Andrew Garfield has received his first Primetime Emmy nomination for his role in Hulu’sUnder the Banner of Heaven. The true-crime series features Garfield as Detective Jeb Pyre, who is investigating the horrid double-murder of Brenda Lafferty (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and her 15-month-old daughter Erica. In shooting a series as grim as this one for six months, Garfield revealed how he and his co-stars would decompress.
Hulu’sUnder the Banner of Heavennot only recounts the tragic events of the double-murder from the 1980s but draws on the history of Mormonism and fundamentalists.Under the Banner of Heavenexplores how someone’s devotion to their faith could have been cited as the reason for such a grizzly crime. This was first done by the John Krakauer novel that the Hulu series adapted.
RELATED:Only Murders In The Building Renewed For Season 3
Jeb Pyre is a fictional character created forUnder the Banner of Heaven, though Garfield found it important to ensure that it felt real given the true nature of the crime. Krakauer’s novel drew on the actual detectives that investigated the 1980s double-murder. With that level of devotion, Garfield and other members ofUnder the Banner of Heaven’s castneeded to find ways to deal with the darkness of the series. To do so, Garfield and the cast did a few things to stay in a headspace that would allow them to continue working. “We played a lot of board games,” Garfield said to Entertainment Weekly. “We watched a lot of movies, and we ate a lot of good food, and we went on hikes and dove in lakes and took in the natural wonders of Alberta and Canada.”
Garfield went on to discuss the importance of camaraderie betweenUnder the Banner of Heaven’s cast on and off-screen. Garfield noted that Edgar-Jones was a leader in doing so. Garfield also broke down his on-screen and off-screen relationship with Detective Bill Taba (Gil Birmingham) and the “nice little marriage” they had. “We bonded on a spiritual level, me and Gil, and we talked about his Native American ancestry, my Jewish ancestry and where those things overlapped,” Garfield said. “We got really deep pretty quickly, me and him.”
To prepare for hisUnder the Banner of Heavenrole, Garfield recalled the time he spent in Salt Lake City, Utah, and the range of people he met there. He recounted spending time with Mormons, ex-Mormons, Mormon detectives, and church officials who were able to instill some core beliefs and attitudes within him. Garfield’s immersive experience wasn’t the first time he encountered Mormonism or the story thatmakes upUnder the Banner of Heaven. Over a decade ago, Garfield read Krakauer’s novel and was fascinated by it. WhenUnder the Banner of Heaven’s creator Dustin Lance Black reached out to him, Garfield found it impossible to say no.
The role of Detective Pyre inUnder the Banner of Heavenis unlike anythingGarfield has played recently, and he enjoyed the challenge. “I’ve played a lot of expressive people recently, very externally wearing their hearts on their sleeves,” Garfield said. “Whereas this person was interesting to me because he was a more reserved, stoic, less emotionally expressive character.” Garfield’s dedication to the character and personifying the internal struggles he was going through certainly paid off in earning Garfield his first Emmy nomination.
Under the Banner of Heavenis now streaming on Hulu.
MORE:5 Crime Mini-Series To Watch If You Like Hulu’s Under The Banner Of Heaven
