THEM: The Scare Stars Luke James, Joshua J. Williams & Pam Grier Talk Horror Series & Their Roles
THEM: The Scare, the newest entry into the black horror anthology for Prime Video, will blow your mind.
The follow-up to THEM: Covenant brings the action forward in a few decades to 1991, where LAPD Detective Dawn Reeve will be embroiled in a case unlike anything she's ever seen.
And soon enough, her family will be affected in ways she never saw coming.
The series, born from the mind of its brilliant creator Little Marvin, has a robust cast. TV Fanatic was blessed to take part in the THEM: The Scare press day, where we chatted with stars Luke James, Joshua J. Williams, and Pam Grier.
One of the biggest strengths of the THEM: The Scare series is its fantastic cast, which brings this decidedly twisty and scary tale to life.
Luke James, from The Chi fame, steps into the role of Edmund Gaines and gives a scene-stealing performance.
It's hard to describe Edmund in just a few words, as it's hard to describe many of these multi-faceted characters. But James had great insight into the character, a sheltered young man with a dream.
"Edmund is an aspiring, struggling actor," James told us during the press day. "He is a loner. He is a kid of the foster care system, and he's one of those children who grew out of it.
"He's an eccentric young man, but a big dreamer with a big heart and really soft and gentle soul, really in search of purpose and reason and to be seen. And that's who he is."
James found similarities in Edmund, including them both being actors, and the desire to put his mark on the character was a factor in him taking on the role.
"…as a struggling actor, the opportunity to be a part of such a beautiful piece, and I jumped to it, of course, yes," James explained.
"The character, such a challenge. I saw an opportunity because he was written on the page. The heart was there, and I just saw an opportunity that maybe I could lend a hand in discovering the rest of him with Little Marvin.
"It was just an opportunity to bring out all the things that as a child myself, as an only child yearning and looking for validation and love and acceptance, I wanted to bring joy into the world while also trying to find my own purpose.
"It resonated with me. I saw an opportunity there, along with having some fun shooting a beautifully done, nostalgic horror film today."
James is a revelation in the series, and we had a lovely chat with him about the character, which you can see below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvJow6fO92c
Another actor on the series with a strong connection to their character is Joshua J. Williams, who plays Dawn's son, Kelvin 'Kel' Reeve.
Kel lives with Dawn and his grandmother Athena, and like most teens, he's absorbed in his own world, but he'll soon find himself drawn into the complexities of the case his mother is working on and other things around him.
He also has a pretty big secret he keeps, and that's just one of the many mysteries present throughout the series.
Secrets, secrets, secrets. They are usually at the heart of any great mystery, and THEM: The Scare is no exception.
"Kel is a sweet, innocent kid who's just been dealing with a lot of things," Williams said when asked about Kel.
"He's dealing with anxiety, stress, OCD without even knowing it. He's dealing with the divorce of his parents. But all in all, he's just a regular teen. He's a passionate drummer.
"He's just been dealing with a lot of things. And in the midst of that, he is keeping a secret or harboring a secret from his grandmother and mother at the same time all of this madness is going on."
The one piece of Kel that Williams felt particularly connected to was being a child of divorce.
The family dynamic plays a considerable role in this series, and Williams related to and was drawn to Kel because of this fact.
He told us, "When they told me that his parents were divorced, me and Kel was around the same age.
"I think Kel is about 15, and I was about 13 when my parents divorced. I'm 22 now, so I remember how I felt in those instances and situations that I was put through by my own parents, in my own experience.
"I just used that to help me get those emotions out, just really hone into the character and really just get those feelings and everything that I was feeling during that time, and I put it in towards the scenes that I needed to put it in towards."
Williams was a pleasure to converse with, and you can hear more of the conversation, including what it was like for him to work alongside Deborah Ayorinde and Pam Grier, below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8tKbBzOW7U
Speaking of Pam Grier, the legendary actress plays Dawn's mother, Athena Reeve, in the horror tale, and Athena's got a lot on her plate.
Athena is helping Dawn raise Kel, but she has concerns of her own, and this new, baffling case will affect her as much as it affects her daughter.
Horror and fright may abound, but as creator Little Marvin told us when we spoke to him during the same press day, family is at the heart of the show.
Athena, as the matriarch of the Reeve family, is a major part of that element of the story.
"Athena is a very renaissance woman, very strong," the kind Grier told us. "And she learned from the civil rights, lived through it, how to stand tall, how to show the inclusiveness, the intelligence of an African American woman.
"And she's a mother of a very strong and intelligent LAPD detective and has a son, my grandson, who I take care of and have been taken care of.
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"And now she's going to have to take care of me, and I don't want her to because I'm aging and I have mental medical issues. And I harbor a secret, a deep, dark secret."
There's that word secret again!
Secrets abound in this series, but that's just a small part of the densely packed series.
Grier was an absolute delight, and she opened up about Athena's past and present and what drew her into this role.
The veteran actress brings warmth to Athena, and she felt a strong connection to the character, which she went into detail about during our chat.
You can see the conversation in full below, and you can watch THEM: The Scare today on Prime Video.