Michael Emerson is a master of villainous and unconventional characters on the small screen by this point, going back to the iconic Ben on Lost. His most recent live-action gig was the final season of Evil, however, which remains cancelled despite fan hopes (fueled by Stephen King's support) of a rescue. At this point, it seems that his time as Dr. Leland Townsend is truly over as of the end of the series finale on Paramount+ in the 2024 TV schedule.
Emerson has reflected on one specific part of his time on Evil, which reminded me of praise that he received for his "chilling and fantastic" work on a totally different show that you can check out now and is a lot more recent than Lost. First things first, though!
How Michael Emerson Reflected On Evil's End
Spoilers ahead for the series finale of Evil. Michael Emerson was part of the Evil cast from the very first season as Dr. Leland Townsend, who pretty much had it out for Kristen up to and including the series finale, which is available streaming now with a Paramount+ subscription. The two had one final big confrontation, when she foiled his attempt to kill her by strangling him with a rope from behind in a move that would have killed a normal man.
It was a pretty violent scene, so I for one found it all the sweeter that Emerson reflected back on the finale by posting a sweet photo on X (formerly known as Twitter) with Katja Herbers, who played Kristen. Contrary to the scene in which Kristen was strangling Leland, Herbers was hugging Emerson in the behind-the-scenes pic. He included this caption:
And they pay me to do this. I have loved working with her!
Pretty sweet, right? It's certainly not something that Leland would have said about Kristen unless he meant it in some seriously sinister way. Katja Herbers – who has been campaigning for Evil to be renewed – reposted his image on her own account with two pretty hilarious emoji choices: a rope and two people hugging. How perfectly Evil!
All in all, the Evil era seems to be over for Michael Emerson, and he even shared his intention to move away from villainous roles... at least, if he guest stars on wife Carrie Preston's Elsbeth, anyway. If you want to check out his work as a villain in a different show, then you can head on over to My Adventures with Superman.
And if you're not convinced, read on for what the animated series' showrunner told us about what Emerson brought to Brainiac.
Michael Emerson In My Adventures With Superman
I won't drop any huge spoilers here about either of the two seasons of My Adventures with Superman so far, just in case you want to check it out for the first time for more Michael Emerson now that Evil is over. I will say that the actor was cast to voice a new take on the legendary DC Comics villain Braniac, who has menaced Superman across mediums for decades.
Other members of the cast include Jack Quaid as Clark Kent, Alice Lee as Lois Lane, and Ishmel Sahid as Jimmy Olsen. I spoke with My Adventures with Superman co-showrunner Jake Wyatt earlier this year at SCAD TVfest in Atlanta ahead of Season 2, and I noted that I loved hearing Michael Emerson's very distinct voice in the first season. Wyatt responded:
Oh my gosh, he's so good! You have no idea. He's so chilling and fantastic in the second half of Season 2. He's unbelievable… Sari Cooper, who actually wrote an episode in Season 2 and was also our script coordinator, it was his idea to call in Michael, and it was an incredible idea.
Fans of Emerson's live-action work have undoubtedly seen him turning in some chilling performances; he can do the same as a voice actor while also playing a very different kind of character. In fact, the My Adventures with Superman version of Brainiac isn't even a traditional take on the character.
I went on to ask Jake Wyatt how he and the other showrunners choose which bad guys of Superman's pantheon of villains – such as Brainiac – to adapt for the animated show, and he explained:
There's a couple different ways. Part of it is what would be the most fun. Like, I think it's obvious to anybody that that's in the calculus of the show. What would be fun to do? So that's a part of it, and then the other question is, what is going to be the most meaningful for our characters in their journeys? Who's a good foil, who is a good person to showcase thematically what's going on with our heroes? Who's most different or most like them? Those are the two sorts of calculus. What's fun to watch and what could hurt Superman? And then, what's meaningful?
While speaking with Wyatt, I also couldn't help but mention one of my favorite elements of the show in addition to the voice actors: the music from composers Dominic Lewis and Daniel Futcher, which should really be a hook for any potential viewers. The showrunner responded:
That's not random. Dom and Daniel did an incredible job, and I feel like they get better and better over Season 1. And then my favorite music is actually in the back half of Season 2. They do things we've never heard before. I shouldn't say my favorite music because it's all good, but the change is delightful. The score is really there. They are extremely thoughtful, and I'm grateful to have such incredible people scoring the show.
Fortunately, it's not hard to find My Adventures with Superman if you're interested in trying it out to ultimately experience a different kind of Michael Emerson villain now that Evil is over. Both seasons so far are available streaming with a Max subscription now. The animated show has already been renewed for a third season, so if you're all caught up and/or don't mind spoilers, check out what co-showrunner Jake Wyatt told CinemaBlend's Adam Holmes he's excited about in Season 3.
