Two of Sweet Tooth’s important supporting characters are Dr Adita Singh and General Douglas Abbott, respectively played by Adeel Akhtar (Utopia) and Neil Sandilands (The Flash). The actors spoke to journalists to promote at the launch of Netflix’s eight-part adaptation of the fantasy comic book series and Nick Joy from Sci-Fi Bulletin was among them.

What attracted you to this project?

Adeel – The arc that Doctor Singh goes through. I felt it mirrored how people are feeling during this very strange, extraordinary time of being in a  pandemic. That was the main draw to me – I felt like through the character I was echoing some of the discomfort that people were feeling.

Neil – I’m a great believer in the story explaining things. In this instance we’ve got this beautiful story about our deer boy Gus and in order for the story to work there needs to be a measure of transcendence – it needs to be up against the odds. So as beautiful as our young hybrid is, we needed a counterpoint, which is in this instance me, the nemesis. I had the opportunity to do that, to give some counterweight to what is a beautiful story and what Gus needs to overcome. It was a tremendous honour and something that I embraced with everything I have.

From the outset were you encouraged to go bigger with General Abbott? Can you go too big?

Neil – Jim Mickle [showrunner] has been very helpful. Of course you can swing from the chandeliers if you wanted to with that character, but there still an element of him, like the entire show, which is very real. I think that if it was too fantastical then things wouldn’t have had the impact. The entire creative team and particularly if I can signal someone out, Jim, he’s got such a good eye. He would say ‘I really like the way you phrased that.’ You bring in everything you’ve got but you also allow the creators of the show to mould it in their particular vision and in this instance I felt very safe with the guys who were steering the ship.

This was filmed in New Zealand – what was it like working in a production that was sealed off in a bubble away from a lot of the COVID problems that the rest of the world was experiencing?

Adeel – It was bittersweet in the sense that I was over there in New Zealand and I was able to bring over my family, but every day we were in communication with friends and family, hearing about how they were having a terrible time. There was a certain level of surreality to it, but at the same time being involved in this story which was mirroring actual events – there was a sort of hopefulness that was weaved inside of it. When I was chatting to friends and family back home it just felt like if anything was bringing them through this trying time it was the hope that they had amongst their community.

Neil – I echo everything that Adeel has said. I still cannot fully believe that we are in fact here – part of me believes that ultimate universes do exist because the experience of the pandemic and the entire lockdown I will admit this has been quite anomalous to most lived experiences.

You essentially play a bad guy but every villain is a hero in his own eyes. Would you agree?

Neil – Does a psychopath know that he’s a psychopath? I don’t know what the answer to that it is but I can tell you this: If you want to know what real goodness is then your best bet is probably to go to to guy who’s on Death Row for triple homicide, and he might have an angle on what goodness is. And if you really want to know what evil is then you could probably inversely go to the Pope. All I’m trying to say with that is that those counterpoints exist. I don’t think that we play bad one dimensionally. Think of killing with a smile, or while dancing, or playing the violin. Do he or she have the absolute conviction that what they’re doing is the right thing?

Adeel – I find it interesting because as I’m hearing you speak, I’m kind of mentally making notes of this, because Dr Singh has to step into this world. It’s all fascinating for me.

What were the challenges of making this show?

Adeel – The only challenge was not having a roadmap as to how this type of story was going to be received, not knowing whether just because I felt something they other people would feel something as well.

Neil – Plenty of people have asked us about our expectations – did we know what we were involved with at the time? I can safely say I wasn’t. I mean I had good indicators that I’m surrounded by good people, masterful practitioners in pretty much every discipline. I felt really good and solid about that. Did I have expectations? No. In as much as when we left New Zealand there was no telling that I wasn’t in that category of human beings that might catch COVID. I couldn’t plan ahead next week, let alone five months or six months in the future, so for me that’s why I call it a beautiful fatalism – you have to make every breath count because you don’t know what happens next. I gave it every inch of me and everything that is happening now is wonderful beyond anything I could have imagined.

Sweet Tooth is streaming now on Netflix; click here for our other coverage