Morris Chestnut Interview: ‘Legends’

Morris Chestnut was among the cast of TNT’s Legends who made it to the San Diego Comic-Con to talk about season one of the new drama series premiering on Wednesday, August 13, 2014 at 9pm ET/PT. Chestnut signed on to the show a little later than his co-stars, and at the Comic-Con he talked about what it was that drew him to Legends and what we can expect from his character, Tony, over the course of the first season.

The Plot:

Sean Bean plays Martin Odum, an undercover agent working for the FBI’s Deep Cover Operations (DCO) division. Martin has the uncanny ability to transform himself into a completely different person for each job. But he begins to question his own identity when a mysterious stranger suggests that Martin isn’t the man he believes himself to be.

Legends also stars Ali Larter as Crystal Quest, a fellow operative who has a history with Martin; Morris Chestnut as Tony Cimarro, a smart, quick-witted and charming DCO agent; Tina Majorino as Maggie Harris, the newest member of the DCO team; Steve Harris as Nelson Gates, the director of the DCO Task Force; and Amber Valletta as Sonya Odum, Martin’s ex-wife; and Mason Cook as Martin’s pre-teen son, Aiden.

Morris Chestnut Legends Interview

What was the original appeal of taking on the project?

Morris Chestnut: “Two things: working for TNT and working for Howard Gordon. I came on after the pilot so I met with the studio and they told me they had a great show that Howard Gordon was involved with. They showed me the pilot and I said, ‘I want to be a part of it.’ So I come in on the second episode.”

How does he interact with everyone else?

Morris Chestnut: “Well, basically, I start off in pursuit of Sean Bean’s character. Sean’s character is involved in a lot of sensitive activities, so I start off investigating him and eventually, I become a part of the company.

Sean Bean is the legend of the show because he assumes…a legend is basically an assumed identity. So I am in pursuit of Sean because I work in a different branch of the FBI. He comes to me for some information about a murder. And when he comes to me for this information about this murder, I investigate and I realize that he was actually at the scene of the murder but he never told me that. So then I start investigating him.”

What does being part of a Howard Gordon series mean to you?

Morris Chestnut: “I’m a huge fan of many of his shows. I’m a huge fan of Homeland. I’m a huge fan of 24. He’s one of the hottest showrunners in town right now, so just the opportunity to work with him… He’s doing something right and I just wanted to be involved and a part of something right. I think this is it. The pilot’s really good. It’s really good.

I can say one of the things when I met with TNT, and they said, ‘We’re thinking about you for this show. We already shot the pilot.’ I watched the pilot, and I was like, ‘Wow.’ It’s a ride. Sean Bean and the whole cast are great, so you’ll see when you see the show. It’s a Howard Gordon feeling to the show.”

What makes Tony a really interesting agent? What are his strengths?

Morris Chestnut: “Tony, his strengths are he’s really not a team player. He beats to his own drum. He’s quick-witted, beats to his own drum and he just does whatever he has to do to solve a case. He feels like he is the best, and even his boss, his supervisors can’t even really tell him what to do.”

Is he a fun character to play?

Morris Chestnut: “Yeah, he’s a very fun character to play because what happens […]is he pursues information. His supervisor actually tells him not to pursue something and let it go, and he does it anyway. I love that.”

How would you describe the journey he’s going to go on?

Morris Chestnut: “The journey that he goes on this season, it’s a fun journey. It starts off in pursuit of Sean, but then at a certain point, I’m realizing things may not be what they appear to be. So I start to change my mind and start taking a different course in pursuit of different things.”

Did you have to take on a different identity like Sean Bean’s character does?

Morris Chestnut: “This season I really didn’t have many different characters. Mainly that burden’s on Sean. I had one assumed identity but it was pretty basic and it was really quick. Sean is really the one that’s changing his identity and playing different characters.”