Joseph Morgan talks “Titans” season four, his inspiration behind his character, what he hopes viewers take from this season and more. (Exclusive)
Photograph by Steve Wilkie/HBO Max
Written by: Gracie Lowes
Get ready DC fans! “Titans” is back with its fourth season, and some fan favourite comic book villains are joining the cast.
This season starts where season three left off, “having saved Gotham the Titans hit the road to head back to San Francisco. But after a stop in Metropolis, they find themselves in the crosshairs of a supernatural cult with powers, unlike anything they’ve faced before.”
I had the chance to sit down (virtually) with actor Joseph Morgan who plays Sebastian / Brother Blood in the new season. We talked about his time on set, the importance of his character’s costumes, what he hopes viewers take from his character, and more.
You can read the full interview below.
Photograph by Courtesy of HBO Max
Gracie Lowes: Congratulations on the release of Titans season four. It’s amazing so far and very action-packed, what has it been like building up to the days of the release and now having episodes coming out weekly?
Joseph Morgan: “It’s really exciting, I haven’t seen it yet.”
Gracie: “Oh wow really?”
Joseph: “Yeah, I’m seeing it weekly with everyone else which is kind of fun. I decided from the beginning that on this job I wanted to experiment with social media, I have good interaction on it which is on and off because sometimes I’ll be quiet for a while but I thought ‘wouldn’t it be interesting if I tried to bring people with me on this journey and let them feel more involved to a certain extent in the process from the beginning. And it’s interesting now because I’m hoping fans and viewers are okay with it and I haven’t just built it up for them to be like ‘oh that’s it, that’s what you were talking about?’”
Gracie: I mean based on the Instagram interactions alone fans are loving it. And Brother Blood was a fan favourite villain from the comics, I’m wondering what was that like for you getting to step into the DC universe and bring this character to life, and did you feel any pressure?
Joseph: “Yeah… I mean I try not to think about that but thanks for bringing it up haha. But no, I knew from the beginning that he had to be relatable, so I came at it from the point of view that he’s going to be the hero of his own story. So, my goal was to make sure that when people watch it, even if they don’t agree with his choices they’ll at least understand them, so that was what I went into it with and I luckily had some great opportunities with the writers where it felt as though I was shooting my own movie. Once a week I’d come in and shoot these shots as Sebastian and I’d never see or have anything to do with any of the Titans, and I’d just let Sebastian be on his own journey until he’s pulled out of the police station by Superboy. So I hope that as an audience we get the chance to kind of know him a little bit and get to see some of the traumatic things he went through which are already changing him and his outlook on the world. And that was the approach I took to kind of make it my own and feel less daunted by the fans. The weirdest thing was at the beginning of this whole journey I was finding this character who is quite insecure, introverted, disenfranchised, and shy, but I was going once a month for these fittings for this super suit that’s like a suit of armor. So, I’m getting these glimpses of ‘oh this is what he will be,’ but then going back to the coat which is great because I really played a part in helping to develop his costumes and I wanted him to have this coat, which he does for about four episodes, and I didn’t know he would be wearing it for so long.”
Photograph by Steve Wilkie/HBO Max
Gracie: You must’ve gotten used to wearing that coat didn’t you haha.
Joseph: “Oh yeah, he loves his coat. Honestly, when I first put it on I thought it was perfect but the only thing that wasn’t right was that the hood only came to the top of his head, and I told them ‘no you have to put some material on this hood so that it goes down further, he needs to be able to hide in it. He needs to feel as though this is his only armor at the moment,’ and the team was so great and so accommodating for all that kind of stuff, and I was so glad about the final look of the coat. Especially because there was an idea that was floated, I don’t know who floated it but that was a terrible idea so hopefully, they don’t read this haha, but the idea was for Sebastian to change clothes after he gets blood on them from witnessing the guy stab his own eyes out because when he goes with the Titans he can change into some of Tim’s clothes. Immediately I was like ‘no, I’m not gonna do that,’ then they showed me the striped shirt they had in mind and I went ‘yeah no.’ I realized afterward that I would have been in that shirt for four episodes and I’m so happy we decided to keep him in his coat instead, especially since I had barely established the character and they wanted him to wear someone else’s clothes, it was just a funny moment for me.”
