Mark Pellegrino as Dr. Jedikiah Price in The Tomorrow People. Photo copyright of The CW.
Back in the 1970s, the young heroes of the long-running British Sci-Fi TV series The Tomorrow People faced a number of dangerous and cunning adversaries, terrestrial as well as extraterrestrial. Among their enemies was Jedikiah, a shape-changing alien robot used as a tool by an outside force to capture The Tomorrow People in an effort to harness their powers and use them to repair a damaged alien ship. The robot was later driven insane, developing an intense hatred of The Tomorrow People and devoting the rest of its days to their destruction.
In the updated version of The Tomorrow People (currently airing Wednesday nights @ 9:00 pm EST/PST on The CW Network), this nuts-and-bolts bad guy has received a total makeover and been re-imagined in the flesh and blood form of Dr. Jedikiah Price. Although still very much a threat to our Homo Superior protagonists (The Tomorrow People are the next stage in human evolution) he is not driven by an irrational desire to harm them. Jedikiah Price has his own reasons, personal and professional, for what he is doing, all of which are carried out onscreen by the actor who plays him, Mark Pellegrino. A veteran feature film and TV performer, he was approached by the show’s producers when casting for the pilot began.
“Phil Klemmer [one of the show’s executive producers and co-developer of the 2013 reboot] asked me to meet with him and we had a little chat,” recalls Pellegrino. “Pretty much the first thing out of his mouth was, ‘So would you like to shoot a TV show in New York?’ Phil and I then talked and afterwards I walked out of his office thinking, ‘That was a really easy audition process. I wish they were all like that.’
Dr. Jedikiah Price (Mark Pellegrino) in The Tomorrow People pilot. Photo copyright of The CW.
“Then, of course, I had to go back in and read, but the actual audition process was extremely actor-friendly. Usually you have one or two chances at most, and you audition in front of the all network folks and it either happens for you or it doesn’t. It’s quite nerve-wracking, but in this instance the process was very much rehearsal intensive. [Executive producers] Danny Cannon and Greg Berlanti were there as well as Phil, and we just worked on the scenes and filmed them. I had a reader there with me, which makes everything much nicer. Not long after, the show’s producers phoned to tell me I had the job and we were off to shoot the pilot in New York.”
In The Tomorrow People pilot, a 16-year-old, Stephen Jameson (Robbie Amell), fears he is losing his mind when he starts hearing a woman’s voice in his head. In fact, he is “breaking out” as a Homo Superior, and the woman’s voice is that of Cara Coburn (Peyton List), one of The Tomorrow People. She along with the group’s leader, John Young (Luke Mitchell), and others like them possess superhuman abilities including telepathy, telekinesis and teleportation. They are being hunted down by a powerful organization called Ultra, which just happens to be run by Stephen’s uncle, Jedikiah Price. The young man’s breaking out attracts Ultra’s attention and results in an unexpected family reunion. Pellegrino chuckles when asked about his experiences filming the pilot.
“On the first day we filmed in a place called Dumbo [Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass] right under the Brooklyn Bridge,” he says. ”It’s kind of an older part of the city and the streets are cobblestone. We were shooting a scene where Stephen is walking home from school and the Ultra SUVs are closing in. It’s basically the scene where Jedikiah captures Robbie’s character and brings him back to Ultra. At one point, Robbie starts running down these cobblestone streets, which in itself is quite an athletic feat, and with every take when I would open the door, he would start this skid or slide from about 15 feet away and stop about two feet from me. I was like, ‘Robbie, how exactly are you doing that without going ass over teakettle?” He said, ‘Don’t even ask me. I’m not even thinking about it.’ So that was pretty amusing.
Jedikiah (Mark Pellegrino) and his nephew Stephen (Robbie Amell) in season one's "Death's Door." Photo copyright of The CW.
“It was biting cold that day and we had the trains running overhead, all of which made for a chaotic but fun and interesting first day of work in a very cool part of town. We shot at some amazing locations for the pilot, including a place called, I believe, Cooper Union or Cooper Square, which was used as Ultra headquarters. It has this deep historical pedigree of academia and presidential speeches and the building itself is really awesome looking. In general, filming in New York is a pretty great phenomenon. I’ve always wanted to work and live in New York, because I think for American actors it’s kind of like our Mecca.
“I have to say, too, that the cast was and is terrific. When we did the pilot we didn’t know each other and we really tried to bond. You’re never sure if your pilot will be picked up, so it could be the only time you’re together. As such, you form instant and intense relationships fairly quickly. Now that we’re in Vancouver we’re a little bit more scattered about the city, so we don’t have as much social time together as we did in New York, but we all still get along very well.”
Although The Tomorrow People are unable to harm human beings and are, in fact, destined to play a huge part in the development of humankind’s future, Ultra believes they pose a threat to the human race. The organization’s mission is to hunt down all Homo Superiors and either force them to use their abilities against others of their kind, or render them powerless. Stephen’s father, Jack Jameson a.k.a. Roger Price (Jeffrey Pierce), secretly one of The Tomorrow People, once worked for Ultra, but was tragically killed. His brother Jedikiah has carried on supporting Ultra’s goals, but because he is not without a conscience, his devotion to duty has its inner conflicts.
Brothers Jedikiah (Mark Pellegrino) and Roger (Jeffrey Pierce) in "Brother's Keeper." Photo copyright of The CW.
