From show creator Moira Kirland (Arrow, Castle, Madam Secretary), the NBC drama series The InBetween follows Cassie Bedford (Harriet Dyer), a woman with the rare ability to see events that have previously occurred or will happen in the future and to speak to unsettled spirits who need her help. That unusual gift often crosses paths with her father, Detective Tom Hackett (Paul Blackthorne), helping him solve some of the more challenging and puzzling cases that come his way.
During this 1-on-1 phone interview with Collider, actor Paul Blackthorne talked about how he came to be a part of The InBetween, his reaction when he learned about his character’s fate on The CW series Arrow, his own curiosity about that show’s upcoming final season, the appeal of playing Detective Tom Hackett, the dynamic between Tom and Cassie, what he enjoys about working with co-stars Harriet Dyer and Justin Cornwell (who plays Hackett’s new partner, Damien Asante), and how his character came to be wearing a hat.
Collider: How did you get involved with this, and how soon after leaving Arrow did this opportunity come about?
PAUL BLACKTHORNE: It was actually during Arrow, when I discovered that Quentin Lance was going to meeting his grizzly end. The producers were absolutely wonderful. Knowing that pilot season was coming up, during the filming of Arrow, they said, “Look, we’ll do what we can to accommodate you, if any projects pop up on the pilot front.” And of course, this one did. Fortunately both projects were shooting in Vancouver because, for a month there, I was flicking between Arrow and shooting the pilot for The InBetween. It was a busy little month. Fortunately, they were wonderful and managed to work out the logistics, so that I was able to do the two shows. And then, Arrow came to an end for me, and this show got picked up for series. This winter, we went off for almost six months and shot our episodes, and now we’re at launch time.
After spending so much time on Arrow playing that character, what was your reaction when you find out what your fate on that show was going to be? Is it one of those things where you’re an actor and you know that all things come to an end, at some point, or is it hard to say goodbye to a character you’ve played for that long?
BLACKTHORNE: He was obviously a bit of a hardcore character, with a lot going on in his troubled soul, so I thought it would be quite nice to wave goodbye to that. But when I came back, in the middle of Season 7, to do the documentary episode that they did, it was actually quite nice to say hello to Quentin again. It was nice to see him. He was always just doing his best. Obviously, the character that I’m playing now on The InBetween is very, very different. He’s a detective in the American judicial system, but he’s a very, very different kind of character. It’s nice to change these things up, and explore different worlds and characters.
At the same time, now that it’s officially been announced that this next season of Arrow is its last, are you curious about how everything will end up?
BLACKTHORNE: Yeah, of course! That world was one that I inhabited for a long time, so I will be curious to see how it ends, but most of all, congratulations to them on getting eight seasons out of a TV show. That’s no mean feat these days. It’s incredible. So, hats off to the producers, actors, editors, craft service, lighting, and everybody on that show. They did an amazing job.
What was it about The InBetween and this character, specifically, that most appealed to you?
BLACKTHORNE: I like the detective aspect, especially in this show, where it’s more of a weekly case of whodunit. I like the family aspect of it. This character is married to a man and we are adoptive parents of Cassie. Her psychic abilities bring us into her supernatural world, and the real-life crime cases that I experience, as a detective, interweave with the supernatural world that she inhabits, and there’s conflict that arises out of that. I like how much we see from a family point of view and how we don’t like what she goes through, as a result of the experiences that she has in the supernatural world, but it helps us in our crime solving. There’s a nice conflict there, between the different areas and characters.
A lot of times, when it comes to cop shows, there’s a stronger emphasis on the cases and solving them, but this series has a really interesting balance, in exploring the personal and professional, because it’s so intertwined. Was that something that was also important to you?
BLACKTHORNE: Exactly! There’s a complexity to the balance of all the relationships, and not just myself and my husband and Cassie, but also the other detective, my partner, Damien Asante, who’s played by Justin Cornwell. He comes in, at first, as the healthy skeptic, and he takes the cynical view of this supernatural world, that I am associated with through Cassie. And of course, there will be many people out there, amongst the viewers, who will be feeling the same way as him. But then, of course, the proof is in the pudding with the results that we get, as a result of working together, and he starts to shift his opinion. It’s interesting, in general, to consider that because what we call the supernatural world is around us. There is something going on. There’s more out there than we can perceive with our five senses. I think it would churlish to think otherwise. A show like this is exploring that, and what it looks like, and what space that is, and what time that is. I find it very fascinating, being in a show that is genuinely exploring that great mystery.
Because there is that mystery element to it, and all of these characters are also hiding things from each other that they haven’t learned about yet, how much were you told about where things could go, over the course of this season? What that something that you learned about, as the season went on, or did you have some idea of where it was headed?
BLACKTHORNE: Well, you always sit there with the producers and are like, “Hey, guys, what are we looking at here? Broadly speaking, what are we looking at, in terms of story and character development?,” so that you can get a sense of what’s going on. But having said that, when those writers sit down in a room and start exploring other ideas, anything could pop, so one has to be open to unexpected curve balls, character wise and story wise. To be honest, that’s what I find quite fascinating and appealing about television. You get to explore so much more than just, “He’s a good character, and he’s a bad character.” When you explore characters, week in and week out, you see that there are good sides and bad sides. That’s just humans beings, really. It’s less definitive. So, I like it when we get little surprises that have sprung from the writers’ room. It’s great.
