As Killjoys winds down its run, I’ve been extremely fortunate to chat this summer with our onscreen and offscreen faves. I’ve said here a few times that Luke Macfarlane was my introduction into the show, and in the intervening five years, he’s been very kind to chat with me for both Killjoys and his Hallmark projects. Since it had been a year since we’d talked specifically for Killjoys at the group press day last August, we were due for a catch up on all things D’avin Jaqobis. This week, we got on the phone to talk about Season 5.

Everyone we’ve spoken to freely admits that this was the season where they all just went for it, and one of the ways that’s been most apparent is in unleashing D’av and tapping into Macfarlane’s comedic side. He loved getting to bring that forward. “It’s been all of us trying to figure out how best to make this character make sense. I think it’s really been a group effort on every level,” he shares.
“From the beginning, there were some very clear ideas of An Officer and a Gentleman-type character who was a bit haunted. We were feeling like it wasn’t working for people. I am naturally very funny and they leaned into that in a way that didn’t sacrifice the integrity of the show and we weren’t making fun of him.”

“They would give me funny stuff and I was always game for it. And within it, we were also trying to preserve whatever the relationship was going to be with Dutch. Even if he was self-deprecating and funny, he was still somebody we wanted to see with Dutch.”
More comedy came from the scenes of D’av being the worst wingman ever for his brother. Macfarlane enjoyed those moments and would’ve loved more of them. “That was really fun and I wish we’d gone further. That was an example of, ‘Oh, dude, we only have ten episodes.’ We realized, and discussed creatively with the writers, that there wasn’t a ton of time to figure out who Johnny was going to end up with,” he recalls. “[We thought], ‘Maybe they’re setting up a triangle here,’ but there wasn’t enough runway left.”

The counterpoint to the lighter said of D’av was that he was also still fairly vulnerable about where he stood with Dutch—looking for reassurance about their relationship after the memory matrix and with Johnny’s looming post-battle sabbatical. “I think we played with that a lot and we didn’t know if they would be together. D’av found his way, but I don’t know if we always knew what that was going to be, and as the performer inside of that, it was very difficult,” he admits.
“We had a world we were dealing with and that was always going to be the number one story. Early on, we set up this thing and let it go and then would touch back on it sometimes. I think the writers are incredibly talented and listening to what is going on. I felt like that was really hard to do in the brave new world of a female lead of an action-adventure show.”

“We don’t want her to need D’avin. We’re so used to seeing the damsel in distress. It’s a more complicated relationship. The amazing, beautiful, incredible intelligence of the show is, ‘How do we need each other, but not need each other so we can be our strong selves?’ We wrestled with that.”
“One of my favorite scenes was him not knowing where he stood and when he finally had the misunderstanding with Dutch where he thought she was in love with Johnny. It’s one of those great Killjoys things that feels like it’s about to be one thing and in a split second it becomes something else. I loved playing that so much.”
“Three Killjoys and a Lady” was this season’s bottle episode, pitting TAF against each other until they realize Lucy is the one who’s been bodyjacked (thankfully not permanently). The episode capitalized on the fantastic chemistry of the three leads and also teased out a little nudity, some of which was left on the cutting room floor. “There was definitely a bum shot but it didn’t make it. I was all ready,” Macfarlane laughs. “I will admit I was disappointed that it didn’t make it.”

One of the sneaky cool things about that episode was that we at home didn’t entirely trust who was real and who wasn’t, and Macfarlane says the shooting style of the episode helped create that tension. “I think it was built into the nature of it. If you’re being asked to look at something cockeyed, you can’t tell if it’s cockeyed,” he explains.
“There’s this great scene where Dutch and Johnny are pointing guns at each other and [director Paolo Barzman] allows the camera to be floaty. As an actor, I love that so much because you’re free to float around and the camera has to find you instead of having a static camera or a camera on a dolly that you have to find.”
“Maybe that informed the tension and other “off”-ness a little bit. I loved that. That was one of my favorites. It was also really nice because it was the three of us. Having worked with each other so long, we always knew that was the easiest and we had the best shorthand because we’d been together the longest. That was a really fun episode.”
The final season has had some fun pop culture homages, with Macfarlane getting to appear in three of them—one he realized and two he didn’t. He clued me in that last week’s scene of Dutch showing D’av how to use the Q’reshi gun was a role-reversal nod to Hicks and Ripley in Aliens, which I totally missed.

