T.R. Knight Teases His Mysterious ‘God Friended Me’ Character (VIDEO)
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The clues Miles (Brandon Micheal Hall) has been following since he and Cara (Violett Beane) were in Paris at the beginning of the season lead him to someone he never expected to meet.
In this week’s all-new episode of God Friended Me, “The Last Grenelle,” T.R. Knight guest stars as Gideon, a seemingly ordinary guy who knows exactly what Miles has been dealing with when it comes to the God Account. Years ago, he was fielding friend suggestions from the mysterious social media account and helping strangers just like the current “God Squad.” But he left that all behind — and has had to live with the consequences ever since.
We called up Knight for a preview of the latest thread in the show’s ongoing mystery.
What can you tell us about Gideon?
T.R. Knight: Gideon was the Miles before Miles was Miles, if that makes any sense. Miles and Cara find him as they do on the show. He’s struggled a bit since his years involved with the God Account. It’s kind of where they find him.
Check out an exclusive sneak peek at Knight’s role in Sunday’s episode:
What are those struggles? What kind of shape is he in?
He walked away because he made a choice of his personal life versus [helping people]. He felt he had to make a choice and he made a choice that hasn’t been sitting well with him, I would say. I don’t want to get too much into it, but that’s what I can say. They find him at a very interesting time and they come back into his life. It’s not necessarily welcomed.
“Gideon” is such a distinctly biblical name. Was there any particular significance to why the writers chose it for your character?
My conversations with the creators focused on his struggle to live with his choices and the toll it was taking on him, but we didn’t cover their choice to name him Gideon.
Michael Greenberg/CBS
What is his understanding of what the God Account is and who might be behind it?
That is goes under “not supposed to talk about.”
That’s a little too spoiler-y?
Got to follow the rules, man!
Do you have a sense of why he stopped helping people, why he walked away from the God Account?
The easiest way to explain it is for love. He felt he had to make a choice and it was two roads and he had to make a choice. It wasn’t something he could do…there wasn’t room for both, he believes.
Michael Greenberg/CBS
It sounds like Gideon needs some help, but is there more than that? Is the God Account is trying to show Miles something?
Not to be cryptic, but I think that’s outside of my purview, what Miles is going to get from it. Like one has come to expect from the show, they meet people at times of crisis or moments in their life that are unresolved that are holding them back or keeping them stagnant, keeping them stuck, and sometimes they don’t even realize it themselves. I think it’s also that fascinating thing that happens in human beings, you don’t realize how affected you are by not being able to move on until someone thrusts a mirror in your face.
It seems vaguely threatening for whoever’s behind the God Account to say to Miles, “Hey, look at the shape this guy is in if you walk away.”
I think there is that kind of element, isn’t there? For the people that are being “helped,” a lot of times people don’t want to be helped. So, on both sides of it I think there is a threat. I think that’s what makes it exciting. I think you need that.
If you were in Gideon’s or Miles’ shoes, what do you think you would do? What if suddenly some Facebook account claiming to be God started dwelling on your life?
[Laughs] Personally, I think I’m pretty skeptical. I think Miles is skeptical, isn’t he? Again, I don’t want to speak for him, he can only speak for himself. It seems he is a little skeptical and I think I would join that camp, yeah.
What attracted you to working on this show and taking on this role?
Well, the role I think is very interesting. Anyone who is fooling themselves and trying to run away from things, I think that’s endlessly fascinating. They called me up and asked. It was very sweet. And, also one of the writers, Steve Harper, and I were in Much Ado About Nothing together when he was an actor. It was a long time ago. It was a nice reunion.
David Giesbrecht/CBS
The show is about the ways people are connected, and so it has brought back various characters at various points. Do you think we’ll see more of Gideon?
I don’t know. It seems as though, for the moment, he gets the help that he doesn’t know he needs. So, that’s all I know at this point.
God Friended Me, Sundays, 8/7c, CBS
