Interview: Six Degrees of THE FOLLOWING with Kevin Bacon

When I was young, my age isn't really relevant, but young, I, along with the rest of the young girls in America fell in love with Ren McCormick aka Kevin Bacon in a tiny little film called FOOTLOOSE. He had been in other films such as ANIMAL HOUSE, DINER and FRIDAY THE 13TH to name a few, but it was his dancing around a barn in tight jeans that did it for me. So imagine my delight when I got to be on the phone with him last week to talk about his upcoming season of THE FOLLOWING!

Kevin is heading into Season Three of THE FOLLOWING on FOX. He plays Ryan Hardy, a troubled FBI man who is trying to escape his history with convicted mass murderer and cult leader, Joe Carroll. For more details, please check out my Season Two Recap which I will be posting in the next few days before the Season Three premiere. Obviously, if you have not begun watching the series, this interview is filled with SPOILERS, so please read later after you catch up!

Kevin was sweet enough to answer questions from a group of reporters (including myself) for 30 minutes on a conference call FOX hosted last Monday. He is an incredibly well spoken and thoughtful guy who just can't seem to thank the crew and cast enough for his time. And that made me love him even more.

When asked about some of the new threats we would be seeing this season, Kevin told us that Mark (the twin that survived played by Sam Underwood) is still around as is Dr. Strauss (Gregg Henry) who had previously been seen. And there is also a new, very dangerous couple named Daisy and Kyle (Ruth Kearney and Hunter Parrish, respectively) who are "terrible sociopaths, but incredibly in love with each other." He claims that they are a little reminiscent of Bonnie and Clyde, but they will be a lot of fun. And yes, Joe Carroll is still around even if he doesn't make an appearance for the first few episodes.

The next question posed was that Season One was filled with shocking twists and Season Two seemed to deal with more of the finer details of the characters so where would Season Three fall? Kevin expressed that they are all aware that the audience loves the twists but the show is smart enough to not do twists just for the sake of doing twists. When the surprises do come, they are organic. "We keep focused on the emotional content of the show, because without that, it doesn't really land." The show tends to involve the audience in the personal lives of the characters and see how that too can play a role in these cases.

When asked who a more dangerous adversary was, Mark or Joe, Kevin thought about it for a minute or two while assessing the answer for that. He claims that Mark may have been more dangerous when his brother was alive, or in essence, there were two of him, but "Joe Carroll is Joe Carroll." He states that both of these wonderfully written villains are driven by ego and narcissism. Season Three's new villain, Theo (Michael Ealy), is a bit different. He prefers to be behind the scenes and out of the spotlight and he assures us that we, as the audience, will see quite quickly how that is equally terrifying, "like a shark that lurks beneath the surface of the water."

His opinion on social media is that he greatly enjoys the interaction with fans. The instant feedback can be both a blessing and a curse but he has had more positive encounters than not on social media. He's been lucky enough to see that fans of the show are just plain excited and want to know more about the show and where it is going. And the writers have, on more than one occasion, taken suggestions from fans.

Ryan Hardy will have a new relationship this year with a new character, Gwen (Zuleikha Robinson). It is the first healthy relationship he has had in a while, if not his lifetime. Claire, was the wife of Joe Carroll, Carrie Cook was writing an expose and his neighbor turned out to be a follower of Joe and stabbed him. All three, not the best choices. He tells us that Gwen is a different kind of person who is healthy for him and supports him and yet definitely calls him out when he needs to be called out.

Ryan is incredibly protective of his niece, Max (Jessica Stroup), Kevin tells us, because she is basically his only family. So he's going to stop at nothing to make sure she is all right. Max's father was killed in 9/11 (I didn't know that!) and even though he has a sister, they're not close so all they have is each other. Regarding her new relationship with Mike, Kevin said we will just have to watch and see. And speaking of Mike (Shawn Ashmore), Kevin has really enjoyed watching his arc from the beginning. When he met him he could see how skilled and enthusiastic he was, but watching him find a way to go to all these dark places has been incredibly enjoyable to Kevin over the years. "Shawn is a super nice guy, he's Canadian, and yet we have taken him through so many really, really rough difficult things and he just hits home runs all the time. This season is no different as he starts in a dark head space. He may be a little bit more Ryan than Ryan is."

Since we were speaking to Mr. Bacon as he was on set, he couldn't spend too much time with us, but the time he did give was very endearing. I didn't get a chance to ask him a personal question, but hearing his voice on the other end of my phone was enough to make me smile for years. I highly encourage you to watch THE FOLLOWING if you are interested in dark, twisted thrillers. It goes places you would never expect Network television to go and the performance are always on point.

Here's is a preview for Season Three:

THE FOLLOWING Season Three premiere will be on Monday, March 2nd at 9:00pm on FOX.

Photo Credits: FOX

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