FROM follows the mystery of a town full of monsters and nightmares that traps anyone who enters. As the residents try to search for a way out, they must also survive the creatures and other threats that come out in the dark.

This season, Boyd (Harold Perrineau) is witness to some scary and gruesome things as the town tries its hardest to break him, which provides some very dark scenes for the actor, who recently told SciFi Vision during an interview with the press, that he found difficult. “It was made more difficult, because we didn't have the same kind of escape mechanisms we'd had in previous seasons where we could go out, and there might be a concert or [something],” Perrineau explained to the site. “We were in the dead of winter. So, after you left some late-night shoot, and it was snowing, again, you were just kind of trapped in your place with your thoughts about the thing that you just shot, you know, three hours ago.”

Perrineau went on to talk about something coming up later in the season that he himself is afraid of. “There's one thing that happens…every time I went to close my eyes to go to sleep, it would pop back in my brain, because it's my own personal fear. So, that really sucked,” said the actor, adding that, regardless, he feels “fortunate” to be able to get to do it, but it’s “not always so easy.”

During the interview, the actor also talked about the tension which has been ramped up in season three. “This season, it's really dark,” said Perrineau. “It's really insidious. It's a bully; the town is like a bully, and now it's just picking on them…The town is really messing with them.”

For more about the season, including if Perrineau knows why the series was named FROM, watch the full interview or read the transcript below.




***Edited for length and clarity***

QUESTION:   How would you describe this season compared to last season? How is it different? Why is it better than the last season?

HAROLD PERRINEAU:   Last season, there was a lot of tension. This season, it's really dark. It's really insidious. It's a bully; the town is like a bully, and now it's just picking on them, picking on them for no god damn real [reason]. It's just really just picking on them. So, this season, it really just makes you mad. It breaks your heart. It makes you want to figure out, like, how to get these people out of there. It makes you sympathize for them, and in some instances, maybe it even makes you suddenly dislike a person, maybe a person that you liked before that. Now you're going like, “Now I'm questioning who you are.” So, this season, it really is dark. It's a dark turn on everything that's happening and what's going on. The town is really messing with them. It's terrible…For all you guys, if you don't know, I'm doing a bourbon with my friends called Sable. It just launched today, and so I'm going to be doing a lot of drunk tweeting for the next few months. It's gonna be wild. [laughs]

QUESTION:   Do you believe that Boyd, as the show's lead and the town leader, has really brought his A game to address the situation for the residents, and do you see him stepping up more during [this] season into this leadership role? He's already done a lot, but do you see him going harder [this] season?

HAROLD PERRINEAU:   Yeah, I do think he's brought his A game. I think he's showed up with his A game. I think once he was like, “Look, I'm going to figure this out,” I think he brought everything he could bring to the table. But, like I was just saying before, this town is not playing. They are fucking with him over and over and over and over again and with everybody. So, I think he's going to push harder. I think he's going to keep going harder. And I think there won't be a way to to stop him, unless you stop him, and I don't mean slow him down; I mean stop him. You will have to end him before he stops trying. So, I think he will continue to bring his his A game until his very last breath. I'm not saying he's gonna have a last breath. I'm just - it's a saying. It's a thing. [laughs]

QUESTION:   This season is really interesting, because so much in this town is changing. You've already mentioned a little bit about how this town is really bullying them, but I feel like, specifically, they're bullying Boyd. Like, what's really interesting is, these creatures, they're not interested in killing him. They just want to break him. I wanted to know what is it about Boyd that makes him sort of that chosen one this season, that it's like, you know, we'll kill whoever, but Boyd, we're not going to kill him. We're just going to mess with his brain. What is it about him?

HAROLD PERRINEAU:   We don't talk about it in the season, but it's like, it's the undertone, it's the reason that the monsters don't move fast. We mentioned it once. They don't move fast, because they don't have to. They're going to get you, like, “I don't have to run. I'm going to get you, there's no place for you to go.” So, while I consider that Boyd is probably one of the most dangerous ones there, and they should get rid of him, they're like, “For what? It's going to be fun. Like, watch how he squirms and struggles and fights himself, because he thinks he's gonna win, but he's not.” [laughs] So, I think, for whatever reason, they're enjoying it. I don't know why. I don't know what would make - I don't know what's going on John Griffin's brain that would make you do a thing where a town is teasing the toughest guy around, but that's what they're doing, and that's the thing I think they're doing, because they're like, “No, yeah, bring your A game. Bring it…I want to see.” [laughs]

QUESTION:   We'll play with our food a little.

