In The CW series The Republic of Sarah, high school teacher Sarah Cooper (Stella Baker) finds herself leading a nation, when Greylock, New Hampshire obtains international sovereignty to save itself from the inevitable destruction that would result from a big mining company looking to take over the town. But building a country from scratch is no easy task, which means Sarah must rely on family, friends and allies wherever she can find them, if she’s going to fight for the good of everything and everyone she knows and loves.
Aussie actor Luke Mitchell plays Sarah’s brother, Danny Cooper, a young man trying to overcome an abusive childhood at the hands of their mother (Megan Follows), torn between the emotional scars of his past and the possibilities of the future. During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider, he talked about all of the layers to his character, his transition from the Australian entertainment industry to Hollywood, the complicated history between Danny and Corinne (Hope Lauren), the family dynamic, what’s still to come for Danny, and his hopes for a possible Season 2.
Collider: This is one of those shows that unfolds bit by bit, over the season. How much did you actually know, going into this? Did you have any idea there would be so many layers to peel back?
LUKE MITCHELL: The short answer is that I didn’t know the full extent of the storyline. I knew bullet points and I had an idea where things were going, but from the get-go, I knew I was in safe hands, which is the main reason that I wanted to do this project. I really love the world that Jeff King has created and his vision for this project. I love the idea of my character, Danny. I like characters that are a little ambiguous and you don’t really know where they’re coming from or what secrets they’re keeping. He’s set up to be the bad guy, at least initially, and then layer by layer, more is revealed. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how deep we’re going with this stuff. We’re not shying away from his trauma, which I think is incredibly important. If you’re gonna talk about a character that suffers from certain things, you can’t just mention it and then back away from it, and I don’t think that’s what we’re doing. It’s certainly been a huge challenge for me, but I’ve relished every moment of it.
When you play a character that starts out being such a dick, is it fun to then work in reverse from that, where all of the things you find out about him make him more of a good guy and more sympathetic?
MITCHELL: Sure. It’s super fun playing the dick. With this particular character, at least initially, I enjoyed playing the facade of it all. Danny has constructed a lot of walls in his life. There is a bit of an F-you to his entrance, or his re-entrance to Greylock. He’s trying to show off a little bit and prove himself. That is fun, but it does, for the most part, need to be grounded in reality. Everything he does is motivated, which is important. He’s not a caricature.
There are a lot of elements to this show. You have the small town aspect, the corporate aspect, the legal aspect, the government and politics, the family dynamic, and all of these character relationships. As one of the characters who really is involved in all of those things, did it feel like something of a puzzle to connect all of those parts together? When you start working on a character like that, where do you start?
MITCHELL: Great question. I think you start by understanding who this guy is and try to get as much information about that character history as possible, so that you can inform your choices. And then, you can focus on the individual relationships. There’s so much going on, but that is the heart and soul of the show, the relationships and the different dynamics going on between all of these unique and interesting characters. That’s the color palette. Danny’s relationship with Sarah is very different from his relationship with his mother, which is very different from his relationship with Corinne, which is very different from his relationship with Grover. Incrementally, as the season goes on, you get to see new shades. It becomes a much more vivid picture, which I really love.
You go from exploring the family drama to making a town constitution and having a courtroom trial. What was it like to read the scripts for this?
MITCHELL: I think one of the most fun things for us, as a cast, was to get that next script and be like, “Holy crap, what’s going on now? What do I get to do now? Which character do I get to spend more time with in this episode?” That’s really fun. Obviously, there are the main relationships in this show and the main dynamics, but then there are really interesting dynamics worth exploring with some of the other characters that you wouldn’t expect. When you see two characters in a scene, you’re like, “Oh, that’s an interesting pairing. I wonder how this is gonna go.”
You originally started out doing Australian TV with Neighbours, H2O, and Home and Away. When you were working on those shows, did you always have the dream of eventually making a career in Hollywood, or were you not even thinking that far ahead, at that point?
MITCHELL: I think it’s probably developed and evolved over time. Initially, I never dreamed of becoming an actor. The way I got into acting was just about improving myself. It was just about self-development. And so, I never really had any expectations. The fact that I got any professional work at all was incredible to me. Early on, I was just like, “Holy crap, I’m a working actor.” And then, “Oh, wow, I booked another job. I’m continuing to be a working actor.” It was just one foot in front of the other and exploring this new world and learning as much as I could, and hopefully growing as much as I could, as an actor. But then, at a certain point, maybe during Home and Away, when you’ve done X amount of scenes and had X amount of time on screen, and you’ve worked with different directors and different writers and different actors, you do then switch a little bit to go, “Well, if I can do this, what else am I capable of?”
