Nick Frost chats about Into the Badlands season 3 and his character’s relationships with those around him.
It’s no secret that I think Bajie was the best new addition to Into the Badlands season 2, so it was with great delight that I was able to speak with Nick Frost about what his character is getting up to in season 3.
Bajie had a pretty close call last season! How excited were you to make it to season 3?
Yeah, I love it. I love the show. I love working on it. I love all the actors. Miles and Al, the showrunners, they let me have a certain bit of ownership over my dialogue and stuff, and I think that’s pretty rare. I’m pretty thankful for that. Yeah, I’m happy Bajie came back, but similarly, I also kind of understand that if he didn’t, it would’ve been for the good of the show, you know? It’s what the show requires. It’s not anything personal against me as an actor. But I’m happy I got to come and hang out with Daniel Wu again for nine months.
Fans really took to Bajie when he was first introduced because he was such a good foil for Sunny’s seriousness. Do they let you improvise some lines and some moments?
Not really. Daniel and I, we work pretty hard on the script. Once we get it, we’ll have a look through it and say, “What can we do to make this funnier?” Not funnier, but more Sunny and Bajie, you know? And also, there are some things I’ll say on set, “Hey, let’s try this,” or, “I’ll say this and you say that.” And we’ll try it, and the crew laughs a bit. It’s little bits and pieces like that. As much as the writing is pretty good, I don’t think anyone knows the characters better than Daniel and me in terms of Sunny and Bajie. Sometimes it’s like, “I don’t think he’d say this, but I think he’d definitely say this. And this is what their response would be to that.” The laugh we get from that usually feels a bit more honest and a bit more true because it’s kind of what they’d say.
Was there anything different you had to do to prepare for this year?
No, not at all. I didn’t go to fight camp last year because work and vacation and children and being a dad, and then I think that — don’t tell the other actors — but I think that set a precedent for me in terms of…I probably don’t need to go this year either. So I didn’t! I’m just so busy that to come to do an unpaid four week fight camp, I’m like…no.
Do you have a favorite, though? Do you like doing the fight scenes more than the scenes with a lot of dialogue or vice versa?
I don’t have a preference, if I’m honest, but sometimes you spend days and days and days shooting drama, which is sometimes four, five, six pages and tons of dialogue to learn, and you get to a point, mentally, where your brain’s kind of frazzled. And then you look at your schedule and you see you’re moving onto fight unit, so then you don’t need to learn any lines at all for that. After four or five days of just the most strenuous exercise, you think, “Oh, I wouldn’t mind learning some dialogue now!” And sure enough you look at your schedule and you’re doing dialogue and drama and you don’t have to do fighting anymore. So, one is often a release and a relief for the other. But I don’t have a preference. They’re both pretty good. It’s nice as an actor to do some great drama and to act and to feel those emotions, but sometimes it’s nice to just hit a man with a set of nunchucks.
I feel like that could be the epitaph on my gravestone: “Sometimes it just feels nice to hit a man with a set of nunchucks.”
Overall, what can we expect to see from Bajie this season?
I think we’re going to see a bit of the same as last year. He’s lost something. He’s lost what Azra was. The thing that he thought it was, it isn’t that. And in fact, [it was] because of this lady. She was my master, this mad witch Ankara. I loved her and I trusted her and I believed her, and I essentially turned on that signal for her. Only to find out it was all bullshit, so everything I believed since I was 10 seems to be not true. Not only that, but by turning on that beacon, I’ve essentially summoned the anti-Christ. So, you know, I think he feels responsible for that. And that’s something Bajie hasn’t felt for a long time, that kind of responsibility. And I think that’s set onto Sunny, essentially, and the baby. He’s got a baby to look after now! He’s the second dad. He’s the second ninja father. You know, I think you can expect a bit of Sunny and Bajie clashes, too. Nothing heavy, but they get to a point toward the end of the season where essentially Bajie gets very cross with Sunny and has to remind him that Bajie does not work for him, but that he does it because he likes him very much and it keeps him out of mischief. So I think you get to a point, especially Bajie, I think he gets to a point with Sunny where sometimes if Bajie tells Sunny to not do something and he still does it and then they almost gets killed…that’s kind of getting old for Bajie.
