that he bit it early.
“I thought he was great. I loved Eli [Goree, who played Wells]. I thought he was a really interesting actor to watch. I mean, it doesn’t fit in the books. In the books, Wells lives for a very long time. Although, if you’re reading it, all the characters [from the show] aren’t in it. There are like two or three characters that are actually on the show that are in the books.”
Exactly! Well, and then the ones that are in the books that are also in the show are so different personality-wise that I’ve seen so many people say it’s just not the same.
“Interesting. Ok. I’ve only made it through the first one [book].”
Yeah. It is definitely interesting. All fan opinions are so interesting.
“I don’t know. You’re making it hard not to check out this fanfiction. Someone gave me like a link when I was down in Georgia. It was like, what’s the main one? Like The 100 fanfiction dot net or something like that?”
Oh! I don’t even know about that one.
“I don’t even know if that’s the link.”
Ok. There’s fanfiction.net and then there’s archiveofourown.org. Archiveofourown lets you filter stories by preferred character or pairing. That one I’ll go on just to see which characters have the most stories written about them.
“Ok.”
There are a lot of stories there that are written in alternate universes. There’s one that’s pre-series on the Ark where Monty is an unwilling accomplice in the explosion on Unity Day.
“Ohhh. (laughs) That’s why this fiction is so interesting. Because, what do people imagine with these stories?”
It’s fun and it keeps fans occupied while we have to wait and wait and wait and wait for season three.
“I know and it’s so long. I’m sorry. It feels long. Because it should be coming out in like a couple of weeks.”
It should be!
“Ugh…I mean, hopefully there’s like nothing on. That’s the nice thing about midseason. It’s usually, like, lacking? So hopefully it [The 100] can just sneak in…”
I hope so…although, we’re still – well, not me, but anybody in the States [who hasn’t seen it] is still waiting for season two to be up on Netflix so that they can see it.
“Yeah. It’s hard for me to believe that people haven’t – have no idea what’s happened, um, like the whole Mount Weather storyline, the Grounder/Ark alliance…”
Which is no more I’m assuming.
“Um…I mean…if you think about it, I think it’s always something that’s trying to be patched. They’re sharing the same space. But obviously, no, after the finale there’s no way that any of them are on good terms.”
Yeah…you know, it just blows my mind that after all the backstabbing and betrayal, there are people who still want the Clarke and Lexa pairing to happen. I can’t wrap my head around it.
“It is curious who people end up shipping. Well, I guess it’s pretty clear, right? It’s Bellarke and Clexa, they’re the big ones.”
See, I’ve seen both sides of the shipping community go to some really nasty extremes. On the one side, I’ve seen a number of Clexa shippers accuse anyone who doesn’t like the pairing of being homophobic.
“Ohh, they’re trying to – well that’s…come on.”
And I’ve seen a number of people standing up and saying, ‘Hello! I’m bi, I’m a lesbian, and I don’t ship them! I’d rather ship – ‘ well, I don’t know if you’ve heard the ship name for Clarke and Raven. Princess Mechanic?
“Noo. That’s good. But I could see that. I think they’d make a pretty fierce couple.”
Yeah! So they’ll say, ‘We’d rather see that happen or pretty much Clarke and anybody besides Lexa because…how could they ever trust each other again?’
“Wellll…you’ll find out. I can’t say much, but you will. We won’t leave you hanging in the Clexa department.”
Well that’s good. But then, on the other side of it, some of the Bellarke fans are upset because they feel like Jason has shut them down and pushed them aside, that their questions don’t get acknowledged when he does Q&As, that he ignores them, that…(laughs)
“I think it’s because that relationship is predictable. He’s trying very hard to fight predictability in all aspects of the show. But if you get them together, then it’s like…it’s just the classic – I hate to use this as a reference but it’s like the Hey Arnold with Helga and Arnold. It’s romance that shouldn’t be. It’s forbidden romance but for some reason or other it comes to be – but once it comes together it’s like…I don’t know. I feel like getting romantically involved would ruin them independently as leaders. The emotions would make things muddy. I actually hope it doesn’t happen. And also, relationships on our show lead to death or just ultimate sadness. So I don’t think people want that for either Bellamy or Clarke.”
The only way I can really see it happening is if they wait until like the series finale and we know that nobody’s gonna die – well, not that that will ever happen with this show.
“Right. No, are you kidding me? If we get to the series finale, that’s it. It’s over for most people. I don’t know which ones, but like 75%, dead.”
Really? You think it would only be 75%? I think it could –
“(laughs) Only 75? They have to leave someone. Or not, I guess. It could be total annihilation.”
Yeah…yeah…sooo…ok, so, you mentioned DragonCon. And I watched the video from that. And I think –
“You watched the full panels?”
I did.
“Oh my god.”
Well…I was watching and updating my Twitter and Tumblr with what was happening. Sooo…
“I’m surprised Ricky [Whittle, who plays Lincoln] wasn’t periscoping. He loves that periscope.”
I think he did do some periscoping.
“I can’t trust that guy at all. I’ll walk into a room and be like, ‘Oh god, I’m being streamed to the universe right now.’ (laughs).”
I don’t think you were there when he was periscoping. He was periscoping the jazz club he went to.
“Ohhh! That place…I’m not sure…I know he was going out a bunch. And I went out with him one night to some music place. I’m not sure if this was the one, but that was pretty cool.”
Didn’t you say in one of the panels that most of your scenes are with Jasper still this season?
“Well, this season, without giving away too much away, this season is different. Which I appreciate. Obviously following the annihilation of Mount Weather and Maya’s death, Monty and Jasper’s relationship can never be the same even if there’s forgiveness involved. Kind of like what you were saying about Clarke and Lexa. IF Clarke decides to forgive Lexa. There’ll always be – well, what’s the saying? Forgive but you’ll never forget? That mentality and, so for the first two seasons like 90% of my scenes were with Jasper. But now after that finale, fans will look forward to seeing how that relationship changes. And who the boys have to turn to when they can’t turn to each other.”
So are they still in scenes together a lot? ‘Cause that’s what it sounded like, that even though the whole dynamic is different, they’d still be in a lot of scenes together. Is that not the case?
“Oh! I don’t even know why I said that at the panel. ‘Cause we’re not even halfway done. I don’t even know where that friendship is headed. Um, but they’re definitely around because they both made it back to Camp Jaha together. And deep down there’s still this love for one another. But…yeah. It’s…the nature of it that has changed quite a bit. As you’d expect it would.”
Do you have any fun non-spoilery bloopers or pranks you can tell me about as far as what’s been happening on set? Not necessarily during filming.
“You know, it’s funny. People ask about pranks and I…I’M not a prankster. (laughs). I like having a good time on set but I’m usually…I don’t know…anxious? I’m usually just focusing on what we’re about to do. We do have some pretty big pranksters like Thomas McDonnell who played Finn was just a nut. And now that he’s gone, Ian Cusick who plays Kane…”
I keep hearing that, yeah.
“He’s…you’d never expect it. I don’t know why, but he is the biggest jokester. He’s always very light and energetic. Probably even more light and energetic than any of the kids. It’s a good energy to have around, but it was definitely a surprise. Off set, I don’t even know. No, we’ve been behaving for the most part.”
Other than Ricky periscoping everything?
“Well, yeah. I think there was a little, like, ‘Stop periscoping’…”
Really?
“Off set it’s fine but on set it’s, well, just in case you capture something, you accidentally spoil without meaning to.”
He wasn’t on set, was he? I thought he was in makeup or something.
“Yeah. Because if there’s a scar or some other mark that wasn’t there before…”
Yeah, I didn’t even think of that.
“It was a crazy, uh…yeah, but periscope is such a foreign thing to me. I still haven’t been on one. I don’t even know…”
Shawna [Benson, one of the writers] was periscoping the other day.
“She was?”
Yeah. She was periscoping from her hotel room on, I think it was Sunday, before she went to dinner. She told me I needed to ask you about your favorite barbecue place in L.A.
“Oh man! Oh man. There is a place very close to where I live called Baby Blues. It is just out of this world. I actually ran into her having dinner, but I didn’t – I feel really bad because Shawna worked with us last season but I never saw her so I couldn’t – I just didn’t recognize her and I was finishing up my meal and she’s like, ‘Hey, are you on The 100?’ and I thought she was just a fan and I went, ‘Yeah…’ and she said, ‘Oh! I’m in your writers room. I’m one of your writers.’ I swear to god…one of the people who write for me? Who control whether I live or die? So, that was our introduction and she’s been on set with us a bunch this season.”
I know! It seems like it’s almost been a tag team between her and Julie [Benson, also a writer for the show and Shawna’s sister].
“Yeah. She’s been…I think it’s good. It’s good to have a consistent writer up there. It’s always good to have a writer in general, but, um, one that you can feel comfortable coming up to for any problems that you may have or certain lines. You know, you can problem solve together.”
How often does that happen?
“I think it depends on the actor. Some choose, you know, to just say the words. Even if you don’t agree necessarily. But, just, say them, make them work. And others fight a bit more.”
Any examples? Or are you going to keep that to yourself?
