While it may not be the MOONLIGHT revival that fans were hoping for (or to be more specific, that one really dedicated fan who is single-handedly keeping the “Save MOONLIGHT” campaign alive by inundating my email box with bi-weekly emails), star Alex O’Loughlin is making a return to the small screen this evening on a very special, not to mention intensily creepy episode of CRIMINAL MINDS. And here to talk about tonight’s role with your very own TV Addict, in between shooting his new CBS pilot (THREE RIVERS) and his upcoming romantic comedy opposite Jennifer Lopez is the immortal one himself, Alex O’Loughlin.
Before we get into your guest appearance on tonight’s CRIMINAL MINDS, I of course have to first ask about MOONLIGHT. Were you surprised it was cancelled?
Alex O’Loughlin: Yes and no. It was a tough show for everybody in a sense that it was a high maintenance girlfriend. You love her, she’s great in bed but it takes so much of your time to appease her [laughs] that you’re left going, “Okay, is this worth the end result.” From the very beginning, there were huge amounts of changes: Five different showrunners, from the early days when it was Twilight we fired everyone, recast the show, reshot the pilot, called it MOONLIGHT, changed the showrunner. [Producer] Joel Silver and the network were butting heads constantly about the creative direction of the show. It was a lot of stuff to deal with behind the camera, maybe too much in fact. But to answer your question, I was surprised we were canceled because it was doing so well.
On tonight’s CRIMINAL MINDS, you play Vincent, a serial killer who couldn’t be more different than MOONLIGHT’s Mick St. John. How did this guest appearance come about, and did you purposely look for a role that was Mick’s polar opposite?
In terms of CRIMINAL MINDS specifically, the writer, Simon [Mirren] is a great friend of mine, and he said, “listen, I’m writing a role with you in mind. Would you read it,” and I did and the rest is history. I love playing different roles, the more variety the better. Once I’ve played a role I don’t want to play it again.