‘Banshee’ Q&A: Antony Starr Previews Series Finale

After four seasons, “Banshee” will end its run on
Cinemax on Friday night, bringing to a close the stories of Lucas Hood, Carrie
(Ana) Hopewell, computer hacker Job, and the cast of characters in the
town they inhabited over the show’s run.

The series began by introducing Antony Starr’s character, an
ex-con, who left prison and headed to the town his ex-girlfriend was living in
– Banshee – where he assumed the role of town sheriff after the untimely demise
of a lawman named Lucas Hood.

In Friday’s series finale, we’re expecting face-offs and
some resolution for our favorite characters, but whether we’ll finally learn
Lucas Hood’s real name could remain a mystery.

WATCH: ‘Banshee’: Matt Servitto Teases The Final Season

“Everyone wants to know Lucas’ real name, but… a part of keeping it secret is keeping the mystery alive about who this guy really is,” Antony told Access Hollywood, when we caught up with him earlier this week. “There’s a lot going on with him, but one of the things that I like about the character is you never really know who the guy is 100 percent, because he doesn’t know. He’s going through a process, he’s going through… let’s call it a transitional phase in his life of adjusting from what he was… coming out of prison in Season 1 and basically being an animal, and having to find a new way to reconnect with the world, and a new way to accept who he is and what he is. And that’s one of the things that I loved about the character is this development of a guy who was desperately trying to reclaim the past and trying to live a life that was doomed really — being forced into a position to deal with the present and look to the future. And that’s really what Season 4’s been about and a part of that journey is really – it’s a mystery. He’s a mysterious guy, and I think that’s where the name comes in. I’m not sure if anyone really needs to know the name. I don’t know if people would be disappointed by the name, so we’ll wait and see I guess.”

Antony has a new show in the works – “American Gothic,” coming to CBS this summer – but took a little time to chat with Access about the series finale of his Cinemax show.

WATCH: Antony Starr Discusses Filming ‘Brutal’ Banshee Fight Scenes (Comic-Con 2013)

AccessHollywood.com: [‘Banshee’ ends on] Friday! Any big plans? Are you going to tweet?
Antony Starr: I’m certainly going to try. At the moment I might be shooting overnight on Friday, so it may be a little bit difficult for me to live tweet because I’m working on another show at the same time. I’m going to do what I can, but I’ll definitely be in the build-up and post, I’ll be involved of course. And hopefully I’ll be live tweeting.

Access: Without telling me what happens [in the episode], I’ve got to know what your reaction was when you read the final script?
Antony: It was interesting because the final script of any show is always going to be polarizing to some degree. Everyone’s got a very strong idea of what they think the show is and how they think the show should finish and wrap up, but ultimately it came down to what Jonathan [Tropper, ‘Banshee’s’ creator] believed was the right way to sign off from the show and the right way for the characters to sign off. There’s only a few ways really, that I thought the show could finish, and it finishes one of those maybe three ways. But, I loved it – I know, how vague is that? I loved it. I think that the end is really fitting. Like I said, it’s polarizing and I think some people will disagree that it was the right way to finish it, but I think for the most part, the fans will agree that it’s a pretty great finale, and it’s a pretty great way to say goodbye to the characters and a really good send-off to the people that the fans have grown to love over the last four years.

Access: In the last episode, Brock found out Hood’s secret because Hood let it all out when they thought that maybe they were going to die. And he was pissed! That has to be addressed in the finale, right? You couldn’t just plant that seed and not come back to it, right?
Antony: Well the funny thing is, is that the question of how to deal with that, once the cat’s out of the bag, the implications for Brock – if that information is released, if it becomes widely known, then what does that mean for Brock’s reputation, his future? Because it would completely undermine everything that he is. So the weight of that decision is on Brock’s shoulders and that’s interesting how he chooses to deal with that in the finale.

Access: There’s got to be some final showdown for your character–
Antony: Absolutely.