There’s such an interesting dynamic between Detective Tom Hackett and Cassie. What do you enjoy about exploring that relationship?
BLACKTHORNE: It’s an odd couple, in a sense. Let’s face it, you’re not supposed to go around solving crimes with your adopted daughter, but here she is, and she has psychic abilities with dead people in real in crimes, so the worlds are intertwined. Tom and his husband hate that she’s going through, in that sense, but one can’t resist it, when the spirits of the InBetween come to her with suggestions that can help solve cases that Tom, as a detective, is dealing with. Reluctantly, he has to accept that and pursue the case through both realms.
What’s it been like to work with Harriet Dyer, as your partner in crime?
BLACKTHORNE: Harriet is great. This is her first American TV show, and she’s taken to it, like a duck to water. She’s a good person to have around. The most important thing, in any of this process of creating stories for screen, is collaboration, exploration, having an open mind, hearing and listening to people, and exploring and discovering it together. It’s nice, within the work environment, when you’ve got people around you that are willing to do that, ego free, and who are just looking for the best results for the show. So, with all of her Australian loveliness, she brings that to the working environment. And with all of the American loveliness that we have around us, with the writers, producers, and other actors, there’s a nice open mind and open environment, with everybody listening to each other and looking to create the best product.
Over the course of this season, will we learn more, not just about how Cassie and Tom came into each other’s lives, but also about how he came to accept what she’s able to do?
BLACKTHORNE: This is his adopted daughter, so she’s been in his life since she was young and in her pre-teen years. He’s experienced what she goes through, with the night terrors of this supernatural world that she’s amongst. From Tom Hackett’s point of view, he’s grown up with it in the house, so there’s nothing to be skeptical about. He knows it exists, he knows it’s genuine, and he knows it’s real. It puts her through so much stress and trouble, and he can’t bear that she has to go through that, but she does, and we have to accept that.
The other relationship that’s prominent in Tom Hackett’s life is the one he has with the partner that he clearly doesn’t want. How will that affect their dynamic, throughout the season?
BLACKTHORNE: The backstory is that Tom’s old partner is retired, and now Tom is looking forward to getting on with his own approach to the work. He knows he’s got Cassie in his world to help, if need be, and he keeps that quietly to himself. With being assigned a new partner, now he realizes that he’s gotta navigate the world of crime solving without necessarily exposing too much about Cassie, to protect her and because of the cynicism that exists, but circumstances force us to all come together. His cynical side is there on display, so we have to navigate that, but eventually Asante starts seeing that Cassie does seem to be genuine and they start to develop their own relationship, as well, which in turn creates another dynamic between all of us. Tom is always looking to protect his daughter, but now there’s somebody else who’s turning on to her ideas. He’s actually like to protect her from other people going down that road with her, so more conflict arises.
What do you enjoy about the energy that Justin Cornwell brings to things? How is he to work with?
BLACKTHORNE: He’s great. Any actor that likes to explore backstory, I always feel very positive about, just because that’s the way that I work. Although our characters don’t have backstory, because we meet for the first time, at the beginning of the show, in terms of what his character background is and what my character background is, there was certainly something to blend, in that sense. He’s more of that analytical and technical mind, and Tom is a more contemplative, meditative mind. During the time that we work together, as characters, those different aspects blend. How we thought about that was something that Justin was always open to explore and discuss, in that shifting dynamic, throughout the episodes. Not every actor wants to come to set and discuss that kind of stuff, but Justin was always open to discussing where our characters were at and how they felt about each other. In the midst of their professional world, they get to learn about each other and discover things that they like and don’t like, which affects what’s going on in the rest of their relationships, whether it be personal or professional. So, he was great to work with, in the sense that he’s very open to that exploration.
On an entirely more superficial note, you wear a very spiffy hat in this show. Was that a choice that you made, or was that a wardrobe decision? How did the hat come about?
BLACKTHORNE: When you’re dealing with an English guy, who’s living in Seattle, I started feeling the character out in my mind, and I felt an English sartorial sense that was combined with the darker tones of Seattle, and I suddenly felt this hat thing happening in my mind. We’re in Seattle in the rain, and I just started seeing an overcoat and the rain dripping off the hat. It had that certain noir-ish kind of feel. I didn’t want to contrive that, in any way, but it just felt like he was the kind of guy that wears a hat. Also, the guy has a shaved head, so it keeps you warm when you’re outside. It’s good to be wearing a hat, when you’ve shaved off the hair on your head. And then, I put that particular hat on, and I was like, “That’s it. Let’s run with this one.” The producers felt great about it. The costume department on the show is absolutely fantastic and never failed to blow my mind with all of the beautiful combinations that they came up with, with the waistcoats and the hats, and all that good stuff. He’s a nicely dressed character.
The fun part in getting to know a character is learning about all of the little details of the things that they do, and that hat was certainly one of them.
BLACKTHORNE: Yeah, well, the more you explore, the more you know your character and the more that those things reveal themselves. It just starts revealing itself. And then, the more you know about your character, the less you have to act. For me, it’s worth discovering your character, as deeply as possible.
The InBetween airs on Wednesday nights on NBC.