Joseph Morgan is on his way back to the small screen, but not to reprise his Originals and Vampire Diaries character for the next season of Legacies. Morgan landed a role on Brave New World, an adaptation of the Aldous Huxley novel of the same name. The nine-episode TV series is the big-ticket original launching Peacock as NBCUniversal's new streaming service, and it will showcase a new side of Morgan. The actor chatted with CinemaBlend about Brave New World, and how the new show differs from The Originals and The Vampire Diaries, including a wealth of time and lack of "inhibition."
When asked how filming a streaming show like Brave New World compared to network shows like The Originals and The Vampire Diaries, Joseph Morgan explained:
Well, first of all, you have more time to film the episodes on a streaming show. So Vampire Diaries or Originals are eight days for an episode. And the eighth day two crews are working because there's a whole other crew starting the next episode, just for a double-up day. And so it felt to me, even though I know some people felt kind of rushed filming Brave New World, for me it felt like we had this wealth of time. And then, what was wonderful is because the show wasn't completely written when we started, we were able to find what worked and expand upon that, which was nice.
Both The Vampire Diaries and The Originals aired on The CW, and both shows never aired a season that ran for fewer than 13 episodes. The shows also released on a weekly basis, so there were deadlines to be met, and not a whole lot of time to complete an episode. Brave New World runs for only nine episodes in its first season, all of which will release for viewers to binge-watch when Peacock launches nationally on July 15.
Joseph Morgan noted that working on a streaming show that would release all episodes at once doesn't mean that every episode was scripted when filming began, but the differences between filming for broadcast vs. streaming meant that was a "wealth of time" for episodes. Of course, Morgan is playing a very different kind of character for Brave New World than he did on The Vampire Diaries and The Originals.
Unlike the vampire Klaus in the Vampire Diaries universe, Joseph Morgan plays a character by the name of CJack60, a member of the Epsilon class in Brave New World's New London. CJack60 normally tackles tedious physicial jobs, but is deeply impacted when he witnesses a horrifying incident. While the shows on The CW could only go so far in showing horrifying incidents and reactions to them, Brave New World on Peacock doesn't have the same limits, as Joseph Morgan said:
Also, you know, working for network you're inhibited in terms of language, and that kind of thing. And there wasn't that inhibition in Brave New World. Characters were able to express themselves more colorfully, which was kind of fun and new thing to me, but the whole experience was very different.
Klaus and his family on The Originals weren't exactly saying "Gosh darn!" and "Shoot!" whenever things got intense on Joseph Morgan's previous show, but CJack60 and the other Brave New World characters have the potential to get a lot more "colorful" with their language. While that's not to say that Brave New World will be nine hours of F-bombs, the show can cross lines on Peacock that a CW show couldn't even toe.
As an Epsilon, CJack60 won't have the same kind of social standing on Brave New World as some of the other characters, as is clear in the trailer for the new show. Take a look:
While the characters played by Harry Lloyd, Jessica Brown Findlay, And Alden Ehrenreich all seem to be moving freely throughout New London and wearing a variety of clothing, CJack60 and the other Epsilons are very uniform, contained, and not quite partying it up in New London. That said, Joseph Morgan seemingly did have some stunt work for Brave New World!
You can see Joseph Morgan as CJack60 when the full first season of Brave New World debuts on Wednesday, July 15 on Peacock. The new NBCUniversal streamer offers a free plan with a wide variety of options including movies and TV shows, with Peacock Premium running for $4.99/month to additionally offer Brave New World and other Peacock originals. Peacock Premium comes at no additional cost for Xfinity Flex and Xfinity X1 customers.
For more viewing options now and in the coming weeks, be sure to check out our 2020 summer TV premiere schedule.
