Pop Culturalist Chat with Sacred Lies’ Kevin Carroll

Kevin Carroll’s career has been impressive to say the least. He’s best known for playing John Murphy on HBO’s The Leftovers and his recurring role as Alton Saint on FX’s critically-acclaimed series, Snowfall. This summer, he starred in the blockbuster hit, Blindspotting, and is continuing his momentum starring opposite Elena Kampouris and Kiana Madeira in Facebook Watch’s Sacred Lies. Based on the classic Brothers Grim tale, The Handless Maiden, and Stephanie Oakes’ novel, The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly, Sacred Lies is a supernatural thriller about a handless teen who is suspected of killing her cult leader. Kevin’s character, Dr. Wilson, is a forensic psychologist working with the FBI to solve this mystery.

PC: Tell us about Sacred Lies, your character, and what drew you to this project.
Kevin: Sacred Lies is a 10-part series made for Facebook Watch, which stemmed from Raelle Tucker’s inspiration from a book written by Stephanie Oakes. Initially, Stephanie had an assignment in a writing class to write a story based on a fairytale. Her mother just happened to have a book of fairy tales and tossed it to her and told her to see if anything tickled her fancy. She opened up to a Brothers Grimm fairytale known as the Handless Maiden, so Stephanie reimagined it and wrote her story, which she ended up turning into a book. After her first novel was published, Raelle Tucker (our producer) happened upon it, connected with it, and she went on to option it.


I play Dr. Wilson. I think of him as a father and husband who is a forensic psychologist. We see him at a challenging time when he’s having to balance life and work.

Some projects you find and some projects find you. I definitely feel like this project found me.

PC: How familiar were you with the source material before you joined the series?
Kevin: I had heard of Brothers Grimm but had not had any recent run-ins with the material. They’re actually really dark tales.

PC: Was it a challenge to make Dr. Alan Wilson your own while staying true to the novel?
Kevin: We were working from Raelle’s vision of these characters, which is closely drawn from the characters in the book. Raelle stayed true to the essence of the characters and built on aspects of the story.

PC: What can you tease about your character’s arc this season?
Kevin: That’s tricky. This show is getting such insightful fans that every little thing feels like a spoiler. I’d say tune in to watch Dr. Wilson work on this case with Minnow Bly and see if it changes him.

PC: How does his relationship with Minnow change/evolve?
Kevin: I think that is the essential question of the show. That is what I am hoping Sacred Lies fans continue to discuss on the Facebook Watch fan page for the show, so I am going to wait to get into that. I may answer that in a live session on Facebook Watch.

PC: How are platforms like Facebook Watch changing the industry?
Kevin: That’s a good question. I think these other platforms are continuing to push the envelope by making the viewing experience more communal. They are able to give quite a bit of insight to the creative teams, actors, and the process in general. Facebook Watch gives us the capability to connect with folks almost immediately. It gives more ownership to the way that the content is digested. People can watch whenever they want and send episodes directly to someone else’s feed and then people in that person’s feed can watch the show once it’s uploaded.


PC: If you had to describe the first season in five words, what would they be?
Kevin: Powerful females passionately owning destiny.

PC: Besides Sacred Lies, do you have any other upcoming projects that you can chat about?
Kevin: I recur on Snowfall this season as Franklin Saint’s (Damson Idris) father. For fans of the show, they are in for a real ride with Franklin’s journey this season. It was great to be in and out of that cast and it is exciting to see where they go with the story. I dropped into Blindspotting, as well. Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal have been working on that movie for quite some time, so I’m happy that they were able to get that done, stay woke, and have it hold the mirror up to culture with their personal truths being part of what is reflected.

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

PC: Guilty pleasure TV show?
Kevin: Naked and Afraid

PC: Guilty pleasure movie?
Kevin: Which Way is Up

PC: Favorite book?
Kevin: I’m going to try to option a book so I’ll let you know.

PC: Favorite play or musical?
Kevin: Hamilton

PC: A band or artist that fans would be surprised to learn is on your playlist?
Kevin: Gotan Project Santa Maria

PC: Last show you binge-watched?
Kevin: Ozark

PC: Hidden talent?
Kevin: Pet chef

Make sure to follow Kevin on Twitter and Instagram, and binge-watch Sacred Lies on Facebook Watch today.

Photo Credit: Gray Hamner / Stylist: Jennifer Austin / Grooming: Mynxxi White