Revenge: Barry Sloane Talks Playing Emily Thorne’s Mysterious Ex Aiden Mathis

Emily Thorne has been having more trouble than she expected while trying to carry out her “Revenge” plot on the ABC drama, but she appears to have found a new ally in Season 2 – Aiden Mathis – who already saved her from drowning and from the White Haired Man, who throttled her last week. Not that she said thank you.

“Yeah, he’s tried to be the knight in shining armor twice now and the first time he got a knife to his throat,” British actor Barry Sloane, who plays the so-far mysterious Aiden, told AccessHollywood.com. “He’s taking care of business for her, he’s looking out for her, so hopefully, eventually, she’ll thank him, but she likes to work alone, and so does he and I think that’s what’s quite fun about the upcoming few episodes and the fact that they’re kind of working together, but they’re not used to having a partner. It’s interesting.”

Emily VanCamp revealed back in July that Aiden was someone Emily studied with (as in learned under the tutelage of Takeda), and had a relationship with “and then he sort of betrayed her,” she said at the time.

Already spotted at the side of their instructor Takeda, Barry revealed it was Aiden’s decision to help the struggling Emily out recently, and get her back on the right track.

“It wasn’t something that Takeda asked him to go and do initially, he forced the issue and said, ‘Look, let me go there and try and get her brain back on track and started to [try] and get her thinking strongly again, so that’s what he’s set up to do. Aside from that, there’s an old relationship there and some things that went on between them,” Barry said. “But it’s very, very much in the forefront of what’s gonna go on as well.”

Beginning this weekend, “Revenge” watchers are about to really get to know Aiden – and there will be flashbacks.

“Yeah, definitely,” he confirmed to Access. “I’m looking forward to this week’s [episode]. Obviously I’m bound to death to [not] actually say anything about it, but there’s gonna be some in there and I’m really looking forward to it.

“In [episodes] 1 and 2 there’s just been a mild suggestion of me really… and little looks and kind of just getting people to go, ‘Who the hell is this guy?’” he continued. “What’s nice for me in the next episode is I actually talk a little bit which is quite interesting… I think by the end of the episode people will know who Aiden is and they will have made their choices one way or the other as to how they feel about him, so it’ll be fun.”

As for Barry himself, before moving stateside with his fiancee and two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, the Liverpool-bred actor was filming “Noah,” the upcoming film from Darren Aronofsky, which stars Russell Crowe.

And, interestingly, a few years ago, in his native UK, Barry had his own headline-making revenge storyline as “Nasty Niall” on the long running British drama “Hollyoaks.”

“Yeah! That was quite funny — I’ve actually had my own revenge storyline for a while,” Barry laughed.

But Barry’s Niall character carried out his revenge in a far less stylish way than Emily.

“He was outright blatant. I was very fortunate to play that character. It was a very dark place to go to play that character,” he said of the role which earned him several acting award nominations. “I’m glad that people enjoyed it and that people still do kind of talk about it.”

Last year, Barry was starring on Broadway in the play “Jerusalem,” but after the show ended its run at the tail end of the summer, he and his family moved back home. Not long after, he got the call about “Revenge,” a show he’d been tuning into as it rolled out on the UK’s E4 network.

“We were watching it and then it was quite funny because once I flew over here, I was given a bunch of discs and I watched them in about a week and kind of got right up to speed,” he explained. “[Showrunner] Mike [Kelley] wanted me to know the whole season before I uttered a word on set, which made complete sense. So I did.”

So far, the role of Aiden has involved some foreign languages (Japanese with Takeda) and some fighting, and Barry’s quite happy to get physical in his primetime stateside gig.

“I like getting a bit of a bruise, a bit of a bash. It’s all part of the job,” he laughed.

As his role gets ready to grow on the show, it appears there’s going to be some conflict, or as Barry called it, “Revengenda” (revenge + agenda).

“They both [have] a ’Revengenda’… and so while their relationship was going on during their time in training, some of his mission can conflict with hers,” he hinted at Emily and Aiden’s past. “They both had a different thing that they were gonna go off and do at some point, they just didn’t know when, so it kind of opens it up a little bit.”

So far, Emily’s main ally has been Nolan and with Aiden now back in the picture, there will be scenes between the two men, but Barry was mum on how exactly their paths cross.

“Yeah I’ve worked a little bit with Gabe [Mann] and I like him a lot as a person. We’ve actually got on as guys, so I admire him, all the work he’s done as well… It’s been cool,” Barry said. “He’s got a great character and — I won’t give anything away, but he has coined Aiden a nickname at some point, so that’ll be fun and I’m sure the viewers will enjoy that later on.

“As soon as I read the script [that] I was referred to by Nolan as a nickname, I’m thought, ‘Right, I’ve officially landed in the Hamptons now and [am] on the radar,’” he laughed.

“Revenge” continues on Sunday at 9/8c on ABC.

Jolie Lash

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