[Warning: The following post contains MAJOR spoilers about Earth Abides Episodes 4 and 5, “Predators” and “The Return.”]
Earth Abides‘ latest episodes present Aaron Tveit like you’ve never seen him before. The apocalyptic drama returned with a shocking two-parter on Sunday (December 22), taking audiences to Year 17 of the post-pandemic world in which water has become a major scarcity for Ish’s (Alexander Ludwig) community, and only Tveit’s newcomer Charlie seems to have a clue what to do about it.
Ish doesn’t trust Charlie — after all, Ish’s leadership has so far been unquestioned for almost two decades, but this guy has unbridled alpha energy — but most of the others dismiss those concerns… until Charlie gives them all a very big reason to feel otherwise.
When Charlie is spotted leaving the house of Evie, the feral child who has now grown up in the care of the community and still has special needs, they all know that he has just committed the unthinkable by taking advantage of her. With that, all of the community elders agree that Charlie has to go and collide to attack him in his trailer. He’s remorseless about what he’s done right up until the moment he’s surrounded and Ish puts a hammer into his skull.
Ish is merciful to most of Charlie’s traveling companions, allowing them to assimilate into the community, but he does not offer the same grace to Silas, who was Charlie’s chief enforcer and stood watch for him during his most despicable acts.
RelatedAlexander Ludwig on Luck Saving Ish’s Life in ‘Earth Abides’ Premiere
So did Charlie deserve that fate? Did Silas? And how did Aaron Tveit feel about portraying such a loathsome man in the series? TV Insider caught up with the actor to find out.
How do you get into the mindset to say and do some of the things Charlie says and does?
Aaron Tveit: I’ve recently been on a run of playing a little more deplorable and outside-the-box people, and I just find it really interesting because… no matter what you’re doing, you have to kind of find their humanity and where they’re coming from and understand that they just may have a bit of a different moral compass than you. And I think once you can kind of understand that, then you’re free to just play. And I think the trick is, too, with people like this that you really want to try to be as winning as possible and almost have the audience, maybe not rooting for them, but think like, “Oh, maybe this person isn’t that bad of a person” … until, of course, the shoe drops, and you realize that they are.
Then, in terms of some of the things that he actually does [as actors], we talked a lot about even though some of what happens is off camera, I think it’s really important just for everyone to be comfortable and talk about what’s necessary for the story and what story you’re telling. And once you do that, and everyone’s kind of heard and safe and comfortable, then I think you can just really let it fly. But it takes a little bit of care and time to get to that place.
Charlie does have some goodwill, as you mentioned, with the well and what he accomplishes in town. Why does he sabotage his standing like that?
He was proving Ish wrong. Yeah, despite winning or proving him wrong, I think he’s still a bit of a megalomaniac, and it’s that triad personality, right? Narcissists and Machiavellian and all these things. So when you’re operating from that point, not only do they have to be right, they have to win. And so it’s like, he couldn’t just take it if he was a normal person or more normal, he probably would say. “Yeah, I proved you wrong, and we’re gonna have a tumultuous relationship, but it’s fine.” No, I think he had to go the extra mile and actually bury Ish because that’s the way that he has gone about leading his band of people.
I think that’s what’s cool about the show is that’s a little more [thoughtful]. I think what we see in our world today, and what we’ve seen in human history about leaders taking power for themselves and at the expense of others. And I think that’s what’s interesting is Ish’s point of view and the point of view of the characters we follow, they’re saying, “If we could do this again, could we do it better? And could we do it with love and do it with care of each other and the environment?” And so I think Charlie’s way is to push up against that as much as possible, ultimately, for the audience to see that that kind of way gets crushed. And I think that’s what’s really fascinating to me about the show, is those questions about, “If this happened, could we do it better? Especially in our day and age today?”
MGM+
Do you think he deserved his fate in the end? And who do you think he was most surprised by who showed up to help orchestrate that?
I think he did deserve his fate. What he did was awful and terrible. And this is only one instance that we’ve seen him do it. The people that he’s with and shows up with, they’re clearly going through lots of PTSD and have been abused and manipulated by this guy. I can’t even imagine — you can only imagine what he’s done before this. But also I think he’s really surprised that everybody shows up, I think, because up until this point, his way has worked and he’s never met resistance from people like this. So why would he think anything else than he can just charm his way out of this and because he’s provided water and provided leadership that everyone’s just gonna fall in line? And so I think when everybody else shows up, it’s very surprising for him and very humbling, and then he gets what was coming to him.
Do you think what happened to Silas was fair?
That one’s a little trickier, right? Because he clearly was wrapped up in Charlie’s spell and web, but there with him, you definitely see his humanity and you see this glimpse of maybe he could have a chance and maybe he could redeem himself. But again, I think for what the other group needs to do, it was necessary to not let him in.
Do you think there’s any chance Charlie could have redeemed himself with this community if he hadn’t been murdered?
I don’t know. I think because of what he did to Evie, it’s really, really difficult. I think things like that are pretty much inexcusable — especially in a circumstance like this where you have to trust people. Literally, your survival is depending on these people around you. And so if you have somebody like that in your midst, how can you sleep at night? You have to be able to really trust these people. And so I don’t. I think that once he does that, I think that’s it. I think if that wasn’t on the table, maybe. But I think because that happened, no.
Earth Abides, Finale, December 29, MGM+
If you or someone you know is the victim of sexual assault, contact the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network‘s National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). If you or a loved one are in immediate danger, call 911.
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