From writer Neil Cross (Luther) and director Niall MacCormick, the dramatic thriller The Sister follows Nathan (Russell Tovey), as he comes face to face with a man (Bertie Carvel) from his past who reminds him of a secret that he’s tried to keep deeply buried. Unable to forget that he attended a party that lead to the shocking death of a young woman, what Nathan has kept from the woman he loves could ultimately tear them apart.

During the virtual junket for the series that’s available to stream at Hulu, actor Russell Tovey spoke to Collider for this 1-on-1 interview about the appeal of working on a project written by Neil Cross, what made Nathan an attractive character to play, exploring the relationship dynamics, and what he thought of the shocking ending. He also talked about the impact of Years and Years, whether he’d like to return to the Arrowverse, the legacy of Looking, and whether he’d ever consider doing a remake of one of his favorite movies.

Collider: This is one of those stories that you want to keep watching to figure out where it’s all leading. How much were you told about this ahead of time? Did you get to read all of the scripts at once, or just the first one?

RUSSELL TOVEY: Oh, I can’t remember. I definitely got to read the pilot script. When it first came to me, I don’t think all four had been written, but obviously I had the outline of what was happening. I agree that it’s definitely one of those shows you can binge, all at once. The way we showed it in the UK was four nights in a row.

Had you been familiar with the work of Neil Cross, so that you at least knew what to expect from his storytelling?

TOVEY: Yeah, totally. Luther is iconic and a definite reference point for so many things that have spring-boarded that are Luther-esque. You’ll read a script or a treatment or a pitch and in brackets it will say, “Think Luther.” So, I definitely had that in my mind. And to work with Neil Cross’ dialogue and the way that he builds suspension and intrigue and thriller felt really exciting and very different to what I usually do.

Because this really is a mix of genres, with it being a family drama, but also having a bit of horror and the supernatural, was there one specific element of the story that most appealed to you or was it that combination of things that you found most interesting?

TOVEY: It’s a rom-com thriller. The thing that appealed to me was the character of Nathan, how conflicted he was at all times, how many emotions he’s going through in every moment, and what he’s trying to contain and curtail and protect. That, for me, as an actor, was such an amazing challenge, to be given this character that was so nuanced and screwed up, basically. I find Nathan to be a bit of a swan. My friend used to work at TGIFridays and they called the servers swans because they glide. Underneath, they’re flapping their tails, but on the surface, from what everybody sees on the outside, they glide. I wanted Nathan to be the sort of character that goes through life, and nobody really notices him or sees anything odd about him too much, but under the surface, there’s so much more going on, just trying to maintain that calmness.

This is such a twisted, messed up story and it feels like it never would have gotten so twisted and messed up, if your character had just told the truth from the beginning. As the actor playing him, what did you think of him and his actions? Did you understand him and why he did the things that he did, or did you find him interesting because you didn’t understand what he was doing?

TOVEY: I can’t lie. I couldn’t live with a lie like that. I would have turned myself in. If it was me who had done it, I would have admitted it straight away and turned myself in. But Nathan is a more determined guy and is a lot stronger than me, on that side. I don’t know if that is a good quality or not, that he can hold onto the facts and the truth, and then marry the sister and give himself even more pressure in life. But he made a decision that, to alleviate the pain of Holly, because of what she’s going through, his life’s mission is that he’s suddenly living for her. All his priorities have changed and isn’t about him anymore. It’s just about making sure that she’s happy. She wants a child, so they want a family. He has to make sure that she is safe. If she’s safe, then he has a reason to live. When that starts being challenged, that’s when he starts fraying at the edges.

What was it like to explore that relationship, knowing that you’re playing someone who has this secret about her family, that he’s not telling her and that could likely end things if he did tell her, so he chooses to be dishonest with her? What was that like to play out and to explore that dynamic?

TOVEY: That’s the character. That’s the reason that I got involved in this project. I wanted to explore that dynamic. I wanted to be challenged, as an actor. I wanted to be pushed somewhere, where there’s this guy that everything he says on the surface, isn’t the reality of what he’s thinking to himself. He’s someone that has a facade that is bulletproof. But yet, as an audience, we feel like we know what he’s thinking or feeling, and yet he’s such a conflicted character. We are rooting for him and we want him to be safe and we want everything to be fine for him, but in reality, he’s also a very problematic customer because he’s made choices in his life that are detrimentally bad. The way that Neil has created and crafted this story and these characters, you are rooting for the criminal, in some ways.

Bob is a particularly creepy character and all of your scenes together have a certain level of tension and uncomfortability to them. What was it like to get to explore that? Did you guys talk about that relationship at all?

TOVEY: Yeah, we had rehearsals. I love what Bertie [Carvel] does and I love how he’s so off-center with his energy. Their energies are really different. I think Nathan is rooted in reality and Bob is rooted in spirituality and somewhere else, like outer space. So, when they collide, their energies really rub against each other. They’re meant to be friends, but they’re bound together by this one event that happened on New Year’s Eve, 10 years ago. Their paths were never really meant to across, but they’re now connected by something that no one else in the world shares. There’s this electric friction between them. And so, to do scenes with him felt really fun because I didn’t know what he was gonna do. He’s so off-hand with the realities of what we’ve done. Nathan is trying to deal with it in the present, and Bob is dealing with it on a completely different level.

Nathan ends up making a shocking decision to deal with the situation that he’s in. How did you feel about that? What was your reaction to learning how he ultimately decided to handle things?

TOVEY: I was upset that that’s what happened. You want to make him empathetic, which I hope I’ve succeeded with, in the fact that you care for him and you forgive him for his sins. He’s someone that panics and, in the moment, thought that he was doing the right thing, but he wasn’t. He’s living with that mistake, his whole life.

Is Years and Years living rent free in your head, the way it does in the heads of so many people who watched it?

TOVEY: That show, on a personal level, was one of the most wonderful jobs to work on, across the board, with everyone – with Russell T. Davies, with the production company, and with every actor and creative involved in that. It’s a scary thought that Russell T. Davies is a witch or Nostradamus because what he was writing about in that show happened, in some ways. It’s manifested, maybe slightly different than what he wrote, but the world has rapidly gone into this state of flux. For our parents, there were a few life events that happened and there were bad things, but nothing that has affected anyone like this. I think of my nephews, who are 16 and 14, and what they must think of the world at this stage, just baffles me. We are living in really odd times. What a time to be alive. We’re living history, and this is gonna be taught in schools. If you think about the fire in London or the plague, those are big things that we talk about and they feel like they happened, but they didn’t really happen. You’re not denying them, but you have no concept of the reality of them. But we get told about them because they were a huge thing in 1666 or 1664. In 200 or 300 years, if the planet is still here, they’re gonna be talking about 2020 as a huge moment in world history. We’ll all be dead and gone, but we know that right now we’re living something incredibly crazy that will be documented for the rest of the time. That feels very Years and Years. Weirdly, I find something quite exhilarating about that. Even though this is really dark times, I feel like there’s an end in sight. There’s obviously this terrible stuff and people are dying and it’s horrific, but for history’s sake, I feel exhilarated to be part of a time in history where we’re making history.

Do you think there’s any chance that you might someday return to the Arrowerse as The Ray?

TOVEY: I’d love to. I would love to do that. I think people really liked The Ray. The animation did incredibly well. I loved working with Wentworth Miller. They’ve still got my costume and I think I’d fit into that. It was lovely. I’d love to go back and do that. When that came along, it felt like a really, I felt privileged to play him. I felt like that was a real privilege, and that’s something that I would definitely be up for discussing about revisiting.

How do you feel about the legacy of Looking?

TOVEY: We were talking about Years and Years. You’re naming the shows that I have the most attachment. Looking was and is one of my absolute favorite things, ever. I think it was a show that was so ahead of its time that if it came out now, it would have a different reaction. At the time, people were expecting or wanting it to be something else that it wasn’t. They weren’t allowing it just to be what it was. Whereas now, we’re in a different world when it comes to the way we see TV shows, the way stories are being told, and the way creators and filmmakers are crafting projects. Looking now would have it totally different reception. I’m really proud that people are still discovering it now. I think it’s a really beautiful show that’s incredibly important, and I’m so proud of it.

What is your relationship with Russell T. Davies like now? Would you like to collaborate with him again, or would you be afraid to read a script of his again?

TOVEY: I’d be afraid because it would be telling us what’s happening next in the world and the next thing that’s gonna happen. For me, growing up, Bob & Rose and Queer as Folk were huge benchmarks in TV history. They were huge moments for me, as an actor, as a human, and as a queer person. They were huge shows that defined me in formative years. I met him when I did Doctor Who with David Tennant. Socially, we’d seen each other a lot, and then when Years and Years came up, it felt like the most perfect time to come back together and make that show. It felt so important and special. I just had a look at It’s a Sin, which I think is coming out on HBO Max soon and on Channel 4 here. That is a phenomenal piece of TV. It’s an amazing show. I would jump at the chance to do anything with Russell T. Davies. Anything, at all. I think he is just the best. When it comes to dialogue and character, which is the reason I’m and actor because all I care about is dialogue, he’s the one

You’ve said before that your favorite movies are Dead Poet’s Society and Goonies. If you ever got the chance to be in a remake of one of those movies, would you do it or would you run as far away from it as possible?

TOVEY: With Dead Poet’s Society, I did a play called The History Boys, which lead to the movie, and that’s about a problematic teacher who is incredibly inspiring to a group of kids who have just graduated high school level. They’re 17 and 18 year olds, and it’s formative to them. That felt like my Dead Poet’s Society project. With Goonies, when I was a kid, I used to dream that I was in that movie. I used to dream that Macaulay Culkin was my best friend. I used to dream that I was in Hook as one of the Lost Boys. With Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, I remember you used to be able to go to Universal Studios and you could climb on the bee, if you were the lucky one chosen from audience. You’d have the blue screen behind you and you’d be flying through a thing with a sword, pretending. That stuff made me so excited. How could you make Honey, I Shrunk the Kids now, unless Rick Moranis was involved. But why would you do that? We don’t make movies like the movies in the ‘90s anymore. They were so unique and there was so many brilliant, incredibly dynamic, random stories that were being told in these movies. As a kid, it was such a great time. The ‘80s and ‘90s movies were so fantastic. So, if they can bring back something with that energy now, I would jump at the chance.

The Sister is available to stream at Hulu.