'Prime Target' star, 'White Lotus' alum Leo Woodall was attracted to the 'challenge' of new Apple TV+ thriller
"It wasn't a character that would typically go to me, or vice versa," Woodall said
Leo Woodall has moved quite far away from his White Lotus character Jack, with the infamous "cowabunga" neck tattoo, for the new Apple TV+ series Prime Target. This time around Woodall plays Edward Brooks, a highly committed math postgraduate at Cambridge.
The most important thing in Edward's life right now is his research, based on patterns in prime numbers, and as a result of that, he's not the most social person. But what Edward doesn't realize is that while he's on the verge of a major breakthrough, it has deadly consequences.
"It was just totally new for me," Woodall told Yahoo Canada about what attracted him to the role. "It wasn't a character that would typically go to me, or vice versa."
"So when I had the opportunity, I just thought this could be a real challenge. I could learn a lot doing this, and I could ... hone some skills, or maybe discover new ones. ... Aside from the math, that also just applies to his disposition and his temperament, and the way he relates to people, and it was all just going to be very, very new for me."
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At the beginning of Prime Target, Edward is frustrated with Professor Robert Mallinder (David Morrissey), who keeps urging him to abandon his research, eventually going so far to destroy his work. But what we quickly find out is Mallinder is being watched by the NSA, including agent Taylah Sanders (Quintessa Swindell), who has been tasked with surveilling mathematics behaviours by top professors and researchers.
Once Taylah realizes there's research of concern that doesn't belong to Mallinder, but rather Edward, she a faces a threat from unknown sources, leading her to go rogue to finding Edward. That's the beginning of this thrilling conspiracy journey.
For Quintessa Swindell, the stunts they got to do throughout the series were an "immediate draw" for the actor.
"I feel like the opportunities given to people like myself are very limited in some sort of way, and so I felt like, ... not only is it an opportunity for representation as it pertains to stunts, women in stunts, Black women in stunts, fems, ... but it just seemed amazing to be able to do, and be trusted to do," Swindell said.
What's particularly interesting about Swindell's character is that, particularly at when Taylah first connects with Edward, you're not exactly sure of her motivations and which entity in this twisty drama she's most loyal to.
"You don't really know where her allegiance is whatsoever and I think that probably comes from the way that the show was shot," Swindell said. "Very spontaneous, very structured and very loved on, but there were so many new things that were happening and new ideas that were being tossed out, even on the day."
"For Taylah to be able to live through that and actually authentically play that, because I didn't know what was going on, is so much fun."
'Everybody's favourite person on set'
With all the chaos and thrills of Prime Target one of the most touching elements of the show is the relationship between Edward and Professor Raymond Osborne (Joseph Mydell), who used to be Edward's advisor before he retired, following an Alzheimer's diagnosis.
"Joseph Mydell, who played Professor Osborne, was everybody's favourite person on set," Woodall said. "You can't not love him."
"For Ed, ... he's got a very tricky relationship with his dad. His mom died when he was younger. And there is something paternal about the way he sees Professor Osborne. He's probably his only true friend."
The actor added that Mydell had a "great sense of humour" on set.
"I can be a cheeky little shit sometimes, but he knows how to play," Woodall said. "That was one of the most special parts about filming that, he brought something wonderful to it."
'Having that strong moral compass is probably the most important thing'
Prime Target also evaluates a number of interesting questions about our world and how societies operate. While Edward believes that he's just looking at the math, Taylah makes an argument for him look beyond just the numbers and evaluate how his research can impact the rest of the world.
"We live in a society, in a world that I feel like consistently has trouble turning the mirror on themselves a lot," Swindell said. "And I feel like, in what better time and better state in the world could we just ask ourselves those questions. How do our choices today impact someone somewhere else in the world, or impact the people that we love, impact a city, a country?"
"I feel like having that strong moral compass is probably the most important thing that anybody could do today. So if our show poses that question, or honestly any question at all, I feel like we've done something to contribute."
Prime Target premieres Jan. 22 on Apple TV+, with new episodes released weekly
