‘Mr. Robot’ Season 2: Rami Malek Interview on Elliot as Narrator

Mr Robot Season 2 Episode 1
Rami Malek as Elliot Alderson in ‘Mr. Robot’ (Photo by: Peter Kramer / USA Network)

Rami Malek earned Emmy, Golden Globe, and SAG award nominations for his riveting performance in season one of USA Network’s critically acclaimed drama Mr. Robot and the awards buzz is already building around his performance as hacker Elliot Alderson in season two. The network brought the cast of the award-winning series to the San Diego Comic Con for what proved to be one of the better panels of the four-day event. In addition to answering questions from fans, Malek also participated in interviews in support of the show’s second season.

Asked what it’s been like to play Elliot’s hyper-reactions, Malek replied, “You know, when I thought about the second season, I felt like I did all right things the first season. I could skate by on that, you know? People were saying, ‘Don’t think too much. Just do what you were doing.’ I couldn’t. I was waiting to start the second season and I’m like, ‘He’s going to be different. He has to be different. I want him to grow.’ I want him to evolve, and there’s a period of time that you can’t account for with Elliot. I really tried to fill those moments and discover what might have happened where we begin this second season. Yeah, just have him evolve in a certain way. He seems very different to me. I haven’t seen much of what you’ve seen yet, but I know that shooting him there was definitely a more frenetic person there. Maybe that’s just me – I don’t know.”

Malek didn’t want to give away any spoilers when asked if season two is even more in Elliot’s head, but he did say that we should be questioning Elliot’s reliability. “That’s not something we’ve steered away from. He is an unreliable narrator. As much as you do put the things he’s encountering into question, we’re never trying to make this a show where we’re shocking people. These aren’t gotcha moments anybody is trying to set up. This is the story that Sam wants to tell through his perspective. There are moments where he suffers from very difficult mental issues. Those things can be difficult for an audience to sit through but if you want to go on his path, you are going to start to have to question things as well. I think he is ultimately more reliable than many would think he is because otherwise who really wants to go down that path with someone who’s going to be as questionable as he might be. I don’t know that I would.”


Malek also said there’s always going to be a tight, personal connection between Elliot and the audience. “At times, that’s who’s getting him through all of this is knowing he has someone to listen, to go through the hardships, to kind of be the voyeur into his life that is a sounding board. So, you’re in it with him the whole way. There will be trust issues; there will be moments of confidentiality,” explained Malek. “There is a mutual dependence on one another that I think really lends itself to an alternate experience for someone watching the show, a special experience. There is a bond that you have with this guy who can do some malicious things at times, can do some questionable things. I think at his core he has a very strong moral center but he gets himself involved in some very questionable territory.”

“He’s human. He’s human – that’s the thing we don’t shy away from. The guy is flawed and I think that’s why he’s relatable. He is imperfect like all of us,” added Malek.

Watch the full Rami Malek interview for more on season 2: