Times have been tough for Aidan, the vampire played by Sam Witwer who rooms with a ghost and a werewolf on Syfy’s version of the U.K. hit Being Human. He’s been drained of blood and buried underground, and the entire vampire way of life is threatened by the flu epidemic that’s swept the planet: AKA, no fresh blood. To complicate matters, his roommate Sally (Meaghan Rath) is no longer a ghost, thus making what seemed to be an impossible romance very possible after all. And this is only four episodes into Season 3! We caught up with Witwer about what the character’s been going through and what’s ahead. The amazing thing is, despite all that’s happened, Witwer doesn’t even think Aidan’s storyline truly kicks into high gear until next week.
Hollywood.com: Aidan’s been through a lot in these recent episodes. He’s been buried alive, drained of blood, and now the flu epidemic has resulted in a kind of vampire armageddon, since they can’t get fresh blood. What’s Aidan’s state of mind right now?
SW: Oh, he’s completely unhinged. He doesn’t know what to think, doesn’t know where to go. One of the things that was so interesting was that we had Henry (Kyle Schmid) and Aidan reunited, except that the roles were reversed. It used to be that Aidan was the calm one with all the answers and Henry was the one flipping out saying, “What about this? What about that?” Now it’s the opposite. Aidan is so out of his element that he’s panicking, looking for any kind of answer, and Henry is like, “Well, I have the answer. You just might not like it.” That’s a lot of fun. But this guy? He doesn’t know what the hell’s going on, and really he’s not going to start getting on track in terms of putting himself back together for awhile. That underground thing really messed Aidan up.
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HW: And yet Aidan never really shows just how messed up he is…
SW: One of the most fun things about playing him, and it’s something that we discovered this year in a big way, is that he’s a character with a lot of subtext. And if you don’t have that subtext, the character doesn’t work. Josh (Sam Huntington), Sally, Nora (Kristen Hager), they all tell you what’s going on with them. Aidan? Anything he tells you is a lie. He’ll never tell you what’s actually going on with him. He’ll say, “Yeah, I’m fine.” Well, no, he’s not. Not even a little bit. And so the fun of it has been seeking out those moments of subtext where you see what’s actually going on with him, where you see him expressing himself honestly, rather than trying to cover up what’s happening.
HW: How is he dealing with Sally no longer being a ghost?
SW: That’s an interesting question, because you have two people who absolutely love each other very much and yet never ever considered that there was any possibility of romance between each other. But now, circumstances have changed. For one, she’s a person now. You can touch her. She’s real. But two, she’s been through so much since we first met her, so she’s a much more mature character. She’s a bit more world-weary, much like Aidan. So it’s almost like they’re being reintroduced to each other, and there are some confusing moments where they go, “Wait a second? Is this a possibility? Weird.” I’m not saying that it becomes a big thing, but, hey, maybe it will.
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HW: Aidan’s always wanted to be rid of the vampire world, and now he’s basically gotten his wish. Is this a “Be careful what you wish for” kind of scenario?
SW: Henry and Aidan are trying to figure out how to navigate this new world, and without Henry trapping people and draining them of blood. Basically the apocalypse has happened for vampires. They can’t find clean blood anywhere because of the flu pandemic so all the vampires are either dead or dying. The thing is, the world has moved on and hasn’t even noticed this has happened to the vampires. So Aidan’s walking on crowded streets…but also feeling entirely isolated. Aidan’s always said, “I’d love to be in a world, in which I wouldn’t have to deal with vampires.” But now he’s in that world, and he finds that it’s tremendously isolating, and there were people among that society that in fact he did like and would have wanted to spend more time with. Definitely a “be careful what you wish for” kind of scenario.
HW: Otherwise it seems like Aidan’s story is a slow-burn this season.
SW: Going forward, he’s going to try to assert his moral authority on Henry, and it may very well backfire, which could send Aidan to a destructive place. Who knows? Aidan’s story is interesting, because we have a lot of things to get out of the way. In terms of where the season goes, Aidan’s story is just getting warmed up. I’d say it only gets pretty eventful around episodes 5 or 6. Aidea’s a slow simmer this season. But by the end his story is a freight train with a lot of momentum behind it, and I’m very happy with how it progresses.
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HW: There was a lot of setup in the first few episodes, but now Season 3 seems to be settling into a groove. Do you think the fans will like when it’s all said and done?
SW: This season is the show that I saw in my head when I first read the script. It’s absolutely our character season. I’ve read some reviews where people are concerned that a lot of plot points are being introduced and don’t know how they’ll be developed, and it’s so nice to just sit back and be like, “Don’t worry about it.” This is all set-up, but eventually we settle into character moment after character moment, dealing with the things that we’ve set up. It’s not what I’d call a plot-heavy season, except that when the plot does take a twist or turn, it’s really momentous. This season is definitely more about existing as these people in their world, living in their shoes, seeing how they interact with each other and develop their relationships. That’s the show I wanted to do. A show that’s about these people, who they want, how they feel about each other. And then suddenly the crap hits the fan, something insane happens and you get right back to the people. Anna Fricke has really delivered the character season.
Follow Christian Blauvelt on Twitter @Ctblauvelt
[Photo Credit: Syfy]
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