'Home Before Dark' child actor Dean Petriw says the show's horrors 'made me want the role more'

At its core, Apple TV+'s 'Home Before Dark' might be a whodunnit murder mystery revolving around Hilde Lisko (Brooklynn Prince), inspired by the true story of journalist prodigy Hilde Lysiak who at the age of nine broke a local murder in her self-run newspaper, thus earning the negative criticism of many in her town. On the show, however, we see the same murder opening a pandora's box full of mysteries surrounding Hilde's father Matt Lisko (Jim Sturgess) witnessing the kidnapping of his best friend Richie Fife over three decades ago. Thus we go through a gritty tale of bullying, child abuse, and wrongful incarceration, and if you ask Dean Petriw — the face of young Matt on the show — it's the horrors of the plot that drew him closer to be a part of it. 

"Home Before Dark was my first opportunity to work with people from around the globe, in such an amazing thriller!" enthuses the young actor in an exclusive interview with MEA Worldwide (MEAWW.)

"AppleTV+ looked like a wonderful opportunity and something new. I couldn't just sit down and have someone else take the role," he adds.

Petriw has been acting since the age of four and dabbles in his very own super cool podcast alongside a career on the screen. His introduction to the world of acting was with several important tips from his uncle, who has been a part of the industry for a while. And even though Petriw has shown extreme "endurance for long days as a 7-year-old" while filming for 'Kindergarten Cop 2', what he notes about playing the younger version of a character, who has been as much as Matt Lisko has, is "When acting as a young version of someone, you need to take note of the fact that people change."

Playing the younger version of a character being played by Sturgess might seem like quite the heavy-duty, but it wasn't all that difficult for Petriw, as he improvised on the changes. "I kept his personality and traits, but since people change, I'm like a childish version of the character!" His fondest memory from playing the role? "Riding a bike while filming!" he tells us with excitement. "It’s kind of a weird thought that you are in control of a moving mechanical object while being filmed at some really sick camera angles!"

But portraying the role with such a traumatic past wasn't just all fun and no hard work. "Matt was there when it happened, seeing his best friend taken away," tells Petriw about the emotional turmoil the character reels in from that point in his life. "Emotionally it hurts, even just filming it," he explains, adding how he "went for a more, natural approach. I just tried to show as much emotion as I could if I did see my best friend being taken into a van and being driven away. It’s a better approach than you’d think. I was not really scared by the horror, which made me want the role more!"

It wasn't just the horror aspect of the tale that caught his intrigue. Petriw also shares with us his biggest takeaway from acting alongside the likes of some of Hollywood's finest child actors. "The experience taught me that there are so many different approaches to a role. Jibrail (Nantambu, who plays Hilde's close friend Donny) has a very outgoing approach to his character or any character for that matter. Kiefer (O'Reilly, who plays young Richie) has a pretty good balance with his emotions, which makes him pretty good at his job! The best part is that you can learn from these approaches and experiment with them!"

Petriw also quips about his bonding moments with the rest of the child-cast member of the show, amid a little schooling together and bumping into each other in the halls with hilarious topics of conversation like "latest sports news, how epic the episode’s script is, a story about when a chip bag exploded, etc."

And when not being a part of such an iconic string of young actors who are sure to win big time in the future, Petriw focuses on his podcast about his local junior hockey team, the Coquitlam Express. "It’s called 'Express Fan View'," he gushes, spilling "I believe it might be the first fan podcast in the entire league! Even though it’s the offseason, you can listen to it on PodBean." And with another new Netflix animated series called 'StarBeam' where he experienced his first lead role as a cartoon, Petriw sure finds himself packed with successful opportunities these days. 

'Home Before Dark' premiered with all 10 episodes on Friday, April 3, only on Apple TV+.