The Institute, adapted from Stephen King’s 2019 novel, airs every Sunday on MGM+. The series follows a group of children imprisoned in a secret facility where they are subjected to disturbing experiments because of their supernatural abilities. Among them is Nicky, a rebellious teen whose rough edges conceal a vulnerability and longing for family. Actor Fionn Laird, who plays the character, recently spoke with
SciFi Vision about his journey with the role and how he connected to the series.
Laird explained that his audition came at a hectic time in his life. “It actually happened kind of at a little bit of a chaotic moment in my life. I was traveling. I was taking the train to visit my mom in Ottawa. I live in Toronto, and on the train, I got this tape, and...I did bring my ring light to do those auditions, but I wasn’t really expecting anything to come through, because I was only there for two days.” Although he hadn’t expected much, he sent in the audition and was thrilled to receive a callback. “I love Stephen King. Jack Bender was obviously the showrunner, and I've watched
Lost, and I've even heard about
From, and he's worked on
Game of Thrones,
The Sopranos. I’m like, ‘This is a really cool project.’”
What drew him most to Nicky was how different the character was from roles he had played before. “I’ve always been, I played a lot of like kind of goody-two-shoes roles in my past, and Nicky’s just so far on the opposite side of the spectrum from that,” he said, adding that it was exciting to embody someone with such confidence and self-assuredness. “It was just the prospect of doing something so unfamiliar and unexpected, I think, was a lot of fun for me.”