HAROLD PERRINEAU:   Exactly that, exactly that. So, that's what they're doing. It's terrible. They suck. [laughs]

SCIFI VISION:   Love the show. It’s the best show on on - well, streaming, it’s not on TV - but it’s the best show that's on.

HAROLD PERRINEAU:   [laughs] That’s a nice compliment, thanks.

SCIFI VISION:   This season is about making Boyd break, and he has to go through quite a lot, having to see quite a lot of bad things happen. I've heard a lot of actors talk about how sometimes your body doesn't realize that trauma isn't really trauma, and that kind of thing. How hard was it getting to some of those really dark places this season, and was it hard to step out of? Because I know some of it was hard to watch, that's for sure.

HAROLD PERRINEAU:   Yeah, it was. That was pretty difficult. I'm not gonna lie. It's really difficult. And it was made more difficult, because we didn't have the same kind of escape mechanisms we'd had in previous seasons where we could go out, and there might be a concert or a thing. We were in the dead of winter. So, you know, after you left some late night shoot, and it was snowing, again, you were just kind of trapped in your place with your thoughts about the thing that you just shot, you know, three hours ago. So, it was pretty difficult. There's one thing that happens. I don't know if it's in the sixth episode, that literally, every time I went to close my eyes to go to sleep, it would pop back in my brain, because it's my own personal fear. So, that really sucked. [laughs] If I'm being really honest, that's when I was like, “I'm questioning my career choices.” [laughs] I don't know. Like, could I have been a dolphin trainer, maybe something else? [laughs] But it was pretty tricky. But here's the thing, it's the thing I love to do, right? And sometimes you have to go through some wacky stuff to to deal with it. So, I'm fortunate to get to do it. So, I don't mean to complain about it, but it's not always so easy. Again, back to Sable, I'm going to be drunk a lot. [laughs] so, that's how we do it.

QUESTION:   This season, a theme seems to be fatherhood. Last season, we found out Ellis is going to be a dad himself. So, given he has a strained relationship with Boyd, how will their dynamic change this season? Will Ellis's journey into fatherhood kind of impact his relationship with Boyd?

HAROLD PERRINEAU:   Yeah, actually. Yeah, that's the answer to [laughs] that question, because, and I think it's a natural thing, that you look at your dad as “that guy.” I did it myself, it was “that guy.” But then when you have your kids, and I don't mean to be like, higher or lower, but I mean, you have your kids who you have to protect, and suddenly that guy has to take a back seat whatever it was that you thought he knew before. Like, it's not his job anymore. So, then that creates a dynamic between father and son, and I think Boyd and Ellis get into a bit of that. And with people pushing Ellis to be like, “You have a child coming; you need to step up.” So, I think that that’s going to be really interesting. That's going to be an interesting relationship to watch. That's the best way to say that, [laughs] Man, I was struggling to get that one out without giving away any information. Jesus. So yeah, it'll be an interesting relationship to watch is the answer.

QUESTION:   Boyd is a complex character we know, and he has a lot of emotional depth. How would you describe his character arc over the past three seasons, and were there any challenges you had with portraying Boyd?

