Meet The Turners In S3 Of SERVANT, Interview With Stars Lauren Ambrose & Toby Kebbell

The highly entertaining, disturbing yet wittingly funny Servant returns with its third season soon on Apple TV+.  I was able to speak with stars Toby Kebbell and Lauren Ambrose about the humor, where each of the characters are at as we begin season 3, Toby‘s appreciation for the culinary arts, Lauren‘s for M. Night Shyamalan‘s process, and much more!

This interview has been edited for clarity. 

This is Kristy Strouse with Film Inquiry: Thank you so much for speaking with me today. Really terrific work on the show, I’m very intrigued to see where this goes!

Toby Kebbell: I’m so glad, thank you.

So, let’s talk about Sean. This season there’s kind of a return to “normality” – obviously I put that in air quotes because what is really normal about Servant? [laughs] Where do you see Sean this season, where does he start off? How did he evolve?

Toby Kebbell: You know, at first when I first read the script, I thought to myself “why has he made this big change? What’s going on?” And I think I got a kind of stroke of luck. When I realized that doing some research I was watching some people who really had this happen to them. And even whilst being interviewed for their arrest, they were incapable of acknowledging that it really was real, there was kind of almost a pleading happening with the detectives, interviewing them…that this wasn’t real, right? This isn’t what happened. And the sounds that were coming from the person who thought this is just… heartbreaking that it’s impossible to even acknowledge that it could be real.

So, I use that for what happens to Sean in season three, which is that he latches on to this kind of superstitious behavior and this believing and if I make sure the nanny is okay, and she gets to make decisions for herself, and I’ll interpret for Dorothy and I’ll kind of put that relationship on the back. Which is all he strived for;  is to make sure that relationships are strong and moving forward. He just wants to move past it if there’s any way he can with no real consequences because the consequences already occurred. It’s just too great for him to really fathom. I used that element in the transition of what we see in season three, which is Sean’s growth in his belief system. And, thankfully, when you get through season three, you’ll see a correction in Sean.

But yeah, he really is trying to make sure that this must be what it is, this is “how I keep away from burned hands and losing my sense of smell and taste”, and, you know, “losing my arms and legs”, whatever was gonna happen next to him. So yeah, it was enjoyable. It was tragic, because that’s ultimately really what it is, and he should just face up to the fact that he’s angry at her and angry at himself for his terrible decision to leave right when she needed it the most. That silly belief that like “she’s really strong, and she doesn’t need me and I need a break. I just need a break from hormones” and you know, all that stupidness that happens when you’re misguided. And you just think you need a break, but you can’t fathom what could really occur. So yeah, sorry for the long explanation. But no, but that’s what happened.

That makes total sense! I think denials are pretty strong in this show.

Toby Kebbell: And it does continue in some strange and interesting ways. And then, you know, eventually, we ended up with just an excellent cliffhanger that we had, when I read it, in retreat. I was like, yeah, it’s great. It’s really fun.

It’s interesting. I was actually wondering if you’re as surprised by the turns this show takes as much as the viewer.

Toby Kebbell: Yeah, I actually look forward to it. I am hoping it is how our audience feels watching the show. We are like that on the read-throughs. You know, we are lucky. It’s kind of exactly a week, by the way. It takes us about seven days to shoot an episode. So yeah, it’s exciting. It’s still thrilling!

So, speaking of Sean, the food, the cooking, the drinking and everything in this show is almost like another character. You seem so confident on-screen, are you a secret culinary master? 

Toby Kebbell: I was very lucky. I learned a lot from my mother who was a professional cook. She used to work for people and events and things like that.

I had no idea!

Toby Kebbell: Yes! So, I got very lucky with knife skills very early on. I’d be peeling hundreds of potatoes and carrots and brussel sprouts, and that does something to a person. We were always brought up around cooking. All we ever wanted, of course, was takeout. But my mother refused. “No, no swearing! And no takeout!” That was pretty much my existence as a youngster. [laughs]

So yeah, and luckily, I didn’t hate it, I grew up and I loved it. That was the thing that carried with me wherever I went. And it kind of was good as you spend a lot of time on the road when you’re acting. If you get access to a stove, it’s one way to make sure that no one can mess around with your food, which becomes very important to you as you travel. There’s some nostalgia too, but also, there’s a great practicality to be able to put yourself together a meal, even if it’s, by the way, even if it’s just a sandwich, you know, and you sprinkle a few potato chips on top. That was how I lived.

