Kevin Durand Talks THE STRAIN Season 2

As exterminator turned strigoi slayer Vasiliy Fet, Kevin Durand is easily a fan favorite cast member of FX's The Strain. Daily Dead recently took part in a conference call with the actor, who discussed humor, horror, and love on The Strain Season 2.

On Fet's unique connection with Abraham Setrakian (David Bradley):

Kevin Durand: Fet is a survivor and if he was on his own, I believe he’d still be alive. He’d be finding ways to survive, different places to go. He and Setrakian are so similar in that sense. He genuinely connects with the old fella, as I do with David [Bradley] in real life. He’s a smart guy, he’s pragmatic. Fet knows that Setrakian has over sixty years of knowledge that he’s been compiling, and he’s learning from him. Setrakian is so happy and pleased to get to pass down that knowledge as they forge ahead.

Durand discusses his friendship with David Bradley off set:

Kevin Durand: At the start of the second season, Dave got a hold of me and said, “Where are you guys living?” I said, “We’re going to live here.” And he was like, “Maybe we should live close to each other.” And I was like, “What an awesome idea. It’s a great idea. We’ll come over for dinner and I’ll turn you into a Montreal Canadiens fan and we can just hang out a lot." That was coming from a place of getting along very well in the first season, but also from a place where we should do this, our characters are doing this. In the midst of us getting closer, it entirely formed our relationship onscreen as well. As much as Setrakian probably doesn’t want to show how much he digs this fella—his student—they’ve really gotten to a place where a father/son connection has really blossomed.

Durand talks Vasiliy Fet's physicality:

Kevin Durand: I love every bit of action that I get to do. I love being physical, especially with this character because he goes from zero to three hundred miles an hour in the space of a second. He’s got this deep, embedded kind of rage that comes out of deep places, and it’s fun to play.

On society's fascination with vampires and humanity's demise:

Kevin Durand: The idea of a being that wants to suck the life out of us is so terrifying. Human beings in general are so interested in watching or reading any type of material that is going to deal with our demise. Any disaster film or any book—if you want to write a book about happiness, about everything being all peaches and ice cream, it probably won’t sell as well as a book about the world coming to an end. We’re fascinated with it. There’s something throughout the centuries—when it comes to vampires—that’s romantic about the whole thing as well. There’s something strangely, horrifically beautiful about it. It’s not like the Guillermo del Toro vampires are super—I don’t think you could describe them as beautiful, but just the fact that they’re hungry and ready to just take the life out of you any second.

Durand on the necessity of Fet in the bloodthirsty new world of The Strain:

Kevin Durand: I get those scripts every week and it’s like Christmas every time I get them. The writers really get Fet, and the movement and the direction has been both exciting and fulfilling for me as an actor to get to play him. One of the great joys of playing him is the fact that he’s getting stronger. He’s now living in a world where he is absolutely necessary. He is needed by all those around him. He’s revered, he’s respected. Whereas, when you watch the first season, you watch those first six episodes, he’s living his life as an exterminator and loving his job and kind of being talked down to and looked down upon. When things are going wrong, when things are going bad, nothing good comes of just shitting on the situation. He’d rather crack a joke and look to the positive side.