Jeffrey Wright has taken on advanced robots in Westworld, played a prohibition-era baddy in Boardwalk Empire, and investigated crimes as Jim Gordon in The Batman, but the Oscar-nominated actor is taking on a fresh role in the new political thriller, The Agency.
In anticipation of the show’s premiere on Paramount+ with Showtime, Wright visited the TV Insider offices to discuss his role in the expansive project which is a new spin on the French series Le Bureau des Legendes. Following a covert CIA agent, Martian (Michael Fassbender), the series explores what happens when he is ordered to abandon his undercover life and return to London Station.
Luke Varley / Paramount+ with Showtime
But when the love he left behind reappears, romance reignites, putting Martian in a precarious position. In this scenario, Wright portrays Henry, the deputy chief of station at the CIA’s London Branch. When it came to being drawn into the role, he says it’s “the people that were gathered around to make it happen.” According to the star, he’d been in The Agency‘s orbit, “when it was in other hands,” before ultimately landing under David Glasser, George Clooney, and Grant Heslov.
“I liked what I saw then,” Wright notes, and so when, “it circled back to me with Michael Fassbender attached and with Paramount+ with Showtime involved, it was clear that it had the makings of a high-end production,” Wright remarks.
“[John-Henry] Butterworth wrote these super smart scripts and I was intrigued by Henry for a number of reasons,” the actor adds. When it came to Henry as a character, Wright found a connection through his own personal history. “I grew up in Washington D.C. My mom was a lawyer for the government for like 35 years. So I grew up within a culture of civil servants. And so I was drawn into this guy who’s there to do a job on behalf of his government,”
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Wright admits that part of the conundrum for Henry and any of the CIA’s workers is that they operate in a “complicated space, ethically, morally. The work of the CIA can be controversial, and can be counterproductive even.” As for Henry’s efforts, Wright notes, “he’s there doing essentially the best he can.”
See what else Wright has to say about his role as Henry in the full video interview, above, and don’t miss The Agency when it debuts with two episodes on Paramount+ with Showtime.
The Agency, Series Premiere, Friday, November 29, Paramount+ with Showtime
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