Gracie: Yeah he is a very complex character, there are a lot of layers to him and just from these first few episodes we can see the growth and struggles he’s facing. I’m wondering if you could describe him as a whole in three words what would they be?
Joseph: “He’s conflicted, he’s insecure, and he’s a dreamer.”
Gracie: Speaking to him being a dreamer, in the first episode Sebastian says that he’s created an app that’s going to change the world. I have to ask, what your app design would be if you were going to change the world?
Joseph: “Haha it would be an app that you download to your phone and you think it’s going to do one thing but then it wipes out and destroys social media. Then people will have to start talking to each other again, and people can’t be offensive without seeing the person they’re being offensive to. I do think that social media does a lot of good as well, but it’s hard sometimes because, just think about going to a party and there’s one obnoxious person you kind of just think of that afterward and I feel like social media is like that, there’s a lot of good things and good relationships that I’ve formed through social media but then you see a bit of the negative side of it and think ‘we should just be done with it, we’d be better to just get rid of it all.’ But I’m also part of the problem so what can I say.”
Gracie: Everyone contributes a little bit to the problem.
Joseph: “Yeah that’s true.”
Photograph by Courtesy of HBO Max
Gracie: You talked about your suit before and how you helped to design it, but what can fans expect from the rest of this season considering we haven’t even seen you in the final suit yet?
Joseph: “Well they’re going to have to wait to see me in the suit I will say that. I feel like the first half of the season did really well with the pacing especially since Titans is known for its stunts and big action sequences, and it was able to maintain that but it also didn’t start at such a pace that you felt exhausted and like the story had nowhere to go. So for my character and Titans, in general, this season I feel like there’s a bit of a slow burn that’s building and building, and by the end around episode 10,11,12 it’s like you’re on a rollercoaster it doesn’t stop, you get a little bit of breathing room through the beginning of the second half of the season and then once episode 10 starts just buckle up because the whole thing just goes and Sebastian spirals and it becomes emotional and physical and crazy.”
Gracie: Did you have to do any stunt training for the upcoming rollercoaster?
Joseph: “Yes I did. Sebastian hasn’t had many stunts so far other than being pulled through a wall by Josh and a few little things but in the second half of the season and the last few episodes especially were pretty taxing for me. For one reason in episode 10 which I can’t reveal it was very different than anything I’ve ever experienced and very taxing on me and I made loads of videos for social media that I’ll put out after the episode is released, but yeah it gets very very physical.”
Gracie: My last question for you, I personally love the relationship that your character and Rachel (Teagan Croft) have throughout the first few episodes. But I’m wondering if you have a favourite moment or memory from filming any of these scenes?
Joseph: “Yeah, I mean I absolutely loved working with Teagan from the beginning to the end she was just so open to making that relationship between those two characters front and center. And for me, it was probably one of the most important things for my character because it was something that wherever he goes and when he gets all this power, opportunity, and destiny, his humanity and his bond with her is what pulls him back and that creates the conflict for him. So I loved working on those scenes with her, and I think our last proper one-on-one scene together was and still is one of my favourites. I guess we did some longer and more involved scenes but in that end one we were determined to give a proper end to their story so that whole arc played through as a story in itself and although it might not be satisfying it had an ending and it was something. It wasn’t even supposed to be in the original script because there’s so much going on in the finale, and we as actors have the benefit to only worry about our character’s journey whereas the showrunners and writers have this incredibly difficult job of juggling everything from the pacing to all of the journeys, so Teagan and I were able to talk to our writer, Richard Hatem, and say ‘we’ve got this idea and we feel like there should be more of a moment here because we’ve really been working to build that for the whole of the season and we feel like it needs to be paid off now,’ and he was incredible with that so we ended up getting a little moment at the end of this whole thing that to me just made it all worth it and felt right, and it was my favourite for those reasons.”
