EXCLUSIVE | Netflix's 'V Wars' actor Peter Outerbridge on what motivates Season 1 villain Calix Niklos
Netflix released all the episodes of the first season of 'V Wars' last week. Based on the comics of the same name by Jonathan Maberry, 'V Wars' follows the story of Dr Luther Swann, a scientist trying to find a cure for an ancient pathogen — released by melting polar ice caps — that causes vampirism, and Michael Fayne — Patient Zero of the virus — as he leads an underground faction of the newly-turned vampires.
By the end of the Season 1, however, Michael is taken away for execution, and the faction of vampires was taken over by Calix Niklos, who was at the beginning working for the government to get Luther to find the vampirism gene and find a way to eradicate all the vampires.
Peter Outerbridge, who plays Calix Niklos, spoke to MEA WorldWide (MEAWW) about his role and what motivates the character. On Calix's turn from a government official (a villain) to the leader of the vampires, Outerbridge says his character is motivated by self-preservation.
He says, "I think at the beginning of the series he really does want to just sort of eradicate anybody with the virus, he's not interested in finding a cure."
However, Outerbridge argues that even though Calix is a bad guy, "we kind of joked around on the set that if a real vampire virus outbreak happened on the planet, I can't think of a lot of people who wouldn't want somebody like me close on their side."
So, though Calix does want to save the human race at the beginning, he begins to realize that the plague has gone beyond the point of containing, and according to Outerbridge, Calix switches sides halfway through to be on the "winning side".
Outerbridge says Calix is loosely based on a character from the comics that was a serial killer — a cold-hearted and calculating character. However, he says, "the writers liked the idea of having an unemotional scientist compared to [Somerhalder's] Luther Swann, who is the one with the heart."
All episodes of the first season of 'V Wars' are now streaming on Netflix.