Killjoys cast interviews, part 4 – Luke Macfarlane

Killjoys cast interviews, part 4 – Luke Macfarlane

0 comments 📅24 September 2018, 21:39

Since D’avin Jaqobis, played by Luke Macfarlane, fought his way onto the scene in the pilot episode of Killjoys, he has been making a name for himself. First as a level five RAC officer and member of Team Awesome Force then as the only man immune to the Green, and now as the general in command of the rebel army in the war against the Hullen. So is there a story behind the name itself? As Luke ponders this amusingly whilst trying to decide on the optimal seating arrangement in Lucy’s break room, it’s clear to see he’s still having fun on set with a sense of humour that he shares with his character.

“That’s a great question. Names are really a big thing on the show” Luke tells MyM. “They always come up with unique names that have a sort of fairy quality to them, they seem very nimble in the mouth, not of this world.”

The world of Killjoys certainly has plenty going on this season, from the continuing war and search for The Lady to Johnny being Hullenised and Delle Seyah having a baby. D’avin especially has taken a lot of the weight of that on his shoulders, though that’s about to change. “As we end the series, there’s a kind of infection of sorts that takes away a bit of the weight for D’avin. He picks that up again, but at the end of the season a lot of his responsibility is given away.”

“Obviously you have to create tension and every episode has to build towards something, so the big question now is how are we going to end it all with the right amount of catharsis and the right amount of trauma of losing these people too, just from an audience perspective.”

Though D’avin has gone through a lot of trauma and loss he has gained a son this season, as Delle Seyah gives birth to Jaq, the genetic product of Aneela and D’avin. Given the circumstances can D’avin fully accept his paternity?
“I think he’s absolutely D’avin’s son” Luke remarks. ” I don’t think it would be interesting if there was any question as to who’s son it was; it wouldn’t really give D’av the motivation. That being said we don’t exactly explore how it happened! It’s ‘Here’s a son, now all the responsibilities of being a father are imparted on you immediately’. I think Jaq is good. He goes off with his mum, or one of his mums, and D’avin’s very worried about where he’s gone. I never thought that D’avin would be such a worrier but that’s what’s nice about how this season ends – a lot of his worry will be alleviated. Fatherwise I think he’s doing better than he thinks he is. D’avin anxious, he’s stressed. I think that’s part of stripping away the notions of what masculinity means. One of the things the show really tries to tackle is toxic masculinity, which I think D’avin embodied, and how he can come to a more responsible way of dealing with people – women and men.

It’s hard to imagine Luke embodying any toxic masculinity. His very affable warm soft-spoken personality has made him a regular in seasonal Hallmark movies like Christmas Land and A Mistletoe Promise, where he typically plays a character who falls for the leading lady. A trend he seems to be continuing on Killjoys with Dutch (played by Hannah John-Kamen). D’avin’s fallen straight into fatherhood, and seemingly married life also, as his relationship with Dutch appears to have gone straight from casual dating to bickering like spouses about how to raise Jaq.

“From the very beginning I think Michelle [Lovretta, creator of Killjoys] had this idea for a relationship that she really understands. How does somebody like Dutch even be with somebody? I think the thing [Dutch and D’avin] have in common is they’re both two people who have compartmentalized many aspects of their life. Be that intimacy, or violence, so I think in a way they overlap the most in the ability to understand that they can offer something to each other, but never the whole thing. I think that D’avin’s never going to be able to compete with what John has to offer Dutch, and I think a lot of his anxiety is around that. It’s not a thrupple story! They’re certainly loyal, but there’s something about it… I don’t really know.”

Luke’s not sure if he even wants them to end up together in the end. “D’avin wants what’s best for Dutch. I think what he wants is to tell her how he feels. He’s never really been able to do that. So I think no matter what happens, if he can tell her – and he’s never said it – that he loves her, I think it’ll mean that he’s doing okay. So that’s what I want for him more than anything, and if it means that they get together great; if she rejects him that sucks, but I think his journey is actually being able to tell somebody that he loves them.”