HAROLD PERRINEAU:   Yeah, I would sort of describe him as a person who was stuck in a hole that just keeps getting deeper, right? Like, it just won't stop. So, I feel like, especially as far as the storytelling goes for us, I feel like he's right in the middle of his journey, and in that middle part where you're about to lose all hope, because you can't see the pathway. So, I think before, at the very beginning, he thought naively, “I can figure this out, and I can figure it out quickly.” Then it turned. And then it turned again. So, this is the part of it that's really starting to get into that desperation place for Boyd. So, how does he navigate with his sane mind, with the part of its mind that feels like it's starting to fracture a little, especially - and then with the on come of the Parkinson's and those things. Like there's a real fracture that's happening…Some of the things that are challenging are like, those things that you have to put in your brain. Like, in order to make you feel a thing about Boyd, he has to really have loved his wife, and then if he loves his wife, and he loves his child, then the choice he has to make in a split second is really difficult, and I remember having a hard time figuring out how to play that, because my body kept wanting to say, “You can't shoot her.” There's nothing to do. You can't - There's no way. You’d shoot yourself first. I came up with all these other excuses, but then I had to find the way that would make him do that, and we had to even find it together. We had all these other scenarios, and the only way that came out is that he couldn't think about it, that…he's trying to talk to her, and then she threatens, and he just responds, and it was hard to get there, because once I decided that I loved them, it's really hard; it was a hard thing to figure out. So, that was that part, [laughs] and then it keeps getting worse.

QUESTION:   I don't know if you could share it, but can you share any behind the scenes moments from filming season three that particularly stood out to you or might surprise fans, but if you can't do that, because I know you can't tell everything, can you finally tell us, why is this show called FROM?

HAROLD PERRINEAU:   [laughs] Yeah, man, I wish I could tell you that. I wish I could tell you that. I had this whole thing the first season that it reminded me of Rakim. “It ain't where you from; it's where you at.” And I thought, that's why it was called FROM, because it's like it [doesn't] really matter where you came from. We're here, [aren’t] we? So, then you think would be called “Here,” but it's not. [laughs] So, I don't know. That's the answer to that: I don't know why it's called FROM, and John keeps saying it'll be explained, John Griffin, our writer. So, I'm waiting for the explanation like everybody else. But that being said, the one thing that's really, really great about the season, like behind the scenes, is that this season, we shot in the winter for the first time. And if you've never shot a show in the winter in a place where the weather is wildly unpredictable, then you [haven’t done anything]. Because we literally would start shooting a scene; it's blue skies, and we’d shoot and we’d start, and like in the middle of the scene, it kind of starts snowing a little bit, but only enough for it to be like, “Oh, what is that?” So, you stop, and you you’re like, “Okay, let's wait for the snow to stop.” Then, it keeps snowing really hard. You're like, “Forget it. Let's just shoot it in the snow.” Then, you shoot one person in the snow, and then you turn around and shoot the other person, and it stops snowing and starts raining. You're like, “Yo. Y'all playing now. [laughs] Now y'all playing,” and then it gets really, really cold. That's what the whole season was like. It looks beautiful. The season looks really dark and scary, but it sucked the whole way through. It was it like that the whole way through, and you couldn't complain, because the crew was outside all the time, like the whole time, and anyway, just know that it looks cool. It sucked. It really did. [laughs] That's behind the scenes…We're gonna find out the reason why it's called FROM one day. We're gonna find out. [laughs]

QUESTION:   We live in a world really, where a lot of shows don't get the opportunity to shine or really develop enough for audiences to care for the characters. What does it mean to you as an actor to be able to explore Boyd now for a third season, and what are you excited for us to see about him going forward in the third season?

HAROLD PERRINEAU:   Yeah, I'm going to tell you, man, I'm really, really grateful, because you're right. A lot of shows, they don't get a chance to develop and find an audience. I think what was a real blessing in disguise for us, is that we were on a streaming network that was brand new, that definitely needed content, and, you know, needed things. Our show came out, and people really, really liked it, and that gave us the opportunity to come back again. If we were on some other network, we might have had other financial commitments or goals that we had to to reach in order to get another season. But being on MGM Plus, they were like, “Well, let's just keep rolling all these shows,” and they kept rolling with us. So, I'm really, really grateful, because, like everybody else, I want to know what's happening. I want to know why the show is called FROM. I want to know, and so we're getting that opportunity. I'm wildly thankful to MGM Plus for rolling with us again and again and again, even though we had to move the show to the winter because of the the writers strike. And the fans are really, really with us, they're like, “Yeah, bring it back.” They, actually did it. They were like, “Yeah, we're going to keep going.” So, I'm really, really grateful about that, that we get a chance to do it, for myself, for our whole crew and cast we work with. I think we work really hard. Lots of people work hard, but, you know, I'm glad we get the opportunity to do it. Yeah.