Goran Visnjic stars as Garcia Flynn on Timeless, but after chatting with him earlier today, I wouldn’t be so quick to declare him the villain!
Read our interview with Goran Visnjic below, and then tune in to the series premiere of Timeless — tonight at 10pm ET/PT on Global TV in Canada, and at 10/9c on NBC in the US.
What was it specifically about Timeless that appealed to you?
The biggest thing is the combination of Shawn Ryan and Eric Kripke. If you watch Supernatural and you watch The Shield, and you try to envision the creator of one or the other doing a show like this, when you read the script, you’re like “OK, this must be really interesting,” and you know that a certain depth is going to be there. It’s a show that I’d love to see on the air. It’s the show I would like to watch. If I can judge by that, I would like to be a part of a show like that.
Garcia Flynn is immediately painted as the villain in this story, but I get a sense that he doesn’t see himself that way. What can you share about the character and his motivations?
I think he knows what he’s doing and he is troubled by certain things he has to do, but he honestly believes that he has a higher cause. He believes that he’s doing something that’s going to benefit him which we’re going to find out further down the line. It’s difficult to talk about because it’s a real mystery of the show — why he’s doing that, how he was able to steal the time machine so easily, how much he is involved with the time machine, how much he actually knows, and how much was he a part of it. It’s a mystery that we’re going to be revealing in the months to come.
Do you think viewers will sympathize with Flynn at some point, or perhaps cheer him on?
I believe so. If we don’t accomplish that, something is wrong with what we’re doing. He definitely does some bad things, but in a certain moment, you’re going to feel sorry for him. Maybe you’ll think he’s an ass for doing what he does, but we’re definitely going to provoke at least a thought in your brain that you’ll be asking yourself questions about him.
In the pilot, there’s a pretty big moment when Flynn tells Lucy (Abigail Spencer) that her role in everything may be bigger than she realizes. Can you tease any similar moments with Wyatt (Matt Lanter) or Rufus (Malcolm Barrett)?
[Flynn] goes back to the past and changes something, and these guys are trying to stop him, so interaction with them is going to be inevitable. In a future episode, we have a pretty cool interaction between Flynn and Wyatt. Those episodes are going to be really intriguing because when these two worlds collide, what happens then?
Has there been a specific time period that you really enjoyed exploring through the show so far?
I’ve always been a big history fan. I like to read and research about people’s habits, what they used to do, and what they thought was normal. For me, every time period that we go to that is further down he line that’s from before I was born is exciting. If you go to the 1960s, it’s like half a century ago. We don’t think about that in those terms but it was already a half a century ago. The 19th century, the 1700s … we visited a lot of places that are interesting. Every historic period that’s not something you lived in, for me, presents a great and beautiful opportunity.
With any show that explores different time periods, wardrobe can be a challenge. Was there anything particularly uncomfortable?
There was a tie — not a 20th century-style tie — that was a little bit tricky, but everything else you make comfy. You have riding boots that may be uncomfortable, but then you put your own fancy insoles from your tennis shoes to make them more comfortable. [In a time where] they used to have only linen shirts, we cheat with a thicker cotton shirt and make it look like linen.
Is there another character’s storyline that you’re really eager to learn more about?
All of them have some things in their pasts that are visible to us from the pilot, and there are things that are going to come up in the future that we’re not aware of right now. Lucy’s history is very interesting, especially down the line when you learn more about her. At the end of Episode 2, there’s a big shocker that’s coming for Lucy. There are a lot of things that we’re looking forward to seeing in each other’s characters. We wait for every episode with a lot of excitement.
Photo Courtesy of NBC
I love the way Goran Visnjic didn’t display any emotion throughout the episode. He was mainly silent, but all the emotion was displayed thru his face. Grief, anger, fear… you can see it mainly during the Hindenburg timeline.
Besides Visnjic, I personally liked Lucy. How she handled the situations with her witty little mind. She is definitely cute!
The thing is, after watching the first 10 episodes of Season 1, I am fairly certain that Goran Visnjic is not the villain in that story.
He said that from the very beginning – he explicitly said that he is not “a villain” but rather the “antagonist”. But “antagonist” doesn’t necessarily mean “villain”. He might be hinting that in the episodes to come – we might experience him as a “good guy with his own reasons”.
I seriously am starting to believe that he is not the villain, not with everything they have presented us with… It seems that “The Rittenhouse Clan” or Lucy’s father will come out of the shadows as “exclusive new bad guys”.
Now, Goran Visnjic’s role in Timeless so far… He has been simply brilliant.
The episode with the moon landing and the few subsequent episodes have been the highlight of the series.