The critically acclaimed HBO series The Leftovers provided actor Jovan Adepo with his first major role. He then popped in several high profile projects across film and television including Denzel Washington’s Fences, Darren Aronofsky’s Mother!, Damien Chazelle’s Babylon, the Netflix limited series When They See Us among many more. The Television Academy took notice for his performance as Will Reeves / Hooded Justice in Damon Lindelof’s Watchmen. For that fantastic performance, he received an Emmy nomination for Supporting Actor in a Limited Series.
Now, Adepo again stands out in the ensemble cast of Netflix’s 3 Body Problem. Based on the Remembrance of Things Past series of novels by Chinese author Liu Cixin, the drama series marries complex physics concepts, virtual reality, and an alien invasion to paint a compelling and frightening narrative. Adepo plays Dr. Saul Durand, one of the “Oxford Five” who become entangled within a plot to head off a pending alien invasion.
While season one doesn’t provide Adepo many fireworks moments (or not at least until the season one finale), it does give him the unusual acting challenge of playing a character who is a quiet, thoughtful, and low-key person.
“I like how you said that, that he’s low key, because I think that’s very much who Saul is. He is an individual that many of us have ran into in our lives at some point, which is someone who is incredibly gifted who perhaps has all of the tools to do great things, but just hasn’t quite found a way to put those pieces together to work in his favor,” Adepo commented in the below interview. “The people who are the quietest… it doesn’t mean that they’re not receiving any information. They’re just trying to collect as much as they can and process it before they are able to contribute to any meaningful conversation, which I tried to remember doing whenever I was playing him.”
Here, in an audio interview with Awards Daily, Jovan Adepo elaborates on the challenges of playing a low-key character. He talks about what drew him to the complex project and how he learned to relay the advanced physics concepts, which was essentially like learning a new language. He also talks about his acting partnership with Alex Sharpe who plays the dying Dr. Will Downing. Adepo and Sharpe share several intense moments as Will comes to term with the end of his life, partially with the assistance of Adepo’s Saul.
Finally, Adepo talks about the season finale and whether or not Saul is ready for the adventures that lay ahead in the upcoming second season. Please enjoy our interview below!
3 Body Problem season one steams exclusively on Netflix.
