RadioTimes.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u201cThat\u2019s something that\u2019s always been very high on my list, because people will try and typecast you, particularly as a young Black actor, a young Black male actor.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cThey\u2019ll try and make you into a very certain type of thing. Or they\u2019ll try and say, \u2018Oh, this is what Idris [Elba] did,\u2019 or, \u2018This is what Lennie James did,\u2019 or David Gyasi, or David Oyelowo\u2026 \u2018You should do that, as well.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cThe reason why they have gone on to have the careers they have is because they\u2019ve been individual, and they\u2019ve been conscientious in not allowing people to tell them what to do, and make them do the same thing again and again.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cThat\u2019s certainly what I intend to do. I feel like, as actors, we\u2019re so lucky to work with so many different collaborators \u2013 writers, directors, other creatives. The choice is there, the ability to make choices is there. We\u2019ve just got to be brave enough to do something that you\u2019ve not done before and see if that sticks as well.\u201d<\/span><\/p> In and of itself, Essiedu\u2019s part in The Lazarus Project allows him to showcase a whole range of different shades as a performer \u2013 as an ordinary joe recruited into a paramilitary organisation that uses time travel to prevent extinction-level events, and later abuses said powers in an effort to save the life of his girlfriend Sarah (Charly Clive), he gets to be an action hero, a romantic lead and a calculating antagonist.<\/p>\n
The series, from Giri\/Haji<\/a>\u2018s Joe Barton, earned a positive reception from critics and audiences when it debuted last summer. \u201cWe were so chuffed with the response that it got, and the amount of people that watched it and the things that people said about it,\u201d says Essiedu. <\/span><\/p>\n\u201cI<\/span>t was amazing to be able to be given another bite at the apple and have the chance to develop it a bit further.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nThe climax to the first season surprised by throwing a temporal curveball \u2013 while the first eight episodes were concerned with the concept of time-loops (think Groundhog Day, but with more car chases), the follow-up will delve deeper into the premise of \u201ctrue\u201d time travel, transporting the Lazarus squad back in time in an effort to avert the annihilation of Earth.<\/p>\n
Few could\u2019ve seen this reinvention of the show\u2019s format coming, and Essiedu admits he\u2019s given up trying to second-guess writer Barton\u2019s plot twists. \u201c<\/span>Joe\u2019s mind just operates with such boundless abandon, you know?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nHe\u2019s not alone \u2013 the cast of The Lazarus Project have a WhatsApp group where the complexity of the series\u2019s convoluted timelines are often a hot topic. (Questions like \u201cWhat year is tomorrow?\u201d are not uncommon.)<\/p>