The Nevers actor Denis O'Hare admitted the cast was "thrown for a loop" when they learned Joss Whedon would be exiting the series shortly after they wrapped filming the first half of Season 1.
"We were done shooting, oddly enough," O'Hare, who portrays Dr. Edmund Hague on the series, told DigitalSpy in a new interview. "We finished in November. So on one hand, it didn't impact us at all. We were on schedule. We were doing exactly what we were meant to do, which is to come back in June and start shooting the back six."
The actor shared that the entire cast was a bit worried about how filming the rest of Season 1 would be impacted by the showrunner's departure, but admitted he was unaware of the allegations of misconduct aimed at Whedon at the time.
"I don't tend to be very good at current events and gossip," O'Hare explained. "I tend not to read things, just because it's not where I put my energies. So I was completely in the dark about anything that was swirling around him." He added, "And honestly, we don't really know what happened. We were just told, 'He's leaving.'"
O'Hare noted, however, that Philippa Goslett seemed "like the exact right choice" to replace Whedon on The Nevers, noting, "I think there's some writing staff that's remaining the same. Whenever they're changing a writer, let alone a showrunner, you don't know what's going to happen to your character."
"So I think all of us were sort of scrambling," he continued. "We all had Zoom meetings with Philippa. We were all scrambling to go, 'Hi! I can tap dance! I can also sing and play piano! I can be really dark, I can be really funny, I can do a backflip. Hire me! Don't kill me off!'"
Whedon exited The Nevers in 2020, saying in a statement that he was stepping away from the HBO Max series due to "exhaustion." However, the news came as claims made against Whedon by Justice League star Ray Fisher and Fisher's co-star Gal Gadot were piling up. Gadot said in early May, "He kind of threatened my career and said if I did something, he would make my career miserable, and I just took care of it on the spot."
Created by Joss Whedon, The Nevers stars Laura Donnelly, Olivia Williams, James Norton, Tom Riley, Ann Skelly, Ben Chaplin, Pip Torrens, Zackary Momoh, Amy Manson, Nick Frost, Rochelle Neil, Eleanor Tomlinson and Denis O’Hare. The first half of Season 1 is streaming on HBO Max.
Source: DigitalSpy