Note: This story contains spoilers from “Gen V” Season 2, Episode 7.
Ethan Slater switched it up on his longtime fans with his role as Dr. Thomas Godolkin in “Gen V” Season 2, an opportunity the actor said was fresh ground for him to play a more sinister and mature role.
“I was pretty stoked about it,” Slater told TheWrap. “It was fun to play a contrasting character, to get to do something that feels like [something] I haven’t gotten to do exactly, professionally, at this point.”
While Slater said Dr. Godolkin is somewhat similar to some of his previous performances, his age and evil personality were unique.
“Dark [with] ill intent,” Slater explained of the character and the opportunity. “A little older. [I was] playing like a fully grown adult who is also evil.”
Even though Slater has played a wide array of characters, many of his fans point to his Broadway debut as SpongeBob SquarePants in “SpongeBob SquarePants” musical, which earned him a Tony nomination, and as Boq, the munchkin in the film adaptation of “Wicked.”
With “Wicked: For Good” coming out next month, Slater said he’s excited to see how fans react to his two very different roles — Dr. Godolkin and Boq — on screen at the same time.
“I hope people are able to draw the distinction because they are really coming from two different places,” Slater said. “It is a funny thing to see people be like, ‘Wait, SpongeBoq is in this? I played Spongebob and I play Boq, and Thomas Godolkin is not either of these people, and I am really appreciating that people are able to see that.”
Prior to his casting, Slater was already a fan of the “The Boys” and “Gen V.” He knew going in that he was auditioning for Dr. Godolkin, but he didn’t know about that big Episode 7 twist initially, and he never got to rehearse or even meet Hamish Linklater, who plays Dr. Godolkin’s host Cipher/Doug. In addition, Slater said a lot of prosthetic and physical work went into crafting the evil scientist, including him having to dye his hair every time he came to set because he was juggling another project.
“I was working on another film at the time,” Slater explained. “So we couldn’t permanently dye my hair gray. There was a lot of individually coloring my hair every day we were shooting, which was pretty intense, but the hair and makup team was awesome.”
Overall, he called his time as antagonist Dr. Godolkin a “fun” and “cool” experience. Episode 7 ended with the reveal Godolkin had been controlling Cipher from the start of the season, set on convincing Marie (Jaz Sinclair) to heal his body so he could go back to ridding the world of weak supes. He kicked off his rampage right before the credits roled on the penultimate episode of Season 2.
“To dive into somebody who sees the world so differently than I do, somebody who I diametrically oppose and try to figure out what makes them tick,” Slater said. “And I kind of need to love him in some way while working on that role. And how do you love somebody who is so horrendous and on such a massive scale? It as a challenge as an actor, [and] it’s really, it’s like fun and exciting. And then it also feels like Shakespearean and grand in a way.”
“Gen V” releases new episodes Wednesdays on Prime Video.