So yeah, but I have learned a huge amount of skills. I have a bunch of interesting tools in my kitchen that I wouldn’t have had before. Spiral mixers, etc. And my man Drew [Drew Ditomo], that’s how we geek out, we sit together and we go through the recipe, and we’re like, oh, we could do that! Maybe we could color it with beetroot juice! Have you seen the new spiral mixer? And we get one of those! We go through them, I mean, jeez, we baked so much bread and dough for all the pizzas and bread and all that stuff that we actually broke our mixer. We needed a larger one. So, yeah, I’m a big geek about tools and stuff for cooking.

I can tell! And this makes a lot of sense now! That’s why it seems so right in the show.

Toby Kebbell: Yes!

I also love the humor, especially with you and Rupert, I feel like there’s just a really terrific like, back and forth throughout the three seasons. How important do you think that is? With a story like this?

Toby Kebbell: I think it’s really important. And, you know, actually, that was part of the sadness for me personally, when I was reading season three. I was like, ah, that means he’s (Rupert Grint) not cynical anymore! And he’s not, so I love the cynicism he had in season one that kind of drifted away in season two, because of what was affecting him and really putting his priorities in order and thinking, I want my wife and family back, I want to be in that place. So, once that decision started off, obviously, we followed that path to its natural. I love those scenes with Rupert, they’re just my favorite!

I look forward to them every time and this time, Sean gets a bit cruel with Rupert‘s character and it didn’t feel good. We didn’t enjoy it as much, not like the kind of gossiping in the cellar, pretending that we’re doing something else. But yeah, it was there and always so much fun!  I’m lucky I get to joke around with all of the actors, but especially I am trying to make some of the more serious among them like Lauren and Boris, (who plays Uncle George) trying to get those guys to crack off cameras.

Really? I love that!

Toby Kebbell: Yeah!

Would you say the cast has become kind of their own little dysfunctional family at this point?

Toby Kebbell: You know, it’s funny because I think because we’re playing dysfunctional, we’ve all become pretty functional! We’re all pretty good at like looking after each other. “Are you eating? Did you eat something and bring some bread and are having meals together?” We make sure that everyone’s okay, and, Rupert‘s a new father and his family’s there. So, there are all those elements of sharing. I think that’s the thing with art. When you start doing one thing, you tend to go towards the other. That’s where the cracking of jokes behind the scenes, comes in, because it is also serious and melancholy. You know, it’s like, oh, man, I need some fabric softener. [laughs]

You’re the fabric softener! Amazing [laughs] Humor is always important! Well, it’s been lovely talking to you. Thanks again, and stay safe!

This is Kristy Strouse with Film Inquiry: Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me today. I really appreciate it. And love the show. I think you’re incredible in the series. We’ve seen a lot of sides to your character. Where do you say she kind of is in season three?

Lauren Ambrose: In season three, she’s kind of desperately trying to keep everything okay. She just wants so tragically for things to be normal and to sort of enjoy having a baby and enjoy young family life. But you know, this obviously can’t happen for this family because their entire existence is based on the denial of death and the denial of the truth of this tragedy that has befallen them. I’m thinking back over the episodes that we shot, and there are some pretty funny moments and pretty funny episodes of her, just wanting things to be nice.

Yeah, I love that humor is such a big part of the show. It can be pretty dark, suspenseful, but also hilarious!

Lauren Ambrose: You need that! You need the opposite to be in every moment. I think as actors, at least that’s something that I’m looking for, is looking for the shadow or the opposite in every scene. When even throughout all of the misery and tragedy and sorrow and grief that these people are living within and denying, you find comedy wherever possible. And of course, that’s in there. It’s written that way. Tony Basgallop definitely started this series off with his really dark sense of humor, and that’s always been a big part of it. It’s sort of like: Are we allowed to laugh at this? I think that’s true for all the characters, and some of the many actors on the show are really very funny people. Each has their own comedy.