When you’ve done a few things in the Aussie industry, which unfortunately just isn’t big enough to sustain all of the talent that we have, naturally your sights shift to Hollywood because it’s just a much bigger industry. For me, that shift was just, “Let’s see. I’ve got this far, why can’t I go further?” It wasn’t like, “I’m gonna do this.” It was like, “Yeah, let’s go there and check it out.” I surprised myself, getting the pilot for The Tomorrow People, two weeks into my first pilot season. That blew me away because it was just that next level of validation that this could legitimately be a career for me. There’s such a big transition from being an Aussie actor playing Aussie roles, to being an Aussie actor playing an American character in an American show. The stakes are higher, there’s more money, and there’s more pressure. So, it’s been an evolving process. I also recognize how difficult it is, being an actor and having consistent work. I’m so incredibly grateful for each and every job that I’ve had that. It’s just one foot in front of the other. I’m focusing on my current job, and I love it and am really grateful for it, especially during the period of time that it happened.
Early on, when you were starting out, what did being a successful actor mean to you? What was that picture in your head and how different is it, now that you actually know what being a successful actor means?
MITCHELL: I don’t think I had any idea what being a successful professional actor meant. You hear stories and it’s the classic glamour stories, and you see the red carpets and the parties and the awards. I suppose a little bit of that plays into it. It’s alluring. It’s like, “Oh, my God, imagine if that was me. That’s pretty cool.” And there are some really cool moments, for sure. I’ve had a lot of pinch me moments, like going to an event and meeting Robin Williams and just crazy stuff that 10-year-old me just would never have guessed would be possible, in a million years. Success means a lot of sacrifice, really. It’s hard. It’s difficult to explain because I’m extremely grateful for the work that I’ve had, but you spend a lot of time traveling and living out of a suitcase, and you spent a lot of time not knowing where you next paycheck is gonna come from. There are glamorous elements to it, for sure, and you’ve gotta soak that up, but they’re fleeting moments. It’s not just a continuous glamour parade. I’m Australian, but I’m also an American resident. I feel like I’ve got family and friends on both continents, but ultimately I’m Australian. My parents and my siblings are all in Australia, and I spend the majority of my year away from Australia. That gets hard. The more successful you are, the more time you’re away and the less you get with family. You’ve gotta try to find a balance and focus on what’s important and sort through what’s not.
With the relationship between Danny and Corinne, obviously they have a history and avoiding that history always puts characters on a collision course with each other. How did you feel about the fact that they both end up acting on that history, thereby cheating on their significant others? How do you reconcile that, when you’re dealing with the characters and their relationships?
MITCHELL: They’re both very damaged human beings. What’s going on right now is that Danny has gotten a point where he has to man up and, no matter how hard it is, he needs to put his heart on his sleeve and just let it all pour out. If she slaps him in the face and says, “F-you,” then so be it, but at least he will be unburdened and he can tell his side of the story, in terms of the big reveal of why Danny left town, which is huge. Once that happens, there’s this reconnection. She really sees him, and he’s just completely raw and open to her. They’re just in the moment and, ultimately, they are the love of each other’s lives. Regardless of the fact that they’re in relationships with different people, there is an attraction there that is undeniable. It’s beyond physical attraction. It’s spiritual attraction. These two are meant to be, but there’s a lot of weight, if they ever getting back together again, so I don’t know about that. I think there is a level of forgiveness. It’s the wrong thing, but that’s hindsight stuff. In the moment, they’re not thinking about that. They’re swept up in it. They’re taken away. They’re human beings and they’re connected, and they feel like they need to reconnect.
I actually really like that we also love her husband and we love his fiancé.
MITCHELL: It’s not an easy thing. It’s not like, “Oh, those characters are crap. We don’t like them, and these guys will get back together.” It’s not like that at all. Both of their partners are wonderful people and interesting characters. I really hope that the audience is torn about this. Some people will root for the relationships that are current, and I’m sure there will be people that are rooting for Danny and Corinne to get back together again.
What have you most enjoyed about exploring the sibling dynamic between Danny and Sarah?
MITCHELL: I love it. First, I think Stella [Baker] is absolutely killer. She’s doing such a wonderful job bringing Sarah to life. I’ve just had a wonderful experience working with her. I think we have a very natural sibling chemistry. We really gelled from day one. We’re both very passionate actors and really wanna make the best of something. It’s just fun. She’s the sort of actress that doesn’t really do the same thing twice, from take to take, so it really brings you into the scene and helps you to try to create magic and to create actual real moments because you have to be connected with the other actor. You can’t just say the lines and hit your marks. You’ve gotta be in it, and that’s really wonderful. From the first semi-reconciliation scene in the pilot, where they’re sitting together, you feel them wanting to hug and wanting to be closer to each other. There’s so much love there. I just think it’s wonderful. These characters are a big part of the heart of the show, and hopefully they can sort through some stuff, but the delicious thing is that the business side of things will continually get in the way of their personal relationship. I think Danny needs Sarah. Danny’s in a love deficit with parental love, the really basic core love that we all need, and because of that, the next best place to get that from is his sister. I don’t think he’s gonna have any real reconnection with his mother, and that remains to be seen with their dad, so I think Danny needs Sarah.
