FX’s hit vampire drama The Strain is careening toward its final three episodes of the season, and Kevin Durand’s portrayal of former city exterminator Vasiliy Fet continues to be one of the show’s high points. The character has quickly become a fan favorite – which led to a very tense moment in a recent episode where it seemed like Fet might have become infected with the virus.
Last week, during a conference call with fellow journalists, we had the opportunity to chat with Kevin Durand about his experiences working on the first two seasons, and his character’s love of a particular weapon. Check it out below.
Can you tell us about your favorite fight scene or action scene from this season?
Kevin Durand: That’s a hard one to pinpoint. I really liked doing the scenes with Natalie Brown, where Fet tangles it up with the mother of all suckers. That was really fun. We’re good friends, and Natalie had been training really hard for a long time – she took it really, really seriously. She was like “I’m going up against the Canadian giant, so let’s get it on.” She really brought it, it was really fun.
But I love every bit of action I get to do. I love being physical, especially with this character, because he goes from 0 to 300 miles an hour in the space of the second. He’s just got this deep, embedded warrior rage that just comes out of some really deep places. It’s just fun to play.
You mentioned that Fet can taps into a deep rage, but when he’s with Setrakian, he’s a sweeter, quieter character. Can you talk a little bit about that relationship with Setrakian?
Kevin Durand: Fet is a survivor – if he was on his own, I believe he’d still be alive. He’d be finding ways to survive, he’d be finding different ways to kill [the strigoi]. I think he and Setrakian are so similar in that sense, and he just genuinely connects with the old fella, as I do with David in real life. But Fet’s a smart guy, he’s pragmatic, and he knows that [Setrakian] has over 60 years of knowledge that he’s been compiling, and Fet is just learning from him. And Setrakian is so pleased to pass down that knowledge, as well, as they forge ahead.
But the tender side? I think he’s just a man with a very big spectrum, and he’s gentle with people that have earned that gentleness. But he can turn on a dime as well.
Fet has gone through a lot in his relationship with Dutch. Things started off very passionately, but the introduction of Nikki threw things into a spin. Do you think he’ll try to win Dutch back, or is he going back to just being very nonchalant about the whole thing?
Kevin Durand: I don’t think Fet is the type of guy who believes in fighting for lost causes. If this is how she feels and this is what she wants, then he’s just gonna let her find her way. It doesn’t minimize what he feels for her – and also, there’s the fact that they’re in the midst of a vampocalypse. I just don’t think he’s going to fight for her if she doesn’t want him back. If she wants to come back, she’s probably going to have to win him over.
What is it about the rebar that Fet loves so much? A lot of the characters on the show use guns, but Fet loves to just get in close and bash things with the rebar. What is that all about?
Kevin Durand: I think that just goes back to his roots, it’s the weapon that he’s most comfortable with. He was using rebar while exterminating vermin in all five boroughs of New York – he’s kind of an ninja with that thing. Rebar doesn’t bend, as he said in one episode, and it packs a punch – he can really cause some major damage with that thing. You hand him a sword, or a gun, or a nail gun, or you hand him anything else, and he can get the job done. But those are not his weapons of choice, because they’re not the ones that he’s been working with for years.
This season, Fet and Setrakian have a sort of father and son relationship, but also sort of a bromance. I know that you and David Bradley have become good friends offscreen, so I was curious how your real-life relationship has informed the relationship between your characters.
Kevin Durand: At the start of the second season, Dave got a hold of me and asked where we were living. And I told him, and he said “well, maybe we should live close to each other.” And I was like, “what an awesome idea. You can come over for dinner and I’ll turn you into a Montréal Canadiens fan, and you can turn me into an Aston Villa fan, and we can just hang out a lot.”
And I think that was coming from a place of us getting along very well in the first season, but also from a place of “we should do this because our characters are doing this.” And in the midst of us getting closer, I think it completely and entirely informed our relationship on screen as well. There’s just an ease and comfort.
As much as Setrakian probably doesn’t want to show how much he digs this fella – his student – I think they’ve really gotten to a place where that father-son connection has really blossomed, and now Setrakian truly has somebody to pass down his knowledge to. At least I think that’s where we’re at. And I’m sure that’s shared as well with the other characters – but I think because Fet spends so much time with him, it’s very important for him to learn everything that he can, because he knows those 60 years of knowledge are only going to help them in this fight.
You’ve made this character so fun to watch – the character strikes a great balance of being a serious guy who wants to get things done, but he also has these brilliant comedic moments. How do you maintain that balance?
Kevin Durand: You know, I’m really lucky. I get the scripts every week and it’s like Christmas. I think the writers really get Fet, and we’ve kind of been moving in the direction with him that has been both exciting and fulfilling as an actor for me. One of the great joys of playing him is the fact that he’s getting stronger. He is now living in a world where he is absolutely necessary – he’s needed by all those around him. He’s revered, he’s respected.
When you watch the first season and you watch those first six episodes or so, you see him living his life as an exterminator and loving his job, but he’s kind of being talked down to and looked down upon – that has really flipped. Even though the world has gone to crap, he is absolutely flourishing.
The Strain airs on Sundays at 10pm, exclusively on FX.