NBC’s Midnight, Texas star François Arnaud was aware well in advance that his character, Manfred, would be losing his head in the series’ second season. He learned about the twist fairly early on but wasn’t sure how they were going to fit the decapitation into Manfred’s season two storyline.
During our interview on December 18, 2018, François Arnaud discussed the show’s game-changing eighth episode of season two. That interview also included a few answers that had to be held until after the season two finale aired on December 28, 2018 so as not to give away any spoilers.
Discussing the grisly scene in which Patience (Jaime Ray Newman) chops off Manfred’s head, Francois Arnaud said he had one key question when he initially heard the showrunners’ plans. “I was like, ‘And you’re sure I come back from it?’ Thankfully, I do,” joked Arnaud.
Delving into the gruesome scene and the reaction of Manfred’s fellow Midnighters to the death of their friend, Arnaud explained, “The only thing difficult thing is it’s not really Manfred. It’s Kai in Manfred disguise. I guess it’s very subtle because everyone has to buy him as Manfred, but I tried to channel a little bit of Kai’s presence. I mean, the stakes are so high all the time, I feel like in every episode, you feel like you might lose your head. And then he just did…but then that wasn’t actually me.”
Unfortunately, Midnight, Texas fans have been forced to say goodbye to the supernatural drama with the airing of the season two finale. (That is, unless another network or streaming service picks it up.) NBC confirmed they won’t be bringing Midnight, Texas, based on the bestselling book series by Charlaine Harris, back for a third season. That announcement was made after our interview and after season two episode eight aired.
Arnaud’s proud of the work everyone did on the show and believes they wrapped up the season in a way that feels complete and makes sense. “I thought during the finale when Patience is like a thousand monsters and she’s holding me by the throat and I get possessed by Kai, to then have his powers to clean monsters of their abilities – so by being possessed by Kai it takes her powers away – I just felt that was really clever. It just comes full circle, right? Because you have no idea what’s going to happen when they first introduce this character in episode one. At least I didn’t even know. They must have, but I certainly didn’t.”
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- Part one of our interview with Francois Arnaud on Midnight, Texas season 2
- Exclusive interview with Arielle Kebbel on Olivia’s season 2 journey