“Oh man! I think I’ve only written Jason once. There was a moment last season when, uh, I don’t know if you – her name is Mrs. Ryan. Like Monty’s gone into hiding. And then he comes out and finds the dead body of his host. I was just having difficulty justifying his emotions over this stranger who gave her life but was still a stranger nonetheless. Just trying to lock down that moment. But no, everything else I just try to…I like Monty’s dialogue because it exists to further the story usually. There’s not a lot of ‘fat’. It’s just, he’s there to serve a function. Usually the stakes are pretty high and his motives are clear, so I don’t generally have a problem with his lines.”
The entire fandom just adores Monty. You know that, right?
“Well, I wish they didn’t so much.”
Really? Why?
“I appreciate the love, but they adore him because he hasn’t done anything abysmal yet. They’ve said he’s a cinnamon roll.”
Yeah…a perfect cinnamon roll.
“Right. A perfect cinnamon roll. But no one is a perfect cinnamon roll. I really want to see Monty’s darker side. I’d like to see that part of his psyche come into play. I don’t know if they will.”
I don’t know, ’cause they call Murphy a cinnamon roll, too.
“What?! Nooo. Wait, this is on the record. I want this in the interview. Any fans who call Murphy a cinnamon roll will be smothered to death with a pillow.”
Ok, wait. There are some who call him a cinnamon roll but then I think more typically they call him their ‘perfect trash son.’ I haven’t figured that out. I don’t understand it at all. But yeah, trash son.
“Ok. He’s getting better. He still has a nasty history. Ok…ok…I can buy perfect trash son. Cinnamon roll…if we’re both cinnamon rolls, I want out of that category. As soon as possible. That’s all I’ve got.”
I might have gotten it wrong. I think it might be Monty and Bellamy who are in the cinnamon roll category.
“Huh. How do I feel about that?”
I don’t know. How do you feel about that?
“Bellamy’s been pretty good. They were trying to make him a darker character in the pilot. But he’s been pretty lovable from like episode four on.”
Through first season it was kind of back and forth for me.
“Oh really?”
Some people love him from the first episode. Some people can’t stand him until about episode six. I went back and forth because he’d redeem himself and then he’d do something shitty again.
“(laughs) Yeah…I feel like the highlights for me are, he saved Charlotte. He tried to save Charlotte but she jumped off a cliff. He has a very touching scene in daytrip where he says he’s a monster after the entire camp has tripped on nuts and then him and Clarke have that very beautiful scene out in the woods at night. Then in the finale, he’s like, it’s all about Octavia. I don’t know. I think he’s good. He’s good to go.”
So you’re ok sharing the cinnamon roll category with him?
“Yeah, I guess so. Well, you never know what people are gonna do, how they might screw up that cinnamon roll record.”
Yeah…maybe it’ll become a cinnamon roll crunch.
“Oh god. You can start that. Now you’ve started the cinnamon roll crunch. I wonder who else would be in that category.”
Yeah…I don’t know…
“Jasper.”
Jasper’s really interesting, because some fans love him and some fans hate him.
“Hmm. How have you found it split? Like 50/50? 60/40?”
It’s somewhere around there. It’s fairly evenly split.
“Ok. I think Devon [Bostick, who plays Jasper] has had the most interesting arc. His character is physically, mentally, emotionally, um…again, I can’t give anything away, but he’ll be a very different Jasper this season.”
Yeah…well, there’s the haircut, right?
“Crap. It’s so hard to keep that a secret. It’s like over six months. Is that all over the web?”
Well, Devon took his hat off, so yes, it definitely is. But I think there was speculation even before he took the hat off.
“Ohh.”
I think the fans that really like Jasper have really liked Devon in other work he’s done.
“Well, he had the biggest social media following by far. Like, I think half of us weren’t even on twitter when the show started and Devon already had like sixty thousand Diary of a Wimpy Kid fans, so he brought a LOT of people to the show.”
Oh, definitely. That’s why I think it’s kind of 50/50. If they weren’t Wimpy Kid fans already, then they’re not necessarily a fan of Jasper at this point.
“Oh! Okay. He’s tough. It’s really tough. Kind of like what you were saying with Bellamy. They give him shining hero moments and then just…kind of…I wouldn’t say despicable, but more…misguided? Is that a good word?”
Misguided is a good word. And…I don’t know…I was still convinced almost…probably even into the finale…that somehow, some way, Maya was gonna betray them.
“Oh, me too. We were getting the scripts like, I never know what happens until like a week before we shoot it. So I was always convinced that Maya was…but it turns out she was ok. My bad. (laughs).”
