‘SIX’ Postmortem: Edwin Hodge Talks Chase’s Backstory, #BlackRiflesMatter Patch
Warning: This interview contains spoilers for the “Confession” episode of SIX.
SEAL Team 6 got one step closer to finding its former leader, Rip (Walton Goggins), and the Nigerian schoolgirls and teacher being held hostage with him in this week’s episode of History’s SIX. After a heart-to-heart with his father, Robert Chase (Edwin Hodge) asked his dad to use his connections at the embassy in Kabul to access interrogation footage that ultimately allowed the team to determine the captor they need to locate is Michael (Dominic Adams) — meaning this mission is bigger than Rip, the girls, and them because Michael wants to be the next Osama bin Laden.
Hodge talked with Yahoo TV about developing Chase’s backstory with the show’s producers, the most emotional moments for him to film in the series (which, update, has now been renewed for a second season), and how Chase came to wear that #BlackRiflesMatter patch.
Related: History’s SIX: 5 Things to Know About the Navy SEAL Drama Starring Walton Goggins
What was important to you to convey in that scene between Chase, who left Harvard Law a semester early to become a SEAL, and his dad, who marched at Selma for civil rights?
There’s two aspects that I was trying to approach this from. The first is that what they were fighting for is what I feel that I am fighting for as well. We’re doing it in two completely different ways, and I think the scene itself is more about understanding and coming to this common ground where we both can agree to almost disagree. In a sense, we come to a peaceful resolution. Also, from a personal aspect, I think Chase feels that maybe he didn’t do enough to make his parents proud of him, and this is a personal choice that he is going to step out and be a man and save the world in the way that he feels is right. He feels that taking action is a little bit more powerful than just writing words. He doesn’t want to sit in an office. He doesn’t want to litigate. He wants to physically feel that he is a part of the solution. Physically fighting a war, and fighting a war from a desk — the guys are doing the same thing, we just do it differently.
Did you contribute any ideas to the writers about Chase’s backstory?
The evolution of all our characters was amazing. It actually all started at SEALFIT [training before filming]. Our personalities, just the way we interacted with each other, is exactly how we interact on screen. As far as my character is concerned, one of our original cast members [Joe Manganiello, who was originally cast as Rip] fell ill. We had a little time and the writers and creators of the show, Bill Broyles and David Broyles, said, “Whatever ideas you have for this character, just go ahead and work on it and bring it back to us and let’s talk about it.”
With my storyline, the fact that I felt like my parents didn’t understand me, the fact that I wanted the world, in a sense, to recognize me for a man who was going to do something for the better, that took me back to a time when I was about 16 and I felt like I was in my own world and nobody really understood me. I was listening to a lot of alternative music, things that people probably wouldn’t think that I was listening to, like Korn and Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park. I felt like I was on the outside just for liking or doing something different.
I came home and I re-bought all of my Linkin Park albums, because that was my favorite, to bring back that time, and I sat there and I just listened to it. There’s a lot of pain and chaos in the music, and also growth and an expansion of one’s mind and creativity. It got me to this point where I felt like that should be my character, that there is this chaos within himself, but this is also where he centers himself. This is where he finds his peace almost. I went back to them and I was like, “Listen, guys, this is what I want for my character. It’s great for the audience to see me this way, and I like them to see me that way, but I also want them to see me this way because of this. Does that work?” They were just like, “Yeah. We like it. Let’s go with it.” They did that with everybody, and I think that’s why the show has such a natural chemistry, because we’re able to personally build these characters, so we were able to organically manufacture them on screen with each other.
How excited were you to see that it’s Chase who brings the team that crucial piece of the puzzle at the end of this episode?
It’s great, because the one thing about being a Navy SEAL is that if you’re not leading, you need to be a great follower. If you can’t follow, you better be the best leader that you can be. It’s up to you to step up when you feel it’s time to step up. That’s pretty much what Chase did. It is a personal accomplishment, but this is also something that he knows his brothers are going to appreciate, and he understands that, at the end of the day, there is more than just Rip’s life on the line. There’s the girls’ as well. His biggest issue is that this is going to be the next mad man that they need to stop.
The last two episodes of the season are action-packed. Without spoiling too much, it’s great to see Fishbait (Jaylen Moore) and Chase play such key roles in a scene that’s a real nail biter. What can you tease?
Sometimes Navy SEALs have to get really, really personal and close with their enemies, and Fishbait and Chase have the opportunity to get some intel for the brothers. It’s a very tense scene. It sets in the realization of how far these guys are willing to go to risk their lives for, one, their brother or sister, but also these complete strangers. The humility it takes, the courage and the lack of fear that it takes. These guys put themselves in really dangerous situations, and that’s pretty much what you see when you see Fishbait and Chase together.
Viewers have noticed Chase’s #BlackRiflesMatter patch. How did he come to have that?
Mitch Hall — he’s our lead field tech consultant, a decorated veteran, Navy SEAL — he walked up to us one day with random patches, and he just gave everybody a patch. He held this one up, and he was like, “This one’s for you.” I looked at it, and I was just like, “Perfect.” I put it right on my vest. It came at a time when the idea behind it, and the importance of the undertone of it, is something that is dear to my heart.
Black lives do matter, as do all lives matter. But when we look at context, and we look at the situations arising, black lives have been taking a beating for a long time. As much as we try to stand up for our rights and be peaceful and nonviolent, in many cases we’re still not listened to, we’re still not heard. We look at our inner cities and we look at where money is going to our education and our teachers and so forth — even though we have people who are there trying to do their best, to make the best of what they have, it’s just not enough if you don’t have a lot of help. In that sense, wearing that tag, it means a lot.
Someone actually asked me [about it] on social media. … “Oh, well, I just didn’t know if the show was going political or not.” It’s weird, because that’s not the response that I thought I’d receive, nor that I want to receive. The show itself, whether people want to look at it or not, has a lot of politically based issues. Yes, we’re dealing with our family, and, yes, we’re dealing with our children and our brothers, but we’re also dealing with war. We’re dealing with money. We’re dealing with Boko Haram. We’re dealing with terrorism. We’re dealing with the idea of ISIS. These are all politically fueled, religiously fueled, financially fueled subjects. You can’t shy away from the truth, and you can’t take reality and pull a facade over it and pretend it’s something else. For people who want to step back and negate the show because they feel that we’re trying to send a specific message, we’re not. I think there’s many messages to be taken from this show: the idea of sacrifice, the idea of trust and humility, the idea of war and religion and how we have a Muslim-American fighting for what we believe is a great cause and then we have a Muslim-American who’s opposed to our cause, and how we deal with that. I think it’s a show that, if anything, allows you to open up your own mind and formulate and articulate an opinion about what you’re seeing and why you’re seeing it the way you’re seeing it.
It has been an honor to be a part of this project. I am the product of two marines, two vets. For that reason, it means a lot more. When I look at the full spectrum of what it is to be an artist and to work on projects that you truly can be proud of, and truly want to scream to the world that this is what I do — I haven’t had an experience like that up until now. It’s nice to connect with people in the way that we are connected with people. Because we are in such a politically fueled state right now, the content of the show gives people a reason to almost look deeper into what’s going on outside of America, and know that everything that we have here was a result of what these brave men and women do. They contribute a lot and they sacrifice a lot, and it really shouldn’t go unnoticed. We shouldn’t have to wait until a soldier dies to honor them; we need to honor these people every day. I’m happy that we are getting this message out, and I hope that we can continue to get this message out in any way that we can.
The season has had some really emotional moments, like when Caulder (Kyle Schmid) delivered that monologue about what Buck (Donny Boaz) died for and how they would have all died for him. What have been the most emotional moments for you?
