Brandon from ComicsVerse talks to the legendary Elijah Wood, you may know him as Frodo from Lord of the Rings! Wood talks Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency at NYCC 2017!

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ComicsVerse: Brandon Bloxdorf here at New York Comic Con 2017, hanging out with the great Elijah Wood. You guys are watching ComicsVerse!

Elijah, your character has gone through some major changes in season one. It seems you’re kind of just picking up right off of it. What can you tell me about your character that’s going on in season two?

Elijah Wood: Where we left Todd is, he’s just had his first para pleuritis attack. He’s heard a panicked phone call from his sister where she’s clearly being kidnapped or something horrible is happening to her that he doesn’t know what it is. He knows she’s in danger. He’s spent two months on the road with Farah, looking for Dirk Gently because they’d been separated, and looking for his sister.

And you know, in the first season, Todd was a very — Kind of initially, a very unwilling participant in Dirk’s worldview, and the notion that the universe will show you where you need to go, and the whole idea of a holistic detective. By the end of that first season, he’s on board!

He actually believes these things are real. He’s experienced time travel. He’s seen a shark come out of a kitten. These things are actually real. So he’s very much a believer now, and in some ways, the roles have been reversed, and he’s kind of a little manic in a very Dirk Gently way, kind of at the beginning because he’s desperate, essentially because he needs these things to be real in order for him to find his sister.

ComicsVerse: And these books are also based off of a Douglas Adams book, as well?

Elijah Wood: That’s right.

ComicsVerse: How do you, as an actor, work with a character from a novel and make it part of your own identity?

Elijah Wood: Well, the beautiful thing for me, I don’t have the pressure because Todd doesn’t exist in the books. The pressure really lands on … I mean guess to a certain degree, Sam. But really, Max, you know? In the sense that he’s writing something that there’s a certain amount of expectation from Douglas Adams fans. But I think his approach to not do a direct adaptation of the books themselves, but rather write almost in the key of Douglas Adams was really the smartest thing to do because these are entirely new stories, just utilizing characters and elements, and sort of looking to capture that tone.

ComicsVerse: And you, as an actor yourself, you’ve done this kind of magic before, like with Frodo and whatnot, these kinda crazy roles!

Elijah Wood: Yeah!

ComicsVerse: How does that kinda reflect as yourself, personally? Like how do you enjoy doing these roles?

Elijah Wood: It’s so fun. I mean with these first two seasons, we’ve had the opportunity to essentially play in a really crazy sandbox. You know, each season is completely different. Essentially, we’re doing an anthology show, but it incorporates the same characters. Last season dealt with time travel and body-swapping, and this season deals with high fantasy and magic. So it’s really fun for us because we get to see our characters through that, and there’s an emotional truth to our characters in their experience and growth, whilst also being in these ridiculous, absurd, fun universes that are different every time.

ComicsVerse: Nice, cool. Thank you for taking the time to talk to us for a few minutes. You guys are watching ComicsVerse, and check us out at ComicsVerse.com.

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