Editor’s note: This interview with talent was conducted prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike that officially began on July 14, 2023
If Max’s new series Full Circle doesn’t do anything else it will surely keep you on the edge of your seat.
From director Steven Soderbergh and writer Ed Solomon, the latest limited series is one that requires your full undivided attention after a botched kidnapping uncovers what seems like centuries-long secrets that connect each character and finds itself bridging the gap between Guyana and New York.
The very first episode immediately brings viewers into the chaos that ensues when the wrong family member is left in charge. In this case, that person is Aked (Jharrel Jerome), the nephew of Savitri Mahabir (CCH Pounder), the creator of a kidnap plot cloaked in revenge.
However, there’s one problem. Aked is the last person who should have been left to orchestrate the plan and could very well be the reason things go awry leaving those watching to begin quite the ride to putting together the pieces.
With a lost view of the world, Jerome describes his character as “just a crazy, toxic nutcase.”
“I think, [he’s] a kid who has strong values that we all believe in,” Jerome told Shadow and Act. “Which is, you know, family values and love for blood, but that can be misconstrued in a lot of ways and there could be a toxicity that lies behind that. I think there’s more of a desperate love that lies behind them and this desperation of feeling seen and being heard. And, you know, all of the characters I think have at least one person they can talk to, and Aked really just sits in the middle…sitting alone, with either somebody telling him what to do or telling him that he’s a little off the deep end so he’s a very loud character.”
Similarly, Mel Harmony (Zazie Beetz) is another eclectic person playing a role in the bigger picture of Full Circle, but she is on the opposite end as one of two U.S. postal inspectors assigned to the kidnapping debacle.
“She is a detectivie who is sensitive, intelligent and combative,” said Beetz of her character.
“She is a detectivie who is sensitive, intelligent and combative,” said Beetz of her character. “I think that she gets more involved emotionally and literally into things that she shouldn’t be involved in, but then also can put herself into danger because she’s enmeshing herself in something that maybe she shouldn’t be in. But, I also think it’s a mix of ambition and genuinely wanting to figure out what’s going on, which is her curiosity, that it’s also sort of self-serving her own desire to be validated in her workspace.”
What’s more, a true ensemble piece, Full Circle features the stories of various characters of all dynamics near and far that ultimately intertwine and fold into the larger picture of how one major (and sometimes wrong) decision can affect people for years upon years.
The first two episodes of Full Circle are now available for streaming via Max, with new double episodes dropping weekly leading up to the finale on Thursday, July 27.