And what great actors to play your parents, with Megan Follows and Xander Berkeley.
MITCHELL: It’s such a blessing. Xander and Megan are so good. It wouldn’t be the same without them. I feel like we’ve created something really special with this family dynamic, all four of us. It was a tough gig, for Xander to come in halfway through the season, and on day one, he just dove in head first and asked questions, and he was playful and present. All of those things are necessary, when you’re trying to build a relationship like father and son, and father and daughter.
What were the challenges in digging into that side of him and how he was really shaped by the abuse that he suffered? Were there things that you wanted to do, to really authentically explore that side of him?
MITCHELL: Absolutely, yeah. I wanna bring as much authenticity to that as possible, and I say as possible because it’s an extremely challenging thing to explore ordinarily, but in network TV, it’s even more challenging with the time element. And then, COVID takes away from that even further.
Plus, it’s a subject where there isn’t just one way to explore it either.
MITCHELL: Exactly. I did my research. I shouldn’t say I did my research. It’s an ongoing thing because it’s such a heavy subject matter and there are so many different things to explore within it. PTSD and the way it manifests in the body and what it does, especially to children was something that I really wanted to try to understand as best I could, to have some grasp on that, to know what triggers are and how that can physically affect you, when things happen. It’s really challenging stuff because there’s the understanding of it, but then there’s the physicalization of it. What does that look like? What does that feel like? Unless you’ve gone through it yourself, I don’t know how to really access that. I’ve just spent a lot of time sitting with it, understanding what it can do to the body and the fact that trauma can be stored physically in your body and can be triggered by a sound, a smell, and so many things.
It’s been handled in such an interesting way on the show and it’s something that likely has no clear resolution.
MITCHELL: Yeah, exactly. I think it’s gonna be something that Danny suffers from, for a long time, and he’s gonna have to deal with it. He’s gonna have to find ways to manage it. That is one of the interesting parts of the story for me, the private life versus the public life for Danny. The more he’s in public in Greylock, the more chance he has of being triggered and having something really, really affect him. That’s why he has to have the walls up, when he’s out and about. He’s gotta have his New York lawyer face on, as armor, because he just never knows when he’s going to run into his mom. But when he’s in his motel room in private and that door is shut, he can be himself. That’s what I loved about that first scene with Megan, when she’s banging on the door and he’s having an anxiety attack. It’s interesting that it happens at the door of his safe place and he’s able to articulate and put her in a place. And then, as that door is shut, he’s in a safe place but she’s still there, so she’s getting at him in his safe place, which is incredibly difficult.
I love shows that create their own world, and this show has a whole small town world that it feels like you could go visit and all of these characters would actually be living there.
MITCHELL: Yeah, totally. It feels like a real place and it’s comforting. It’s such a beautiful location as well. I would happily live in Knowlton, which is hour and a half out of Montreal, and I hope that the audience feels like that. I hope that people want to come and visit the actual place and check it out because it’s super cute.
With his past present and future really all colliding and blowing up in his face at this moment, what can you say to tease what’s still to come for Danny, before the end of the season? Will we get the sense of closure to what is currently going on at the moment, or is it still going to be all kind of up in the air?
MITCHELL: There’s a lot to sort through. There’s a lot to come. I think Danny is gonna be pushed to the brink and it’s so much for one person to go through, what happens over the course of the season for him. He’ll be lucky if he’s still around, by the end of the season, and you can take that whichever way you want. Danny’s gonna have to make some hard decisions and he has to deal with his past. I’ll leave you with that.
Have you had conversations about what the future of the show and your character could be? Have you discussed any details about where things could go in a possible second season? Do you have your own wishlist of things you want to try to convince them to do?
MITCHELL: Yeah, I have had chats with Jeff King. He’s got a roadmap for six or seven seasons. He’s planned and planned, which I love. He’s got a very clear idea. He has talked to me about potential Season 2 plot points, and I really hope we get to do it because it’s something very close to my heart. I don’t know how much I can say, but basically it’s about men opening up and talking about their baggage, which is something that, in real life, men just don’t do as often as they should. Men can suffer silently. There are male characters on the show that have been through some stuff and I would love to see them talk about it, and not just talk about it to anyone, but men talking to each other is a really important thing to show on screen because I think it’s a really important thing to encourage in real life.
The Republic of Sarah airs on Monday nights on The CW.