Pop Culturalist Chats with Burkely Duffield

Burkely Duffield is the star of Freeform’s addictive new sci-fi drama, Beyond. He plays the lead character, Holden, who wakes up from a coma after 12 years and discovers he has abilities. It’s a show that’ll have you on the edge of your seats and one you’ll want to binge-watch. And, guess what! You’ll be able to. Beyond is Freeform’s first binge-from-the-start show and all ten episodes will be available following the premiere on January 2nd. Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to chat with this rising talent about the show and what fans can expect.

Beyond Questions

PC: Your character faces a lot of obstacles on the show: He just woke up from a twelve-year coma, which would be enough of a premise for a show already. But, he also discovers he has new abilities. What was the most challenging part about playing Holden and how did you prepare for the role?
Burkely: One of the challenging parts, which was also one of the fun parts, was really trying to preserve that innocence and sense of discovery that Holden has when he walks into any room and interprets any situation. It was a fun challenge of my job to try to preserve that sort of childlike discovery when putting Holden in any situation.

PC: Did you feel any pressure being the lead character on the show?
Burkely: Inherently, I believe there’s a lot of responsibility on attacking your lines as well as setting a tone; and how you interact with people. It was a responsibility, but I couldn’t ask for anything more. I loved the opportunity and it was really an amazing experience accomplishing that everyday—to be able to portray such an awesome character on screen. I feel so honored to be able to really bring the character to life.

PC: What would you say is Holden’s greatest strength/weakness?
Burkely: I think his greatest strength would be his passion. Honestly, I believe it’s a bit of a double-edged sword there because one of his strongest characteristics, even as he grows up, is his passion for what he loves and who he loves. He really wants to take care of his family and friends. Unfortunately, with him, it puts him in some dangerous situations. Sometimes it is his weakness and can cause him to put himself in harm’s way. You can only hope that he is going to come out on the other side still feeling alright, even though he went in with the right intention.

PC: How do you think you would handle that situation? If you were waking up from a coma, what would be the first thing that you would do? Reconnect with your family…?
Burkely: Yeah! I think I would reconnect with them for sure; they would be the ones I suppose who would be rushed in to see you; and my friends, I have a friend group that I spend a lot of time with. Beyond that, I think I’d grab a pizza slice because I hadn’t had pizza for 12 years and that’s something I would need to remedy right away.

PC: Is that your guilty pleasure food?
Burkely: I would say so. From when I was young, and you get that child-like wonderment for pizza…I still do that to this day. A pizza slice is just—you can’t get much better than that really.

PC: Did you have New York slice while you were at New York Comic Con?
Burkely: I did not. I didn’t have the opportunity to. I do need to eat my way around the world though and have a pizza slice everywhere I go. I am all for finding the best slice of pizza in the world.

PC: It’s established pretty early on in the show that Holden should be wary of everybody. Does that include his family?
Burkely: I think it’s a universal warning. Unfortunately, his family is a group of people at the end of the day he doesn’t know after 12 years… His brother has gone from a little boy who’s watching the dog to someone who’s in college. Even his parents have grown up over 12 years. He needs to be very skeptical about who he can trust.

PC: There’s an interesting dynamic between Holden and his brother because he’s the older brother but he’s also now relearning and re-experiencing everything. Can you talk a little bit about that?
Burkely: Of course. It’s an interesting dynamic, as you’ve said, between the brothers where it’s sort of a funny mismatch. Now Holden—still obviously being the older brother—the other brother will probably always look up to him. Luke (played by Jonathan) is sort of the older brother in mind, where he has grown up and experienced the world and is more of a young adult really than Holden is (who sees himself as a kid still). They do have sort of a mismatched older to younger brother relationship and I think that they’re going to try to help each other out and sort of get to know each other a lot better.

PC: The show has a lot of special effects. Was there a particular scene that you saw maybe in post-production that really made you say, “Wow!”?
Burkely: So many. Too many to count. We certainly do have a lot of special effects and practical effects that involve cars and all the amazing things that we have on set, as well as a very talented visual effects team that has been doing unbelievable work to create these environments and all the stuff that we couldn’t do practically. There are times throughout the season, let alone each episode, that I think audiences, as well as myself, are really going to be wowed by what our teams were able to do.

PC: Were those your favorite scenes to do?
Burkely: I love all of that kind of stuff, whether it be the action stuff or watching someone fly through the air, which is really cool, or to be able to act on a greenscreen and be able to have these larger than life objects or worlds or beings be around that are created for our show. It is a very cool opportunity to be able to sort of imagine and work with—on the day—nothing; but you’ll see it onscreen as really something cool.

PC: It was announced at New York Comic-Con that the entire season of Beyond’s going to be available to stream following the premiere. It’s Freeform’s first binge-from-the-start show. When did you find out they were planning this and how gratifying is it to be a part of this huge milestone?
Burkely: It is unbelievable. We’re so happy to be able to be giving audiences this opportunity. I love being able to binge-watch shows, in general. To be able to give audiences that opportunity is going to be great. I think Beyond really does take you on a journey, and the flow of our episodes is really such a cool crescendo for characters and for action and for sci-fi. I think we’re going to keep everyone on the edge of their seats; and to be able to give them a little bit more and to give them the whole season if they feel like it, I think it’s something people are going to take advantage of.

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

PC: What’s your guilty pleasure TV show?
Burkely: Westworld. I’m into that right now.

PC: Guilty pleasure movie?
Burkely: Star Wars because I’ve watched those movies so many times.

PC: A favorite book?
Burkely: I’m going to say scripts for right now because I’ve had so many cool scripts these days.

PC: A favorite musical or play?
Burkely: In my childhood, I actually did a couple of numbers from the musical, Hairspray. So, I would say Hairspray.

PC: Do you have a favorite social media platform?
Burkely: Instagram and Twitter. I like them both for different reasons.

PC: Hidden talent?
Burkely: I would say the ability to binge-watch shows for extended periods of time.

Make sure to follow Burkely on Twitter and Instagram. And, check out Beyond, every Monday at 9PM/8C on Freeform. If you want to binge-watch the entire season (I know you do), it’s available on the Freeform App, Freeform.com, Hulu, and On Demand.