When Helen Saved Harry: Matthew Lillard on That Important ‘True Lies’ Scene

Meredith Jacobs March 22, 2023, 11:00 pm

Matthew Lillard and Steve Howey in 'True Lies' — Jace Downs/CBS

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for True Lies Episode 4, “Rival Companions.”]

Did Helen (Ginger Gonzaga) befriending a merciless assassin working with Omega in the latest episode of True Lies just save her husband Harry’s (Steve Howey) life?

Matthew Lillard guest stars in “Rival Companions” as The Wolf, said assassin, but Helen meets and gets to know him as Nathan … and when she finds out what he does, she doesn’t exactly share Harry’s concerns. Rather, she reminds Nathan that he has a good heart and hopes he remembers that as he’s about to have Harry’s back during a mission.

Harry, meanwhile, is worried about The Wolf being behind him since the assassin’s thing is shooting people in the back of the head. He thought about killing him, The Wolf admits, but then he heard those nice words from Helen. Besides, if he wanted to kill him, he continues, Harry would never see it coming. But then The Wolf seemingly abandons Harry just as he needs the backup but does ultimately save him.

So how close was Harry to death? Lillard addresses that and more.

Without those words from Helen, would The Wolf still have saved Harry?

Matthew Lillard: That I will leave to the viewer, but I certainly think that that’s an important scene in Harry’s lifespan.

Omar Miller, Ginger Gonzaga, Matthew Lillard, and Steve Howey in 'True Lies'

Jace Downs/CBS

Yeah, because Harry is worried about The Wolf being behind him. But you do get the sense throughout the episode that The Wolf’s time with Helen has changed him and that might be something that he takes with him.

Yes, at the end of that episode, if you’re hoping for The Wolf to have changed for the better, that would be the hope.

But at the same time, how much can he change, because of what he does because then he might not be able to do what he does completely?

Yeah, but that’s the thing. I think that The Wolf is very good at what he does because he’s a technician. He looks at it as a job and he is very good at sort of putting things in boxes. … He’s one of those people that can compartmentalize the job he does. So I think that him just finding a relationship, sensing a deep sense of being seen, and having somebody care about him actually may make him better at his job, that he actually may not be as reckless with the violence that he deals in the world. If you give somebody like that a deeper sense of humanity, they actually may become better at their job and eliminating bad guys.

What are the chances that we’ll see you again on True Lies?

It’s up to CBS. Our hope is that people find the show and that the audience grows and continues to grow throughout the rest of the season and that CBS makes the choice to pick it up and to continue telling stories. I think what they’re doing on TV is they’re delivering really high-quality action experience for the viewer and also at the same time delivering a lightness to it and a joy about it, which I think is very different than anything else on TV and new shows like this have to find their audience, have to be given time to grow or hope. I’m sure everyone’s hope on the show is that they’re given that time and over the next 10 years can tell the stories they want to be told. And hopefully, in that success, I’m invited back. But you never know. I have no idea what’s in store in CBS’ eyes. I hope I get brought back. I know that Matt likes me and he wants me to come back, so God willing, I’ll be back.

What would you want to do with The Wolf if you do return?

I like exploring his humanity. I like the dichotomy of somebody who’s a ruthless machine and yet is endearing. I think it’s a super fun juxtaposition of a character that’s super fun to play. So to me, I’d want to keep exploring that humanity. Maybe he has a relationship with somebody on the show, either a man or a woman, or he finds something that he can love or somebody he can love, which I think would be fun.