Absolutely! I am just curious, is there any room for a level of improv with the dialogue?

Lauren Ambrose: The dialogue is not particularly improvised, but, we figure out the action and the shots together. But, this show, and this genre, at least this version of the genre, and the way that Night works is very specific, very detail-oriented, very structured. Each of the directors who come in sort of follows that way of working by storyboarding each episode. There’s some room for flexibility obviously, but having a sense of how they’re going to shoot in that’s what sort of gives the show, it has a really cinematic feel and look, and it’s not shot like a traditional TV show in any way.

They are making bold, bold choices wherever they can. So yeah, but that’s there’s not a lot of winging it. I mean, although I will say within the all of those firms structures within that becomes like the opportunity for a lot of freedom as a performer. You can kind of count on those structures to then do some really wild things when the cameras roll. This is where that freedom comes from, or at least I found it to be that way.

I love the attention to detail on the show. It’s pretty incredible. And it’s interesting because it’s also all basically in one location, but yet each room of the house feels like it has its own identity. 

Lauren Ambrose: Yes, it’s very beautiful. Again, every detail of that brownstone, all are detailed by the set designers, and the costumes are very well considered. I think of the brownstone as another character on the show. It is part of that strong framework and structure that we can play within. Like the staircase, I think of that almost as another character. Depending on where you are on the staircase kind of determines your relational status to other characters, same as the hallways – the feeling of walking down those hallways.

Yeah, it’s it’s also kind of lends itself to feeling like a four-person play, I think in our best moments we are like a play with this cutting dialogue and nasty relationship. It kind of branches out slightly, and we get the go outside of it. Of course, there are all the threats that are inherent in opening the door and going outside of what will be found out and the paranoia, the pressure, and the worry of this… these religious cults that’s sort of stalking their lives. It’s also the paranoia of parenthood of opening a door and letting people into your home as the show kind of pursues the terror that comes from that. You know, having to welcome a babysitter, nanny, teacher, whatever, somebody into your life or your child’s life, to bring your kid out into the world and what that means. The fears and horrors that come from outside, that’s sort of a new thing for our show. It’s a little bit outside of the four walls of the house.

Very well said! I think that’s definitely felt in the episodes that I’ve seen, and it is an interesting progression. Speaking of Leanne, by the end of the last season, it seems like you’re really welcoming her into the family. And that’s definitely very explored in season three. How do you see their dynamic? 

Lauren Ambrose: They start off in a very sweet place and a very sort of mother-daughter motherly relational thing where she wants to help this disturbed young woman work through her problems and get past this trauma of her that she’s been through in her childhood. Dorothy doesn’t really understand the extent of it. And you know, it starts off very serenely. But, as Leanne’s problems kind of grow, and she becomes very powerful and willful, Dorothy sees it as more and more disturbed and, that becomes untenable for the house to contain that kind of phrase.

It is not easy to continue to create suspense over the course of a whole movie, let alone a show and this has done it for three seasons now. How do you think it managers to be so effective?

Lauren Ambrose: It’s just a testament to the storytelling and to the conception of this. Also, just all of the collaborators. I’ve never really worked on something where I really do feel like what I’m doing is just one sort of channel of the whole. More than other things because, when I watch, I don’t watch a ton of the stuff I’m in but when I watch this a little bit, I’m shocked about how the tone works and how it becomes scary and what everybody was up to and all the different departments. In this genre, in particular, I have learned is really such collaboration and you know, Night is definitely good at assembling incredible artists around him. He has hired people who are just so good at what they do and bring their artistry to the show and in such a just a beautiful way, with so creative choices. And,  the actors, I love the actors that I get to work with, I feel really honored to share the screen with them and figure the scenes out together. I suppose it’s all of that collaboration that goes into the success of something like this.

Yeah, that’s a wonderful answer. So that’s all the time I have. Thank you again!

We’d like to thank Lauren Ambrose and Toby Kebbell for speaking with us.