PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Thomas Elms (The Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: The Disappearing Game 2018) hit the jackpot when he took the part of Hamish Duke in the new Netflix Original series, The Order. A sci-fi/horror fan’s dream, The Order tells the tale of a young man who pledges a secret order to avenge his mother’s death among a war on werewolves and dark magic. Thomas plays a werewolf in the middle of the bloodshed. Will he be around for the sequel? You’ll have to tune in to find out! But in the meantime, I was lucky to speak with Thomas. We discussed Hamish, what’s next for the young actor, and of course, horror movies.
PopHorror: Hi Thomas! Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me. The Order is really great, so I’m excited for this.
Thomas Elms: Hi Tiffany! I’m so glad you enjoyed it. I’m happy to be here to talk to you about it.
PopHorror: I wanted to know, what intrigued you about the show and made you want to be a part of it?
Thomas Elms: Right away, I was absolutely captivated by the show. The quality, the writing that was in the audition… I originally auditioned for Jack, so I kind of came at it from the point of view of the protagonist. I really loved the description of Jack. I thought it was really cool to play someone who’s from the wrong side of the tracks, and he’s this classic, romantic, American hero. He reminded me a lot of Indiana Jones.
The audition itself was a blast. They gave me four scenes, and they were really good scenes. There were a variety of characters from the pilot episode. I got to meet the writer and director. So right away, I was a little bit over the moon about this project. I thought the writing was so cool. It was dark, funny and so self-aware of the genre and the material it was dealing with. It was really refreshing from my point of view to get work like this to work on, even just with the audition.
I was immediately hooked by the show. Also, I relate to you. I’m a huge science fiction/fantasy geek. I love books, comic books, video games, movies… all kinds of that pop culture stuff. It’s really fun, so to get to play in a world with such interesting characters was awesome. Then to discover that I was going to be playing a character called Hamish, and that he was a werewolf and also a college student, that’s sort of where it all began for me.
Because I really had nothing other than a name to go on – and this was really the first time I’d be really responsible for an eight episode character arc – was ask about the general idea of what they were going to do with Hamish’s character. I asked for a blueprint, and they sent me over about a page of backstory. Some of it made it into the show, some of it didn’t, but it was really cool for me to get an idea of who this guy was as a whole. It gave me a little bit of information on his backstory, his family history and his personality, and some of that evolved as I found that in myself. But immediately, I thought it was a dream come true. All of a sudden, I’m playing a werewolf who’s an alpha, senior college student, super smart, spit-in-the-face-of-death warrior. I just couldn’t believe it. It was a great way to start things, and I was immediately invested in the story.
PopHorror: The whole process sounds like fun, from the very beginning to the end of filming. The show is a lot of fun, and I’m glad that you brought that up. What was your favorite part of the actual filming of it? I can only imagine all the stunts and special effects. What made it the most fun?
Thomas Elms: Oh, my gosh. That’s such a tough question for me to answer, because there’s so many parts, and I enjoyed so much. From an acting point of view, it was really fun and incredibly rewarding to work with Adam [DiMarco] and Devery [Jacobs] and Jake [Manley], who were in most of the scenes with me. They’d been at this a little longer than I had, so they really laid out a foundation of experimentation. It was almost like we were so free to suggest things… suggest lines. To try different things and have it not work out, but that’s okay because sometimes it does. And you get these wonderful moments between the group where we all figured out each other’s rhythms. If each character in a wolf pack is a fawn, then there’s a certain way they compliment each other. It’s almost like we’re doing improv while the cameras are rolling, and I’m so incredibly thankful for my awesome castmates for taking the lead on that. Personally, I loved the pure growth that my acting got out of being on this project.
As far as fun is concerned though, there’s a couple of stand out moments for sure, like the bar fight scene, which was probably the highlight for me. We spent maybe like 10+ hours in that hot studio warehouse filming that scene. Everybody’s sweating, laughing, having the best time, breaking tables, smashing glasses and hanging out with stunt people, who were so awesome and crazy. I loved it. I love filming the beer pong scene. Pretty much anything, any time, that I was on set for a work day. I’ve been at my happiest I think I’ve ever been, so all in all, it was just a blast, and I’m so lucky to have such wonderful castmates and such an awesome crew and amazing creative team just to work alongside and grow with, once we all figured out what this thing was going to be.
PopHorror: That’s amazing! Your passion is very inspiring. I really enjoy it! So, what do you have coming up next?
Thomas Elms: Officially, the second season of The Order has been announced, so we’re going to be shooting that later in the year. I’m extremely excited and looking forward to another kick of the can with Hamish.
PopHorror: Heck, yeah!
Thomas Elms: Oh, thank you! I share your enthusiasm. I think it’s going to be great. I can’t wait to see where the story goes. Now that we’ve done all of the expository work with the first season, the world is there. We get it. We understand now, and maybe we can go deeper. There’s so much depth to this universe that they’ve created. I love it. There’s so much ancient history, magic and potential, just a wealth of storytelling that you can get out of a show like this. The fact that everyone’s been giving permission to take bigger risks next time with season two. It’s just going to be such a treat, and I can’t wait to see what happens. For me really, it’s just kind of back to normal life. I have a day job. I go to class. I audition for projects, and I’m really lucky to be submitted for a whole variety of different characters. So, whatever it is that lands in my lap next, I’m certain that it’s going to be just as cool and just as interesting as Hamish is.
PopHorror: If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be?
Thomas Elms: Oh, my God. Anyone in the world?
PopHorror: Yes, what’s your dream collaboration?
Thomas Elms: Oh, my God. What an awesome question. I’d love to act alongside Tom Hardy… Cillian Murphy… I’m a huge Peaky Blinders fan. I mean, wow. I’m not quite prepared for this question. That’s absolutely incredible. I’d love to work on an HBO show. To be honest, if I had my dream opportunity, I’d probably want to be the next Spiderman. I know that’s not quite a collaboration or anything to do with Star Wars. I think that even if I’m in Star Wars 27, it’s still going to be the best thing ever for me.
PopHorror: Hey, with the rate you’re going, you never know where you could be in a few years!
Thomas Elms: I really appreciate the support!
PopHorror: Absolutely! I have one last question that I always like to ask: What is your favorite scary movie?
Thomas Elms: Oh, my gosh. Recently I saw The Witch [read our review here], and that really creeped me out. I wouldn’t say it was full on fear, but there was just a constant feeling of dread, anxiety and uneasiness. Really, really cool. Really creepy. I loved the setting of New England. It was very weird, super religious and a little bit frightening to think that we’re not so far removed from all the superstition and all the magic. It was really quite disturbing. I’m a monster horror kind of guy, so like Eight Legged Freaks… you know, that movie about the down south town that gets invaded by a horde of giant mutated spiders. The Underworld franchise with Kate Beckinsale I think is just so cool. Game of Thrones… again, that science fiction/fantasy that I do have a soft spot for. Name any movie that’s got some cool monsters and some cool action, and I’ll be down.
We want to send a big THANK YOU to Thomas for speaking with us. You can catch The Order right now on Netflix! Keep an eye out for season two coming soon.
