John Leguizamo is ready for fans to recoil from him after seeing him in his new drama series, The Green Veil. The actor is taking on a lead role in a television series for the first time and it is unlike anything we’ve seen him do yet.
Leguizamo executive produces the drama in which he plays a government agent in the 1950s who is trying to unravel a secret mission that exposes much darker secrets. When we caught up with Leguizamo at a screening and immersive experience hosted The McKittrick Hotel’s Sleep No More in New York City, he took us inside the plot of the show, which he labeled “dark” and “twisted.”
“This is a historical fiction thriller with aspects of science fiction,” he told SheKnows before explaining how the show’s writer and director, Aram Rappaport, ideated the series. “He discovered that, in 1950s, the FBI was coming up with excuses to take Native American children from their families and put them up for adoption so they couldn’t inherit the land [and] so [the US government] could have the oil underneath and give it to the oil companies.”
“My character is this self-hating guy who goes in there and is part of this mission. So it’s a dark, dark piece, but true and really well done.”
Leguizamo’s character, Gordon Rogers, is an immigrant who is grappling with his own cultural identity and an insidious obsession with the so-called American Dream. This obsession is inevitably destructive due to the limitations put on different racial and ethnic groups at the time.
“I know a lot of people are going to despise me,” Leguizamo teases about his character. “But that’s the point. And I just want them to understand the character, you know, understand why somebody could be so self hating and do such damaging things to to another group.”
Leguizamo, who also executive produces the show, has spent most of his career elevating diverse Latinx stories and this show is no different.
“I’ve watched a lot of 50s movies and period stuff, and we’re just invisible would never be present. And it’s like, ‘Wait a minute. We’ve been in America since 1492 and before,'” the Encanto actor said. “This is great to have a Latin representation in the 50s.”
The show also stars American Fiction star John Ortiz, Hani Furstenberg and Irene Bedard, the voice of the titular character in 1995’s Pocahontas.
The Green Veil will premiere on April 30 on The Network, a new and totally free ad-supported streaming service which launches the same day Leguizamo’s new show drops. The Network’s founder, Rappaport wrote and directed the series.
Before you go, click here to see celebrity women of color share the first movie or TV character who made them feel seen.
