Sam Witwer of Syfy’s Being Human spoke to the press today about his character and some interesting things to come for the series as it continues through its first season.
Before we get to that, I’ve seen Monday night’s episode and while I’ll refrain from spoiling anything for you, I will say that it’s really good. Maybe even the best of the season so far. It’s pretty evenly divided between Sally, Aidan and Josh and there are some big character reveals. There’s also some really great music in it, which is becoming sort of a recurring theme for this show.
Witwer had some interesting things to say about his character Aidan. He admitted to only having seen the first episode of the British series, so as far as comparisons go between his BBC vampire counterpart Mitchell and Aidan, he wasn’t able to say. He also admitted to not being all that familiar with current vampire lore in television and books (including Twilight).
Witwer did hint about flashbacks and other scenes that show us a less restrained vampire than the Aidan we’re coming to know now. “Aidan was out of his mind. Sociopathic. Psychopathic. He was beyond what you would consider sane. We get to see moments of that break through where our nice Aidan does something that’s just, you just don’t see coming and it’s really hard to watch.”
I asked him about the “Celine” tattoo on Aidan’s chest and Witwer was naturally tight-lipped about that reveal:
The tattoo of Celine – that’s extremely significant and ties in, in many ways, to elements that we’re already aware of and characters that we’re already aware of, but we do not know that just yet. What can I say without spoiling it? Extremely significant. For a vampire to tattoo a person’s name on his chest, you gotta take that person very seriously.
So, he was vague there and we have no idea when we’ll know who Celine was/is, but she’s relevant enough that we will find out at some point.
Witwer had some interesting things to say about Aidan’s take on death and his history with it, which affects how he reacts in certain situations. This includes something you’ll see in this Monday’s episode (no major spoilers ahead):
We actually worked out one time, and I don’t have the number handy, but we actually sat down and worked out how many people Aidan has killed face to face. Not pressed a button and had them go away or shot from a distance, I mean face to face killed. And we were shocked at the number. There are some moments when it became necessary for us to know how deep in this guy got. He would like to respect human life and he would like to have the same aversion and horror to killing as everyone else, but he just doesn’t. He’s done it way too much. So, he does not conceive of it the same way that you and I do. And, it doesn’t take a lot for him to come to the conclusion that, “Oh, this person needs to die? Fine.” And also, let’s not forget, he serves to benefit. If ever there’s a righteous way to take someone out, he then gets to drink live blood, which also, he realizes is a bad idea. So, it’s a really messed up thing right there. It does come from a good place, but it’s filtered through so much twisted pathos, that it’s not good.
If you’re familiar with Showtime’s Dexter, you know that the series follows a serial killer who follows a code to only kill really bad people. Dexter’s thirst for blood but desire hold on to whatever shreds of humanity he has in him does sort of fall in line with Aidan’s situation (especially given the hints about his really dark past). Witwer agreed that there are similarities between Dexter and Aidan:
There are a lot of similarities, actually, between those two characters. I think we see, in Episode 3, when he’s talking to Garrety, that’s about as open and friendly as we ever see Aidan and it’s done as a lie. It’s done to get information. We never necessarily see Aidan smile at people as much as he smiles at Garrety. That’s all done as a tactic. Aidan, like Dexter, was a sociopath for many, many years. He’s not a person who has a very healthy mindset.
(Related fact: Witwer played a small role in Dexter’s first season. He was Neil Perry, the man who tried to take the rap for the Ice Truck Killer)
We hope to have the full transcript of the call up for you sometime early next week. In the meantime, don’t miss Monday night’s episode of Being Human (9 p.m. ET on Syfy). It’s a good one! Here’s the preview for it:
