'Prodigal Son' actor Frank Harts says how his Detective JT deals with 'killer's son' stigma, trauma, and PTSD
Last Friday, we published an interview with actor Frank Harts, who plays JT on the Fox thriller 'Prodigal Son', where he talks about the show, his character and the reason he chose the character.
'Prodigal Son' follows Tom Payne's Malcolm Bright as a young, sharp criminal profiler who, after working with the FBI, is fired for showing psychotic similarities with his serial killer father, Dr Martin Whitly (Michael Sheen). He then joins the NYPD under Lou Diamond Phillips' Gil Arroyo as a profiler.
At the NYPD, however, he meets with some friction from Frank Harts' Detective JT, who is sceptical about his involvement in the police department for various reasons but the most important one being that he is the son of a serial killer, The Surgeon, who has murdered at least 23 people putting to use his medical expertise.
Fox's thriller is perhaps the first series to show what it is like to be directly related to a serial killer - and the life-long repercussions that those related to this particular person has to face.
Even though Bright's serial killer father the Surgeon was arrested by the police and locked up in a mental facility, the horrors of his father are still following him well into adulthood. He is suffering from debilitating mental health, frequent nightmares involving his father, and his own past associated with Dr Whitly and even has night tremors.
This is an interesting take on crime procedurals too - and one that audiences on a universal level can fathom. "The nice thing about it is that any human being can understand on a universal level what it would mean to have a parent who [is or does something] that most of society doesn't agree with no matter what it is. And how that can send a ripple effect throughout any family as well as the community," Harts tells MEA WorldWide in an exclusive chat.
Despite the initial scepticism, as it turns out, Bright and JT aren't all that different from each other for JT has his own share of PTSD to deal with.
With a heavy military background, JT has demons of his own - "he may have a touch of PTSD from time to time," as Harts points out. "That is something that he and Bright can connect with at certain points. They both have a level of PTSD. And they're both dealing with psychological traumas and backgrounds, but just from different angles."
Owing to this, his scepticism evolves to empathy. "So that's how JT enters into that relationship and I think even though he's sceptical at the beginning. But through the season, he understands Bright's position a little bit better, appreciate his abilities and maybe grow a little bit closer," he teases.
'Prodigal Son' will premiere on Fox tonight at 9 PM ET/PT.