PAAPA ESSIEDU, the Brit actor born to Ghanaian parent, plays George in the second season of hit harrowing sci-fi series, The Lazarus Project…
When the world locks into a never-ending time loop that will ultimately end with the planet’s complete extinction, the Lazarus team must race against time to find a solution before humanity is wiped out forever. Among their number is resolute Lazarus agent, George (Paapa Essiedu), who’s been left in disgrace after betraying the organisation in the name of love. George is determined to redeem himself and win back the trust of his friends, colleagues, and the love of his life. But when he discovers that the cause he’s fighting is more sinister than it appears, George begins to suspect that the only person he can really trust is himself. Yes, if you haven’t been on this trip yet, Lazarus is pretty out there! I Will Destroy You star Paapa tells us more…
Where do we find George at the beginning of season two of The Lazarus Project?
The second series picks up two seconds after the end of the first series. When the first series ends, we’re at the start of this state of flux in terms of a black hole has appeared that’s compromised the ability to go through a whole year: so, time keeps on resetting every three weeks. There’s an existential threat that comes with that. Also, Sarah [Charly Cliv] has ended up taking the serum and now knows about time travel. So, we meet George in the thrill —and hell — of that. He and Sarah end up going to Lazarus and he fesses up to everything that he’s done over the previous four or five episodes. He gets immediately fired; she gets immediately hired. Which leaves him out there as a kind of Lone Ranger-type figure, getting bits of information from Sarah, while they’re still not back together… it’s not great for him, really! But he’s pulled forward by a desire to prove himself enough to get welcomed back into the fold. He does a few things that make it untenable for him to remain out of The Lazarus Project. Overall the focus is more on trying to solve the existential issue of the time loop than it is on trying to get his girlfriend back.
Does he think he can solve the loop, or does he need to be back in with Lazarus to do that?
In the first series you see an ordinary man with a pretty big ego. He’s like, ‘If I need to bring the world to its knees, I will do find a way of doing it just to get my girlfriend back.’ So I do think to an extent he’s got – let’s not call them delusions of grandeur, but he believes that he’s got something special. He’s not trying to be a kind of renegade, maverick figure: he’s trying to get back into the organisation.
How has he changed since series one?
I think he’s got something essential about him that is consistent, which is he’s a romantic, he’s an optimist and he’s a fighter. But what’s different about Lazarus Project agents to regular people is they carry the trauma of what’s happened in previous time loops with them… and George is no different.
What’s in George’s way this season?
There’s a real question about The Lazarus Project and how objectively, morally sound they are. In some ways, the organisation is the antagonist. There are also previous iterations that enter into the sphere that he’s now battling against. There’s literally a man who is trying to kill him every single place he goes. And he doesn’t know why. But I suppose the antagonist is this greater thing of the world being stuck in this loop and how to undo that.
Does he come into conflict with the Time Break Initiative?
It’s not like there is a war between Lazarus and them, but what they stand for is an entirely different ideal and philosophy and ideology about time travel. The Lazarus Project feel time travel must be controlled and you can only reset back one year at a time, and it has to go back to July the first and so on. Whereas this other philosophy is that time travel should be free and true —you should be able to time travel to wherever you want. It’s like, what are the pros and cons and the consequences of those two things?
What did you do on July the first this last year?
I definitely posted something on the cast WhatsApp group! I was like is everyone alright? Did anyone sleep last night.
Series one was a big hit. Have you thought about what it got right?
I’ve thought a lot about what I got wrong in that series! I’ve had dinner with creator Joe [Barton] and some of the cast quite a few times. I think we felt that we had something that was fresh and that had the potential to be interesting. It’s a crowded sphere – you’ve got a billion streamers and a new show comes out every week. We felt like we did really well to stand out within that. We were really proud of how we executed. But very quickly we were talking about this series and what we could do better and how we could be more ambitious. How the scale could be expanded and how the ideas and questions could be deepened. And yeah: I think this series is even better than the last one.
“WHAT’S DIFFERENT ABOUT LAZARUS PROJECT AGENTS TO REGULAR PEOPLE IS THEY CARRY THE TRAUMA OF WHAT’S HAPPENED IN PREVIOUS TIME LOOPS WITH THEM.”
What do you do when a Joe Barton script comes through your letterbox and you have to map out which timeframe you’re in when?
I have a big whiskey! It’s like, he’s so smart, obviously. But it’s such a headwrecker when you get into time travel and parallel worlds and whatever. It’s one of those things that’s brilliant because it’s so mad. With Joe there’s just a lot of trust in him. Trust in his ability and trust in his imagination. He very rarely goes for the low hanging fruit – he’s like, ‘If we’re gonna’ go for the idea, let’s go for the bold one rather than going for the flat one or the colourless one.’ Which is great. Because it just means that it’s difficult, but if we pull it off, it’s all the more spectacular.
It’s a very physical role. Do you enjoy that?
Yeah, I really, really love it. I grew up like playing sports and being very physical so in many ways, I’m more comfortable doing that stuff. You go to drama school and you do movement and I love all of that stuff. The opportunities that have come my way off the back of this have become exponentially more interesting and varied and whatever. That’s what I love: I don’t know if it’s a problem with authority, but I’m really desperate not to be typecast!
The Lazarus Project S2 is available on Sky Max and streaming service NOW from 15 November.
