Fan-favorite John Noble has joined the Sleepy Hollow cast in the recurring role of Henry Parrish. He first appears in Sleepy Hollow episode 6, “The Sin Eater,” which airs on November 4. The mesmerizing actor follows up his role of Walter Bishop on Fringe with a character who possesses an incredible ability.
‘Sleepy Hollow’ Sneak Peek: Watch the First 8 Minutes of ‘Sin Eater’ Online Now, Plus a Clip of Henry Parrish’ Introduction>>>
John Noble spoke with reporters on a conference call last week about his new role on Sleepy Hollow, including the character’s introduction and future on the show. Read on for edited excerpts of his comments.
Who is Henry Parrish?
He’s a reluctant sort of a savior, but he has this ability, in a sense, to remove evil from a person; and hence the name, The Sin Eater. I’ll tease you with that much, that even though he doesn’t want to, he’s called into action basically to save Ichabod’s life and he does. So that is our first introduction and we establish a relationship that you can see that there is some sort of chemistry between him and Ichabod and the other principals.
He’s another one of these really complex, multi-layered characters. When I did Walter Bishop, the great joy of him was the layers that he had and it gave me so much room to play with the psychological levels of the character and Henry offers me the same. And from what I’ve been told by the writers that’s what we’ll see as time goes by. That makes going to work a joy for me to play with these complex characters.
How different is Henry from Walter? Walter was very eccentric, is Henry also an eccentric character?
Yeah, absolutely, but not in the same way. [Henry] doesn’t have that, as I know so far, that extreme range that Walter had, the sort of mentally damaged character that he was. He doesn’t, from what I know I don’t see that type of range.
What I do see is the depth and the secrets and the psychological twists that I find very appealing about this character. He’s a mysterious man and we will reveal these mysteries. And I think as time goes by, those revelations will be quite a shock to the other characters and to the audience. That’s great fun to play that sort of thing, but he’s not a crazy like Walter was.
How many episodes will Henry be in?
Yeah, well I’m going to do three more this season. So I’ve done one and I’m going to do three more, so that’s three out of four actually of those that are left; and then probably be back next year for quite a lot.
What kind of relationship with Henry have with Ichabod?
As time goes by we will see a relationship develop between Henry and Ichabod, which kind of feels like a father/son relationship. So let me just leave that, but there will certainly be a relationship between Henry and Ichabod.
And, what will the relationship be like between Henry and Abbie?
I think already there is a relationship with Abbie. She’s obviously asked for his help and she’s got it. And so I am looking forward to a kind of a growth there, perhaps not exactly the same way as he does with Ichabod; but a respect, a usefulness, a third member or fourth member of the team. And I love working with Nicole, so I expect something cheeky and wonderful and a bit fatherly will come out of that one as well.
Sleepy Hollow airs on Mondays at 9 pm ET on FOX.
(Image courtesy of FOX.)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
Contributing Editor and Writer for Collider, BuddyTV, TV Fanatic, CliqueClack, and other publications. TV criticism, reviews, interviews with actors and producers, and other related content. Founder of TV Diehard.
