Euphoria‘s Darrell Britt-Gibson poked fun at the suggestion that he could be a “really good cult leader.”
Britt-Gibson, 39, recently sat down for a profile in The Cut where the reporter told him his easy going nature would inspire others to “do anything” he asked, to which he replied, “It’s so funny you said that, because my mom and I were having this conversation.”
The actor credited his upbringing for making him so personable.
“I told her that I’m so glad she taught me to be who I am and instill the values that I have in me because if I was a bad person,” he added. “She was, like, ‘You’d have been an incredible cult leader.’”
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Britt-Gibson is perhaps best known for his roles on The Wire, Californication, Power, You’re the Worst, Barry and We Own This City. On the big screen, he appeared in 20th Century Women, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and more but it has been his role as Bishop on HBO’s Euphoria that has thrust him back into the pop culture zeitgeist.
After playing Alamo’s (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) fixer throughout the season, Bishop had a hero moment during the Sunday, May 31, series finale when he helped Ali (Colman Domingo) avenge Rue’s (Zendaya) death by removing bullets from Alamo’s gun.
“Bishop didn’t agree with a lot of what Alamo did, but it was a job for him,” Britt-Gibson told Variety about the crucial scene. “I think what Alamo did to Rue was the final straw for Bishop.”
Britt-Gibson explained how Rue’s death affected Bishop, adding, “He’s also having that conversation with Maddy in the car. Rue was a bridge too far, and he’s like, ‘I promise I’m not going to let you get to Maddy.’”
While reflecting on the role, Britt-Gibson confirmed he saw Bishop as on the autism spectrum.
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“I don’t think Black people get to play that enough,” he told the outlet. “I don’t like the way that people who are on the spectrum are spoken about.”
Britt-Gibson wanted to offer accurate representation.
“There are a lot of people in my life and my family who are on the spectrum, and they are the most beautiful, deep, soulful people,” he said. “I thought, ‘If I get to do this and play him like that, I want to be able to do it justice and make it thoughtful and layered.’ That was something I inherently thought about. I wanted to give it that care.”
Despite Bishop’s backstory not existing on screen, Britt-Gibson put in a lot of thought into the character.
“It wasn’t really described to me in any way, and [that’s] the beauty of it. [Creator] Sam [Levinson] saw an audition of mine for another part, and he wanted to craft Bishop around what I brought to it,” he noted. “Sam is so amazing in that way — he’s a ‘best idea wins’ type of creator. I had this idea of a character who moves more like a samurai in a world of cowboys. Somebody who you can’t really figure out until it’s time to figure him out.”
