Aaron Ashmore Talks The Meeting of the Nerds and More in Killjoys Season 3 

[Warning: General spoilers ahead.]

In the closing moments of “A Skinner, Darkly,” last week, Johnny came home to an ecstatic Dutch, D’avin, and Lucy. This week, the shine comes off that reunion just a scoche when the penny drops that there’s a new nerd in town. In the next part of my exclusive interview with Aaron Ashmore, he talks about how Johnny handles that development, and what’s next for him and the team.

Ashmore says the team’s been down this road before, so it’ll all shake out after the initial bumps. “It’s a little bit similar to the scenario in Season 1 when D’av came into the fold and John had to figure out what the dynamic of the team was going to be. It was two and now it’s three, how do we make this work,” he points out. “Since John left, they did need a new nerd. He understands that on some level, but is also a little bit hurt that they replaced him so quickly. He’s a sensitive guy, so that comes up.”

“There’s a great dynamic that happens between Zeph, who is our the new nerd, played by Kelly McCormack, who does a wonderful job this season, and John sort of butting heads a little bit. John’s feathers are a little ruffled. He is more the tech science aspect of things and Zeph is more of a bio science expert, so they have different fields of expertise.”

He says Johnny gets past his initial misgivings when he puts the team first, and makes an effort to help Zeph understand that that is their code. “You get to see John cares about his team and how seriously he takes his position in the team. What Zeph and John can do, Dutch and D’avin cannot do and they know that,” he says. “John saves the day all the time. He’s constantly getting them out of these scenarios. As badass as Dutch and D’av are, he can formulate plans and get them out of tough spots.”

“Zeph doesn’t fully understand the stakes and that the lives of the team are in their hands. When Zeph is freaking out and scared, he doesn’t write her off. He talks her down and says, ‘let’s think through this.’ That’s his compassionate side. He slows her down and talks her through it. That’s very John. I think people will like her character. It’s fun to watch her introduction and see them butt heads.”

John bade farewell to Clara and the Hackmods last week, but we will see them again. “A huge part of the third season is recruiting all these factions of people who can help in the war,” Ashmore shares. We can’t trust the RAC because we don’t know who’s infiltrated them so we’re having to assemble an army outside of the normal structure of things and the Hackmods are part of that. John proved he was down for them, he respected them, he fought by their side. He leaves them on very good terms.”

John also has to leave his finger banger behind now that he’s back home. “Unfortunately, it’s gone. Not only was it a cool thing [to have], I also thought it looked cool,” he says. “It’s very handy. It can save your life; it can also open a beer.”

This week (see clip below), Johnny meets new RAC Director Banyan, and it goes about as well as you’d expect. “We do try to stay out of her way. She obviously knows something is going on,” he explains. “She has put her finger on Dutch as someone who knows something about it. So we’re dodging her. We can’t do that always, but she’s always trying to get in our business and that comes to a head.”

Now that Johnny is home from his “emo walkabout,” we’ll see the after effects of last season bleed through now and again. “I think he is completely down for the war. He came back because he was ready to be part of the team. He knows it’s going to happen and he knows he can contribute to it and help and he needs to help his friends,” Ashmore explains.

“I do think, and not in a major way, the one thing that I noticed…I don’t know if it was deliberate or just the way I felt about it–John’s lost a little but of his shine and his sense of humor and his good naturendness. It’s not completely gone but it’s a little less apparent in his interactions.”

“He lost someone he loved and saw the oppression of all these people and that takes its toll on you after years and years. He’s maybe looking at things in a slightly darker way and maybe we see little dark elements throughout the season. Not completely different, just a little bit. I think that’s his arc this year–seeing sides of him that were not there before.

Killjoys airs Fridays at 8/7c on Syfy. I’ll be back tomorrow with a preview of “The Hullen Have Eyes, but first, enjoy this clip of Banyan meeting Johnny.