Michael Emerson is well known to genre fans for his roles on Lost and Person of Interest, prior to becoming the focus of all things evil in the CBS/Paramount+ show Evil. Shortly after the third season episode 5 aired, he chatted with Paul Simpson about the series.

(Some minor spoilers for season 3)

So how did you get caught up with Evil?

It came to me as an offer by way of my agents but it sounded good from the get go. The pedigree of this show is great with the Kings being in charge. Their writing is always for grown ups, I think, and they deal with contemporary anxieties in a really intelligent and gripping way. And then when I heard what the plot was, I thought ‘Oh, this is so up my alley.’ Investigators from Mother Church looking into the supernatural? What could be better? And then to be the villain of the show, it’s kind of a dream role.

I didn’t have that much to do in the pilot but I could see where it could go, and I thought, ‘Oh boy, this’ll be something that’s fun.’

How much did the Kings tell you about who Leland was when you came on board? Obviously what we’ve learned about him has grown – I wouldn’t say he has but what we’ve learned about him has.

Well, I never had such a conversation with them and thinking back on it, I’ve never had that kind of conversation with any showrunners I’ve ever worked with really. I just get a script, I go to work and the conversation takes place, I guess, in the course of the work.

By that I mean, they write things, I act them back at them. They take note of what I do and they write more and better toward me. That’s an artist conversation that we have and it works out pretty well.

In some cases asking this would almost be a compliment but I don’t think it sounds like one here – what have you brought of yourself to Leland?

I guess it’s theatricality. I bring my stage background. I think it’s really useful for this part because he’s often quite funny, he’s often antic and he’s a great schemer, a great juggler, and a great improviser. So I just feel at ease with all the things he’s supposed to be or may be.

Yes, we’re never quite sure what he is. Is he just this psychiatrist who’s got delusions or is he really seeing a demon with five eyes? What do you think of him as a character? Obviously he’s not the sort of person you necessarily want to associate with but what do you think his strengths and weaknesses are?

Well, he’s a good judge of human character and I don’t know if that’s a professional thing or just an instinct that he has. He has an often correct suspicion of the worst in people and he believes in the power of temptation and badness and what Satan has to offer.

I assume, at this point, that he believes in all of that but sometimes I wonder, and as you mentioned, his real backstory is a little obscure. I know he’s supposed to be a kid from Des Moines, Iowa, that didn’t get any respect and now he gets it by being a mischief maker on a grand scale but beyond that I’m not sure. What’s his conversion story? Well, he told us that he sold his soul to the devil but that might just be a useful tale for him to tell. He’s certainly more than just a regular human, he certainly works with or for people who are not human or don’t believe themselves to be human. I don’t know where that’s going to go, to tell you the truth.

I think that each time there’s a new series order, there’s potential for this show to get wilder.

Yes, yes.

Give it a few years and you’ll be doing Schwarzenegger in End of Days!

Yes, it seems like that! Our move to Paramount+, that gave us a green light to be a little wilder, a little raunchier, a little more profane – as if we weren’t already so blasphemous. I was raised Catholic and sometimes I’m a little nervous at the mockery I make of the Church and its sacraments, and I keep looking behind me waiting for the lightning bolt to come from above but… I guess the Almighty takes it in the spirit it’s intended!

I think one of the interesting things has been the way that it has challenged the church. In episode five, for instance, where David basically pulls out the conversion stories of the priest and you can see Leland go ‘Oh shit’ as his latest plan is foiled.

Yes!

There’s almost a Dick Dastardly element to him, that sort of Wacky Races ‘Drat drat and double drat!’

Yes because he takes such pleasure in his villainy and it upsets him when his plans go awry.

That would make Sheryl Muttley…

No no – well now, you see she’s a power in her own right now. She’s going places in the demon underground.

I wonder if he might regret bringing her in.

Right, yes, because she’s crafty and ruthless which I’m sure Leland finds admirable until she turns it on him.

Those traits are fantastic in other people but not when directed at you!  

The other thing that’s become a personal thing in the series is between Leland and Kristen. You and Katja have had some absolutely wonderful scenes, with stilettos etc. Have there been any that you’ve read on the page and gone, ‘Good grief I never thought they’d go there with it’?

I get a lot of that on this show. With Kristen I remember reading that scene in the first season where she’s got a knife to my throat and I say, ‘I’ve never been so turned on by you.’ I thought that was an out of left field thing to say. He was so calm about the potential violence and so frank about how excited it made him. I thought ‘Wow!’ And that is still a dynamic between them: he likes to be close to her and he likes to look deep into her eyes and try to put one over on her.

And takes an insidious way through the girls…

Oh yes but the beauty of that was the kids have his number. They’re a bit immune to him and turn the tables on him. It’s sort of perfect in a way that it is the innocents who can have their way with Leland. His stuff works best on grown ups who are conflicted.

Yes because there’s always that element of grey. There’s still some just pure black and white with kids.

Yes, and a kind of fearlessness also.

The sequence with the video game in the first episode. That was one of the most serious episodes, with the whole weight of the soul being discussed, and there’s Leland being attacked by a group of kids.

Right, they turn the tables on him. Him trying to manipulate them by way of the internet and them being better than him.

What do you find the most challenging element of the role?

I guess the balancing between him being sinister and being entertaining. I try to pay attention to that, at least, but it seems to be working out alright. The writing is helpful that way because the balance is good there and the Kings are very sharp about having right dynamics in their shows and by not spoiling things by overdoing or undergoing. It feels about right to me, the amount of time I’m on screen and the quality of that time feel about right.

If we have five minutes of Leland we know that he’s there, he’s at the back of Kristen’s mind, every second.

He infects the show!

It’s the snake in the Garden of Eden, isn’t it?

Yes, he is rather.

I’m quite surprised we haven’t had a snake yet but I’m fully expecting one…

Yes, that will be something our demon builders can make a really fine version of. Something big and serpentine. I’m sure it’s coming as you say.

In the scenes with the demons, particularly ones like the Manager or where Leland’s with his psychiatrist, is it easy to simply switch off and act in those or do you get a slight feeling of ‘This is an unusual situation’ even for an actor to be getting into?

Well, for me it’s always a little startling when I first come into the room to rehearse the scene and I encounter them. Like my shrink – he was startling. But then I understand that the best way to play those scenes is to play it as if it means nothing to me. That there is no shock, no horror, no fear. These are just guys I work with and sometimes they’re just annoying or they use up my valuable time. I think that’s a better, weirder, creepier kind of energy for those scenes and that sort of came to me as an obvious thing right away.

Do you have a favourite moment from the series so far of what we’ve seen?

Well, I guess they all have to do with knives! That moment where Kristen has a knife to my throat [we talked about earlier] and I love that moment last season where I encounter Sister Andrea in the kitchen at the rectory. I mean to splash her with ammonia but she turns out to have a butcher knife in her apron. It’s a great kind of still standoff where it’s hard to tell what the next moment will be. Who will blink or who will attack or retreat? All those kinds of things. I just thought it had a kind of electricity in it that I enjoy, I enjoyed being in that moment. And of course Andrea Martin was so great.

That’s one of the real strengths of this season.

Oh yes.

It’s like a chess match on about seven different levels.

Yes, it’s good that way.

Evil runs on Paramount+ in the US, and seasons 1 and 2 are on Alibi in the UK