By: Terri-Lynne Waldron
Nathan Fillion may have put CASTLE in his rear-view mirror, and after playing Richard Castle for eight seasons, he is about to embark on a whole new journey. He revealed at this years Fan Expo that he will join the cast of the Netflix series, LEMONY SNICKET’S A SERIES OF UNORTUNATE EVENTS in Season 2, but he kept it tight-lipped and stopped short of giving anymore details. Fillion held court onstage answering fans questions, and revealed a few anecdotes about some of the most memorable roles of his career.
Do you have any upcoming roles?
Nathan Fillion: Yes I do. There’s some roles I have coming up that I’m not allowed to talk about, and there’s some roles I have that I can tell you about. One of them is LEMONY SNICKET’S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS.
You voiced one of my favourate superhero’s Green Lantern. Would you ever be interested in playing Green Lantern in the DCEU movies (DC Extended Universe), because I think you have the personality and characteristics to play Green Lantern.
Nathan Fillion: So you’re asking me, would I—Nathan Fillion—as an actor, like a job, do something super duper cool? Absolutely.
In Ready Player One, there is a virtual reality game where you can be any character in any TV show or movie. If that was a possibility, which would you be?
Nathan Fillion: I would pick FIREFLY and I would be Inara [played by Morena Baccarin]. I would do some thing with that role that would really pretty it up. Just teasing. If THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO was as good as I remembered it, I would like to play William Katt’s role and I’d do a couple of episodes of M*A*S*H.
Is there anything about Richard Castle—as a character—that you feel like you’ve never explored?
Nathan Fillion: My brother once said to me, “When I watch you on CASTLE, its kind of like just watching you, be you. You ever feel guilty about taking the money?” And I said, “Could you do it?” He said, “Fair enough.” What about Castle that we haven’t explored? I’m an actor and I’m not going to tell you that I’m the super smartest guy, but I’m smart enough to let smarter people, take care of the story aspect of it and I think we did a lovely job with CASTLE.
How did your involvement in the movie Slither come about and could you share a memory about the movie?
Nathan Fillion: I auditioned in Hollywood somewhere and it was me and [writer/director] James Gunn in a room and after the audition, we just had a strange little chat. I said, “Where are you going to film this?” And he said, “I’m going to go up to Vancouver.” And I said, “I’m Canadian.” And he said, “Really?” Being Canadian in an American production, that’s going to film in Canada, has its advantages.
What did you learn on ONE LIVE TO LIVE, acting opposite Robin Strasser and Erica Slezak?
Nathan Fillion: I has a wonderful time on daytime. The cast and the crew of ONE LIVE TO LIVE were very nurturing in my professional life and in my personal life. In New York, I was a fish out of water to say the least. Everything I know about how to behave on a set, how to stir the scene, serving the other actors, serving the story—serves me. If I want to serve me, I have to serve them. I learned that on ONE LIVE TO LIVE. Being between Robin Strasser and Erica Slezak, I couldn’t fail. Try to look bad between those two—you can’t.
What was it like working on the set of the animated series, RICK AND MORTY with creators Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon?
Nathan Fillion: Not so much a set as it was a recording booth. Justin was in there directing me, and at one point I had to be Rick. We tried it a couple of different ways and it wasn’t working. We has Justin just come in next to me and do the line, and I would just do an impression of him. That was fun.
Can you sing the FIREFLY theme song?
Nathan Fillion: The answer is “no.” You’re name again is Johnny? I’m Nathan. You wanna be friends? Then don’t ask me to sing in front of the internet. Come on buddy.
About the Author: Terri-Lynne Waldron has been a journalist for over 20 years and you can follow her on Twitter @tw1976