In Paramount+’s new espionage thriller series, Rabbit Hole, Kiefer Sutherland’s John Weir can’t trust anyone in his line of work, not those unseen nor his closest confidantes. Two of those characters are portrayed by Game of Thrones’ Charles Dance and Empire’s Meta Golding, who play Dr. Ben Wilson and Hailey Winton, respectively. On the promotional trail for the upcoming series, the two sat down with Collider’s Steve Weintraub to discuss the unexpected twists, and how Rabbit Hole “keeps you on your toes,” and “reflects quite accurately what is happening in the real world.”

In Rabbit Hole, John Weir (Sutherland) is an expert in manipulation, dealing specifically in corporate espionage and aiding companies in muddying the reputations of their competitors. When the target of one of Weir’s gigs winds up murdered, he finds himself at the center of a struggle to preserve democracy, and mysterious, string-pulling powers frame him for the crime. In the fight for his innocence, Weir must take on an invisible enemy that is, essentially, everywhere.
COLLIDER VIDEO OF THE DAY
Ahead of its March 26 premiere on Paramount+, Dance and Golding go on a deep-dive with us into the shady goings-on of corporations and “the misuse of personal data and the manipulation of people’s personal data” that influences the show’s premise. They also talk about the unpredictable character arcs that caught them off guard and what would surprise viewers to learn about the production of the series. For all of this and more, check out the interview in the video above, or you can read the full conversation below.

COLLIDER: I’ve seen the first four episodes of the eight, I absolutely want to watch the next four to see how this is all gonna go. I’m curious for both of you, and it could be this show, if someone has never seen anything you’ve done before, what is the first thing you’d like them watching, and why?

META GOLDING: You mean–

In your whole career.

GOLDING: My whole career? Well, I mean, it’s like talking about children, right? It’s hard to say, and I think we’re supposed to be talking about this.

Image via Paramount+

That’s why I included that it could be this show, but it also could be something else.

GOLDING: I feel guilty saying this, but I think I would like them to see a movie I did called Behind the Movement where I play Rosa Parks.

CHARLES DANCE: I saw that, it was wonderful.

GOLDING: I think that, but I’m also very proud of this project as well. But yeah, I think that that’s my answer. That’s my answer.

DANCE: It’s difficult. I mean, this is my 47th year in this business [laughs].

Sir, I am aware, I am a fan.

DANCE: I mean I did– do you know Robert Flaherty was?

Actually, I’m not sure if I do.

DANCE: He was known as the father of the documentary, and he made a film called Nanook of the North in 1922.

Oh, I know Nanook of the North.

DANCE: I made a film about how he came to make that film. It had a very limited distribution, but it was an extraordinary experience to make within 50 kilometers of the North Pole, and I lived on an icebreaker on the Bering sea for four month. It’s a wonderful film that very few people have seen. That’s why I would have liked a lot more people to have seen it, but that’s neither here nor there. I mean, I’ve done a lot of things that I’m relatively pleased with. Never 100% happy. Never.

GOLDING: Yeah, it’s not possible.

DANCE: But, you know, one’s enthusiasm for the current project, sometimes it lasts a bit longer and sometimes it doesn’t, you know what I mean? [to Golding] When did we start shooting this?

GOLDING: June, or May of last year, 2022.

DANCE: Right, and I’ve been really looking forward to seeing what’s going to be on the screen because I know what was on the page and I remember the experience of making it and the people working on it. I’d like to think that this ranks up there with the thing that I would like people to see most.

GOLDING: Yeah, it’s hard because we haven’t even finished, we haven’t seen the whole series. We just know what we read from the scripts and the experience of shooting it. We’ve seen, like you, a couple of the episodes, and I love the scripts and I had a great time shooting it, but I can’t say until some time has passed and it’s done, done. I think we’re gonna be proud.

Image via Paramount+

As I said, I want to see episodes five through eight. So one of the things about this series is that it deals with private espionage, and I’m curious, how much do you think of what is being depicted on screen is actually happening in the real world?

DANCE: I think this reflects quite accurately what is happening in the real world. I really do. Especially the misuse of personal data and the manipulation of people’s personal data and the manipulation of, I don’t know, the way corporations behave.

Do you know what Bilderberg is? Bilderberg is an organization that you hear very little about, but it meets about every five years, and it’s a meeting of heads of corporations and heads and prominent ministers in government, and they basically decide which way the capitalist West is going to go. “This is what we should be doing, this is what we should do.” You try to get information about Bilderberg, it’s very difficult to get a hold of it.

I will now be looking it up…

GOLDING: I will be looking it up, Bilderberg.

DANCE: It’s spelled how it sounds. Bilderberg.

I’m 100% looking this up. I watch a lot of television and I like when I can’t predict where things are going to go. One of the things about this series is you don’t know when you’re watching a character which way they’re going to go. I’m curious, what is it like reading scripts like that where you really don’t know how it’s gonna play out?

GOLDING: Well, that’s why we’re here because I remember reading, especially the first episode, and going like, “Oh, I know this.” That’s what I do, I’m like you, I read so many scripts. So I start reading it, I’m like, “I know this, I know this,” and then I’m like, “No, I don’t…” you know? Then read it a little bit more, “Oh, I really didn’t see that coming.” So it’s really interesting. Then to kind of have to, from a creative perspective, justify, “Okay, wait, what kind of person is it? Is it who would present this way and then be that way? And what does that mean?” So it was fascinating because it’s so multi-layered.

DANCE: It’s quite alarming to begin with, you know, because I prefer to be in my comfort zone. I have to be dragged out of it. But most of the time when I am, I just think, “Okay, I’m gonna go with this, who knows?” And it’s a very interesting and quite exciting way to work, actually, when you’re given a little bit of information, just enough to work with, just enough, and then you’re given another bit and then you have another bit. It’s fascinating, actually, keeps you on your toes. You don’t get complacent.

Image via Paramount+

I’m curious, for soon-to-be fans of the series, what do you think they would be surprised to learn about the actual making of the show?

DANCE: About the making of the show? How much are they likely to know about the making of the show?

Well, for example, what I like is I like learning about the behind-the-scenes of the making of the show. And so, was there anything unusual about this shoot or anything that people might be surprised to learn?

DANCE: For me, no. The process of making a movie, whether it’s on television or whether it’s on the big screen, is more or less the same.

GOLDING: I mean, for me, maybe that there were two different cinematographers.

DANCE: Do we only have two?

GOLDING: Yeah, we had only two different ones, and also the sequence. Like sometimes we would be shooting something and then we would jump to a whole different episode with a whole different director, and then come back, like that same day, and shoot with a different [director.] The scheduling was a little in and out, and in and out, and already it’s a little bit of a, as you were saying, a complicated script and so much change. So that was different.

Image via Paramount+

Yeah, television can– I’ve spoken to some actors that can shoot four different episodes in a day.

DANCE: Oh, yeah. God, yeah. Multi-episodically, yeah.

Rabbit Hole premieres on Paramount+ on March 26. Before you fall down the Bilderberg rabbit hole, check out our interview with Kiefer Sutherland below.