Giancarlo Esposito plays a merciless, manipulative badass better than almost anybody, and it looks as though the actor brings plenty of understated menace to upcoming post-apocalyptic thriller Revolution.
In NBC’s new video bio of Esposito’s character, premiering above, we see Esposito pull out the kind of steely evil that makes him so frightening as Gus Fring on Breaking Bad. The new character, Captain Tom Neville, is a former insurance adjuster who takes on a whole new role after a mysterious blackout shuts down everything from computers to cars. (Sounds a lot like a fictional meth king’s rise to power.)
“Captain Tom Neville is the head of the militia and who is the enforcer — keeps order all across the country for the Republic of Monroe,” Esposito says in the Revolution promo reel, which combines behind-the-scenes details on the production along with footage that introduces the agrarian society that’s sprung up in the 15 years since the lights went out.
In the clip, Neville kidnaps a teenager named Danny in order to get to the young man’s father, who may or may not have some knowledge of why the world went dark.
Revolution, which is being produced by J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions, follows Danny’s crossbow-wielding sister Charlie (played by Being Human’s Tracy Spiridakos) and her uncle Miles (Twilight’s Billy Burke) as they try to rescue Danny and figure out what caused the power problems. Drama and action ensue, and the video ends with a mysterious tease that’s ripped straight from the Abrams playbook.
Basically what we’ve got here is an Abrams-backed, post-electronic-apocalypse drama starring Esposito as a ruthless bad guy. Oh, and the pilot is being directed by Iron Man’s Jon Favreau. Sign us up.
Revolution premieres Sept. 17 at 10 p.m./9 p.m. Central on NBC.
