The Peripheral's Gary Carr Discusses Approach To Playing His 'Intriguing' Character - Exclusive
Gary Carr's Wilf is the first person viewers see as the pilot episode of Prime Video's "The Peripheral" begins. He's sitting on a park bench in what's identified as London 2099. Later in the episode, he makes contact with Flynne Fisher (Chloë Grace Moretz) through the machines in the 3D print shop where she works, trying to warn her about a threat to her and her family. The thing is that while Wilf is calling from 2099, Flynne is in 2032 — and somehow, Wilf not only knows who Flynne is, but he also wants to save her from those who want to harm her.
It's all part and parcel of the complex world of "The Peripheral," in which Flynne uses what she initially believes is virtual reality technology to project her consciousness into 2099. But everything Flynne does in the future is real, and Wilf hasn't just become aware of her presence there — he also believes she can help him with some larger purpose he has yet to reveal to her. Meanwhile, although Flynne doesn't quite trust Wilf, he also seems like one of the few people in 2099 who has her best interests at heart.
In an exclusive interview with Looper, Carr, who's a veteran of shows like "Downton Abbey," "The Good Fight," and "The Deuce," described what spoke to him about the mysterious Wilf and how he went about bringing the character to life.
'I've never played a character that was so still'
From the first moment we meet Wilf, we get hints about his past and present but very little concrete information about who he is or what his motivations are. Gary Carr noted that he was excited to play a character who has a lot more going on than viewers might suspect. "One thing that struck me in the book first and then the script was that Wilf is very still," Carr observed. "I've never played a character that was so still and [had] so much stuff going on, and doesn't have an outlet or anyone to discuss it with. What you see on the surface is not what's going on underneath. That was really intriguing about the character. For an actor, that's a very attractive thing to see in characters in a script."
Carr explained that because so much nuance was already baked into Wilf in the script, much of the character was already laid out for him. "My whole approach was to honor... the great work that [author of the novel "The Peripheral"] William [Gibson]'s done and the great work that [creator] Scott [Smith] has done, and to honor the vision of [executive producer Jonathan Nolan] and the team and [executive producer] Lisa [Joy] and everyone," Carr shared. "That was my whole [approach], to do what I saw in the script. I didn't have to do much in terms of character-building; it was all very much there already."
New episodes of "The Peripheral" arrive every Friday on Prime Video through December 9.