THE FOLLOWING: Jessica Stroup Teases Max’s Relationships and Why ‘It’s Good to Be Good’

Max Hardy may have only been introduced to THE FOLLOWING’s viewers this season, but thanks to her Uncle Ryan’s long-time obsession with Joe, she’s no newbie to the cult’s devious ways.

“She’s aware of everything [Joe did last year],” Jessica Stroup (Max) shared. “She’s been in this world: her dad was a firefighter, she’s been going through the cop training, and now she’s finally become a detective. She’s ready for the scary, dangerous situation.”

“But I think it takes a little while for her to understand the depth of it — and for her to be in it herself — to see how all encompassing the search for Joe Carroll is,” she continued. “And we all know he’s alive now, but the first couple of episodes, [the characters] don’t know [for sure]. So she [was] doubtful. She wants to believe the records that say he’s dead and she wants her uncle to stay out of danger, or [avoid] being too obsessed with it. She’s ready for it, but I think she’s also really happy to have her uncle as someone to talk with and confide in [as they go through this together].”

However, Ryan won’t be the only person Max leans on this season — Stroup teased that Mike Weston will become an “important” person to Max as the episodes continue on.

“[They’re] pretty rocky in the beginning,” Stroup acknowledged. “He’s a man — he’s a boy — and he says the wrong thing, and it pisses her off, and it takes her a while to warm up to him. But eventually they become — I wouldn’t say dependent, but they’re appreciative of each other.”

For Max, the more people she has on her side, the better, as the fight against the cult grows increasingly dangerous.

“I’ve gotten to do some pretty killer [fights] this year,” Stroup said. “And choreographed fight scenes, which I’ve never done before. It’s pretty bad ass. I’ve loved it…I think it’s episode seven. It’s when my character gets really physically involved with the story of the serial killers. What happens, we don’t know, but the stunt work and the training for the fight scenes, that comes before [what goes down in episode seven]. She’s pretty involved, physically.”

While things might be tough for Max, Stroup — a big fan of THE FOLLOWING’s first season before she joined the series — was still reveling in being able to get the chance to play with these characters.

“It’s never happened before, because I’ve never stepped in like this in a second season, but it’s really trippy,” she laughed. “Really trippy. And it’s mainly with the bad guys, because I don’t film with them all that much, and when I’m reading the scripts, I try not to picture it all that much, so when we get to see it, it’s more frightening. But it’s been cool getting to meet the cast, and getting to pick their brains on how it went last year, and what they want from this year.”

“It’s always going to be surreal to me,” she continued. “The job I do in the first place is really crazy. But that’s the cool thing with Kevin Bacon (Ryan) — we’ve slowly gotten to build this good rapport, and working together, the long hours we do — he’s coming from a movie world, where they’re used to working long hours, but TV is a lot more crammed. It’s been awesome, to get to work with him, and learn from him.”

And it’s precisely because of that relationship that Stroup expressed her desire for her character stays good.

“It’s really fun to play a bad guy, and I’d like to play someone who is good who turns bad,” she admitted. “And I kind of kept mentioning to [the writers], ‘So there’s a chance, right?’ But at the same time, what would I be giving up? And that’s the relationship that I would be having with Kevin Bacon’s character. So, no. It’s good to be good!”

THE FOLLOWING airs Mondays at 9 PM on Fox.

Related:

THE FOLLOWING: Connie Nielsen on the Show’s Upcoming Twists: ‘So Much Happens in the Next Couple of Episodes That You Won’t Believe It’
THE FOLLOWING: ‘Family Affair’ Photo Preview
THE FOLLOWING: Valorie Curry on the ‘Real Test’ of Emma’s Devotion to Joe

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