Disclaimer: This FROM interview contains plots spoilers through season 3 episode 9.
Ellis Stevens is struggling more than viewers have seen play out in real time in three seasons. His wife Fatima is experiencing alarming pregnancy symptoms. Her emotional volatility has escalated so far as to kill Tilly, a kind-hearted Colony House resident. If all that weren’t enough, he’s also just learned that his father is struggling with Parkinson’s.
Actor Corteon Moore joined us for an interview to dive deeper into everything Ellis.
LadyJenevia: Last year, I spoke with Pegah and I asked her something I would also like to ask you. One of the things I love the most about Ellis is that he’s a genuine Wife Guy. What do you think it is that ultimately made Fatima and Ellis fall in love and keep loving each other as much as they do?
Moore: Oh wow, that is a really good question. I feel like he’d be such a hard partner to have because he’s so… especially when they met, he was really depressed and really angry. I think what made them fall in love is, they kind of balance each other out, especially when they first met. I think the reason that they fell in love and and that they got together is because they balanced each other out and they were they were each learning from one another. Ellis learned a lot of how to forgive and how to find happiness and light in this town. Maybe Fatima was learning a bit of how to actually… I don’t know, I think honestly I really just learned only from her, which is why I fell so deep in love with her.
We stay together because we’re lucky to have each other in this really awful place. They both understand that on a very, very, very deep level. In a place that’s so awful to be in, with so many people who are not really the best to be around at times, to have somebody who makes you feel comfortable and makes you feel like you’re at home is not a small thing. They have something really special, and I think they know that.
LadyJenevia: In episode 9, Ellis finally learns about Boyd’s ongoing Parkinson’s symptoms. What are the emotional ramifications of this for Ellis and how he navigates the ongoing mayhem of the last bit of this season?
Moore: It’s really tough. I remember when we first got that script, I didn’t realise that Parkinson’s was a hereditary disease. I didn’t realise that it would pass down to one another. I remember when me and Harold were rehearsing just before we had shot it, he had said to as kind of just like a drop in exercise, he just looked at me right before we started the scene, and he was like, “I have Parkinson’s and you probably will too” or something like that. I remember getting really affected by it because my grandfather in real life has Parkinson’s. I don’t think my dad has it but who knows, it could hit me in real life.
Then, just standing across somebody like Harold who’s a very dear friend of mine now and a mentor and such an amazing actor, it was really and it just kind of hit me in a really, really, really deep level and in a very similar way that it hit Ellis. He’s still dealing with this understanding that maybe he was going to be a dad. He’s still holding on to an aspect of that and through that journey he learned more of how to love his own father Boyd. For the first time, it was a real heartbreak that almost had nothing to do with the town. It was just a father and son sharing in this really awful kind of grievance.
It also gives him a chance to see things for what they actually are now. That’s been a theme that Ellis has been exploring, of why he’s focused so much on love and why he’s been so excited to be a dad. This idea of losing his dad now, earlier than anticipated, is something that is putting a fire in his ass, basically being like, ‘I need to get out of here, I need to be a support system for my dad in a way that I never have before.’ It was a lot to take on.
LadyJenevia: To get a bit more of an insight into your acting process, were there any details that you built into Ellis’s backstory that might not necessarily be officially canon in the show’s writing but are things that you’ve built in order to ground yourself in who you understand Ellis to be?
Moore: Yeah, one is one that when I first got the part, Ellis was supposed to be the classic kind of artsy, moody guy. I really wanted him to be a bit more of like an action hero and I pushed for that for a long time. It never really came to be but always in the back of my brain, I’ve always thought of Ellis as a military kid because both Abby and Boyd are. Iron Abbey and Fisherman Loaves Boyd or whatever they called him, Mr. Fisherman Loaves. I see Ellis as a real elbow grease kind of military brat who turned into an artist, full-fledged when he moves to this place, and doesn’t really have anywhere to use that strength. But yeah, I’d say that’s the biggest thing because everything else, I think it really was on the page and given to me by John, and also created just through acting across Pegah and Harold and the rest of the cast.
LadyJenevia: Given how large the FROM ensemble is and how the interpersonal relationships seem to ebb and flow from season to season, is there anyone that you would like to see Ellis have more scenes with in a potential season 4? Perhaps a character that he hasn’t gotten to know as deeply as the core group of characters he interacts with the most.
Moore: Yeah, I probably have the most popular answer and that’s Victor. A lot of people are probably going to say that, especially this season. I’d really like to work with Victor, he’s so amazing and if anyone’s seen him, I’m sure you’ve met him, but he’s just so far from his real character and it’s such a cool thing to witness on set. I would always love some more time with Ricky, he plays Kenny, he’s one of my closest friends. But yeah, I’d say Victor, Kenny, and then maybe Sara. I feel like there’d be something cool with Sara.
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