“Jedikiah is a very complicated guy,” explains Pellegrino. “I think he’s torn between family and his ideology as well as his desire to protect humanity and his ethics, values and love for his brother. This type of grey area has forced him into some really difficult actions that he’s had to compartmentalize for a long time. If you think about it, it seems like Jedikiah has had to play a game for a number of years in a place that’s not like the CIA. At Ultra, people can read your mind and see what you’re thinking, so his ‘mask’ has had to sort of weld itself to his soul, basically, and my character has had to live not just a double life but a triple and quadruple life in an effort to juggle all his values. Sometimes he can’t do it. You saw that in the episode where Jedikiah has a dream about John. He wakes up in a cold sweat and Morgan [Carly Pope] has to talk him off the ledge if you will. I mean, that kind of compartmentalization comes with a price, and in Jedikiah’s case he’s torn between his loyalties, I think.
“All of these things with Jedikiah have developed as the story has gone along,” continues the actor. “As actors, we only have a certain amount of light shown in front of us as we’re going along. The conflicts and deeper story roots get revealed to us a bit at a time. Acting-wise, my main concern with Jedikiah was not to make him arch. I didn’t want him to be a typical bad guy. I wanted him to have layers. No bad guy thinks of himself as one. They see themselves as doing good, and in Jedikiah’s mind, he believes he’s doing good and protecting humanity. There’s more to that story, though, and as the episodes are unfolding, you get to see that there’s a macro and micro thing going on with my character. There’s his service to humanity, but there’s an intensely personal connection to that that’s not ideological, but rather very familial and brotherly in all its dimensions, not just the positive but the negative as well. That type of multi-layering and trying to bring that kind of sense to a character is quite a challenge for an actor, and one I thoroughly enjoy.”
Despite their rather unconventional reunion, Jedikiah ends up employing his nephew Stephen at Ultra, but unbeknownst to him, the young man is working with The Tomorrow People as a double agent. Unlike Stephen, Jedikiah has had a long association with John Young, who he brought into Ultra’s fold at a young age. John later turned his back on Jedikiah and still harbors resentment towards him for everything done to him while at Ultra. Away from the office, Jedikiah had secretly been involved with Morgan, a Homo Superior. She has since been taken in by The Tomorrow People. Whether personal or professional, Jedikiah’s interactions with others are anything but conventional.
Jedikiah (Mark Pellegrino) issuing orders at Ultra Headquarters. Photo copyright of The CW.
“My character’s relationships are complicated, twisted and misguided, but always underpinned by love as well as a protectiveness and the attempt to do the right thing,” says Pellegrino. “I think John is the closest thing that Jedikiah will ever get to having a son, but their relationship was tainted because of the requirements of life at the time. John has held on to an enduring anger for what Jedikiah did to him, but he did those things to John for a reason. It’s one of those fortunate and unfortunate or good and bad situations.
“With Morgan, I feel that Jedikiah genuinely loves her. I think she took him by surprise and got underneath his skin. When someone does that and accepts you for who you are and loves you anyway, that’s an extremely seductive thing, and I think that’s what happened with Morgan. In spite of what his head will tell him to do and in spite of how dangerous it is for him to be with her, he can’t give up his feelings for Morgan or his connection with her. As for Stephen, he has an extreme connection to him, too, as well as a loyalty, although it might not seem like that in certain instances, and I believe Jedikiah is also quite protective of his nephew.
“As my character becomes more complex and as you start to lift the mask and get under the politician and the guy who has to maintain a certain image, you begin to see what’s really going on with him. I’ve had the chance to do quite a few scenes that have been emotionally deep and passionate. I wish I could say more about them, but there are moments coming up between Jedikiah and Stephen that show some real vulnerability with my character, and scenes involving him and Morgan that show even greater vulnerability, which as an actor were scary to do.
Even Jedikiah (Mark Pellegrino) has a boss, The Founder (Simon Merrells), as seen in the episode "Thanatos." Photo copyright of The CW.
“There’s flashback stuff as well that I think is interesting and where you see a different and more innocent relationship between two brothers and learn why things unfolded how they did. I like those scenes quite a lot because they give Jedikiah the opportunity to be innocent, boyish and sensitive, all of which I feel make for a rounded and complicated human being. As things progress and you become more deeply involved in Roger’s and Jedikiah’s story, you get to see, like I said, why things turned out the way they did. Hopefully that will give viewers more of a chance to connect with my character.”
Besides The Tomorrow People, Pellegrino can be seen in the upcoming feature film We Gotta Get Out of This Place. “It’s kind of a little film noir piece that did quite well when it premiered at the Toronto Film Festival,” enthuses the actor. “I think it turned out good. My character is bad, naturally, but he’s very funny as well, and the ‘kids’ or young actors in it are really special, so we just might have something there.”
With several more episodes yet to air of The Tomorrow People’s first season, can Pellegrino reveal anything about what lies ahead with Jedikiah’s story arc? “It seems to be heading in conflicting directions, and I’m very interested in seeing what the conclusion of it is going to be,” he says. “I’ve only read up to episode 20, so there are two scripts I’ve yet to see, but again, there appear to be some inevitable conflicts. I don’t know how they’re going to turn out and who’s going to win, or even if there is going to be a winner.”
Steve Eramo
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