Two futures, the video game/virtual world, the military — these all figure into Prime Video's new thriller series "The Peripheral."
So does Louisiana native Louis Herthum, who's playing fun and flashy character Corbell Pickett.
Adapted from the eponymous 2014 novel by William Gibson, the science fiction tale also stars Chloe Grace Moretz ("Kick-Ass," "Carrie," "Hugo") as Flynne Fisher; Jack Reynor (Transformers: Age of Extinction") as her brother, Burton; and Gary Carr ("21 Bridges") as 22nd century publicist Wilf.
The first of "The Peripheral's" eight-episode season debuts Friday on the streaming subscription platform, with another new episode dropping each Friday thereafter.
Born and raised in Baton Rouge, Herthum, 66, is best known for his portrayal of Peter Abernathy in HBO's "Westworld." Other recent projects have included Apple TV+'s "Home Before Dark," a two-episode arc on HBO Max's "Hacks" and a recurring stint on CBS legal drama "All Rise."
Here, Herthum offers more insight on "The Peripheral."
With “The Peripheral,” you‘ve taken on another sci-fi role. Are you a fan of that genre?
Well, I certainly am becoming one. I can’t say that I have always been a “fan” of the genre, that is to say that I have never set out to watch the latest sci-fi TV show or movie. However, I'll say this, after now having worked on several, they certainly are a lot of fun!
This is another series developed by “Westworld’s” Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan. Did that attract you to the role? And how does that go? Did you actually work with them again or are they on set at that point?
I am game for anything that Jonah and Lisa are involved with. Not only because they are brilliant at what they do, but because they are genuinely wonderful human beings as well. So yes, that attracted me to the role, but then Lisa told me about this role in June of 2018. That was when my time on "Westworld" came to an end (after Season 2). She told me at that time about a “new show” that they had sold and that they wanted to talk to me about it once it got underway. Three years later, they made that call and offered me this terrific role. I didn’t have to think about it. If they told me that they had done an adaptation of the Yellow Pages and asked me to be a part of it, I would be all in. And yes, both Jonah and Lisa were in both locations, London and North Carolina. Not at the same time, as I recall, because they were also shooting Season 4 of "Westworld" in New York at the same time.
Tell us about your character, Corbell Pickett.
He lives in the small, fictitious town of Clanton, North Carolina. He also happens to run the town and pretty much owns it. He started out as a used car lot salesman/owner and worked his way up. So that should tell you a little bit about him. He has a certain flair, I guess you could say. In short, I think he will be a character that watchers will either love to hate or hate to love. Not sure which yet but either will be fine with me. He can be rather colorful and he’s a sharp dresser. One hell of a fun character to play for sure. Oh, and he’s a good dancer but no one knows that yet.
And you were on the North Carolina set? When?
I was on the North Carolina set for the month of October 2021. We shot in the Ashville area. Before that, we shot four months in London. In fact, the house used for Corbell’s home is actually located just outside of London.
Was reading the William Gibson novel part of your prep to play Corbell? How else might you have gotten ready for the part?
There was no requirement from anyone on the production team to read the book, though I had already started reading it by the time I first met with producers (Scott Smith and Greg Plageman) over Zoom. In fact, they told me that reading it wasn’t necessary to understand the show or the character and that I would get all I needed from the scripts. And in fact, I did just that. He is very well written and has a very distinct way of using his words. He is a man that uses fewer words when possible. For example, if he was going to ask … "Did you have any trouble with that?" He would leave out the first three words. I really stuck to the script word for word because Scott and Greg clearly wrote him that way purposefully, and I wanted not only to honor their writing, but it helped me define the man.