INTERVIEW! Julian McMahon is an Altogether Different Alien in Syfy’s HUNTERS!

Julian McMahon is an Australian-born, award-winning actor and is no stranger to the small and large screen. He has most recently portrayed a demon in Syfy’s Childhoods End, a doctor in FX’s Nip/Tuck, and now the alien, Lionel McCarthy, in Hunters.  McCarthy is a DJ with a flair for dramatic hair and a fascination with pop-culture.

Julian portrays McCarthy in such a visceral, erotic and oddly charming manner that viewers are left with conflicted emotions which, I suspect, is exactly his intention. He, with the help of Hunters’ show creators, has successfully created an altogether different alien. Julian was gracious enough to speak with us regarding his character and his experience with Hunters.

“This is an opportunity to be able to express our fears through
an alien world.”

Hunters centers around a topic that is very relevant. Terrorism. Julian addressed the subject head-on. “This is a difficult time and terrorism is the new monster. The launch of the show concedes with something horrific that has happened. Your concern immediately goes to those who have been affected by this. This is an opportunity to be able to express our fears through an alien world.”

“It’s rare that something literally jumps at you, and screams and yells that you have to be the one to perform it.”

We asked Julian if it was more fun to play a demon, a doctor or an alien, to which he laughingly replied, “They all seem to have a little bit in common, don’t they? I thought that my character on Nip/Tuck was pretty strong, and is hard to beat, but the McCarthy guy was a challenge to that. It’s rare that something literally jumps at you, and screams and yells that you have to be the one to perform it. This was definitely one of those pieces. It is a uniquely written character. I got an opportunity to perform him uniquely and hopefully something that we haven’t seen before.”

“It was a performance-oriented gift.”

One of the things that drew Julian to the role was the ability to take risks. “When you are taking risks you are really enjoying your process because you are challenging yourself. To me, it was a performance-oriented gift.”

Julian admittedly was familiar with the writer, Whitley Strieber, but not the work, Alien Hunter, which the show is based. However, the actor intentionally did not read the books until after shooting because he didn’t “want anything to interrupt what Natalie had written and put into my mind. I didn’t want to interrupt everything that was flowing already. I got so much from the script that I decided to take a look at the books later.”

“McCarthy kind of goes through a hair-morphosis.”

McCarthy’s hair and look has been the subject of much conversation. He actively worked with Hunters’ show creator, Natalie Chaidez, in creating the alien. “It was really fun to develop. Natalie supported me consistently on really challenging what would look good and what makes sense. It was an interesting kind of evolution that you will see as the show goes on.”

In regards to the alien’s hair, Julian admitted “I haven’t gone that grey yet. I did color my hair. In the first couple of episodes, McCarthy kind of goes through a hair-morphosis. Part of that was his look. It was a unique look in regards to his clothing, but the hair and other things were kind of created on the fly.”

“I got to play this character that was truly extraordinary. It was a wonderful experience and you don’t always get that.”

Julian had nothing but good things to say about Britne Oldford and his experience working on Hunters. “I think Britne’s work is absolutely wonderful. She is so well cast in this piece. We have that line in the end of the first episode where McCarthy says,  ‘What an extraordinary creature you are.’ I really think that is applicable to how well she suits this piece in that role.”

Julian sums up his experience on Hunters. “It was Gale’s history and track record that attracted me to the piece to begin with and Natalie’s script. It was great to head back to Australia and was an opportunity to connect with a country that I had been away from for 20 years. I got to play this character that was truly extraordinary. It was a wonderful experience and you don’t always get that. That experience is very important to me at this time in my life.

“It was real and it was dirty and it was dark and it was pretty disgusting.”

The grit and look of Hunters was carefully crafted. “We kind of lucked out with the studio and the location. Here we got this fantastic gift of living in the location which suited the show. So I think that that adds to that element. That kind of grounded quality added to what we were doing. It was real and it was dirty and it was dark and it was pretty disgusting.”

Hunters airs Mondays, at 10 p.m., only on Syfy. Be sure to check out our Quick Start Guide to Hunters and stay tuned to NiceGirlsTV.com for all your Hunters news, including interviews with Britne Oldford and Executive Producer Natalie Chaidez!