Liev Schreiber's latest crime thriller gave him something more personal to examine than a serial killer's motives: his own instincts as a father, including where he might be getting things wrong.
"This definitely asked me to think about how I am as a father and maybe some of the mistakes I make," Schreiber told this reporter about Nocturne, the Apple TV series starring him alongside Zazie Beetz and Stephen Graham.
He also reflected on the things that make him proud as a parent. But his character, homicide detective Jonah Lynn, puts the protective impulse through a particularly uncomfortable test. Jonah loves the young woman he sends into danger. He also needs something from her
Schreiber, who shares Sasha and Kai with former partner Naomi Watts and daughter Hazel with his wife, Taylor Neisen, is a father of three. Onscreen, his relationship with Beetz's FBI agent Saga Bauer brings parental concern into an investigation where trusting someone's abilities can mean exposing her to extraordinary harm.
Premiering October 30, Nocturne follows Jonah, a former soldier and homicide detective who leaves Philadelphia for a quieter life in western Pennsylvania.
His retreat is shattered by the threat posed by Jurek Walter, the serial killer played by Adolescence star Graham. The search for Jurek's last missing victim puts Saga, Jonah's goddaughter and surrogate daughter, directly in the killer's path.
The series draws on The Sandman and Lazarus by Lars Kepler, the pen name of Swedish authors Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril and Alexander Ahndoril. Its central investigation also places pressure on a bond that neither detective can approach with professional detachment.
"He knows she's the best person for the job," Schreiber said.
That certainty is part of the problem. Jonah recognizes himself in Saga: the talent, the ambition and the ability to excel under pressure.
"They are very similar. They were both rock stars of their work," he said. "He was a very, very good homicide detective, a very good Special Forces guy. And she was top of her class in the FBI and as a cop."
For the actor known for Ray Donovan and The Perfect Couple, playing Jonah meant considering how much of himself enters even a character whose circumstances are far removed from his own. "I think every character we portray is some extension of ourselves or of our own imaginations," he said.
Beetz, whose credits include Atlanta and Deadpool 2, describes Saga and Jonah's relationship as rooted in affection and shared history. Their familiarity also makes them acutely aware of each other's wounds.
"The basis, I think, of our relationship is love and familiarity and, like, familial bond," she said.
Both are grieving. Both are concerned about how the other is handling pain. Neither is entirely convinced the other is making the right choices. "We both don't fully, like, approve of how the other is dealing with their internal life," Beetz said in the interview conducted via Zoom.
Their pursuit of someone they believe has harmed them and their loved ones gives them a common purpose. It also creates another source of disagreement about how far to go. "I think we also both understand that in each other, but don't agree with that approach," she said.
That leaves room for tenderness to emerge as conflict. Beetz said they discussed how love can become worry and anger, with tension growing out of a fundamental wish: "I just want you to be okay."
For Jonah, however, keeping Saga safe competes with the information she might obtain. Schreiber sees a more troubling possibility beneath the detective's confidence in her.
"Am I not also a little bit exploiting her?" he asked.
As the story progresses, Jonah's personal stakes complicate the decisions he makes about his goddaughter. "Is he actually exploiting his own goddaughter to a degree to get information?" Schreiber said. "That was a really interesting and murky area of the story that I wish I'd had more time to think about."
He would like to explore that ambiguity further if the actors return to the characters. "There was a very interesting gray area with the two of us that, you know, if we ever do this again, I want to go deeper into," he said.
Nocturne also stars Bill Camp, Rory Culkin, Chrissy Metz, Poorna Jagannathan and Gary Carr. The 10-episode series premieres on Apple TV with two episodes on October 30, followed by weekly installments through December 25.
For Schreiber, Jonah's most difficult question reaches beyond whether he can stop a killer. It concerns what a father figure is prepared to ask of someone he loves, and whose needs he is serving when he asks.
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