WATCH: Antony Starr Hints At ‘Banshee’ Season 3

Access: I’m curious if it’s going to be [with Proctor, or Burton] because there’s always been something brewing, or if it maybe has to do with Calvin?
Antony: The way the season’s been structured, or the way the show has been structured really, Proctor and Lucas have always had beef. There’s always been a strained respect between them. They’re like a couple of sharks that circle each other throughout the series, so inevitably, we have to get some kind of closure on that. How that comes out, I don’t want to spoil. So, I’ll just say that that comes to a head and that will be explored. And the other one of course is the brothers… they need to come to some kind of agreement about who they are to each other and what the way forward is for them, so there’s a couple of showdowns and I think everyone has to have a showdown at some level, whether it’s with themselves, or with another character, whether it’s physical or whether it’s emotional There’s a lot of resolution to be found in the last episode.

Access: Will we get some resolution to the Ana/Lucas relationship?
Antony: Absolutely. I’m not going to tell you what that is and how it expresses itself, but definitely. I think, all the things considered, I think the way Jonathan has decided to end the show and wrap things up for the characters is… I think it’s the best way to service what the show is and who the characters are.

Access: When you look back on it was there a physical scene that you will always remember? You have done so many!
Antony: What always comes back, and I know it’s boring, I’ve said it before, but the first day that we shot, we did a fight – me vs. the Moody brothers in the river, and we didn’t know really what the show was. We were figuring it out and we didn’t know how we shot it, so we had three cameras running around, getting in each other’s way in the river and four actors doing this really well choreographed water ballet, I guess. But it was chaos, it was just chaos because we were really establishing what the show was, how we shot and it was raw and unrefined. So in the middle of it, I got bashed in the face and my lip just opened up and started pouring blood, and there was a huge gash in my lip, but we kept on shooting for another six hours, and then they took me to hospital afterwards and I got stitched up at 2 in the morning and then turned up at work again at 6 AM for day 2, so it was a pretty surreal baptism, day 1. I guess it was a sign of things to come. We knew that we were in the trenches and making a very gritty show that was going to pull their punches and was going to be a pretty grinding six months a year to shoot, but I kind of look back on it fondly though, in a twisted way. It was like my baptism, like my cherry popping into the show.

Access: You are working on a CBS show now, ‘American Gothic,’ and you’re playing a serial killer, which is funny considering because we just wrapped up the serial killer part of your show.
Antony: A potential serial killer.

Access:  What has it been like to switch gears and go into a limited series for network television show?
Antony: It’s a different beast and whereas I think everything was so loose on ‘Banshee’ and obviously the material was pretty crazy. It’s a big gearshift for me coming from one to the next. ‘American Gothic’ — it’s a lot more subtle in a lot of ways, at least my part in it because I may or may not be a killer. So it’s a huge gear shift and there’s a lot more internalization of things and it’s a slow burn as opposed to ‘Banshee,’ which sort of threw everything in your face.

Access: What are you going to miss most about being a part of ‘Banshee’? It felt like a really special show and obviously it created a really strong legion of fans too, and that must have been really rewarding for you, you know, coming over from New Zealand and finding all these Americans that just fell for you guys?
Antony: Yeah, it’s great. I mean, you want to be part of shows that resonate in some way and while ‘Banshee’ might not have as broad a platform as some other shows, the people that have attached themselves to the show, the fanshees and what not, they’re so dedicated and they’re so loyal and their so passionate about the show, so that’s a pretty big take home for me. But also, I think one of the best things about looking at the entire show, was just week to week, or block to block, getting the scripts and not really knowing what to expect, because I mean, the show was insane. It was this big ball of craziness and every week something came out that just pushed the envelope further and was more extreme. I think there [were] occasions when maybe things went too far, and you’re always – whenever you’re walking close to the line, you might overstep a little bit, but by and large I think it was pretty successful at really pushing boundaries and really creating its own identity and its own mark in the landscape.

The “Banshee” series finale airs Friday at 10 PM ET/PT on Cinemax.

— Jolie Lash