Editor’s note: The below interview contains spoilers for From Season 4 Episode 2. While viewers have had countless questions ahead of From’s return for Season 4, the MGM+ horror series didn’t waste any time jumping right back into the action — but some threads were left dangling after “The Arrival,” despite the show’s biggest surprise that Sophia (Julia Doyle) is actually the Man in the Yellow Suit (Douglas E. Hughes) in disguise. Last season introduced a whirlwind of new reveals, from grisly confirmation of how the smiling monsters can resurrect themselves to Julie’s (Hannah Cheramy) apparent time-traveling ability, but with the premiere of Season 4, viewers were waiting on pins and needles for the moment when Jim’s (Eoin Bailey) fate would ultimately be discovered.

That all changes in Episode 2, “Fray,” which fakes out both the townspeople and the audience before delivering one of its cruelest twists yet, as Julie and Ethan (Simon Webster), Jim’s children, stumble upon the horrifying state their father’s body has been left in. Ahead of the Season 4 premiere, Collider had the opportunity to speak with series lead and executive producer Harold Perrineau to discuss his reaction to From’s most “despicable” moment yet, why he wanted to follow his younger co-stars’ lead in terms of the mood on set for filming, what Boyd’s current state of mind reveals about how the town’s sheriff is barely holding it together, and much more. COLLIDER: In the Season 3 finale, Boyd is talking to his Khatri hallucination, who says, “You need to decide right now who you are, because that’s who you’re going to be from now on.” Is Boyd any closer to making that decision in Season 4, especially in the aftermath of what happened with Elgin? HAROLD PERRINEAU: This is one of the things that’s really cool about the writing in From. You would think that he would have to make that choice, right? He goes, and he tortures Elgin, and that’s terrible, and then Sara comes in, and she adds on to it. Then they find Fatima, but she just had a baby that some weird lady took. So now we’re not even thinking about that. Then Boyd goes down, and Smiley’s there, and… what happens is he can’t have one second to decide one thing because it just keeps rolling and rolling and rolling. I think the only thing that Boyd has ever decided is that he’s going to get them out of there. That’s it. Right now, I think his mind is fractured. I don’t think he can make any real choices that he can trust at all. I don’t think he’s made a choice about himself that he can actually trust at all, because it just hasn’t stopped. The train just keeps going. The wreck is just happening constantly. So for him, he’s just got to keep stepping forward. He’s just got to keep moving forward and hope against hope that he’s going to find a way out for these people.
Harold Perrineau Explains Boyd’s State of Mind in ‘From’ Season 4

“‘Disorienting’ is such a light word for it. It really shakes the core of who you are.”

Harold Perrineau and Ricky He in From Season 4 Episode 1Image via MGM+

Season 4 picks up immediately where Season 3 left off. We’re right back in it with everybody. When you mentioned Boyd’s mission to figure out how to get everyone out, I remembered the conversation he had with Kenny in the premiere, where he’s counting out the bullets. What do you think a decision like that, in the immediate aftermath of this discovery of what the “baby” really is, says about Boyd’s state of mind at this point? PERRINEAU: For me, when I read it, it read as the desperation of a person who no longer has faith. Faith is a hard thing for anybody to lose. I don’t know your religious background, but if you ever had this thing that you so believed was so true and then had, somehow, that rug snatched from under your feet, it’s… “disorienting” is such a light word for it. It really shakes the core of who you are. So I think when he goes back to do that, all he can think about is, “I have one choice. I have one choice, and if I’m going to make it for myself, I’m making it for everybody.” That, to me, is a guy who feels at least no longer even trustworthy to himself. He felt really confident that he could do it before, and that’s gone.

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Everything comes to a halt by the end of the episode, where Boyd gives that speech to Ellis and just breaks down in his son’s arms. It feels like he’s been holding a lot of weight. We’ve seen that since the beginning of this show, this self-appointed responsibility, all the pressure he puts on himself to protect everyone. Do you think that moment is a release valve for Boyd? PERRINEAU: Absolutely. Absolutely. That’s what I think is really great about the writing. What John [Griffin] does is he not only writes what the characters are doing, he writes what’s obvious for the audience, as well. For the audience, you’re like, “Bro, you’ve been carrying this for three years. You can just walk around and carry it?” And the truth is, he can’t. No one could. When he breaks down, he’s actually not even holding his son. His son is holding him. He’s broken down, he really is, and actually needs to be held back together. That’s the brilliance of the writing, because the audience is thinking the same thing. We’ve seen it in so many movies. It’s like, “Oh, you got shot, you got stabbed, you got hit by a car. Somebody took the submarine and blew it up, and you’re back here to save the world.” It’s like, “God!” That’s what’s happening, but with an actual person who just goes, “I can’t.” Because nobody thinks you can. Even you. I think it’s cool writing. I think that’s what it really is. It’s great writing.
Harold Perrineau Had a Strong Reaction to ‘From’s Cruelest Twist in Season 4

“That’s horrible to do to those kids, that fake-out, and then they’re the ones who find him.”

