Tom Blyth's Heartfelt Return in 'Billy The Kid' Season 2: Part 2

[00:00:00] Tom, thank you for joining me today on Pop Culture Unplugged.

[00:00:12] Elias, thank you so much for having me.

[00:00:14] Exciting times my friend.

[00:00:16] We have season two part two man.

[00:00:18] I love the story so far and I love the way you portray this character.

[00:00:21] Let's jump on with season two dives into the Lincoln County War.

[00:00:25] I'm curious, how do you prepare to play Billy in a period like this?

[00:00:30] Yeah, I mean it's funny.

[00:00:32] I've seen the poster you have behind you and it's like, I'm thinking about him now versus

[00:00:37] season one and it's like this season he's just so much more determined.

[00:00:41] He's got so much more composure and that was kind of always the aim was to kind of watch

[00:00:46] his progression from the kid, from the teenager in the West kind of learning the ways to someone

[00:00:53] who's becoming a man and kind of has a lust for revenge for his lost ones.

[00:01:00] So yeah, a lot of that was just kind of tracking the progression and stepping into who he is

[00:01:04] in season two.

[00:01:05] You mentioned about stepping in and everything.

[00:01:08] What did you find most challenging about this season between he's caught in commercial rivals

[00:01:15] and lawless cowboy gangs?

[00:01:18] The most difficult?

[00:01:21] I mean honestly the most difficult part of part two coming up was the cold man.

[00:01:26] It was so cold.

[00:01:28] It was like 30 below freezing and you could feel it.

[00:01:34] You could feel the icicles on the end of your nose.

[00:01:36] You could feel your breath freezing in your lungs the minute you breathed out and we had

[00:01:42] to kind of fight through that but watching it back I'm like this is so cool.

[00:01:46] It adds such an elemental aspect that we had before because we had the heat but it's so

[00:01:51] cool to see it in a different light literally.

[00:01:54] There were scenes where we're talking with the enemy on horseback and there's a blizzard

[00:02:00] like altering our faces or we're doing a chase scene on horseback and we're like slipping

[00:02:04] on the ice and it just adds this element of danger.

[00:02:08] So that was extremely difficult in season two part two but I think it paid off big time

[00:02:13] and I think it adds a new layer to the show.

[00:02:17] How do you try to stay balanced to play this character?

[00:02:20] With the historical facts trying to stay true to this character?

[00:02:24] Yeah, I mean it's always a fine line between kind of being a servant to the history and

[00:02:29] being too like shackled to being truthful to the history versus having a bit of freedom

[00:02:38] to try and portray it in your version you know to bring it to light.

[00:02:44] And I think we found a fine line.

[00:02:46] We find a balance between that actually now in season two whereby we are trying to honor

[00:02:53] the history and do right by it but at the same time it's like a dramatization and we're

[00:02:56] able to delve into imagination and aspects of his story that we don't really know about

[00:03:03] and so it actually gives you freedom to really play and make him your own.

[00:03:09] Does it take any like physical toll on you like playing like my favorite parts of these

[00:03:12] series too is like the wild chases, the shootouts.

[00:03:15] Like how do you like physically get into like a scene like that?

[00:03:20] Oh man, I mean I try and for Billy now I learned my lesson the hard way in the first season

[00:03:25] to have ice baths at the end of every day because like you know I do I like to do all

[00:03:29] my own stunts as much as humanly possible which is on this show most of them.

[00:03:34] Ninety five percent of them I'm doing myself and I yeah I was pretty fit in season one

[00:03:40] but season two I made it a mission to get in really good shape so I worked with a trainer

[00:03:45] and stuff and was taking good care of my body eating better and it definitely paid off because

[00:03:51] the season's really physical.

[00:03:53] Part one there's a ton of chases, a ton of shootouts.

[00:03:56] Part two there's even more like big fight sequences, big shootouts so it's really important

[00:04:01] just like being in good shape for that and it you know it allows you to play Billy as

[00:04:06] like kind of a Superman he's like a like a he's a badass Western hero.

[00:04:10] Yeah.

[00:04:12] Amazing.

[00:04:13] Last question what are you hoping for with the viewers tuning in for the second part

[00:04:16] of the season?

[00:04:17] What are you hoping to get out of it?

[00:04:18] I think they're gonna see Billy like really stepping into the big shoes he's like stepping

[00:04:22] into the big boy shoes now.

[00:04:25] Topsail's unfortunately no longer with us and because of that he has to step up and

[00:04:29] become the leader of the regulators against his will he doesn't really want to but he's

[00:04:34] gonna have to and also he's gonna you know seek revenge for his for his mentor and in

[00:04:40] that I think people are gonna find it really exciting to kind of see him really unleash

[00:04:45] his full potential on his which is the house and Jesse's gang and I think that's gonna

[00:04:51] be thrilling to watch.

[00:04:52] Amazing.

[00:04:53] Tom I want to thank you after giving a few minutes today on press day and good luck

[00:04:56] with the series hopefully we get to see you season three soon.

[00:04:59] Yeah I hope so man you me too thank you so much.

[00:05:01] Have a great day.

[00:05:02] You too speak soon.