Most of you reading this likely known Christopher Lloyd best for playing Doc Brown in the Back to the Future movies, and rightly so. His performance as Marty McFly’s mentor is one of several ways the original movie has aged so successfully and certainly one of the most entertaining aspects of the entire film trilogy. Now when it comes to Lloyd’s more recent performances, one that sticks out for me fittingly also involve time travel. He appeared in three episodes of 12 Monkeys, which I consider to be one of the best sci-fi TV shows, and I’m getting a kick out of learning that wild idea he immediately pitched for his villainous character.
This reveal comes from Terry Matalas, created the 12 Monkeys series and discussed his experience working with Christopher Lloyd while on The Sackhoff Show (where he also talked about the “sacrifices” that went into Star Trek: Picard Season 3). Lloyd played Zalmon Shaw, a.k.a. The Missionary, and when he first met Matalas, he wasted no time suggesting making a distinctive change to his physical appearance. The showrunner recalled to Katee Sackhoff:
Christopher, I’ll tell you about the first day I met him, when he came to wardrobe. He read the script and he was so excited and just full of life for it. He was playing a villain who was the father of Tom Noonan, who was a villain in the future, it was a whole thing. And he says, ‘I want to be really weird… I want to shave my eyebrows. I think it would look really strange.’
Well… ok then. As Terry Matalas mentioned, Zalmon Shaw was the father of Tom Noonan’s character, who was never actually named on 12 Monkeys, but nicknamed the “Tall Man” in the show. Both men were dedicated servants to the Army of the 12 Monkeys, and Zalmon already visually stood out with his black outfit and hat, which his son would wear as an adult, too. But Christopher Lloyd wanted to take things even further and shave his eyebrows while playing this character, and that took Matalas by surprise. He continued:
And so it was one of those things where I was like, ‘Do I want to do that to this character?’ The showrunner part of me is like, ‘Is that right for [the character]?’ And then I thought, ‘Who am I to tell an icon of film and television, Christopher Lloyd. If that man wants to shave his eyebrows for your show, for your character, God bless.’
Christopher Lloyd first made an uncredited appearance at the end of the 12 Monkeys Season 3 episode “Casualty,” then made his full debut in the episode immediately afterwards, “Nature.” He then returned in Season 4’s “Legacy,” but this time, Lloyd wasn’t quite as enthusiastic about shaving his eyebrows. Terry Matalas wrapped up the story as follows:
I was like, ‘Yeah, go ahead. And he did it, He showed up and he did it and it was weird. And then his character came back six months later, and he goes, ‘You know, I don’t think I’m gonna shave my eyebrows for this one.’ I’m like, ‘That’s ok, too. That all right.’
I’m with Terry Matalas on this one. Sure, he’s the one who had final say over what happened on 12 Monkeys, but if someone of Christopher Lloyd’s stature is volunteering to get rid of his own eyebrows for his role, why on Earth would you tell him he shouldn’t? That said, I also don’t blame Lloyd for wanting to deal with that a second time. There was enough about Zalmon to keep fans’ attention occupied.
Unfortunately, 12 Monkeys not available to stream on any platforms as of this writing. However, if you’re curious to see some of Christopher Lloyd’s other sci-fi work, he played Kruge in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, which can be streamed with a Paramount+ subscription, as well as guest-starred as Commissioner Helgait in The Mandalorian Season 3 episode “Guns for Hire,” which is accessible with a Disney+ subscription. He also has a yet-to-be-revealed guest role in Wednesday Season 2, which premieres its first half August 6 on Netflix.
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