Michael Ealy on Keeping His ‘Reasonable Doubt’ Finale Return a Secret: “I Did What I Was Told”
[This story contains spoilers from the season two finale of Reasonable Doubt.]
Michael Ealy’s Reasonable Doubt character Damon Cooke seemingly rose from the dead in the Hulu legal drama’s season two finale. But his return was, as it turned out, only in the mind of series lead Jax Stewart (Emayatzy Corinealdi), who found herself playing an internal blame game when the realities of Lewis (McKinley Freeman) having a baby with another woman began to set in.
More from The Hollywood Reporter
Jax’s train of thought isn’t totally off track, as her affair with Damon, as well as with a former co-worker, were the catalyst for the couple separating and Lewis sleeping with Toni (Tristan Cunningham), who loses their baby after going into labor early in the season two finale. At the end of season one, Jax’s romance with Damon took a dark turn when his possessiveness led him to kidnap the defense attorney and later commit suicide when authorities arrived to rescue her. Yet despite Damon’s physical demise, his presence still haunts Jax who, in season two, began taking medication to deal with the anxiety both of their actions caused.
“I’m hoping when people watch the finale and they see her talk with Damon that they really do feel the healing,” Raamla Mohamed, creator of the Hulu series, told The Hollywood Reporter in a previous interview. “That they understand that she does feel guilty, which is part of why she’s staying [with Lewis].”
THR spoke with Ealy about Mohamed secretly bringing him back for the season two ender and, in the conversation below, he also talks about traveling around the country with executive producer Kerry Washington encouraging people to register to vote ahead of next month’s presidential election.
***
I have to start with the question I see people ask the most about you on X. Why do you play crazy so well?
Wow (laughs). You know, I don’t know. I generally don’t know. I’m glad that people feel like I play crazy really well. It’s probably because in real life I’m one of the most boring people who grew up with no real drama in my life, and I’m very thankful to God for that.
When did Raamla Mohamed ask you about coming back for the season two finale?
Christmas. I think it was Christmas of last year, and then she told me not to tell anybody and I told no one. I did what I was told. And she was able to keep it a huge secret for about six months before we actually shot it.
What did she communicate about that scene with Jax and Damon on the stoop, and what she wanted it to convey?
Tough question because that was almost a year ago. But because they had just started shooting, or they were about to start shooting the second season, everything was really well in advance. It was more about, “you’re going to come back as a form of her stream of consciousness and that would manifest itself in the way it does in the show.” I was really intrigued by that idea, and I remember in the script, the way that she kept it a secret was, instead of Damon, it was “messy Jax” versus “Jax.” So it’s like, “Jax is sitting on the street smoking a cigarette, and then messy Jax shows up.” So [Emayatzy] thought it was just her angel or devil over her shoulder coming up to her and saying all these things.
How did the cast react when you showed up on set?
Emayatzi was told the day before, so she was happy but more relieved that she didn’t have to learn the extra lines and do the scene twice as both characters (laughs). McKinley and the crew were beyond happy that I was back, and for that, I was extremely grateful.
When you signed on in season one, did you know Damon would only be on for one season, essentially, and was that part of the draw for you?
I did know. I wouldn’t say that was the draw, because I would’ve loved to have continued on with that character. But I also knew the importance of why he couldn’t go on. In some ways, I’d liken him to Tea Cake [from Their Eyes Were Watching God]. Sometimes you come into somebody’s life for a season and that’s it. And what I did love about doing one season was that Raamla’s goal was always to bring Lewis and Jax back together. She thought whatever happens with Damon would make them stronger. That was her goal from the beginning. And I love that idea of couples kind of pushing through their baggage and finding each other, and why they fell in love originally. So I thought it was dope. He didn’t have to make it. And again, that was another big secret where Raamla, Kerry, the producers and I were the only ones who knew that I wasn’t going to make it throughout the season. So Raamla and I have a great secret relationship (laughs). She always puts me in a secretive role.
You’ve had a lot of female co-stars over the years. What stands out to you about the character of Jax Stewart and how Emayatzy plays her?
Emayatzy makes it look easy. She’s one of the most prepared actresses I’ve ever met. Ever. She always comes to set prepared, even when she seems distracted by trivial stuff like, “What’s for lunch?” She’ll get that joke. When it comes time to rehearse between, she’s off book. And if you make a change, she can adjust so fast. She’s so well prepared that when she plays Jax it feels like she is Jax. It feels effortless. And she’s able to play Jax fully, in my opinion. Meaning she can embrace all of the nuances and complicated parts of this character. She can do it all. There’s no fall off with her. Everything she does, she does really well. She does messy Jax really well. She does “my shits together Jax” really well. She does vulnerable Jax really well. Courtroom Jax. She is a full three-dimensional character, and I attribute a lot of that to the writing of Raamla Mohamed, and Emayatzy and her craft as an actor.
At the Black Love Summit this past weekend, Kerry Washington talked about taking you on the road with her and the shock people have when you show up on their doorstep to talk about voting. What’s the experience been like for you being on the ground throughout this election cycle?
First of all, I’m grateful to Kerry for all that she does. I don’t know anybody doing more than Kerry Washington. Nobody. She’s doing it all. I’m always glad when people are happy to see me, whether it be at the airport or when they see me knocking on their door and say, “Do you want to vote this year?” So that part is the good part. The hard part is when people are struggling with doing what is necessary, which is getting registered to vote and talking to their family members about why and how important it is. That’s the hard part, but it’s nice to break the ice before you have that hard conversation and have them be just so thrilled and happy to see you, because that helps start the conversation on a much higher level.
How are you feeling about the election in general?
I’m feeling good, to be honest with you. And that’s the other thing that’s good about going to different cities, which I’m about to do now: You get on the ground and you see the people who are working the ground game, and you talk to them and they tell you their stories and what it really looks like and it’s unfiltered in a way in which the media cannot do. There’s always a lens through the media that, to me, feels somewhat biased. And so when you talk to people on the ground, they’re actually talking to people who are going to go in there and check that box. I find it more comforting to talk to people on the ground than it is to watch the news and read the paper.
***
Reasonable Doubt season two is now streaming all episodes on Hulu.
Best of The Hollywood Reporter
Sign up for THR's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Solve the daily Crossword
