Hamish Linklater on His Character’s Goal

Linklater and Samantha Sloyan also improv a major moment for their characters that happens off screen.

[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers through the finale of Midnight Mass.]There’s a lot of exciting casting choices out there, but it feels as though it doesn’t get much better than pairing an actor like Hamish Linklater with a role like Monsignor John Pruitt in Midnight Mass. The character gives him the opportunity to deliver one show-stopping speech after the next, make the absolute most of his chemistry with the majority of the main ensemble and also dig into the complexity of what the Monsignor is really after.

When on the verge of death, John Pruitt gets a second chance at life courtesy of an encounter with a being he presumes to be an angel. Hoping to end “the roar” of death, Pruitt carts the angel back to Crockett Island to share that “gift” with his community. However, in Episode 7, Pruitt admits he was especially eager to get a second chance at life with his wife (Alex Essoe) and their daughter (Annabeth Gish) — a complicated personal endeavor, which could have had significant world-changing ramifications.

With Midnight Mass now available to stream on Netflix, I got the chance to catch up with the cast and could not wait to dig into Linklater’s approach to the role. During a paired interview with another Midnight Mass scene-stealer, Samantha Sloyan, Linklater had a laugh while shedding some additional light on the Monsignor’s endgame. Here’s what Linklater said when asked what Pruitt thought Crockett Island and the world might look like if his plan had gone off without a hitch:

“I think if he thinks about it deeply, he thinks this is the next stage in human evolution — is there will be no more death. I don’t know how that works with overpopulation, if you need to invest more in space travel at that point, but there will be plenty of time to work on aerodynamics. Like, the best minds won’t go away anymore … But I think the experience he’s had, his new level of awakening has been so vivid that he just believes that these are the right steps that he’s taking.”

RELATED: ‘Midnight Mass’ Stars Annabeth Gish and Kristin Lehman on the Magic of the “Flana-Family”

Linklater also noted that the Monsignor’s goals do evolve as the show progresses:

“I tried to keep it simple and just do the right thing from one scene to the next. And it does change — his goal, his plan changes as the show goes on, but always focusing on what the positive outcome of each scene can be and that sort of is the lifeline.”

Looking for even more Midnight Mass spoiler talk? There’s loads more from where this came from! Catch my full chat with Linklater and Sloyan in the video at the stop of this article and keep an eye out for more Midnight Mass cast interviews with Gish, Kristin Lehman, Kate Siegel and Zach Gilford.

KEEP READING: Kaitlyn Dever Explains What Made Ben Platt the Ideal Scene Partner on ‘Dear Evan Hansen’

‘Midnight Mass’ Review: Mike Flanagan’s Profound, Infuriating Horror Homily on Faith & Fanaticism

Flanagan has seemingly poured every thought or doubt he’s ever had about the cosmos into this new Netflix series.

Read Next

About The Author