Exclusive Interview: Patrick Fugit on Robert Kirkman’s ‘Outcast’

Patrick Fugit interview for Outcast: Season One, out on Blu-ray and DVD now.

Read our Patrick Fugit interview below.

Hitting the home entertainment markets in the UK from today is the entire first season of Outcast, the brand new show from Robert Kirkman, the creative genius behind The Walking Dead.

Outcast follows Kyle Barnes (Patrick Fugit), a young man who has been plagued by demonic possession all his life.  Now, with the help of Reverend Anderson (Philip Glenister), a country preacher with personal demons of his own, Kyle embarks on a journey to find answers to obtain a normal life he has never known.  But what Kyle discovers could change his fate — and the fate of the world — forever.

We caught up with Kyle Barnes himself, Partick Fugit, to talk about his role and the phenomenon that is Outcast.

The Hollywood News: Hi Patrick, its a great series, so unique.

Patrick Fugit: I think so, yes.

Can we kick off by talking a little bit about your character, and how you first got involved?

I was told that it was a possession-genre show, which I wasn’t initially interested in, but I sort of read it and they said it was from the creator of The Walking Dead, which is very exciting, because that show is very successful. They said that this was a new show about demonic possession, and I was kind of like, ‘hmm, alright,’ it’s not really up my alley but I will check it out. Then I read it, and the material was so much more about character and drama and history and dialogue than it was about possession or genre tropes, which was very interesting. I was like, ‘wow’; I’ve just been pitched this possession-horror show, but I’m reading about these very interesting characters that have smart, funny, poignant and tragic dialogue.

Two of the scenes that were prepared for me, were Kyle describing to the Reverend what it was like for him to go through what he went through as a kid, with his Mom. This was obviously a very dark scene, full of a lot of anger, dark tones, tragedy, that sort of thing, and the other scene was Kyle and his wife before they have Amber, their child, and it is them talking about having a baby together. It was a sweet, very bright scene but it also has the tragic undertone that comes with Kyle Barnes and his past experience. So yes, I had these two very different scenes, but both had these deep tones of tragedy but also brightness because Kyle wanted to be a good person; wanted to be a father. That gave me a very compelling character, so at that point I was very excited about it and we had a lot of fun doing the scenes. Robert [Kirkman] was there, our showrunner Chris Black was there, Adam [Wingard], the director of that first episode and it kind of escalated from there, and I got the part.

Once you got the part, how much did they divulge as to what the journey your character would go on, because it changes from that very first episode and through the first season?

They described the over-arching story. They are never very specific because either they don’t know the specific story or they’re trying to keep them under-wraps. I knew a fair bit about where Karl was heading in the first season, but I had no idea as to what was going to happen in the second season, which has just got done filming last week. There was a lot of discovery along the way [when filming the first season].

It must be a very different way of working compared to having a full script for a film?

Very different. I love films for that; I love that I get the whole story and then I film something and then I know that it’s done. I know that once we wrap on production that now goes on to the next stages and eventually I will see it, and then other people will see it, and then that’s that. I can look at that as a time capsule, sort of thing. And then with this show, it’s crazy, especially [the second season]. Sometimes because production is going so quickly, we wouldn’t have these drafts of the next episode until two days before we’d film it. So it’s like, what’s the story? What’s going to happen? It’s a credit to Chris Black and the whole writer’s room that they are able to set things up and collaborate enough so that you can plan it out even without a script.

I know there’s a comic book, but am I right in thinking that it wasn’t released until the series was picked up?

They did a five or six issues, maybe even ten or twelve, when we started production on the first season. We quickly caught up and the end of season one and all of season two are all new territory. We were exploring things that had to be cleared with Robert first because the writer’s room weren’t sure if that was the correct direction, but yes, season two is entirely a path of discovery.

And how involved is Robert on a day to day basis?

Well Robert likes doing the comic book side. He’ll create the comic book story. Running a show is very different thing and that’s why we have Chris Black. Chris Black is also extremely good at that. So Robert is the source for all of the story and the characters that we’re operating with, but he’ll also come and visit the set and make sure everything is going well.

I remember you came to London and launched the show at one of the conventions over here. How nerve-wracking is it to bring something so fresh where you’re not quite sure if it will find an audience – thankfully it has – but what was that experience like?

I’ve been a part of some films that were a little bit experimental, or a bit ambitious, where the response was going to be varied. This is very specific in genre, and as I said, I wasn’t interested in this possession stuff to begin with, but when we were over there in London; first of all, you guys are all very polite, so if you didn’t like it you probably wouldn’t have said anything, but we’ve had several opportunities . The Walking Dead is a huge thing for Robert and a huge thing for the viewers, but that has given us a lot of opportunity to create viewership for this show and create new material that hasn’t got anything to do with The Walking Dead, but be part of Robert revolving story path. [When we’re on set] none of us worry what people are going to think about it, I mean I don’t worry about viewers or how much it’s going to make at the box-office – maybe I should worry, but I don’t. As long as I’m confident and satisfied with the work that we did while we were filming…. that’s what I do what I do. But, yes, if I’m confident with that, I don’t tend to worry about the response.

There’s also the flip-side of that though isn’t there where if it’s really successful – I mean, The Walking Dead is in its seventh series now – it could mean years of your life! It is a big commitment, potentially?

It is, yes. Another thing that I was hesitant about in the beginning was playing one character for potentially, you know, seven years. It is quite a big commitment and one that I wasn’t completely sure about, but so far it has been excellent for me. I get to play a great character and I get to be part of a very collaborative, attentive creative team. I really couldn’t be happier about the current situation.

You’ve obviously got one of our own, Phillip Glenister as Reverend Anderson. Were you aware of his work before? He’s adored over here because of his work on Life On Mars and much more. How did you get on?

I was not aware of his work before but when we started working together, practising the accent; he had several different tones that he was using during the first few episodes of the first season, and I loved watching him portray his version of the American, like bible-belt religious man. He’s so good at playing Reverend Anderson that it’s a bit mind-boggling, because he can get appalled by the amount of hours required [laughs]. The work schedule of an American TV show.

He’s constantly complaining, saying ‘why can I do just a nice comedy… a nice British comedy that takes place in the Bahamas’, or something like that. But, for all of his complaining, he is brilliant in the show and I think he may be my favourite part of the whole show, because he’ll get on set and say’ I don’t want to say all of this stuff – all this religious text…’ ‘I don’t wanna do that!,’ and then he’ll forget his lines and say ‘I don’t want to do all these lines [laughs].’ But then, one take, like four takes in, he nails it and it’s beautiful and brilliant and I look at him and I’m like, ‘you’re just incredible’. Then I will watch it [on TV] and it comes off better than it did on set.

I love watching him play the reverend. Kyle and the reverend have been through a lot, and Phil and I have been through a lot as actor out on set and on location in different temperatures at different times of day. It’s created a nice bond, I think, and I really enjoy working with Phil.

So, season two? It’s all kicked off filming?

It’s finished. We finished last week actually.

Can you tell us absolutely anything?

The circumstances at the end of season one have some pretty huge consequences and season two, at the beginning, it is about dealing with those consequences and the effects of what happened, but it’s also about our core good guys just starting to fight the fight against the possessed, the entities – the black thing. It’s a lot about the scope of the battle and the discovery of how deep this thing goes in this small town. There’s a whole bunch of other great stuff too that has to do with Kyle’s family and that sort of thing, so all pretty exciting.

The Patrick Fugit interview was conducted by Paul Heath, November 2016.

Outcast: Season One is available on Blu-ray and DVD on 12^th December, from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment