Billy Brown from 'How to Get Away With Murder' dishes about what to expect in season 2
BY LESLEY HAULER
Billy Brown is used to being in critically-acclaimed shows. His resume reads like a who's-who of Emmy nominees -- from ABC's How to Get Away With Murder to Sons of Anarchy to Dexter.
Despite the cult-like fanbase of the shows, Brown says it's not difficult to keep the spoilers under wraps.
"It's easy for me," says the actor with a laugh. "I'm a Scorpio so I don't let anything out of the vault."
Brown has been playing Detective Nate Lahey in Shonda Rhimes' hit thriller, How to Get Away With Murderfor two seasons now and he says the best is yet to come.
The thriller took the world by storm in its first season, even nabbing lead actress Viola Davis a historic win at the Emmy Awards for her role as no-nonsense lawyer Annalise Keating.
The complexities of each character drive the narrative of the show -- each episode expertly balancing subplots that reveal more and more about these shady characters we know and love.
As Nate and Annalise's star-crossed affair keeps us on our toes, we spoke to HTGAWM's Brown about what viewers can expect from the ex-detective in the newest season.
What can fans expect from Lahey and the rest of the cast this season?
The relationship between Lahey and Annalise -- it gets even deeper than what the audience has been shown and relished up to this point. The involvement with her world starts to suck all of us into a common direction. That's when our motivations become likeminded -- between Annalise and her team, and the second year law students and now former Detective Lahey, who is now a uniformed B-cop.
It kind of fluctuates in a way. I'm not sure if it equates to a supernova or a black hole in some regards -- there's an analogy in there about how the earth and heavens move and expand as our story does. In the first season, everyone seemed to have a very clear path and movement and those began to suddenly shift and change in directions that not only audiences weren't able to predict, but also we, as actors didn't have a clear idea.
If our actors, who are doing this week in and week out, are experiencing that kind of impact [while reading the script at table reads] then that's a great time because you know the audience will enjoy it even more.
What are you most excited for with your character, Nate Lahey?
I'm most excited for Lahey getting through the things that happened to him last season -- the backstabbing, the jail time and his many things that occurred, especially within the ranks of the Philly police force. He's reclaiming and reestablishing himself within the ranks of the force and once again, finding his backbone, finding his spine in the face of the forces he's required to be up against -- or even aligned with.
Where would you like to see your character go in the future? Do you ever make suggestions to the writers?
They always give the actors time before the table read to give suggestions to rework dialogue or bring [the characters] more to life...If I have thoughts and suggestions, they are very open. Some of the time, people email me and I will respond.
They care about [the script] enough to get it done, even if it is into the wee hours under a full moon, when the rest of the city is asleep, and then we go in the next day and we have great material that really explains the characters and gives them new dimensions. That's why it's fun to get involved with the real work of it. You have to get this stuff and try it out because you know what's on the page.
%shareLinks-quote="I mean, I have Viola Davis standing right across from me -- the woman just wrapped up an Emmy and now we are going to work -- what's better than that?" type="quote" author="Billy Brown" authordesc="Nate Lahey, HTGAWM" isquoteoftheday="false"%
HTGAWM is such a hyped show --how do they keep these plots under wraps?
It's easy for me. I'm a Scorpio, so I don't let anything out of the vault. When you're on a show, the success in many ways relies on keeping spoilers out of the public sphere or away from an audience. You're even more invested in living up to those demands because it's so clear it is a delicacy of that narrative and, if there is work to be let out because of some casual slip of the tongue, how f**ked everything is afterwards.
So in that regards, it's easy because the stakes are high and you know it going in and all you have to do is show up and keep your mouth shut.
What is your favorite thing about being on set?
The crew is great. They really kick ass. Day in and day out, any one of them are telling me about a certain scene or a certain technical aspects, like the lighting or camera angles, or even the Major League Baseball playoffs.
That's kind of like the flow around set and Viola is right in there -- I mean, even as historic as her career is. Certainly picking up the Emmy as the first Black lead actress, you realize that these are cool people. A lot of times you don't find that.
When actors have great success on Broadway, in feature films, Academy Award nominations ... it's not with anyone that you can find that down-home vibe where you're just hanging out, and with her that [vibe] transcends through our entire crew.
So it works, clearly. It's awesome, but it's also work. You're not just standing around shooting sh*t all the time. So what do you do for the rest of the time [you're not working]? Hopefully, you're around people who are cool, supportive and are great to spend your day with and we are fortunate to have that in our crew and in our cast.
Catch Billy Brown on How to Get Away With Murder every Thursday at 10 p.m. on ABC.
See more photos of the HTGAWM cast:
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