D’avin’s had to contend with many other team members aboard Lucy this season, not just Dutch and Johnny, even giving up his bedroom for Delle Seyah (played by Mayko Nguyen). “D’avin’s first reaction to everybody new is mistrust; skepticism; it’s not easy for him to befriend people, but he usually comes around slowly. So I imagine right now it’s very stressful for him but I bet by the end of the show he’ll be much more cool with people.” Unfortunately that does not mean we’ll see him chilling out more on the show. “We always joke we wish we had more chill-out time on this show, but there’s always someone to kill!” Luke tells us laughing. “He’d probably like to take his son fishing, or hunting, or something like that!”

Though D’avin may feel he needs a rest, Luke has really enjoyed his fight scenes. “I love fighting so much, because you know, on my previous shows it was not something that was part of the vocabulary! I was very nervous about it at first, but it’s a great thing to do. It’s very fun. It’s very separate than the acting – it’s in your body and not in your head and I really enjoy that.” Sometimes Luke trains with co-star Hannah John-Kamen, who’s fighting skills have been on display recently in Ant Man and The Wasp where she plays Ghost. “Usually we learn each fight right before we do it, so the training is kind of non-existent, it’s right before.”

“We joke about D’avin never wins” Luke adds. “That’s actually part of his journey, and it’s very frustrating, but he loses little brawls, he loses games he plays with Fancy; Dutch can take him down; Johnny can outsmart him, so …Dutch always wins.”

Luke has had to use various modes of combat, from mind control to guns to stimpack – enhanced fisticuffs, his favourite being the latter. “I had a very good time [with that fight]. It was also a very stressful time. it was winter in Canada and I was miserable so it was total stress relief. I get to break stuff; I think I fell through a table and everyone was worried and I was like ‘No it’s great, I feel good!’ It’s good to like, get active.” That scene is from [season 4] episode 5 where the team return to good old bounty-hunting – something Luke misses going into the final season. “That was what I thought the show was going to be. I’d probably be going crazy if it was five years of that, but it was nice to go back to that, it felt like early days.”

Despite the gravity of their situation, Team Awesome Force do generally manage to keep things light. Is that them easing the tension in the midst of a war or are they genuinely having fun? “Well we are all deeply traumatically scarred,” Luke jokes. “We all wake up screaming every single night because of all the people we’ve murdered. We’ve been tortured probably seven or eight times on this show? Like a chaser, I think you can only give them the violence if you give them the laughs, and that’s just the construction of the show.” Luke admits there are plenty of scenes on the editing floor of him laughing out loud all the way through. “I’m also the worst with my lines so I’m always messing them up. We certainly have a ton of fun. I mean just this morning Hannah and I were literally busting a gut about some ridiculous imaginary thing.”

Just as Luke is about to mention what he talks about with his co-stars, Aaron enters to crash his interview, suggesting at one point he sits on Luke given the lack of seating. It’s perfect timing and testament that their comedic bromance exists both on- and off-screen. “We have a wide variety of intellectual and literary discussions… and poop jokes” says Aaron. “We talk about everything! We spend so much time together there’s time to talk about everything but we definitely joke around a lot. We definitely have created songs, games – we goof around a lot, that’s basically what we do!”

As our interview comes to an end, Luke reveals some hilarious and long-held ideas about the end for his character. “I think for a very long time to be perfectly honest my fantasy was that D’avin died. And I mentioned that to a number of the writers, I was like ‘ I’d like to die!’ And I don’t know if that was heard or not! But there is definitely a fantasy that D’avin dies in a blaze of glory – or in a blaze, because I don’t like saying goodbye!”

On that note we are forced to say goodbye, though with season 5 not expected to air till summer 2019, there’s plenty more D’avin to come – unless the writers decide to make Luke’s dreams come true!

Killjoys season 4 currently airs on Syfy channel in the UK and Space channel in Canada.

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