Tim Robbins (Reginald “Pop” Merrill) discusses his character’s struggle in following his moral compass amid the growing divide between his nephews, Paul Sparks (John “Ace” Merrill), and Matthew Allen (Chris Merrill), and his adopted Somali son and daughter, Yusra Warsama (Dr. Nadia Omar), Barkhad Abdi (Abdi Omar).
Things take an even more complicated turn for Pop when Annie and Joy Wilkes crash the not-so-cozy town of Castle Rock.
No stranger to the Stephen King multiverse, as Robbins originally starring as Andy Dufresne in King’s, “The Shawshank Redemption”, we sat down with the Oscar winner as he discussed taking on his new role as an inhabitant of Castle Rock.
Tim Robbins: “Castle Rock is kind of a dive into a psychological horror. The character I play is morally complicated and possesses a certain amount of power in that town of Castle Rock, and how he got that power and how he maintains that power is um, a little bit sketchy. (laughs)
The Knockturnal: I did notice that; I was actually able to see the first five episodes of the season, so I was blown away – I was on the edge of my seat. And I did notice some of that internal struggle that [Reginald ‘Pops’ Merrill] had, especially with dealing with the dynamic between his nephews and also with his adopted son and daughter – can you describe what that dynamic was like?
Tim Robbins: “Well, I think probably due to a combination of the character, Pop’s dysfunction and the general disease and dysfunction of the town of Castle Rock, which has these other forces working, [it] produces an environment that is a little bit contentious and so, it kind of manifests in Pops’ family and his adopted children. [Pop’s] was told by his father not to have children, and I think you find out in the course of this season why.”
The Knockturnal: It’s been a very interesting ride thus far. Can you describe what even just drew you to your character of Pop’s – he seems to sort of be the mayor of Castle Rock; it seems like everyone pretty much knows who he is. What drew you to this role initially?
Tim Robbins: “What drew me to the role is the writing and the concept for the character, and this first season of Castle Rock. I felt like they were telling the story in a really interesting way, and I like the idea of playing the boss; (laughs) the morally complicated boss of Castle Rock.”
The Knockturna: (laughs) “[Pops] is definitely owning that. Well what is it that we can really expect the viewers at home to really expect to come in this season – without giving away too much, what can we expect?
Tim Robbins: “It’s not gonna’ go the way you think it’s gonna go. There are turns, there are twists, there are completely unexpected developments, and uh, that was kind of what was fun about reading every new script was that ‘oh, my! what happened here?’. Yeah, so, expect to be surprised and expect the unexpected.”
The new season premiere’s on Hulu on October 23.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bytPaQ5I8U