There’s a bunch of moments. I do agree with that moment. One of my more emotional moments was the end of Episode 4 where we’re carrying Buck. Donny and I had a very interesting relationship starting from SEALFIT. [Laughs] We were swim buddies. Let’s say we weren’t always on the same page. Every once in a while, we’d try to outdo each other versus helping each other, which we quickly learned that the reverse was much better for us. Going through that with him and really being close with him, carrying him on my back across the beach, he carried me as well, and really forming this bond — it made the scene that much more important because we were losing a brother.
Even at the table when we were reading the script, Donny hadn’t told anybody that it might be it for him. When we read it, we all just started tearing up, because that’s not something we expected. At that point, you really understand the value of losing someone. Yes, you understand that we lose our grandparents and we lose family members and so forth, but outside of that, there is another importance to losing someone you built such a bond with who maybe your views are very different from. The way you grew up was very different, but somehow you found a way to cohesively work and become people who rely on each other. To see that all taken away in the stroke of a pen, it was crazy. Also, watching him get shot was an emotional scene. You don’t want to see it, and when you do see it, even thought it’s fake, you understand the impact of it all.
I’d heard from some of your co-stars that you didn’t really know how to swim when you all went through SEALFIT training. I’ve always wondered: Were you never asked during the audition, or, as actors have been known to do, did you lie?
OK. That story actually goes back to another job I did. When I was doing Chicago Fire, the very first episode that I had to shoot, I had to basically scuba-dive. Prior to it, my manager, who I’ve been with for about 16 years, so he knows me, called me questioning like, “Hey, I’m not sure if I remember. You can swim, right?” I’m like, “No.” He goes, “Well, there’s this opportunity on Fire, but you’re going to need to swim.” I was just like, “Yes, let’s do it.” Because I was up for the test, and I figured they’d use a stunt double. They did not use a stunt double. I actually did it, but luckily I was in a scuba suit, and I was able to float on my own. When it came to this, the question came up again between he and I, like, “Yo, you’re going to go swimming?” I’m like, “I get it. But stunt doubles. This is a highly technical show, insurance, they’re not going to need me to do all the crazy stuff.”
The first day of SEALFIT, our very first evolution is in the pool for two hours. Our coaches tell us to line up, we got to jump in, wade for five minutes. I feel a hand push me in, because they know that I can’t swim. I’m wading. Then I’m trying to get to the edge and they’re removing my hand, telling me to get back out there and wade. It was a struggle for me because mentally my mind was just going crazy. I’m not the greatest swimmer. We had to do a 500-meter swim. I maybe got through three quarters of my first lap before I was just exhausted.
Then one of the coaches took me aside. He was like, “Hey, I want you to take a deep breath. I want you to exhale on your way down. When you get there, I want you to walk to me and then shoot yourself back up to the top.” I’m looking at him, I’m like, “I can’t swim.” He’s like, “I want you to take a deep breath. I want you to go to the bottom, exhale on your way down. When you get there, I want you to walk to me and come back up.” They didn’t really give you any time to create reasons for why you can’t do something, they just tell you to do it.
It’s one of those things where you just listen to them, you take in all this information, and you just try to execute it. The first two times, I successfully failed, but the two times after that, I did it with ease actually. I tried to do it a fifth time, but I ran out of energy. The next thing you know, another coach comes over and he doubles the distance. First time I failed, second time I ended up completing it. Long story short, they basically instilled this idea that you limit yourself. You can get through this stuff — you just need to calm down, listen to yourself, focus, think, and make your way through.
For me, that was a huge accomplishment, because I’m just terrified of the water. SEALFIT, what we went through, changed us for the better. We are close unlike any other cast because of what we went through, and it’s carried on a year later. We still have these threads where we talk to each other damn near every day. If you want to, you can go look at my Verizon [bill], because you can see all those text messages. [Laughs] We truly did grow together as a cast, and it’s helped us in our personal lives as well. It was a great experience.
SIX airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on History.
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