Hannah Cheramy and Simon Webster in From Season 4 Episode 2Image via MGM+

Jumping ahead to Episode 2 and Jim’s tragic fate, what is the mood like on set for the days when you have to shoot something as heavy as that? Granted, every moment is heavy on this show, but you’re also saying goodbye to someone who has been part of the show from the beginning. PERRINEAU: We had already done our mourning for Eion [Bailey] the season before. We’d already felt the loss of him because we knew he wasn’t gonna come back. So the thing is — I think we all felt this, but I know I felt it — when I read it, I went, “This town is despicable.” That’s horrible to do to those kids, that fake-out, and then they’re the ones who find him. You’ll have to excuse me, but literally, I think we all felt, to the town, “Fuck you. Go fuck yourself.” Because that’s terrible! You don’t do that to kids. That being said, when the kids actually had to shoot it, we all had to be very tender, because you don’t do that to kids. We knew that that’s a lot for them to pull up, and so we were all super, super gentle. They wanted to laugh? I’m down. We’re going to laugh. If you don’t want to laugh, I’m going to back all the way up and let you have your moment. Because they are kids, and actor kids or not, your body can’t tell what’s real or not, so they’re actually going through the thing where their body is like, “Hey, what happened? Did our dad die?” It’s a lot of stuff, and so we’re very ginger when that happens. I couldn’t help but notice that Boyd is the first one to reach them and bring them into an embrace — not just as a way to lead them away from seeing something. It also felt a bit fatherly. PERRINEAU: It feels like an instinct. You see it, but your instinct is like, “No, no, no, no, no!” You just want to be like, “If I can just take the two seconds back in time, just so you didn’t have to see that.” And I think that’s exactly what he does. I think any human being would do that with these kids. It’s just terrible. What an asshole this town is.
Harold Perrineau Reveals the Real Root of Boyd and Acosta’s Conflict in ‘From’ Season 4

“I feel like they’re probably really similar human beings.”

Harold Perrineau and Samantha Brown in From Season 3 Episode 10Image via MGM+

One relationship in this show that has really found some interesting levels is Boyd and Acosta, and it feels like tensions are only increasing after the incident with the ambulance. What can you tease about how or whether that tension between them continues to build this season?

PERRINEAU: Again, I’m going to have to point back to the writing. Boyd and Acosta are really having a terrible time. I feel like they’re probably really similar human beings. I bet you if it were just Acosta on this journey, she would feel like she has to get everybody out, just like Boyd does. So, I feel like they’re kindred spirits in that sense, which is probably why there’s all that tension. But what the writing does. It really explores it a little further than what looks obvious at the outset. I think that that exploration is what makes our show really interesting and special. It just doesn’t end like, “They hate each other, and that’s where they’re going to go. End of the season!” It actually explores the two human beings that have to be there, and I think it’s cool. On a lighter note, was it nice not to have to deal with as much snow in Season 4 as you all did in Season 3? PERRINEAU: Oh, yes. [Laughs] Oh yes, really. It was a great relief. It gets cold in Halifax. If you go to Halifax for the winter, man, that wasn’t any fun, 3:00 in the morning, pushing around cows, frigid cold. No, thank you. Not again. It was really so hard, but I think we all just decided we didn’t want to do it again. That, I feel like, is kind of unfortunate for the fans because we’ve had to wait so long for the next season. If it were not for the strikes and all the things, we could have kept on a regular rotation, but we had to get back and shoot it that winter. We had to incorporate it into the show, but if we were going to stay on schedule, we’d have to come and do it again, which then might be detrimental for the show because it really was so hard — for the crew, for the cast, everybody. We didn’t want to give up the quality of the show, so we waited. Everybody had to wait, as well. But it was a relief. Halifax in the summer, brilliant. In the winter, you can keep it. New episodes of From Season 4 premiere Sundays on MGM+.