So, yeah, just the fact that he trusted her from like day one, I was like ‘You’re so naive. You’re thinking with the wrong head!’
“Right. Right. Yeah, he was, and she totally could have betrayed us. We really lucked out. Why would you trust anyone in there? It was such a – I’m so happy to be out of Mount Weather. If I had to do another scene in one of those bunkbeds, I think I would have gone insane.”
So is the camp gonna be expanding? Is there anything you can tell me about any of the sets or is that all classified information, too?
“I guess it’s somewhat classified only because I’m trying to think of what we’ve seen. I guess all you’ve seen is Camp Jaha.”
Yeah, really, yeah.
“Well, what I can tell you is that we’re jumping ahead in time three months. So naturally there would have to be some expansion, now that all the kids are back. When we found the Arkers, they had just landed? So now, it’s been three months’ time and this is their new home.”
A lot of fanfiction speculates that there will be things like cabins built and, um, a lot of building going on.
“Yeah, I mean, listen. They’re a technologically advanced people. You’d think, I mean, granted they’ve never been on earth before, but they’ve been studying it for a long time, so you probably have a good chance that they’ll figure things out quickly.”
Then there are others who are speculating that they’ll go clean out Mount Weather and use Mount Weather to basically hibernate for the winter. My thought was, ‘I don’t think they’re gonna want to go back to Mount Weather ever again.’
“What? Well, there’s the bodies, first. Before…it’s not a bad idea, though, if you think about it. It’s safe from all the elements. It’s safe from any enemies. It’s got that acid fog in its back pocket, which is not a bad defense. But, yes, it’s filled with hundreds of dead bodies so you have to weigh out – which would you rather…?”
I can’t count how many fanfictions I’ve started to read that have Clarke going back to Mount Weather by herself to empty it of all the dead bodies. I don’t know if that would work too well.
“Here’s the thing, though. Nobody knows where Clarke went. She was like, ‘Oh god, I just can’t stay here,’ and then she just started walking into the woods. Kind of in the direction we just came from so she could totally be going back to Mount Weather.”
That’s true. I don’t know.
“Yeah, that’s a lot of bodies. I mean, she’d be in really good shape. (laughs).”
Yeah. Definitely. Ok, so, we’ve seen Jason tweet that there will be more Monty in season three. Is that proving true so far?
“Yes. Well, what does more Monty mean? I feel like he’s barely been in the first two seasons. He’s around. But he’s also not a lot of the time. So more…yes..so far.”
So, if Monty is around more and taking a bigger role in things, does that mean he’ll be in more danger than usual?
“I guess, yeah, more camera time always means more potential danger.”
More potential death.
“(chuckles) Yeah, more potential death. I feel like Monty has been smart so far in terms of risk taking and risk analysis. He generally doesn’t place himself in a situation he can’t get out of. But, like you said, more screentime equals more potential death. And…yeah, he can’t, he can’t always be on the top of his game. So we’ll see. (chuckles) We’ll see. I mean, they have to kill someone, right? They have to kill someone.”
I know. I don’t want them to, but I know.
“I feel like it’s just…for this show especially, it’s not realistic if everybody survives. I swear to god, I have no idea. IF that would even happen. But it does seem that there’s a giant death every season.”
Exactly.
“It was Wells. Then it was Finn.”
Right. Well, at least maybe Monty isn’t in ‘that’ category?
“‘That’ category. Yeah, I wonder who would crush the fans most if they bite the bullet. I think it’s really, really tough. Competition.”
That’s been kind of a fun thing to watch fans go in circles about on Twitter and Tumblr. They’ll say something along the lines of, ‘Oh shoot, someone has to die. Well, we know it’s not going to be Clarke.’
“It’s NOT gonna be Clarke. I think Clarke’s pretty safe.”
And then we know that it’s almost, probably not gonna be Bellamy.
“Yep.”
But then after that, it could be Raven, it could be Octavia, it could be Lincoln…but no! We don’t want any of them to die, either!
“Right. (chuckles)”
And then after that it’s kind of Monty and Jasper and Miller and Harper and they’re still going, ‘But we don’t want them to die, either!’
“Right.”
The problem is, somebody’s gonna die. Somebody that we’re all attached to.
“It’s heartbreaking, but also, obviously, it works.”
Yeah. Well, at least some of the actors for the characters who have died have gone on to, really some pretty big projects. Johnny Whitworth [who played Cage Wallace] is on Blindspot now.
“Right! Is he a regular on Blindspot?”
He is.
“That’s awesome.”
And then Eve Harlowe [who played Maya], I’m pretty sure she’s a regular on Heroes Reborn.
