Killjoys‘ Aaron Ashmore discusses Johnny’s Jelco predicament, and hints at what’s ahead for his soulful bounty hunter.
In the latest episode of Syfy’s Killjoys, “Heart Shaped Box,” Aaron Ashmore’s Johnny Jaqobis found his his heart causing more than a few problems for his head. Determined to expose the Company’s dark plans for the citizens of Westerly, Johnny’s mission (which he had, incidentally, been keeping secret from teammates Dutch and D’avin) landed him in the clutches of the remarkably douchey Liam Jelco.
With Killjoys season 2 gearing up for its final act, Ashmore reflects on the plucky series’ appeal, and hints at heartfelt drama ahead for Johnny, Dutch (Hannah John-Kamen), and D’avin (Luke Macfarlane).
Interview with Aaron Ashmore
In many ways, Killjoys feels like the little show that could. It flies under the radar, but inspires incredible passion in its fans. What is that experience like for you?
You’re absolutely right, I think we’re a little bit under-the-radar. I mean, we’re a summer show, and I think that typically the summer shows are not always the biggest shows. And we don’t necessarily get all the publicity that some other higher-profile, and probably bigger budget shows get.
But I think that we fulfill something that a lot of sci-fi fans want, and that’s a fun space adventure. And there’s a lot of heart tucked in there, and I don’t think we’re pretending to be anything other than that. I think that a lot of people do respond to that, and that’s very entertaining for a lot of people. So I think, yeah, we’re a little under-the-radar, but at the same time, it seems to be working for us.
Johnny has been referred to quite frequently as the “heart” of the Killjoys team. What is it like for you to represent the pure side of a morally complicated series?
Well, it’s interesting, you definitely don’t get necessarily the most interesting story stuff, because there’s not a lot of history around Johnny. We don’t get a lot of backstory on Johnny. A lot of that is all sort of tied in with Dutch and D’avin’s characters, so a lot of [the] intrigue and what’s really driving the story forward are those characters.
That being said, John is an incredibly interesting character, and I think that if we do get more seasons and more time, I think there’s going to be a lot to dive in and discover about him. But at the same time, in a way, he’s very simple. He cares about people. He cares about his team. He’s sarcastic, he’s funny. That’s it — he doesn’t have a lot of the complications of a lot of the other characters. And again, that sometimes means he doesn’t have as much of the interesting story stuff, or the driving force behind it, but I love playing John. I think it’s fun, and it allows me to just sort of, in a lot of ways just be myself. There’s a lot of things in John that I feel very close to, very similar to.
So in a way, it’s not a huge stretch for me, this character, which is nice, which is fun. I don’t know if that’s the writers tapping in and tuning in to who we are as actors, or it’s just one of those characters that you find that’s just written and just lines up with who you are, in a lot of ways. So I’d say that John is one of the most enjoyable character’s I’ve ever gotten a chance to play.
Does that mean Hannah is actually a ninja-assassin?
Yes! Hannah is. Well, she may not be a ninja-assassin, but Hannah is a badass. Not like a “beat you up” kind of badass, but she’s just super cool. All that charm, all that charisma, all that depth that comes through in that character, that’s who she is. She has all that stuff.
I get a big kick out of seeing her be the uncontested boss of both Johnny and D’avin.
She is! She totally is. And that’s different, obviously, because women aren’t usually framed in that way on TV and in action-type things. That’s not normally the way it is. But I think that’s something the show does really, really well, is that D’av and John don’t question Dutch. She’s unquestionably the leader, and it’s because she’s the baddest out of all of us. So there’s just no question, it’s just like, yeah, yeah, no. She’s the badass. We’re here to help, and we’re here to back her up, but at the end of the day, she can kick all of our butts! So it’s pretty simple.
And now that he’s in Jelco’s clutches, Johnny’s a little bit of the damsel in distress.
We definitely play against the stereotypes. I mean, the whole show is against that. Ten years ago, this scenario would have been the female character in the jail or in trouble because she was following her heart, and then the man had to come in and save her. And we’re just sort of reversing a lot of these things, which is very, very interesting. I think it’s interesting to see, and I think people are sort of like, oh wow. That’s different. And it’s not complicated, we’re just reversing the thing, but it feels new to feels these sort of gender roles swapped in a lot of ways.
But Johnny’s very capable of taking care of himself. I think people think that John’s a bit of a softy and all that, which he is, but we’ve seen him kill people in cold blood. We’ve seen him take people out, we’ve seen him handle situations with his mind, where he can out think people and outmaneuver people, and he can get physical and kick butt.
So he is capable of handling himself, but at the same time, I think when he starts thinking with his heart, and not his head, he does get in trouble. So he was thinking with his heart [in] episode 7, helping people, and he gets screwed over. When he’s using his head, when he’s being calculating, I think he can be quite dangerous. But following his heart seems to get him in trouble a lot.
Exactly. And now Johnny’s followed his heart into a strange kind of betrayal of Dutch’s trust. It’s for a very noble cause, but he’s still keeping some fairly big secrets.