The two he was unaware of are the scene of Johnny breaking D’av out of holding with the Robbels in “A Bout, A Girl” with, “Do you have a kiss for daddy?” – a wink to Ferris Bueller, and D’av’s, “I love you,” declaration to Dutch last week that was straight up The Cutting Edge. While Michelle Lovretta and Adam Barken intentionally put that together as a tribute, Macfarlane didn’t know. “I had no idea. I love that scene,” he says. “All I remember about filming was that it was the loudest space and we had to do all that dialogue [after filming] in ADR.”
This season also gave us a couple of surprisingly warm scenes between D’av and Delle Seyah as they worked out the world’s weirdest co-parenting arrangement. “I enjoyed working with [Mayko Nguyen] so much and that energy and that world we were offering up,” says Macfarlane.

“I think that was always a very interesting part of, “How do these two totally different people come together to ultimately do the most important thing—raise a child well?’ Despite their differences, they were entirely in line on that. They want the best for their son.”
Killjoys airs one last Friday at 10 pm/9c on CTV Sci-Fi Channel (formerly Space Channel) and Syfy. All of our Killjoys coverage, including my mash letter to the show, is here. You can catch all four seasons and the first nine Season 5 episodes on demand on the CTV Sci-Fi Channel app and Syfy app and website. Click here for our preview of the finale.
Photos courtesy of CTV Sci-Fi and Syfy.
Heather M
Related posts
Classics
Scott McCord and Elizabeth Saunders Talk the From Season 2 finale
[Warning: Spoilers for the season finale.] How’s everyone doing after that finale? While we wait and wonder and hope for a third season announcement, soon, here’s what Scott McCord and Elizabeth Saunders had to say about their parts of the finale, and where they hope they get to go next….
Scott McCord and Elizabeth Saunders Talk From Season 2 + A Season Finale Preview
[Warning: General spoilers ahead.] It all comes down this, #FROMily. As Sunday’s episode wraps up Season 2, we begin with the aftermath of the terrifying onset of seemingly simultaneous attacks on Julie, Marielle, and Randall, which accelerate the “We gotta get out of this place” of it all. Sara comes…
Alison Sweeney Talks About What’s Next for Hannah and Mike After Carrot Cake Murder: A Hannah Swensen Mystery
[Warning: Spoilers for Carrot Cake Murder.] Everybody OK after that Hannah Swensen Mystery twist? Thankfully, our favorite crime-solving couple is still on speaking term, even if they’re on a break (hopefully not that kind of break). Most importantly, we already know this isn’t the last film in the series. No…
Counting Down to From Season 2
[Warning: General spoilers ahead.] We’re just shy of two weeks away from Season 2 of last spring’s obsession, From, which premieres at 9 pm/8c, Sunday, April 23rd, on MGM+ (formerly EPIX). If you never picked it up last year, now’s your chance, and you can do it for free, catching…
Thank Me Later: Will Trent
[Warning: spoilers ahead.] I’m on record as loving and losing shows over at ABC so I’m usually very reticent to pick something up on the network until it’s been renewed, and I seriously hope I’m not jinxing it, but I took a chance on the deeply odd and very sweet…
Dennis Heaton Talks The Imperfects
Longtime readers at TV Goodness will know that Motive is one of my ride-or-die series, and as such, I am fiercely loyal to its creator, Dennis Heaton. He followed up that fantastic reverse procedural with Netflix’s The Order and is back on our streaming screens with The Imperfects, which dropped…
Kelly McCormack Talks Favorite Moments in A League of Their Own
[Warning: Mild spoilers for season 1.] Now that you’ve had a chance to watch A League of Their Own, here’s the rest of my chat with Kelly McCormack about her favorite moments of the season. Seeing the iconic Peaches uniforms for the first time wasn’t just a goosebump moment for…
John Griffin and Harold Perrineau Talk From Season 1 Finale