“Yeah, I’ve been talking to Eve a bunch. I think out of all of the guests, she’s hands down…I think she’s still in Toronto. They pushed back the date she was supposed to be done and then…yeah, they were like, we need you for longer. Now she’s totally on Heroes.
Okay. I have one totally off the wall question from a fan. Do you wear odd socks or do they have to match?
“Oh, no, they definitely – I don’t think – most of the socks in my wardrobe don’t match. Probably because I’ve lost so many. When they come out of the dryer, I just, I don’t even look. It’s too much time. I just grab socks that are around the same size and bunch ’em together. I think it’s much more interesting as well. It’s a – it changes up the pattern on a daily basis. I’m not that intentional, but I do prefer mismatched. That is a very odd question. I love it.”
Since we are Talk Nerdy With Us, in what ways do you consider yourself to be nerdy?
“I still pretend sometimes…like, I’ll emulate my favorite bands. Not even for work. Whenever I find a band that I love, I’ll blast them from my speaker system and pretend that I’m different members of the band. Like, it could be in the shower, it could be just in a closed room somewhere. It’s usually when I’m alone. I can’t go there if someone else is present. But I’ll take like Rubber Soul and I’ll go through the album as John. So I’ll do all John’s guitar parts and only his vocals. And then I’ll go through again as Paul. And I’ll only do the bassline and Paul’s vocals. And then George. I’ll never do Ringo. Unfortunately. Ringo always gets shafted. (laughs). Um, yeah, I’ll do that with bands that I love and obsess over. And then I’ll rock out, ’cause I’m not in a rock band.”
You know what? Now I thought of another one. If you had to choose between acting and music, which would you choose?
“Oh, that’s a great question. Music. Hands down.”
Really?
“It’s not that I don’t enjoy acting and obviously I’ve dedicated the last ten years of my life to becoming an actor. But because I’m not a professional musician, there aren’t any politics involved. I don’t have to deal with music from a business standpoint. In that way it’s purely recreational and pure joy. So, when you’re able to avoid all that, I guess it’s more of a pure art form. And also it’s not image-based. Which, like we were talking about earlier… obviously, the film industry is image-based, which is unfortunate. Not having to think about that, as well, is pretty freeing.”
There are a lot of fans that want Monty and Miller to get together. Were you aware of that?
“Oh, oh! Minty?”
Yeah.
“Minty. I don’t…it’s like…(chuckles) I think it’s because neither of our, uh, both Monty and Miller’s sexual orientation has never really been defined. People just kind of – but we haven’t had that many scenes together. I think we’ve only said a couple of lines to each other.”
Well, and I think Jarod [Joseph, who plays Miller] also tweeted jokingly about it once. One time. And it was more of a question like, ‘What would Monty and Miller be called if they were a pairing? Oh! They could be Minty! That’s awesome!’
“Yeah. I mean, listen, they could totally happen, because as far as we know, yeah, their sexuality is just a non-issue. It’s totally up in the air.”
And then there are people who want Monty with Harper.
“With Harper. Yeah…and again, totally not well-established at all. I don’t know. I think the most important thing for me, whether it’s Miller or Harper or anyone else – it would be nice for him to have a romantic connection of some kind. Because no one’s a robot. So, for him to explore that, I think, would be a big part of his development as a person. So, if he never explores that area, then…yeah, it would be a shame. But I seriously have no idea.”
It could always be Monty and ALIE.
“Oh please. That would be…amazing! Actually, I was really pushing for Monty and Abby.”
Really?
“Yeah! Now they’re both in the same camp. They both are passionate, they have a lot of the same views, they both care about people, and…um…I think Monty’s an old soul. Abby’s young at heart. The perfect pair.”
I think you’d have to fight the Kabby camp who want Kane and Abby together.
“Kabby camp? No, no. That’s predictable. Monty and Abby would just be way out of left field and everyone would probably stop watching the show.”
Well, then there’s also the Doctor Mechanic camp who want Abby with Raven.
“Ohh. I mean, they already have a pretty established relationship from back on the Ark. You know, she helped her get in that pod. That’s love! (pause) Oh man…well, I hope you like season three. Part of me doesn’t know what’s even happening and then the other part is – when you’re in it, it’s hard to step outside.”
Will you be watching when it’s airing?
“Yeah…Part of me gets nervous and doesn’t want to see everything, but then part of me wants to support all the work we’ve put into it. There are some really cool scenes, too. I’ll be interested to see how they cut together. Yeah, I’ll probably do live-tweet.”
Stay tuned to The CW for the mid-season premiere of The 100 and, in the meantime, check out Carry Hatchet and The News Today!
Carry Hatchet – The News Today