“She’s a person who wants to see her actions matter in the world,” proclaims Jerrika Hinton about the role of FBI agent Millie Morris on Amazon’s “Hunters.” The period drama follows Agent Morris as she investigates a group Nazi-hunting vigilantes trying to stop the creation of a “Fourth Reich” in 1970s America. In our exclusive video interview (watch above), Hinton shares her views on the show’s connection to today’s politics and working opposite Oscar-winner Al Pacino.
Hinton was immediately drawn in by creator David Weil‘s pilot script for the series. “I was really impressed by David’s writing,” she recalls. “I was impressed by how he fleshed out even just the skeleton of Millie in the pilot.” The actress says that she was unfamiliar with much of the historical fact that is loosely connected to the series, specifically the American government’s recruiting of Nazi scientists to aid in the space program. “I was very impressed by the history lesson I was getting by going through the script,” Hinton says.
For Hinton, she sees the show’s discussion of race relations showed an eerie parallel to contemporary politics. “For me, as a black woman, racism has always been there,” she explains. “It’s never been a force that’s been invisible to me, and it’s never been a force that I’ve been inoculated from. So I understand how from an audience point of view, all of the parallels seem even more stark.”
One of the show’s most pivotal scenes involves an intense face off between Hinton’s Agent Morris and Pacino’s Meyer Offerman, the leader of The Hunters. “I was excited. That was one of my favorite scenes in the whole series,” Hinton exclaims. “To be able to work with somebody that has the catalogue that he does, and still cares about the work, whose priority is to just come to work, do the best job that we can do to serve the show and then go home…that’s how I like to live.”
When thinking about her character’s progression in a possible second season of “Hunters,” Hinton has very clear ideas about what the path ahead looks like for Millie. “Now that the wool has been pulled from her eyes, I think it’s only right that she goes even further down the rabbit hole,” she explains. “She’s been fully disillusioned. She knows that she can’t rely on the system. She now knows that there is legit merit to operating outside of the system.”
PREDICT the 2020 Emmy nominees now; change through July 28
Be sure to make your Emmy predictions today so that Hollywood insiders can see how their TV shows and performers are faring in our odds. You can keep changing your predictions as often as you like until just before the nominees are announced on July 28. And join in the fun debate over the 2020 Emmys taking place right now with Hollywood insiders in our television forums. Read more Gold Derby entertainment news.
SIGN UP for Gold Derby’s free newsletter with latest predictions
