Superman & Lois Star Breaks Down His Surprising Return as [SPOILER]

Superman & Lois Star Breaks Down His Surprising Return as [SPOILER]

This Superman & Lois guest star breaks down his complicated relationship with Clark Kent, points out the line he would never cross and more.

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Superman & Lois Star Breaks Down His Surprising Return as [SPOILER]

SPOILER WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for “The Ties That Bind,” the latest episode of Superman & Lois Season 2.

Superman’s brother Tal-Rho may not be a good person, but he’s the only one who has the answers Clark needs. Since the start of Superman & Lois Season 2, Clark has experienced disturbing visions of death and destruction so forceful that it interferes with his day-to-day life. With no Fortress of Solitude to give him guidance, he turned to the last person he expected for help: Tal. While Tal did provide some assistance, he tagged along with a few machinations of his own, causing some trouble for Clark and Jordan even as he seized the opportunity to unload some of his feelings onto a hologram of his late mother Lara.

Speaking to CBR, Superman & Lois star Adam Rayner unpacked his surprising return as Clark’s villainous brother. He broke down Tal’s “complex” love for his brother, as well as the lines Tal would never cross in his relationship with Clark. He explained why Tal’s “opportunistic and self-serving nature” got the better of him and why it was so “cathartic” for him to unload on his mother. He also teased whether or not he’ll return as Tal in the future, shared how Tal spends his time in prison and more.

CBR: I wasn’t expecting to see Tal back so soon! When did you get word that you’d be returning for Season 2?

Adam Rayner: I was pretty surprised myself. I mean, there were rumors flying around. We’re always the last to know, you know? Hair and makeup, various people had heard whispers, but it was only between seasons that — actually, it wasn’t even between seasons; it was close to the beginning of the season that I got the call saying you’re back in reasonably early on in the new season.

When we first see him, he’s been defeated and imprisoned and rendered powerless. Where would you say he was at, mentally, when Clark first showed up to ask for help?

Well, pretty low. He has no prospect of being released, one assumes. So he’s obviously endured great hardships in his life, and this has been some — I assume, mentally, he’s very, very, very, very tough, and continues to plot and plan an eventual escape or a way of getting out or maybe he’s just able to deal with the situation as it is. I would imagine, deep down, he’s pretty low, but he is a forceful character and finds a way to deal with the situation. But no, he can’t be feeling great about life!

Superman & Lois Star Breaks Down His Surprising Return as [SPOILER]

Tal is quite a complicated fellow. He’s got this cool, collected, disdainful veneer, but so much pent-up rage and vulnerability underneath. How do you balance those different aspects? How do you pepper in those little cracks in his facade?

Well, I just draw on my own life, really: fairly outwardly disdainful but inwardly falling to pieces. That’s easy! [laughs]

No, I mean, it’s lovely writing, because, clearly, he does have all of these vulnerabilities underneath the domineering exterior. The script gives me the opportunity to show that, and playing that kind of conflict and those kinds of contrasts that appear within a character is always the most fun bit of the job! Someone who presents this, but is actually this underneath, or even is two things at the same time. If you can find a way to play that, if you’re given full rein to find that in the scene, then it’s great stuff, and credit to the writers because they really turned him into a rich and interesting character in that sense.

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Tal spent so much of Season 1 under the thumb of his father, to the point where he almost died for him. Now that he’s free of that influence, what’s left for him? Of him?

It’s a good question. What does he look forward to? We don’t really know! I mean, it’s not immediately revealed or even addressed what his plan is. He is sort of sitting there waiting for something to happen, and I guess he suspects perhaps that something will happen and, of course, indeed it does happen. It’s not like he’s gonna sit there in isolation for the rest of his life because things are gonna crop up, as we will see, and I guess maybe he has a sense that that was always going to happen.

During Lara’s appearance, Tal is particularly raw and hurt. How would you say this moment, where he finally gets to unload on his mother, impacts him moving forward?

Well, I suppose it’s cathartic in some way. I’m sure he feels better after unloading, and it’s a real relief. You end up feeling a bit sorry for him! Obviously, he had a terrible relationship with his father and he also feels abandoned by his mother. It’s psychopath 101, really. It’s no surprise that the personality we meet in Season 1 has been produced by this background. He unloads on his mother and then is able to — in as much as he’s allowed, in as much as he’s ever going to be given the opportunity — he’s able to move forward with that relationship in his own mind, but I bet he feels better for having said the things he said.

