The eight-episode supernatural thriller series The Institute, which premieres tomorrow on MGM+, comes from executive producers Stephen King and Jack Bender (From) and is based on King’s novel. The series follows teen prodigy Luke Ellis (Joe Freeman) who has been abducted and brought to the mysterious facility known as the Institute, as have other children, all who possess supernatural abilities. Meanwhile, former police officer turned “night knocker” Tim Jamieson (Ben Barnes) is looking to start over in the quiet Maine town, but when he starts to investigate the nearby secret facility, their stories are destined to collide.

Recently, SciFi Vision spoke with stars Barnes and Freeman about working on the series, including how they prepared for the roles, whether they would choose telepathy or telekinesis for themselves, and more.

Watch the interview and read the transcript below and tune into the first two episodes tomorrow night on MGM+.




SCIFI VISION:   To start off, both of you talk about what the prep was like with this. We'll just go Joe then Ben.

JOE FREEMAN:   In terms of just preparing for the role or?

SCIFI VISION:   Yeah, like what did you do? Did you read the book? You know, that kind of thing.

JOE FREEMAN:   Yeah, I mean, I love the book, because, you know, that's obviously the only representation of Luke out there, apart from what I'm going to bring to the role. So, yeah, it was trying to find a way to age myself down and behave in more of a childlike way but keep it to my strength as an actor as well. But yeah, just reading the book, actually.

SCIFI VISION:   OK, what about you, Ben?

BEN BARNES:   Yeah, I think, you know, I've done probably half a dozen, if not more adaptations of books to films or TV shows over the years. And it's always a special kind of preparation, because, obviously, you always have the text of scenes and scripts, which we're so used to seeing in that format and sort of breaking down dialogue line by line. But when you have a novel like this, especially someone of the calibre of Stephen King, who I've always been such a fan of his work, and he's sort of such a master of tension and a master of structure and character, that when you have source material like that, that you can keep going back to, I think sometimes a script is more of a reference point. Whereas a novel like that has its own atmosphere, and you can feel people breathing on a page when you read it. So, I think, you know, you look at a book like this, you don't meet Luke or the Institute for the first few chapters of the book. You're in this very lonely world of Tim Jameson, which is very useful for me to keep going back to those opening chapters. So, I think, yeah, basically, like Joe said, when you've got a book on hand, it's about as useful a tool as you can have.

SCIFI VISION:   All right. Now, if it was yourself anyway, T.P. (telepathy) or T.K. (telekensis) for both of you, what would you choose? I have to ask that.

BEN BARNES:   I think I'd be afraid to answer T.K., but I know I would in the end, and I know it would just be bad for me.

JOE FREEMAN:   Yeah, but why? I think T.P.

Oh, T.P. T.P. is telepathy; wait, that's what I mean.

JOE FREEMAN:   Yeah. Read the mind.

BEN BARNES:   I wasn't thinking that. I think - Yeah, I think, obviously, like being actors and, you know, that particular kind of communication, which is almost silent between you when you're doing scenes, and you're kind of engaging with each other on this like slightly, you know, subtextual or meta level, where you're trying to see how the scene is going between each other as you're acting, is quite a sort of telepathic kind of skill anyway.

JOE FREEMAN:   T.P.

BEN BARNES:   Yeah. So, I think that's even though - but it scares me. I don’t know -

JOE FREEMAN:   You’d get wrapped up in your head too much and you’d know too much about other people.

BEN BARNES:   I'm also not bright enough to I'm not smart enough to think about how I could use moving things without touching them to my advantage. [laughs] So, that's basically the real answer.

SCIFI VISION:   All right. Joe, would you pick the same thing?

JOE FREEMAN:   Yeah, I would be T.P. But - yeah, I think I'd be T.P. I think I'd be T.P. But it's just, it’s so - you’d know too much about people; you’d know too much about everything, and it's like, do you need that in your life.

BEN BARNES:   Let’s test it. I'm thinking something now. Do you know what I'm thinking?

JOE FREEMAN:   Oh, you did one of them as well.

BEN BARNES:   Yeah.

JOE FREEMAN:   You're thinking about your cardigan.

BEN BARNES:   Yes.

SCIFI VISION:   [laughs] Great. I know we're almost out of time, but really quick. Describe the show in three words for each of you. What would you say? I know that's hard, though, sometimes.

JOE FREEMAN:   Simmering.

BEN BARNES:   He said simmering, because in the last junket that we did, I kept using that word, because it's such a good - it's sort of like a bubbling, slow tension kind of thrill, I think, this this particular show. But I would say tense. I would say -

JOE FREEMAN:   Uncomfortable.

BEN BARNES:   Uncomfortable.

JOE FREEMAN:   Yeah. For me.

BEN BARNES:   And I would also kind of say allegorical.

JOE FREEMAN:   Whoah.

BEN BARNES:   Like, I love how clearly it is a story about, what it's about, this, you know, teenagers kind of stuck in this institute where they have to break out, but also it speaks to a much bigger story. It represents something else. Stephen King writes a lot about challenging unchecked authority, and I think that that's kind of really interesting from that point of view as well. But yes, simmering is [laughs] our is our word of the day.

JOE FREEMAN:   What’s an allegorical mean?

BEN BARNES:   Like it's an allegory for something else, like it's about a different story as well underneath.

JOE FREEMAN:   Right.