Luke Macfarlane Talks Killjoys, The Night Shift, Hallmark, and Mercy Street [Exclusive] 

[Warning: General spoilers ahead.]

This week’s Killjoys is a massive treat for the Pree fans, and we’ll dive more into that in our preview later this week. The episode also builds on last week’s revelation that D’avin is indeed special with his latent ties to Khlyen. Luke Macfarlane is always a fun chat, so I was thrilled to get on the phone with him recently to talk Killjoys, The Night Shift , and saying goodbye to Mercy Street.

So far this season, D’av’s been Dutch’s right-hand man while Johnny was on his walkabout, and now he’s about to be Zeph’s pet project. Macfarlane says D’av’s role will continue to evolve. “[He] is finally arriving at a place where he’s comfortable with the team, and then as the season goes on, [he finds himself] being thrust into a leadership role he’s not really wanting to take on,” he says.

“[While Johnny was away, D’av and Dutch were able to] establish that really friendly, uniquely D’av and Dutch relationship that they have that’s different than [what she has with] Johnny. He’s always been a voice [that] Dutch listens to, and as the season goes on, and she becomes more embroiled in her personal narrative, someone’s got to be left to take charge of the team.”

While Johnny was separated from Team Awesomeforce, Macfarlane said they missed Aaron Ashmore offset, too. “We didn’t see a lot of Aaron, so he’d pop by and we’d say, ‘We miss you,’ and he’s say, ‘I miss you'” he recalls.

One of the things we’ve seen just three episodes in is the use of a lot of outdoor locations, and Canadian-born Macfarlane is right at home with that. “We always love to be outside. It adds depth and texture that’s hard to get [inside] when you’re not working on a multi-billion dollar set,” he explains. “We go outside as much as we possibly again. I love being back outside in the cold. It takes me back to my heart.”

This week, we get some particularly fun and delicious D’av and Zeph moments, and Macfarlane enjoyed creating that relationship. “We come at life from very different angles. She finds her center and we end up, like all good teams, figuring out how to work with each other,” he says.

“I’m of course ‘why did we pick her?’ I think D’avin in general is just very suspicious of change. He’s got this very conservative mentality of ‘Let’s just keep it as it is.’ He’s slow to warm to people, but I think once you have his approval, it’s worth a lot.”

As we’ve seen in the preview, D’av comes face to face with Aneela this week–and I’m not telling you how because it’s fantastic–so Macfarlane was the first of the boys to work with Hannah John-Kamen in that role. “D’avin…seems to be firmly on the side of Aneela being trouble. It was most exciting to see [Hannah] take on another character so completely,” he says. “It was amazing how much like a different person she seemed. I’ve always been so impressed with Hannah’s talent, but this was next level.”

Hallmark Channel has kept Macfarlane busy with movies of the week the last few years, although he hasn’t been able to fit another one in since this past winter’s Birthday Wish, directed by one of my favorites, Peter DeLuise. “I love doing them so much. I hope they’ll keep thinking of me favorably,” he says. “Peter was such a champ.”

“There was a day when it was just pouring down buckets of rain, and I’m [sure] we’re not going to get this, this scene is not going to happen. And he was running around talking to the dog people and the background people. He’s so on top of his vision. Somehow, you leave a horrible, wet day where you’re outside covered in rain kind of happy. I’d love to work with him again.”

Macfarlne will be on three episodes of The Night Shift this season, including the episode airing this Thursday. There’s an extra level of Syfy Friday interest in that now because Macfarlane’s character, Rick, is married to Drew, played by series regular Brendan Fehr, who’s now recurring on Season 2 of Wynonna Earp.

“I’ve already shot two and I’ll be in the finale. I get to meet Drew’s mom, a wonderful actress, Becky Ann Baker (Hannah’s mom on Girls) comes to play [her.] She’s just a fantastic actress,” he says. “Similar to Mercy Street, I get to go out in the field a little bit. You get to see Rick with T.C. doing his SWAT team thing, which is always a challenge when the character has one leg.”

Macfarlane got to switch it up during the last two hiatuses, filming period drama Mercy Street for PBS. The series was cancelled this spring, and while it gave Macfarlane a breather at home this year in between Killjoys and The Night Shift, he was sorry to see it go.

“I was given some fun stuff to do. It was always this amazing act of will that the show lasted as long as it did. PBS had never done anything like this,” he points out. “It will always live in my memory as a great experience all around. My great hope is that one of these days all of these really positive experiences will turn into something really popular.”

Killjoys airs Fridays at 8/7c on Syfy and Space. The Night Shift airs Thursdays at 10/c on NBC.