The Strain Season Finale Preview [VIDEO and PHOTOS + Kevin Durand INTERVIEW] 

Warning: Spoilers Ahead

The season one finale of The Strain is this Sunday. Can you believe it? Where in the heck did the time go? With the finale approaching, the fandom is all abuzz about what to expect, what cliffhangers they may leave us with and which of our beloved characters may not make it out alive (yikes!). TV Goodness was fortunate enough earlier this week to participate in a conference call with series star Kevin Durand (“Vasily Fet”) to get the 411 on the evolution of his character, all of the fun he’s had this season and what we can expect going into Sunday’s finale.

When I talked with Guillermo del Toro and Carlton Cuse before the series premiered, they said they had particular actors in mind for a few of the characters from the very start. Kevin Durand as Vasily Fet was one of them. So one of the first things Kevin was asked was the process in which he was cast for the role.

Kevin Durand: “I was prepping for a film at the time called The Captive. I lost like 40 pounds and I had this little mustache and I looked like a very different person. Then I found out that Guillermo [del Toro] and Carlton [Cuse] wanted to meet me on this project. So I had three days. I read the book, went in and after I read that first book I was like, ‘There is no way they are going to see me as this big, robust, heroic, stoic fella Vasily Fet,’ because I was so skinny and sick looking. We had this meeting and I assured them that I was starving myself just for this project I was going to do and then I was going to get back to normal. In the room they asked me if I wanted to be Vasily Fet. Every day since I’ve been so grateful for that meeting, because in playing him I don’t know if I’ve ever had so much fun, ever. Also in watching it, it’s been so incredibly gratifying to watch the season unfold.”

In Sunday’s episode, Dr. Goodweather made fun of Vasily, pretty much indicating that he thought Fet was borderline psychotic and called the vampire apocalypse the guy’s “ultimate wet dream.” Kevin elaborated on that and discussed why he thought the character was so willing to take the leap from exterminating rats to exterminating vampires.

Kevin Durand: “I think that Fet has this inner warrior, this Viking warrior inside of him, and it was always living within him. But in this specific circumstance, when all hell has broken loose and the vermin have turned into human bloodsucking vermin, it feels like way more of a natural transition than probably you would assume. He’s a master at now you could see that things are getting more intense as the minutes roll by. It’s like seeing a great prize-fighter before a big fight — staying really calm and relaxed and ready for action — and I think that’s where Fet’s at. I mean, he’s making googley-eyes at this girl when the world’s going to crap. That’s because he’s very comfortable, he’s ready, he knows that if there’s anyone for the job that he’s the guy.”

Vasily Fet has nerves of steel, even when he was facing that sleeping hoard of strigoi in “The Third Rail.” Given that, I asked him what he thought it would take to really unnerve the guy and put true fear in his heart.

Kevin Durand: “Wow, that’s a really good question. It’s going to be interesting to see him in a group of people like this. When you’re in a group of people under such a high level of duress there is a very high, intense level of bonding among the group. So I think the idea that Fet will develop feelings for people within this group would definitely raise the stakes for him and probably put fear in his heart.”

“It’s just like Setrakian has told us before, he said love is our downfall. I think of him being a loner up to this point, like even seeing that he hasn’t seen his father or mother, he’s been estranged from them for years. He hasn’t really had to account for anyone for a long time and now he seems like he really, genuinely respected Setrakian at this point. I see a relationship budding there, like a father/son relationship. It seems like he’s interested in Dutch as well. I don’t see a whole lot of love lost between him and Eph but, who knows, they may become friends. I don’t know. But I think that that might be the thing, the connection to these human beings under that duress may take him to that point.”

And, of course, with the big reveal in Sunday’s episode that Fet, in fact, may be interested in Dutch Velders and even more surprising, that she’s probably not the lesbian like most people had suspected, I had to ask him about that potential relationship. Is Fet actually into this girl, or is it just harmless flirting?

Kevin Durand: “I think that he sees a spectrum of things in her. Obviously, she’s not hard on the eyes, but she’s hyper intelligent, she’s rebellious like him, she’s tough like him, she doesn’t take any crap like him and he really gets a kick out of it. I think he sees she’s kind of reflecting to him kind of like a mirror in some ways in the short time that they have known each other, so he’s just intrigued.”

“Actually, as you probably know if you’ve read the books, she doesn’t exist in the book. So her fate and what she ends up doing within the show are completely a mystery to me. It’s one of those things that I’m so excited about with this show is that we really don’t know what’s going to happen. So if I make it through episode 13 then I’ll get to shoot a second season and then maybe we can find out.”

I think I can speak for the rest of the fans when I say that the scene of Vasily crawling through the hole and getting stuck in “The Third Rail” scared me half to death. For a moment, I really thought he was a goner. Kevin laughed when I mentioned the scene and said there was a good story behind it.

Kevin Durand: “Well, you know what’s really funny about that is that they brought me in a week or two early and wanted to see if I could make it through that hole, because they knew that I was the biggest one in the group. So I came to work and I just shot through it really quickly, because I have way too much confidence in my athletic prowess. I was like, ‘Yes, look at that, big guy could do it really quick.’”

“I didn’t keep in mind, I didn’t do the math and didn’t realize that Fet has this really thick, bulky jacket plus his knapsack. So I got to set and Mía just shot through that thing like a lightning bolt and I was like, ‘Oh, I have to beat Mía’s time,’ in my head. I got in there and right from the start I could hardly move and the panic on my face it was a real panic, like I don’t know how I’m going to get out of this. So it really happened, I really did almost get stuck. It took a lot of me maneuvering muscles that I didn’t even know that I had just to move like half an inch forward. So, luckily I got out. I’m here right now still alive.”

TV GOODNESS: Yes. It scared the crap out of a lot of fans, though, I think.

Kevin Durand: “Well how fricking scary was that vampire coming after me? I remember watching her go through that tunnel afterwards and, I mean, I got chills. I got chills just watching the way that it was so subhuman; it was so like it was animal. It was really freaky. I’m glad that she didn’t bite me, thank goodness.”

TV GOODNESS: Yes. I think all the fandom out there is very glad as well.

In Sunday’s finale, Setrakian has a new plan, one that he assures Eph and Fet will kill the Master — but one I am sure is just as dangerous as the others. Will everyone make it out alive? Scores of fans especially on Twitter have been saying for weeks, “If Vasily dies, we riot.” Well, we all might want to dust off that riot gear because as Carlton Cuse has said time and time before, no one is 100% safe on this show.

The season finale of The Strain  is titled “The Master” and airs this Sunday at 10/9c on FX.

VIDEO

PHOTOS

All photos courtesy of Michael Gibson and FX.