“The Bondsman” Interview – Kevin Bacon & Cast Talk Balancing Horror, Action, Humor & Heart in New Series

From Mrs. Voorhees and Graboids to Maxine Minx and The Toxic Avenger, Kevin Bacon has faced many formidable foes on screen, but he’s never had a role quite like “The Bondsman.”

He stars as Hub Halloran, a murdered bounty hunter who’s resurrected by the Devil to send back demons that have escaped from Hell. With the help of Jennifer Nettles as his estranged wife, Maxwell Jenkins as their son, Beth Grant as his mother, and Jolene Purdy as Hell’s emissary, Hub pursues a second chance at life.

“Because I always come to things from an acting standpoint, it really has to be about the character,” says Bacon.

“Are these people that we can relate to? These people don’t have superpowers. These are regular people who are trying to live their lives. But all of a sudden, there’s this extraordinary situation that they’re thrown into. Keeping it grounded as we see them navigate this was one of the most important things that we focused on.”

“I just wrote it to make myself happy and to just enjoy the ride. If I’m laughing while I’m writing it or I feel the heart-twist moments, that’s fun,” showrunner Erik Oleson says of the show’s distinctive balance between horror, action, humor, and heart.

“Whenever you’re starting a new show that has these different genre mashups, it’s like dials with how much do you put into each element. At first pass, you do that in the script, and then you have options from production in the different ways actors have played it, and then in post you dial it in.”

“The rhythms and the tones of it make this beautiful, crazy, bloody Fabergé egg with so many different facets,” says Nettles. “There is gore. There is horror. There is heart. There is family, relationships, comedy, camp, music. It checks a lot of boxes, and I think that’s one of the things that makes it so unique. It’s so very specifically itself.”

“I don’t understand how they did this,” Grant admits. “It’s funny. It’s terrifying. It’s gory. It’s family. It’s heartbreaking. The love that we all have. The music. It’s a tone like no other that I’ve ever seen. Now I haven’t seen everything, but I have never seen a tone like this.”

“It’s like those kitchen sink cookies,” Purdy adds. “Everything’s in it, and it’s so delicious and works together. That’s our show. It’s delicious!”

Jenkins notes, “It’s got as much thrill and scares and excitement as you want, but it also will catch you off guard with those really heartfelt family moments.”

“It is a balancing act,” says Bacon. “Finding any one of those things — whether it’s the scares or the heart or the comedy or the music — is always difficult if you’re just working on one. But when you’re working on all of those in a half hour, we had to always keep all of those things in mind.”

Oleson previously served as a showrunner on “Daredevil” and “Carnival Row,” but “The Bondsman” marks his first time as showrunner from the start of a series.

“It’s a lot of fun to build a show from the ground up in the way that I thought it would be the most fun, not just for the audience and what you see on screen, but for the crew and the cast. We all ended up becoming friends off-screen because of the way that we did that,” Oleson says.

“The show is a unique, original mashup. We came into it wanting to do a ‘What the fuck am I watching?’ kind of ride for the audience. So we’re like, ‘Okay, why don’t we do a show about Kevin Bacon slaying demons to get a second chance with love and his family and country music?’ I’ve never seen that before.

“For the Tremors fans out there, anybody who’s seen Kevin do some great horror in the past, I think you’ll love it. And we’re going to have a lot of fun stuff for people who maybe horror is not their first love.”

Between “The Bondsman” and The Exorcist: Believer, Nettles proudly accepts her role as a scream queen: “I’m claiming it and I am loving it!” She pumps her fists. “This one has crazy special effects. It’s not every day you get brains splattered all over you.”

“We had this one action sequence, and I went home, I took a bath and I laid in the bed. Every bone, every muscle in my body. We were wiped out,” Grant recalls.

“Our cast was so incredible. Our scripts were so brilliant. Our producers were so fun. Our directors gave us room to breathe and really live in these characters,” commends Purdy. “But the South in the summer, it gets hot!”

On one particularly oppressive day, Bacon had ice cream sent to the set for the entire cast and crew. He also gifted them with hats he called Hub Caps in reference to his character.

Everyone speaks highly of Bacon. “‘The Bondsman’ is the stuff of nightmares, but working with Kevin Bacon is the stuff of dreams,” Nettles beams. “He is such a generous actor, a generous human being.”

“When you’re establishing a new show and a new world, there’s an element of experimentation,” explains Oleson. “And Kevin was a terrific partner in that. He would give me a different intention in every take, in every scene. He would make really interesting acting choices that gave us options in post-production about how to dial in that fun blend of dramedy, comedy, and horror.”

“I really loved getting to spend time with Kevin,” says Jenkins, whose first scenes on the production were opposite Bacon. “It was a great introduction into the show, getting to test out my character for the first time with Kevin there in those one-on-one scenes. That’s a really important dynamic; the father-son relationship, the rebuilding of it, the tearing down of it. It was really insightful to start work with Kevin.”

“For me, as an audience member, this is my favorite thing Kevin has ever done,” praises Grant. “I watched his performance, and I’m telling you, he’s got it all. He’s a badass. He’s tender, loving. He cares about his family.”

“He’s a smart ass and funny,” Purdy adds. “The strength that he has, the humanity that he has. He’s supernatural and yet human. He’s living in all of these dualities.”

“We feel that we’ve given our all to it and that we support this brilliant performance, honestly,” Grant says.

Bacon and Nettles utilized their musical backgrounds to write and perform songs for the show. “We had such a blast collaborating as songwriters,” Nettles enthuses. “We were able to write music for our characters that you get to hear in the show. Kevin’s an incredible writer, an incredible storyteller, an amazing lyricist, and a wonderful musician.”

Jenkins, a musician himself, is also part of the family band. “There’s a scene later in the season where we have to play music and it’s also a very intense scene, and it’s something that I’ve never done. Really taking the time leading up to the filming of that to get that music infused with the emotion of the scene was really challenging, but ultimately I think it paid off. It was really rewarding.”

If the opportunity presents itself, Olsen has plans to continue the series. “I’m cautiously optimistic. I have a story in mind, and all I need is for Amazon to say, ‘Okay, here’s an extra little pile of money to go make a Season 2.’ I think we’re all raring and ready to go.”

As for the first season, Oleson hopes to cover the entire emotional spectrum for the audience. “It’s not a one-note kind of show. We go to some dark, dramatic places, and we also go to some places where you’re like, ‘I can’t believe these dudes are doing this.’ I think that’s the fun ‘The Bondsman.'”

Nettles concurs. “If you want something to take you to another world — like the escapism of being brought into other-worldliness, but in such a way that there is heart and there is levity, that will make you laugh, and that will make you jump and gasp at the same time — this is the show for you.”

“I think it’s got something for everybody. I know people probably hear that a lot, but I truly believe that with ‘The Bondsman,'” says Jenkins.

“If you’re a big fan of that classic Blumhouse thriller, scary horror, it’s got plenty of that. But it also has moments that will melt your heart and will have you feeling all the feels. It’ll really catch you off guard too. We pack a lot into those quick, 30-minute episodes, and it never feels like a dull moment.”

Bacon sums it up concisely with a smile: “It’s crazy. It’s funny. It’s bloody disgusting!”

“The Bondsman” is streaming now on Prime Video.

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