Q: Did you always know that Ben was also Warlow?
ROB KAZINSKY: No, when I auditioned to play Ben it was basically sold as a fairy love interest of Sookie’s. That was all I knew. Then I came in and it said ‘Benlow’ on my costume rail and I’m like ‘Who the eff is Benlow?’ So I asked Audrey who does the costume fittings and she said: “You know…Ben/Warlow.” I called up the producer and said: “Am I Warlow?” He said: “Yes.” I said: “This is probably something you should have told me once I got the job.”
Q: So what happened next?
RK: Then it was really fascinating because I sat down with Mark [Hudis, who was then the show runner] and we had to go over the etymology of a new species of creature. You know can he eat? Can he cry? Can he have children? We had to work out what he could do that vampires couldn’t and it was really fascinating because in an hour and a half we just sat down and built a species.
Q: And you also realised that yet again you weren’t playing the good guy…
RK: [Laughs] It would be nice to be a good guy just once but I always play really psychotic characters. That said I don’t think Warlow is a bad guy. His reason for his actions was guilt over his past. He hates being a vampire so much that he’s spent five and a half thousand years hiding. Now all he wants to do is replenish the Fae tribe he destroyed and he can only do that with Sookie. He’s trying to do what he believes to be the right thing.
Q: Can you describe Warlow’s character?
RK: I think when you’re thinking about Warlow you have to kind of factor in this ancient perspective. He’s the most powerful creature on the earth, far and away the most powerful vampire with all the strength of the Fae and the strength of the vampires and none of their weaknesses. Yet despite that he didn’t just make himself God. Well why not? Why didn’t he make himself king of the earth? And I think the answer to that is that he didn’t like what he was and has spent all this time protecting the rest of the world from himself and his power.
Q: Was it appealing playing a non-traditional fairy?
RK: That was the most appealing thing about it. I wasn’t all fancy hair and sparkly waistcoats. When the fairies first appeared on the show they were given all the depth of a puddle and my job was to make sure that people started rooting for them rather than just wanting to be a vampire or a werewolf. You know, here’s a new creature and he’s a badass.
THE COMPLETE SIXTH SEASON – RELEASED ON BLU-RAY & DVD – 2 JUNE 2014
ALSO AVAILABLE ON DIGITAL DOWNLOAD
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