Calgary's Steven Ogg returns to the dead (sort of) in Revival

Calgary Herald

2 days ago

Steven Ogg first heard about the new supernatural-horror series Revival when he received a flattering note from co-creator Aaron B. Koontz, who told him that he wanted the Calgary-raised actor to take on the role of the wonderfully named Blaine Abel.
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It's the sort of note that every actor would love to receive.
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'He actually wrote a really lovely letter to me,' says Ogg, in an interview with Postmedia from Montreal. 'I find it interesting when people approach with, 'Well, I know I could never afford you,' or 'You're too busy.' Of course, neither is the truth. But he had written a letter saying he was a big fan of my work and wanted to chat with me about if I was available. It was just a really lovely letter that moved me to tears, with him being so gracious and lovely. I spoke to him and he described the concept of the show, and then he also said this character was a preacher, a preacher's son. That opportunity to play a preacher, I was already interested. They had my interest with that.'
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Revival, which was filmed in New Brunswick and is currently airing Thursdays on Syfy, is based on the comic book series of the same name by Tim Seeley and Mike Norton. It's a novel take on the undead subgenre. In a small Wisconsin town, the recently deceased are resurrected on Revival Day and appear to maintain their memories and personalities. So they are not really the 'undead,' but mysterious 'Revivers' who divide the small town. At the centre of the show is a murder mystery that finds our protagonist, single mother and cop Dana Cypress, played by Wynonna Earp's Melanie Scrofano, investigating the death of her troubled sister Em, played by Romy Weltman. Em, like many of the recently departed, doesn't stay dead for long.
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While the Hollywood Reporter described the series as Syfy's midwestern zombie mystery, the Revivers are not the mushy-brained nuisances of the variety Ogg faced as Walking Dead chief antagonist Simon in seasons 6 through 8 of AMC's The Walking Dead. Nevertheless, Blaine Abel considers them to be demons and the work of Satan. He begins to attract a cult-like following among the townsfolk and, at least as of episode 3, is setting the stage for what he calls a 'holy war.'
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For now, it's hard to tell if Blaine will become a full-blown villain in the show. Ogg has a talent for playing bad guys, of course. He not only played Simon in The Walking Dead, but also a murderous synthetic android named Rebus in HBO's Westworld. He is also adept at playing characters that reside in a morally ambiguous grey zone, such as Pike, the former criminal turned rebel leader in TNT's runaway-train sci-fi series Snowpiercer. Whatever the case, Ogg traded in his trademark facial hair for a stringy mullet to play Blaine, and he manages to exude maximum creepiness in the role.
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'We collaborated quite easily and effortlessly, and he became more of this character who, as you will see, progressed throughout the series, and literally and figuratively becomes bigger,' Ogg says. 'Revival Day, for Blaine, gives him this mission in life to save souls, essentially. The Revivers are the devil's children for him. So it really brings back this passion and devoutness to a cause. That all appealed to me. When you get to speak verse from the Bible, it's Shakespeare in a sense with the language. So all of that was super exciting for me.'