Warren Kole Introduces The Following Fans to Roderick: What's His Agenda?

After weeks of hype, the mysterious Roderick finally showed up on The Following last week, helping Joe Carroll with his master plan.

The character, played by Warren Kole, quickly showed the length of his devotion by leading the charge in torturing Agent Weston, as well as revealing that he likes his sex, in a word, rough.

Just how devoted is Roderick to Joe? Does he have his own agenda? Is there jealousy with Emma now that she’s slept with Joe? Kole jumped on the phone with me last week to tease tonight’s all-new episode...

TV Fanatic: We found out last week that Joe took the blame for some murders that Roderick did and that is part of their relationship. Does that come up again in the show or is that just really to give us some back story?
WK: It might come up again. I think these flashbacks are an effort to give a little tease here and there and uncover more and more how these guys came together and how they are the way they are. The flashbacks help do that.

TVF: Does Roderick have his own objectives or is he there 100 percent for Joe?
WK: I think it's impossible to go in there and play a character that doesn't have his own objectives. Of course, these are all pretty selfish people. They don't have any real feelings. The realest feeling so far is the loyalty that Roderick feels for Joe but that doesn't mean it doesn't serve a selfish purpose in the end.

Why is he doing the things he's doing? Just to please Joe? Maybe, but maybe he's got his own plan in mind and it involves Joe…and once all the perfect pieces are in place, what will happen then? But yeah, of course, everyone's got what they want and everyone has a way of reacting when they don't get what they want. And we'll see that from Roderick.

TVF: We know Roderick's got a violent streak. Do you think the violence in him is something he can control, or does it often control him?
WK: I think it can control him. I think he can become a servant to his darker impulses once the façade cracks a bit but if he's not feeling enough, he'll resort to being explosive and impulsive and finding some sort of chaos through violence and outbursts. I think he's a little unpredictable

TVF: In the final scene of last week’s episode, there’s a cross-cutting between Joe with Emma, which is a little more sensual, and then of course Roderick having this very rough and violent sex. What do you make of the way they cut that together?
WK: I think we have a really great staff of editors working on the show and they came up with a great way of telling the story and creating that moment and preparing these two guys, and showing that this ritualist murder that happened just beforehand excites these animals and that was sort of an expression of all that excitement.

TVF: The teaser for this week’s episode (below) has Roderick confronting Emma about her communicating with Jacob and/or Paul. Does he want to have something over her?
WK: I think, yeah. Roderick is exploring his possibilities and his leverage, now that the power dynamic is shifting a little with Joe in the house. I think he gets the chance to express some of his personal philosophies in the next episode and maybe he sees something in Emma that he has to control a little bit.

TVF: Is jealousy a part of that at all, if he sees that Emma is getting closer to Joe and he feels threatened maybe?
WK: Maybe. I imagine he does. He’s probably a pretty perceptive guy.

TVF: Do we find out what Roderick's Achilles heel is? His weakness?
WK: Perhaps you're seeing more than you realized. Maybe his strengths are the same as his weaknesses. Maybe it's all woven together a little more subtly than we realize because his loyalty appears to be his strength, his loyalty to a mission, some greater purpose. And maybe that's just the same solid ground that as it starts to crumble a little bit [and] will expose just how fragile this creature is. This little creation of Joe's is only as strong as Joe's faith and Joe's willingness to keep the creation together. Maybe it's one of the same.

TVF: Also in this week’s episode, Joe and his followers on the hunt to find Claire, Joe's ex-wife. Is that something that Roderick is going to still be heading up?
WK: I think Roderick realizes Joe wants his family together and [Roderick will] be leading the charge on that. He's the lieutenant on this in the chain of command.

TVF: We know Roderick is the sheriff of the town. Do we ever see the town or the people in it?
WK: It would be a shame if we didn't see any of the town. I think it deserves some attention. I hope it really gets some.

TVF: Now tell me, I guess as an actor, when you step into a role like this on a show like this, is there a different preparation because it's so intense and so dark?
WK: Yeah. It's much a different. And a lot of those are just by understanding the page and the tone of what you're stepping into. Common Law is a fast, fluffy, light, sort of parody or show that took all the cop shows and turned everything on its ear. The Following is this sort of hyper-realistic, darker show and you’ve got to adjust to that and you have to take your time a little bit more and explore the more passive sort of side of storytelling and once you get in touch with that and catch up with what the creators and the crew and the directors and writers are doing, it's great exercise.

TVF: Well, I'm guessing if you wanted a different role for Common Law, you've found it.
WK: There's no harm in mixing it up a little bit.

Jim Halterman is the West Coast Editor of TV Fanatic and the owner of JimHalterman.com. Follow him on Twitter.