Kevin Bacon stars as a bounty hunter enlisted by Satan in new supernatural horror-comedy The Bondsman
As The Bondsman previewed its first eight minutes at SXSW in Austin, Texas, this March, showrunner Erik Oleson let out a sigh of relief. “To see the audience hoot, holler and laugh in all the right places, I was like, ‘Phew!’” he says. That an audience would immediately take to Kevin Bacon as an acerbic bounty hunter, who is murdered in the first minutes of the series, only to return from Hell with a mission from the devil himself, is perhaps no surprise. But in a pop-culture environment where most new shows are based on pre-existing intellectual property, the showrunner of Carnival Row and Daredevil knows the risk of bringing something original to the screen.
That said, when OIeson first read Grainger David’s script, he was hooked. “It’s just a rollicking crazy ride,” he says. “You go on a journey where you don’t know what’s coming next. Those are the kinds of shows that I love doing, the genre mashup.” With Davis from Georgia and Oleson from Virginia, the two sought to inject some Appalachian vibes into an action-packed story about what lengths one will go to for family. “I would call it a mashup of comedy horror, Appalachian noir, action and supernatural silliness,” says Oleson. “It has themes like the power of second chances, it has heart and soul and is meant to appeal to everyone in a time when the world outside is pretty crazy.”
At the centre of it is Hub Halloran (Bacon), a man who has made his fair share of mistakes. “Hub is kind of a man child,” describes Oleson. “Somebody Kevin Bacon’s age who’s still living in his mother’s garage, a failed musician-turned-bounty hunter, who is suddenly called out for his sinful behavior when he’s killed unexpectedly and comes back with a chance to gain redemption.” While it was Bacon who came to Oleson with the project, the producer can’t think of anyone better to play this character. “Kevin brings his impish charm to the role, where you’re rooting for him, no matter how much of a s*** he is at times,” he says. “It’s fun to watch a lead character who doesn’t necessarily do the right thing, and might just be looking out for himself. That’s the part that makes it really unpredictable.”
Bacon is surrounded by a stellar cast of character actors that either serve to aid or hinder his mission. Hub’s ex-wife Maryanne is played by Jennifer Nettles, the lead vocalist of country duo Sugarland, who has demonstrated her acting skills on shows like Underground and The Righteous Gemstones. “When I heard her sing, I was just like, ‘Holy smoke, this is out of control,’” recalls Oleson. “She ended up becoming a huge coup for us. And one of the greatest experiences of any showrunner is when cast members become friends offscreen, and Kevin and Jen became real-life friends and made a record together while we were making the show.”
Hub’s mother Kitty is portrayed by The Mindy Project’s Beth Grant, whose take-no-prisoners attitude is based on Oleson’s own grandmother. “Rarely do you get a chance to see a character go hunt demons with his mother,” says Oleson. “Kitty is such a fun character. She’s a moral centre of the show, a woman with her own sinful past who’s conquered some of those demons and become a woman of faith who feels upset that her son has somehow ended up being sent to hell and back as the devil’s bondsman. This is all a big head scratcher for her. But the chemistry between Kevin and Beth Grant is crazy.”
The group is rounded out by Maxwell Jenkins (Lost in Space) as Hub and Maryanne’s son, an aspiring musician struggling to follow in his parents’ footsteps. Damon Herriman (who played Charles Manson in both Mindhunter and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) joins the cast as Maryanne’s boyfriend. “He’s a former Boston mobster who has tried to turn over a new leaf and finding his own redemption in supporting the ex-wife of Hub Halloran — and he just ends up with the worst psycho ex-boyfriend from hell, quite literally,” says Oleson. Last but not least, is The White Lotus’ Jolene Purdy as Midge, the devil’s representative on Earth. “I wanted to have someone who would be the polar opposite of what you would expect, and the idea that she is Kevin Bacon’s supervisor from Hell was just so bizarre,” says Oleson. “We immediately fell in love with the idea of it.” With all the elements in place, Oleson hopes the audience will take to the bizarre premise. “I think it’s going to appeal to the Blumhouse horror fans, but it’s also a complicated, messy marriage story,” he says. “If you think you’re going to go into a scene with blood and guts, you’re going to end up coming out of that scene laughing. And if you expect to laugh, you’re going to end up in a heartfelt romance scene. I don’t want it to be a predictable ride. Basically, my goal was to make a show where the audience looked at each other at the end of it and said, ‘What the f***?’ with a big smile on their faces.”
The Bondsman, streaming on Prime Video