Something that struck me about Tal’s little field trip to his fortress is that he actually did help Clark. Granted, he also attacked him, but he reunited Clark with their mother and got him the answers he needed. After all they’ve been through together, how would you say he views his brother?

A couple times, in the first season, he refers to family and how it was all about family and the importance of family. Now, he means that in quite a limited, Kryptonian sense. He doesn’t care much for the human side of Clark’s family, but he definitely values him as a brother and wants to be part of their Kryptonian family.

So again, he’s conflicted and a little bit split-personality when it comes to the Clark and Superman. He wants to dominate him; he has this drive to be the big brother, the alpha brother. He does some terrible things. But you always get the sense that he’s doing these things because he’s been rejected by Clark, by Superman, that if things had just been slightly different and they could have got on board the same project together, that there was a partnership and a brotherhood waiting there, had things shaped up the way he hoped.

Of course, they couldn’t, because his project was always completely unacceptable to Clark. But yeah, he’s his brother, and in a funny way — in a funny kind of way — he loved him, I think. But it’s far more complex than that, because he is who he is and he has had the life he’s had.

Tal also attacks Jordan in this fit of anger. Do you believe he would have gone all the way and killed Jordan, or do you think maybe he was hoping someone would stop him first?

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I’m not sure… I mean, I think he would have stopped. I don’t think he’d kill him, but he does have these absolute rages. He does lose control. That’s one of the reasons he’s dangerous, because he does lose control of himself… But I think he would. I think, ultimately, he would stop himself doing anything that was absolutely irrevocable, that he couldn’t come back from, because he does have this need to have a relationship with his brother, with Kal.

Now, of course, he does all sorts of horrible things in the first season, but I guess he hasn’t done anything that he absolutely can’t come back from. I mean, he’s killed quite a lot of DOD soldiers, but within the family, he perhaps haven’t done anything that he absolutely can’t come back from.

Superman & Lois Star Breaks Down His Surprising Return as [SPOILER]

How worried would you say Tal is about those visions Clark has been having?

My feeling is, my impression is that he sees all this as an opportunity. I mean, he has a concern for his brother, of sorts. He has a desire for relationship of sorts, but he’s also always on the lookout for opportunity. I think, principally, at this stage — I mean, I’m sure in a deep sense he is in some way concerned, and he does make what appeared to be a fairly genuine effort to address problems and to provide assistance, but it’s, of course, always linked to the possibility of an opportunity to change his situation and to further his own agenda, whatever exactly that is. It is hard to put your finger on exactly what that agenda would be, but he certainly immediately sees an opportunity to get out. I think we see his opportunistic and self-serving nature immediately in how he helps Kal, because he’s clearly getting something out of it.

Tal’s got quite a sweet set up in that little prison cell of his. How would you say he spends his time, between visits from Clark?

Well, he’s got a lot of books! I think he has been refreshed and he reads a lot. He probably does complicated Kryptonian mathematical problems in his head and plans, plans, plans, plans how he might he might manipulate circumstances to bring about his big comeback.

What are the odds we’ll see more of Tal moving forward?

Well, I can’t really — I think it’s likely we’ll see him some more. I have absolutely no idea what the nature of that would be, but it seems to me that here is — you know, it’s like they can’t let go. They can’t fully let go of each other. Until Superman absolutely rejects him forever, he’s gonna leave the door open. As long as he leaves the door open, Tal will tell always find a way to come through it.

What would be your dream story arc for Tal? If you could take him anywhere, what would be his next adventure?

Boy! I don’t know. I mean, I guess I’d love to see — you know, something would have to go wrong in the end, but I would love to see him, for a period, stand alongside his brother in the face of some terrible threat to them both. Maybe we’ll see that! But I think it would just be so much fun, perhaps back in the black suit, to see the two guys standing as allies alongside each other at some point, saving the world basically together, would be great.

Superman & Lois airs Tuesdays at 8 pm ET/PT on The CW.

Link Source : https://www.cbr.com/superman-lois-season-2-adam-rayner-interview/

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