Television has entered a new age of antiheroes: Whether played for laughs or deadly serious, viewers can\u2019t help rooting for a generation of morally gray troublemakers whose transgressions can be more appealing than appalling, viewing them as misguided underdogs who\u2019ve lost their way. Yet, goodness still seems within their grasp, and for the actors who play them, redeeming these rogues is sometimes a tantalizing prospect \u2014 and sometimes beside the point.<\/p>\n
\u201cLoki\u2019s\u201d\u00a0Tom Hiddleston\u00a0relishes exploring redemptive possibilities for the fan-favorite Norse god of mischief (who occasionally flirts with altruism) that he\u2019s played for over a decade in Marvel Studios films and now on Disney Plus.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI understand the audience sees good in Loki \u2014 they want him to get past his internal and external obstacles,\u201d he says. \u201cThey want him to repair that relationship with his brother and step into the hero that he can be.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Although Loki long masked his alienation by casting himself as a grandiose, conquering villain, feeling compassion from allies Mobius (Owen Wilson) and Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) makes him reconsider his destiny, says Hiddleston.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe realizes, \u2018Actually, I can choose my path and choose to do the right thing. Or I choose, at least, not to repeat the same old tricks that I repeated over and over in a cycle of trust and betrayal.\u2019 It\u2019s exciting to retain all the characteristics that makes Loki, Loki, and at the same time to play slightly different music within him,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
When reprising his signature role in \u201cDexter: New Blood,\u201d\u00a0Michael C. Hall\u00a0was intrigued to pick up the titular serial killer Dexter Morgan years later as an isolated being who is now both less willing to rationalize his dark compulsions and remorseful of the consequences \u2014 the death of many of his loved ones \u2014 of his actions.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s someone who\u2019s been contending with the collateral damage of his behavior,\u201d says Hall. \u201cIf Dexter were a total sociopath, he would\u2019ve disappeared from Miami and just continued killing. But the fact is, he hasn\u2019t. He has some sense of responsibility that he\u2019s taking. He\u2019s telling himself a story about himself that is quite different from the one he was telling when we met him way back when. He does refer to himself as a monster, but an evolving monster.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whether redemption is on the table for a character such as Dexter still remains to be seen. Hall notes that he is \u201ccontending with a desire to cultivate some access to purity and then a shadow desire to just completely surrender to his dark impulses in a way that he never has.\u201d<\/p>\n
One character who unfortunately doesn\u2019t stand a chance at redemption is Murray Bartlett\u2019s Armond in \u201cThe White Lotus.\u201d The hotel manager died before he could make amends for careening down a slippery slope of drugs, lies, sexual transgressions and an act of aggressive defecation. Still, he demonstrated \u201cvulnerability underneath, a real struggle with his own demons and a total frustration at the insane world that he\u2019s in, taking care of these really obnoxious, privileged guests,\u201d Bartlett says. \u201cHe\u2019s a symptom of that system that we can all relate to. He\u2019s representative of this part of us that says, \u2018Whoa, this is madness, this societal game that we\u2019re keeping up that\u2019s not good for anybody, really. I forgive him because I completely understand it.\u201d<\/p>\n
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In playing \u201cAmerican Rust\u2019s\u201d compromised sheriff who crosses multiple moral and ethical lines in the name of love, Jeff Daniels says he\u2019s never called upon to overtly court audience favor.<\/p>\n
\u201c[I\u2019m not] stopping to remind the audience, \u2018Remember, you like me, right?\u2019\u201d says Daniels. \u201cI really like the guys that are all in and you\u2019re pulling for them to maybe get away with this: \u2018Oh my God \u2014 I\u2019m pulling for a guy to get away with murder!\u2019 We want you to want this guy to get away with it \u2014 and that\u2019s wrong for the audience, but it\u2019s right for the story.\u201d<\/p>\n
What complicates matters is that Daniels\u2019 character still has a \u201cgood heart, good intentions and love for Grace,\u201d the actor notes. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t change, no matter what happens or what he does.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the flip side,\u00a0Nick Mohammed\u2019s Nate in the second season of \u201cTed Lasso\u201d\u00a0lashes out at his boss, the titular Ted (Jason Sudeikis) as a result of \u201creally hurting for a load of reasons \u2014 ultimately, probably because of the toxic relationship with his dad.\u201d His heart may have darkened a bit, and revealing that was \u201cnerve-wracking, anticipating the audience reaction to it, but equally quite thrilling\u201d for the actor.<\/p>\n
But Mohammed doesn\u2019t believe Nate is a lost cause: \u201cHe tears up a lot, he stares at himself in the mirror a lot. I think that that is him looking at himself thinking, \u2018What the fuck are you doing?\u2019 And if he\u2019s thinking that, then maybe he\u2019ll see that he\u2019s not doing the right thing and come back to the good side.\u201d<\/p>\n
While these characters have been partially pushed to bad behavior by external circumstances, Oliver (Martin Short) on \u201cOnly Murders in the Building\u201d is a narcissist, which leads to a neglectful parental dynamic and unloading a barrage of barbed put-downs.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlaying a jerk while pretending to not be a jerk is a great level to play,\u201d Short says, recalling a long string of \u201casshole\u201d characters from \u201cSCTV\u2019s\u201d Jackie Rogers Jr. and \u201cSaturday Night Live\u2019s\u201d Nathan Thurm. \u201cThe trick is, how do you convey that this is the plight of a narcissist, but not an evil narcissist? He\u2019s preoccupied with himself and his career and under pressure because he\u2019s going broke, but you have to believe that when he\u2019s with his son, he loves his son, and his son loves him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bonding with the next generation can help turn a former antagonist into a more well-rounded character, as is the case with \u201cCobra Kai\u2019s\u201d Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka). He isn\u2019t \u201cconsciously trying to find redemption as much as he\u2019s trying to find himself without the Cobra Kai blanket on him,\u201d the actor says. \u201cHe\u2019s trying to rewind time and go back to the belly of where this all started and undo all these knots.\u201d<\/p>\n
A turning point comes when Johnny realizes he no longer needs to subscribe to the \u201cNo Mercy\u201d credo. \u201cWhat a great thing to play: somebody becoming conscious of himself,\u201d Zabka says. \u201cHe just wants his kid back, he wants love, and he wants to run a dojo without any interference \u2014 [to] live a nice, simple life. But he\u2019s got a long way to go there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Television has entered a new age of antiheroes: Whether played for laughs or deadly serious, viewers can\u2019t help rooting for a generation of morally gray troublemakers whose transgressions can be more appealing than appalling, viewing them as misguided underdogs who\u2019ve lost their way. Yet, goodness still seems within their grasp, and for the actors who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16009,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7036],"tags":[18552,18550,18551,18549],"class_list":["post-16007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-importance-of-character-redemption","tag-michael-c-hall-and","tag-michael-c-hall-and-more-weigh","tag-tom-hiddleston"],"yoast_head":"\n