Purefoy plays Goode’s vampiric father on the show’s second season.
“Matthew’s done my career no end of good, actually,” Purefoy tells EW.
“We worked together first onRootswhere we played brothers.
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Purefoy admits he was envious of the great gig Rhys and Goode shared.
That, in turn, led to their new relationship as father and son onA Discovery of Witches.
He goes, ‘Take a look at this.’
Ovatation
From there, the two friends conspired to get Purefoy the gig.
But James Purefoy, what a wonderful choice that would be,'” he laughs.
“It was a set-up really.
I’m hoping they’re happy with what I did.
But we concocted that at a bar in Portugal one night.”
Mostly, performing with Goode made him up his game.
“Matthew is a mercurial and dangerous presence in a scene,” he reflects.
“He’s really interesting, and he’ll go places that you don’t expect him to go.
It’s like playing tennis with somebody.
If you play tennis with somebody worse than you, you just get worse.
He makes you better.”
Still, it was also an unexpected challenge, given their camaraderie.
“Because something I said or something I’d done made him laugh.
He’s a terrible giggler.
Philippe is a beloved character in theA Discovery of Witchescanon, and Purefoy didn’t take that lightly.
But in the end, his greatest inspiration came from novelist (and executive producer)Deborah Harkness’words.
It’s all there in her books.
It’s all there in the text.
A big part of the key to Philippe was acknowledging and living in his power as a vampire.
Even if you don’t see it, knowing you embody that is a very powerful feeling.”
“Sadly, I didn’t get to sink my teeth into anybody’s throat,” he opines.
But sometimes even the greatest jobs have aspects that suck.
A Discovery of Witchesseason 2 premieres on Sundance Now, Shudder and AMC+ on Saturday.