You only got one episode with Serhman Augustus as Nathaniel Moon last season. What have been some of the highlights of getting to work with him again this season?
I’ve said this at WonderCon, but Sherman Augustus, as a person, is just bloody lovely. He works hard, and he’s a great actor, and he’s talented, and he’s a nice lovely man. We work so long and hard on this show, and I know there’s that weird eye rolling people: “You lefty, lubby, liberals don’t know what hard work is.” But honest to God, that’s kind of bullshit. We work, like, 100 hours a week. It’s absolutely bonkers. But when you step on set and you look at your call sheet, and you know you’re doing a scene with Sherman or Daniel or Aramis [Knight] or Emily [Beecham] or all of the guys, it’s just a treat because you can have a laugh. You can hang out and do your scene, and because there’s so much respect there, between the actors, you feel like you’re in a position and you’re in a place of safety, which I think enables actors to try shit out and to trust each other, to trust the crew, and say, “I’m gonna try something different, emotionally.” To not feel embarrassed or ashamed because everyone supports everyone. And I think in that it’s a very rare thing, especially with an American show with a big ensemble cast, you’d be forgiven for thinking that there was some backstabbing or she had more lines than me. But there really isn’t any of that. It’s just nice people. I’m just thinking now, it has something to do with the martial arts aspect of it. I think that kind of forces you, spiritually, to do away with those feelings anyway. So maybe that helps. So yeah, I love Sherman and I love watching him act. I know, personally, that he…I think he spent years busting his fucking hump trying to make it in this job, and to see a good man do a really good job in season 2 and it be recognized and now he’s a season regular, I think is hats off to Al and Miles for recognizing that. I love it. I love him. I think he’s quite amazing.
The Widow and Bajie obviously have a complicated history. What can you tease us about any upcoming interactions this season?
I think it’s funny. I love working with Emily. She’s kind of complicated, but in terms of Bajie and The Widow, I love the fact that he’s kind of immune to her. There’s a few times, and a little bit in last, but more this season, where he kind of gets away with talking to her like no one else would or could. And I kind of like that. He’s like the clown fish in her anemone, so to speak. He’s immune to her sting. Apart from physically. What we see later on is we kind of hook up for a road trip, her and I, for a mission. And I think you’ll see Bajie make her laugh, which is amazing. I think I’ve seen 27 hours of Badlands where the Widow doesn’t laugh. She just kills and is serious and sultry and sexy and a bad mum. And so to see her suddenly peel open with a real cheeky grin is quite something. I think the audience is going to love it.
I’ve asked just about everyone else this as well, so I wanted to be sure to ask you, too. Do you think Pilgrim is as threatening as Quinn? Do you think he’s worse?
I think Pilgrim is on another level. I think Quinn is just a kind of… I’m trying to think of characters within this trope that we might compare them to. I think Pilgrim is the real deal. I think Pilgrim could potentially be Mussolini or Hitler. But I think Quinn is just a big fucking drunk bully, essentially, you know what I mean? I think there’s that difference between a man who’s just a big shot in his local town and because he’s quick with his fists, everyone’s terrified of him. But another man, Pilgrim, he has an agenda. He knows what he’s gonna do. He doesn’t give a shit about anyone and he’s willing to die for that. I think that’s the difference.
My final question is if you could be any other character on this show, who would you be?
If I could be any other character on the show… Part of me wants to say Henry just so I can get carried about. That would be nice. Or maybe Gaius because he’s so fucking cute to look at.
I will not argue with you there.
Ladies love cool G, so I think I’m gonna be LL Cool G.
Awesome. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me today. I love this show. I love Bajie so much, and I’m really excited to see where he goes from here.
I think you’re gonna love it, you know. He has a great arc this year, so it was wonderful to do. Thank you phoning, and keep on watching.
We want to hear your thoughts on this topic!
Write a comment below or submit an article to Hypable.