Famed character actor Stephen Root’s latest mission, the Freeform animated sequence Reward Petey, could be very a lot a comedy. Nonetheless, the actor has moved backwards and forwards fairly a bit between genres, although as he tells it, “it’s not a lot a distinction between comedy and drama. It’s a special tackle good writing. I’ll at all times return to that, and I’ll at all times return to how a lot we assist the author’s strike as a result of we’re standing there with our mouths hanging open with out writers. And never digital writers, actual writers with actual human feelings.”

Talking to Consequence previous to the beginning of the SAG-AFTRA strike, Root explains that in the case of taking up new tasks, “it’s not about a lot the drama or comedy as it’s a couple of piece of human situation that you simply’re curious about listening to about, and one thing that makes you curious about the character, which is the entire purpose to do it. In the event you’re not curious about what this character’s going to do, you’re gonna flip off the present. So it’s extra about if the story is fascinating sufficient and are the characters fascinating sufficient — whether or not it’s drama or comedy, or a pleasant combine like you could have in lots of reveals nowadays.”

Reward Petey focuses on the titular Petey (Annie Murphy), a New York Metropolis gal whose life will get upended when her father (Root) dies and she or he finds out that her inheritance features a small Southern city… the place her father had efficiently created a cult that now seems to be to Petey for management.

“Hardly ever do I get to do one thing as well-written as, say, King of the Hill or one thing like that,” says Root, including that “at this level in my life, writing is every part and the writing is nice on this present. That’s what attracted me to it, once they stated ‘Would you be curious about doing this man?’”

He additionally stated sure due to the forged: “I’m an enormous fan of everyone that’s been within the present — Annie Murphy is one, John Cho is so humorous. Amy Hill, who I labored with on King of the Hill, is so humorous. Paget Brewster, every part that comes out of her mouth is humorous.”

As a result of Petey’s father is useless because the sequence begins, Root’s character doesn’t have many scenes with the remainder of the forged, largely showing within the type of taped messages to his daughter, guiding her by the particulars of operating a cult. “I don’t thoughts the truth that I don’t essentially get to work together with the general public on the present,” says Root, “however I do intrinsically, simply being there and saying what I’ve to say. So it’s okay. Plus I get to see ’em at desk reads.”