It's the gripping crime-drama with a new setting and new roster of detectives each season. This time, Jodie Foster takes the lead as seasoned Liz Danvers, a no-nonsense cop overseeing an investigation in the tundras of Alaska alongside her feisty partner played by Kali Reis. Danvers' young protege Peter Prior wants to emulate her policing style, but is very much embroiled in the dramas of this small town. We talked to born and bred East London boy Finn Bennett on going up against Ms Foster and filming in the biting cold to get to the heart of the matter.
Tell us about your role Peter Prior...
Pete is a young rookie cop, from a made-up town Ennis, Alaska. And we meet him fairly near the start of episode one, working on the case that the whole series centers around. And from the start he idolises Jodie Foster’s Danvers, and wants to build himself and his career in her image. But there are other parts of him, he’s a young father – I think we settled on him being 23 – and is married to an indigenous woman and has a difficult relationship with his father. And there’s various directions he’s being pulled in. He’s a sweet natured young man. That’s my take on Prior.
You’re a Brit, so Alaska is very far from your norm in terms of geography and your experience...
I was grateful and lucky to be part of this. Issa López the wonderful showrunner, writer, director had seen Kiri which I did for Channel 4 when I was about 18/19. She was doing another show in London at the time so I auditioned for her, but she was doing another block and it didn’t work out. But we kept in touch and she called me one day and said I’d like you to audition for the new thing I’m working on, and I said fantastic are you working in the UK and she said, no I’m writing the new season of True Detective. So I thought I'll never get this but she is one of those people who you’re just drawn to, so I went along and met her. And she gave me Covid, so I couldn’t go into a meeting with casting which meant I got to do a tape for it, which I loved because it meant I could do it with a very good actor friend of mine who knew the gravity of the situation and he worked and worked on it ‘til I got the take I wanted. And Issa loved it, we didn’t know how it would go down with casting and HBO that I’m a fairly small-named person, but they loved it and here we are. I feel really privileged to have had her in my corner from the start.
And going onto a set with Jodie Foster, did you feel like Prior in being enamoured from a career perspective?
That’s a really good point, I don’t think many people find themselves in the situation walking onto set with a twice Academy Award winning person every day so it is for want of a better word, scary. But i suppose it helped that Pete really looks up to Danvers and is inspired by her and wants to do things well for her. And I wanted to do things well for Jodie. It didn’t mean I wasn’t nervous. But Jodie is like Issa, an incredibly warm and forgiving and patient individual, so when you would get nervous in a scene, she’d just let you figure it out. There was no pressure. So, she just helps. She doesn’t make the situation worse, and I’ll be forever grateful for that.
What was it physically like filming?
We shot in Iceland for Alaska, and it’s obviously cold and dark. And there were days where we were out filming on a frozen lake in -20 degrees or anything and in many ways it adds to the performance. We didn’t shoot that much of it on sound stages, and it adds to you being there, those running noses and streaming eyes are real. The crew obviously took incredible care of us so when we weren’t shooting we’d be shepherded into a caravan. The real heroes were the people out there on the ice setting up the shot. We’d come out, shoot for 20 minutes and then be sent back inside. So that was definitely an aspect of that, but it adds to the feeling and the characters of the show.
Have you seen it all now? These kind of crime dramas are famously shrouded in mystery...
I have seen all six. Issa was doing post-production in London, and she’s one of those people you want to spend as much time with. And I was hanging out with her and she said come and watch the episodes, so I went and watched two a day for three days and I was so proud of it as a show. By the time we got to episode 6, I just burst into tears. Not just being part of it, or watching all the people I'd made friends with, but just because it’s a beautiful story. I’m so excited for the rest of the world to see it.
And what is Peter’s role in it all?
His arc in it is so beautifully written in all of it. From episodes 1 and 2 setting up the mystery, to 3 and 4, stuff starts unravelling with different forces pulling him in different directions. I obviously can't reveal too much. I was really excited to do it. I don’t want to give too much away, but it’s really exciting. You don’t get an offer from True Detective and say no. It’s obviously a new incarnation, female led with Jodie Foster and Kali Reis as these two detectives [Liz Danvers and Evangeline Navarro] and female helmed. Issa has created such an amazing world.
Tell us about your background...
I’m a London born Irish-British actor (my dad is very proudly Irish), I’ve lived in Hackney my entire life, I was born in Homerton hospital. I turned 24 before Christmas. I went to a local school that was very focused on maths and science, I did alright at school but was bad at that stuff. But the happiest moment of my week was drama class. And then on Saturdays I’d do Stage Coach in Islington, and they used to select 10 or 11 or us to do a play at His Majesty’s Theatre which led to me auditioning for stuff like Top Boy and The Liar and Kiri. I’m the first actor in the family, everyone else went to university and did real things!
