Pic from Mutant X Lives
John Shea: SciFi Weekly
John Shea Extols Mutant X
John Shea, star of the new syndicated SF series Mutant X, told SCI FI Wire that he signed because, after several years of work in stage plays and independent features, it was time to find a high-profile job. "In the cycle of my life, what I've done over the last 25 years is go in and out of commercial work," the actor said in an interview. "When Mutant X was offered to me, it seemed like the natural evolution of the cycle, back to the commercial end, back to where I'd been with Lois & Clark."
Genre fans will remember that Shea co-starred as Lex Luthor on Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. After that, he spent five years appearing in Broadway and off-Broadway shows, as well as in numerous independent films—among them the drama Southie, which he co-wrote, directed and acted in opposite Charmed's Rose McGowan. Shea's other genre credits include Tales from the Crypt, The Man from Atlantis, Freejack, Honey, I Blew Up the Kid and the upcoming indie film The Empath. Now he's on board for Mutant X, a series with a guaranteed run of 44 episodes.
On Mutant X, Shea plays Adam, a wealthy scientist who unwittingly partook in experiments that resulted in the creation of 1,000 genetically enhanced mutants. Seeking to right the situation, Adam oversees Mutant X, a group that operates in secret, attempting to recruit mutants to its cause; save mutants from the clutches of the Genetic Security Agency and its malevolent security chief, Mason Eckhart (Tom McManus), who is determined to eliminate all mutants before society takes note of them; and, in the process, protect mankind from renegade mutants.
"I didn't want to repeat myself and play another villain" like Luthor, Shea said. "What I like about Adam is that he's sort of an antihero. He's a wounded idealist, which is something I could relate to. And he's clearly the hero of the piece, or one of the heroes. He's on the run from the government and hiding underground. I liked that he's a complicated modern hero who's not so clearly black and white. I also met with [producer] Jamie Paul Rock and Howard Chaykin, the head writer, and I liked their take on what they promised would come. They said Mutant X would become an ensemble piece that would deal with some fairly serious issues and, at the same time, be enormously entertaining and broadly popular. I thought if I was going to be back in the world of television, I wanted to be in something that would be a hit, and this will be on the air for at least two years."
Shea added, "That also gave them the luxury of planning the evolution of my character and the show. So it wasn't a normal TV series situation. You weren't making a pilot and hoping it would get picked up for six episodes or 13 episodes and then another nine. This was an extraordinary opportunity: to know that you'd get to go out and shoot 44 shows, that there was an extraordinary production behind it that would allow the material to develop. So, everything considered, it made sense to me." Mutant X airs its second episode the week of Oct. 8.
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