One of the biggest series premiering on NBC this year is Debris, created by J.H. Wyman. The show features a new, clandestine branch of the CIA working with the British government after pieces of an extraterrestrial spacecraft are strewn across the Earth, each fragment possessing its own paranormal properties. At the heart of this race to recover all the alien debris is CIA branch director Craig Maddox going head-to-head with the mysterious antagonist Anson Ash, with the two characters portrayed by Norbert Leo Butz (Bloodline) and Scroobius Pip (Taboo), respectively.
In an exclusive roundtable interview attended by CBR, Butz and Pip shared how they see the tone of the enigmatic show, teased their character arcs in the inaugural season and revealed how they were both approached for the project.
For Pip, he felt Debris was more in line with The X-Files and Fringe-type science fiction. Pip observed the comparison with Fringe was especially clear, given that both it and Debris were created by J.H. Wyman. In regards to the comparison with The X-Files, Pip noted that both shows have a sort of case-of-the-week format, with a different issue addressed and resolved within each episode while also possessing an overarching story and character arcs.
"Because I head this highly secretive, specialized wing of the CIA, I've recruited [co-star Jonathan Tucker's] character to sort of be his handler. For me, the show feels less sci-fi and more like a geopolitical thriller," Butz added "My role in it is to play the master chess player with trying to keep this stuff out of the hands of not just the bad guys but the good guys who are allies, like in any arms race or space race. I'm representing the U.S. [and] I like that aspect of it; the politics of the piece, the strategic mindset of a CIA operative. Having said that, I have had to do some really weird things in front of green screens. [Laughs] But it's the scenes in which we get to sit down, we get some really great stuff this season. It doesn't feel sci-fi to me at all...it feels like a real thriller for smart people. [Laughs]"
"One of the great things about the episodic, [case-of-the-week] nature of this is every episode can feel like a different film," Pip agreed. "There's one coming up that had me thinking of Primer and Timecrimes, there's one that had me thinking of Cocoon. And it's great that we get to reference all these different films in individual episodes. The feel of the show is more of a thriller, Marathon Man-like mystery and race to get this technology."
When asked about what elements the actors wanted to maintain amidst the case-of-the-week format, the actors were candid. "The constant thing that I wanted to shine through for my character was the mystery; it's kind of a double-negative in what I want to show them is nothing," Pip said. "The thing I wanted to show is his comfort, his experience that we get to find out more and more about as this show goes on. He's always relaxed and there's a feeling that he knows not only more than the viewer but, in his mind, more than [characters] Finola and Bryan and Craig. I wanted to make sure that's there because, particularly early on, this could just be a one-episode character who's just off doing his thing and then you never see him again. I wanted to steer into that, that mystery...I didn't want to stand out despite the fact that I've got a big beard and stupid British accent; you don't necessarily want to be grabbing attention and that was at the forefront of my thinking."
"I think the thing I had the most fun playing as the season goes on is I think I'm the only character you're going to get inside the home of; you get to see I have a wife, a seventeen-year-old son," Butz teased. "People who work in intelligence, special ops of any kind, highly secretive stuff, it's an isolating, very lonely life. And to watch this guy try to balance being a father and husband with trying to save the world from the end of days is a really interesting thing. And the way these people can compartmentalize and be so comfortable with uncomfortability is so astonishing to me and I'd be terrible at it; I'm so reactive."
Butz observed that both his and Pip's characters come from tech-oriented military backgrounds, and while Craig becomes a sort of mentor/surrogate father figure to Bryan, he could order his execution in a matter of minutes and still be able to sleep at night. It was this level of compartmentalization and control that Craig possesses that Butz found "extremely interesting" when approaching how to portray his character.
"We will see how far these characters can bend before they break and they will be bent throughout the season," Butz hinted.
Pip shared that while his character itself always remained the same, the first script he was offered simply labeled Anson as "Creepy Brit #1." He didn't find out the background of the character and his fuller role with Wyman until after he was offered the role. Butz similarly had reservations when first offered the role, as Craig didn't play a major part in the initial pilot script before his character was more developed while meeting with Wyman. Following the phone call with Wyman, Butz took the "leap of faith" and praised Wyman's collaborative spirit in working with the actors, an aspect of the production which Pip readily agreed.
Created by J.H. Wyman, Debris stars Riann Steele, Jonathan Tucker, Norbert Leo Butz and Scroobius Pip. The series premieres March 1 at 10pm EST on NBC.
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