NEW DELHI: American actor Jack Quaid says he loves playing underdog roles be it in the smash hit series “The Boys” or in the animated show “Star Trek: Lower Decks” as he believes such characters resonate with the audiences.
Son of Hollywood stars Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan, Quaid debuted as an actor with a supporting part in “The Hunger Games” in 2012 and later found fame with Amazon’s “The Boys”.
“I love a good underdog story. I love a story about people who are at the bottom of the barrel, just trying to survive,” Quaid said in a Zoom interview from Toronto.
In “The Boys”, the actor plays Hughie Campbell, an everyday guy, who finds himself at the opposite side of evil superheroes. With two seasons already out, the satirical drama has been praised for its fresh take on superhero genre.
The 28-year-old actor said his portrayal of Hughie came from a personal space as he could relate to his experiences in the show.
“The show is so insane and there’s all these people exploding and all this insanity of the world that you need someone from whose eyes you can see it all. That’s just something I’ve tried to focus on.
“He means so much to me. In a lot of ways, we are somewhat similar. Not maybe a thousand per cent but he feels very personal to me. So, when people relate to him that really does mean a lot,” Quaid said.
His role in “Star Trek: Lower Decks”, which has been created by “Rick & Morty” scribe Mike McMahan, is thematically similar to Hughie as the animated series looks at the lives of the people serving in the lower rung of a Starfleet ship.
Set in the same universe as previous “Star Trek” movies and shows, the series voice features Quaid as Brad Boimler alongside the likes of Tawny Newsome, Noel Wells and Eugene Cordero.
Quaid said the animated series looks at the “Star Trek” franchise from a unique perspective.
“Usually you’re focused on the bridge crew and what all the upper echelons of crew members are doing. When you see the people in the lower decks, they’re running past Scotty as the ship is exploding and you never really get an opportunity to know what their lives are like.
“So, this is a really cool way to discover those people… I think it’s a side of Star Trek that we haven’t really seen before, not to this extent.”
Another aspect of “Lower Decks” that Quaid liked was that though the show is a comedy, it doesn’t showcases its characters as a bunch of incompetent people.
“‘Star Trek’ has always been funny and had funny moments but this is the first time we’ve made an all out comedy. But the challenge with that was how do you make a ‘Star Trek’ show funny without breaking Star Trek?
“What was great was that we made everybody super smart. We made everybody intelligent and we’ve made everybody competent. And the humour comes from their flaws as characters, but it was never about their competency.”
Though the fan-favourite franchise has been around for a long time; since the days of William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and Patrick Stewart, Quaid’s first introduction to the series was through JJ Abrams reboot 2009 film, featuring Chris Pine, Zoe Saldana and Zachary Quinto.
“When I was in high school, I remember going to prom with someone. But before that, we went on like a date. So we saw that first movie. It was a very awkward date but the movie saved it.
“It’s a great series of movies and it did such a great job of bringing new Star Trek fans into the franchise and at the same time also satisfied old fans who have been around for decades. So that was kind of my real benchmark for the series.”
Now that he is a part of this cult-hit sci-fi series, Quaid said he is on route to becoming a full-on “Trekkie”; a term used to describe hardcore “Star Trek” fans.
“When I got this job, I was obviously very excited to join the franchise. But I realised that I should know what I’m talking about, not only to perform the character to the best of my ability but also to get a handle on this world and pay some respects to this thing that’s been around for so long.
“So I made sure to do my research and Mike McMahan, our showrunner and Tawny Newsome who plays Mariner, they both recommended some great episodes of the ‘Next Generation’ for me to watch, just to get my feet wet initially. I’m not an expert yet, I’m still learning a lot about Star Trek but I went from being a casual Trekkie to a full-blown Trekkie.”
“Star Trek: Lower Decks” started streaming on Amazon Prime Video from Friday. (AGENCIES)
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