What you said is exactly true. He’s not doing a bad thing, he’s not trying to screw them over. It’s not even a big lie, it’s more of a white lie. It’s more like he’s just keeping information away from them, because they would probably try to stop him from doing it. Even though he’s just helping people, so why would you stop him from doing that?
But I think the interesting thing that sort of comes out, and what it’s really about, is that John wants something for himself. He’s been so selfless in taking care of Dutch and following her… and then when D’av came into the picture, he was just constantly trying to get the team together. “D’av, how can I help you? Let me help you get a job, let me help you find your way in this world.” And all that stuff. And nobody’s really doing that for John.
Pawter (Sarah Power) is crucial to this development. In a way, she’s able to ask things of Johnny that the others are not. Why do you think that is?
She’s willing to be open to him and their interests in saving Oldtown line up. And so this sort of romance forms, and he’s sort of forced to pick a side, in a way — because being a Killjoy means you have to sit on the fence. You have to be completely impartial. And that’s just not going to work for Johnny anymore.
So I think he’s choosing a path. And he’s choosing a path for love, too! He’s super into Pawter! So that’s something for him too, which he hasn’t had. Which, you know, why shouldn’t John have some romance? He deserves a little love in his life, too.
I think it’s interesting because what we see unfold is a sort of frustration from John. I think D’av and Dutch expect Johnny to be on board with everything they’re doing, but it’s like, hang on a sec. Why can’t I have something for me? Nobody asks what I need, or what I want. I’m being there for you guys, and doing everything that you need, but nobody’s doing that for me; nobody’s asking me what I need. So I think there’s a real level of frustration in there that is behind a lot of this, too, where [Johnny’s] just like, “I’m just taking care of myself for once.”
That’s a good point — they seem to expect him to be selfless. Pawter doesn’t expect it.
Yeah, I think she asks for what she wants from John, and from other people. She’s like, can you help me? Will you help me? There’s no deception, she’s like, if you do this, you can’t tell Dutch and D’avin what we’re doing. She wasn’t just assuming that that’s going to be easier, or that John wouldn’t have an issue with that. She knows that. She knows that that’s going to be hard for him. And so she brings that up, and it’s like, are you willing to do this thing? Because we can’t drag them into our thing, that’s not fair. And they wouldn’t even go along with it, so we have to keep this a secret. So it’s interesting, it’s fun to play those things.
Of course, Johnny’s in big trouble at the end of episode 7. Will Pawter be able to help? Diplomatic relationships between her and Jelco aren’t exactly rosy right now.
This is very true, but at the end of the day, now [Pawter] is one of the head of the Nine Families. So her power is quite extensive, and even thought Jelco is a dick, which he most certainly is, she’s become more powerful than she’s ever been as far her position. So I think that’ll be an interesting play that we get into a bit.
And obviously, Johnny’s not going to, they’re not going to execute him or keep him locked up for the rest of the season, that wouldn’t be much of a story. So we definitely get to see some of those power dynamics in play though, between Pawter and Jelco, and Pawter in general through the rest of the season.
Continuing to look forward, what are your thoughts on Dutch learning of Johnny’s “betrayal”?
I think that, to me, I was never super scared that there was going to be some giant falling-out. I think it’s just more these people getting to know each other on different levels, and maybe respecting each other and their needs in different ways. So I don’t think I’m giving a huge thing away to say that there won’t be a giant falling-out. There’s some stuff that we have to deal with, there’s fights, there’s issues. But if these two people, if their relationship was so fragile that if one did something that was slightly selfish from their perspective, and it would just completely ruin the team, or shatter their relationship, well then maybe their relationship wasn’t that strong to begin with.
So I think it’s more about these two characters opening up and talking to each other, out of frustration and about what they really need. And again, what they really mean to each other. This is such a complicated world and a crazy scenario that they’re thrown into, so it’s no surprise that there’s big emotions, and confusion, and frustration surrounding all these things.
But I think it is interesting how all this stuff plays out, because obviously Dutch is going to find out about this, right? And D’av. It would be boring if they didn’t, there’d be no drama! So they do find out about it, and they find out about it soon, and just seeing how that unfolds is interesting. But I wouldn’t be too worried about there being like, a complete fracture where these people are not going to talk to each other again. That would not make for a good show!
So what kind of interactions can fans look forward to between Johnny, Dutch, and D’avin?
We have to confront each other… there’s definitely some drama there, there’s definitely some confrontation. But it’s not like, oh my God, it’s the end of the world and these people can’t move on from it. But there’s definitely confrontation, but it’s not like, “It’s over and this team is going to be shattered!” That’s not really our show. The show is really about the three of us. We’re a family, right, in a way. That’s really what it is. This chosen family, we choose to stick together. We don’t have anybody else, and we don’t have family to go to, so we choose to create this family between the three of us. And so that’s always going to be there, I think, with these characters.
Finally, if there’s one thing you could tell Johnny now, what would it be?
Hmm. That’s a very interesting question. I’m not sure! A lot of the time, I feel so similar to John in certain ways… I don’t know what I would tell John [but] I wouldn’t tell him not to do the things that he’s doing. I would tell him to follow his heart, which is exactly what he’s doing. He’s doing what he needs to do, and what he believes is right. So I would tell him to continue to do what he’s doing, more than anything.