[Warning: General spoilers ahead.] How are we doing, #FROMily? In case you missed it this morning, the very good news is that that cliffhanger will be followed by a second season, which was gifted this morning ahead of the linear broadcast of the finale. I always legitimately appreciate when we…
Elizabeth Saunders Talks From
[Warning: General spoilers ahead.] One of the things that makes EPIX’s From such a fun ride is the abundance of Canadian cast members. Elizabeth Saunders, who plays Donna, is a favorite from her turn on the third season of Mary Kills People [streaming on Global TV in Canada and Roku…
Corteon Moore Talks From “Broken Windows, Open Doors”
[Warning: Spoilers for tonight’s episode.] Tonight’s episode of From had us all in our feels as we learned through flashbacks about the Sophie’s Choice Boyd had to make to save his son, and back in the present as Boyd said his piece with Ellis before heading into the woods with…
What They Said: Three Revealing Conversations from Survivor’s Remorse “Closure”
WARNING: Spoilers for Survivor’s Remorse “Closure” The latest episode of Starz’s Survivor’s Remorse featured conversations that showed characters really digging deep into their thoughts, emotions and motivations.
Two Takes: The Catch “The Knock-Off”
Who can you trust? If this episode of The Catch was any indication, the answer is just about nobody. Betrayal was running rampant as Felicity (Shivani Ghai) arose from the dead to seduce-con Margot, Gretchen (Maria Thayer, Gotham, The Mindy Project) played gold-hearted Alice 2.0 before swindling Ethan, Tessa jumped…
What They Said: Top 3 Quotable Moments from Preacher “El Valero”
Both Quincannon and Jesse refuse to give up on what they each think is rightfully theirs. While Jesse is struggling to face the consequences of his actions, Quincannon has laid his past demons to rest and is hellbent on moving forward and putting Annville on the map again. Despite a…
What They Said: Favorite Quotes from Supergirl “Worlds Finest”
Oh, Supergirl. That ending was cold. But I can’t hate on you because the latest episode has quickly become one of my favorites.
What They Said: Top 4 Quotable Moments from Black Sails “XXIII”
The dialogue in “XXIII” is phenomenal. It’s always a fun ride when Black Sails carries its viewers along without giving them the chance to catch their breath. When an episode moves at this unforgiving pace, there is no chance for a breather nor is there a respite from the information…
What Lucifer Said: Favorite quotes from Supernatural “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”
Supernatural episodes are almost always funny but thanks to the dialogue and a certain man speaking said dialogue, I laughed a lot during “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” You know, when I wasn’t busy fearing for Sam’s life or wondering what in the world was going on with Dean and…
What They Said: The Flash, “Legends Of Today” and Arrow, “Legends Of Yesterday”
Two nights of Arrow + The Flash = what more could we ask for?! I don’t know what it is about blending these shows, but I can’t help but feel that every time they come together, they somehow become greater than the sum of their parts. And that’s saying a lot…
What they Said: Top 4 Quotable Moments from Graceland “Little Bo Bleep”
Shoot outs. Fake outs. And long-awaited revelations. “Little Bo Bleep” was a jam-packed episode that wrapped up some loose ends and totally frayed others. Â It finally gave us one Sarkissian in jail and pulled back the curtain on Briggs’ master plan, but it also set up Jakes for a world…
What They Said: Favorite Quotes from Poldark “Part 4”
“What have I told you, I don’t require my wife to crochet and sip tea, but I do require her to remember she’s not a beast of burden.†No, I’m not talking about The Rolling Stones! I have to admit though, just for a second, the lyrics popped into my…
3 Moments of Goodness from Brooklyn Nine-Nine “Johnny and Dora”
The most satisfying part of this season’s finale has to the Jake and Amy kiss. Well, they kiss three times but the last one is the best one — and it means something. The Charles and Rosa dynamic was also great. I love how she’s convinced he doesn’t know anything…