Lanterns' Garret Dillahunt Unpacks William Macon's Pivotal Role in Episode 5

[Warning: The following contains spoilers for Episode 5 of Lanterns, "Lights Out."]

Lanterns introduces William Macon (Garret Dillahunt) as the enigmatic leader of Rushville's militia, a role that taps into Dillahunt's history in the Western genre, in titles like No Country for Old Men, Deadwood, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, and The Dead Don't Hurt. Bankrolled by an anonymous benefactor, Macon says that his militia is training to defend their town from alien invaders, a threat that he compares to the colonization of North America. But this claim isn't entirely true.

In later episodes, we learn that Macon's militia is actually here to protect his wife, Zoe (Poorna Jagannathan), who is secretly an alien entity known as a Manhunter. She uses her advanced technology to help Rushville thrive, and in exchange, the locals agree to protect her from outside threats. This agreement comes to a head in Episode 5, when the vengeful Antaan (Paul Ben-Victor) arrives in town to kill her. Part of Zoe's survival plan involves Macon pretending to be the Manhunter's human disguise, leading to his gory death at Antaan's hands.

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Ahead of this pivotal episode, TV Guide spoke to Dillahunt about Macon's role in the show, touching upon the character's political underpinnings, his relationship with Zoe, and how Lanterns brings together the neo-Western and sci-fi genres.

When we first meet your character, there's some pretty clear political allusions going on, like his nostalgia for the Old West, and he has this private militia. Were you thinking of any particular real-world figures when you were working on that role?
Garret Dillahunt: I wasn't, no. But the subject of immigration and colonization and the Other is not far from the forefront right now anywhere in the world. I thought it was interesting when he tries to make the point at the barbecue — he talks about, well, this land was Kiowa first, and then the Sioux took it from the Kiowa, and the whole time boats are coming with pilgrims on to take it. It's just an interesting observation, and he says, "Let's keep Earth for Earthlings," basically. So I wonder what people will make of it.

It felt like there was an element of border control.
Dillahunt: Yeah, very much so. You know, even the [alien] detectors, it very much is an allusion to all of that.

One of your most memorable scenes comes in Episode 4. Your character confronts the two Green Lanterns and strips naked, and it's this really overt sort of macho power play. What was it like to film that scene and develop these two power dynamics with John and Hal? They have very different attitudes.
Dillahunt: Well, it was certainly a surprise. I mean, not like sprung on me on the day. I just mean as I read the scripts early on, it was like, "Oh, I thought those days were over for old Garret." So I appreciated having some time to get ready for that, because he's supposed to be sort of preternaturally fit for a guy his age because of Zoe's help.

I don't know. There's probably some people that really enjoy filming those kinds of scenes. I loved the scene… I think it works. You know, it's never the most comfortable thing to be walking around in your birthday suit in front of your peers. But everyone was professional and good humored and laughed at my jokes. And Geeta Patel, the director, took really good care of me, as did the DP with the excellent lighting. So I think we did the best we could with potentially a really uncomfortable moment. And I think the scene's funny and weird and works.

You've mentioned Zoe. In later episodes, we learn more about how Macon's role is intertwined with that marriage, but we don't see much of those two characters together on screen. I was wondering what your take is on the reality of their relationship, because Zoe says to John that there's true love there.
Dillahunt: Yeah, and I think there is. We were speaking earlier about how if William had a Tinder profile, it probably had to be drastically rewritten after he met Zoe. I think he's not someone you'd think would be particularly open minded, and while he's clearly a little bit jealous of her attention to John, he doesn't really seem that pissed off about it or angry. He seems like he understands, and part of the cost of this relationship is rethinking his whole idea about relationships.

You know, he wouldn't even be alive if it wasn't for Zoe. The town is thriving, and there's genuine love and affection there, which seems to spawn this trust and weird freedom in this relationship. So yeah, I think it's real. One of my favorite scenes in the whole thing, for me, was the phone call where we're saying goodbye to each other in her native language. Like, this is the moment we've been preparing for. My whole life after meeting her is gravy, because I shouldn't even be alive, so... this has been worth it.  

And that scene goes hand in hand with your final scene, the confrontation with Antaan, which sort of pivots your role from crime drama to sci-fi. You have to impersonate this alien and learn a language that I presume was written for the show. What are your thoughts on that scene?
Dillahunt: I think the hope is that he'll fool Antaan enough, although clearly, Zoe — or whatever her real alien name is — and Antaan have had this relationship where they had a child together. I mean, this is another person that was someone she loved somewhere along the way of her interplanetary existence. I guess the hope is that we'll fool him. He will go away and leave us alone, or he'll die by my special laser toy. He sees through it pretty quickly, obviously, but I like the notion of the years they must have spent preparing for this. He clearly knows their story and still wants to help. He clearly focused enough to learn her language, and he really thinks he can fool this intergalactic hunter that's come for his wife.

This show comes from a lot of DC Comics lore, but it's also got these comparisons to True Detective. Were there any shows or comics you were maybe using for research when you were preparing for the role?
Dillahunt: I didn't really. I mean, I had seen The Penguin, so I kind of had in my head the sensibility that HBO and the DC Universe under James [Gunn] might be going for, which I was very excited about. I loved that show. Super impressed with that. I still can't really see Colin [Farrell] under that makeup; I keep trying to see him and I can't. It made me want to do a really good job. But also we got people like Chris Mundy and Damon Lindelof, and Tom King is a bona fide comic book nerd. So I really didn't have to look much beyond the script to find the clues I needed to play this guy. Maybe I've just played a lot of cowboy dudes anyway. But he seemed very specific to me, which was nice. I think that's more how I work a lot of the time; I don't know that I could pinpoint influences.

So it felt like it was kind of in your comfort zone, genre-wise?
Dillahunt: Maybe so, yeah. There's certainly elements of the Western in this, just like there are with, you know, Mandalorian or something. It's clearly a sci-fi show, but it feels like someone's about to quick-draw any second. 

Are there any particular scenes or moments you'd like to draw viewers' attention to when they're watching?
Dillahunt: Well, I don't think I'll need to draw their attention to the drawing scene in Episode 4, but I do think that scene is great in the weird power dynamics that are playing out, and the humor. I think my favorite part of it is when my daughter-in-law comes in — the great Kelly Macdonald, who I worked with on No Country for Old Men. I just love their exchange on that. But I think there's a lot of good subtle foreshadowing in the early appearances of William Macon when he first meets the Lanterns, that I think people, if they rewatch, they'll pick up on.  

Lanterns airs Sundays at 9/8c on HBO.