NEW YORK, July 16 (UPI) — Dark Heart, Bodyguard and The Sarah Jane Chronicles actress Anjli Mohindra says her sci-fi thriller, The Lazarus Project, is so skillful in its storytelling that its mind-boggling premise actually feels plausible.
“The characters jumped straight off the page. It felt like it was really high concept, but explored in a very grounded way where you really got to see the domestic realities of people living in this extraordinary, crazy, epic world,” Mohindra told UPI about The Lazarus Project in a Zoom interview conducted before the Screen Actors Guild labor strike began last week.
Airing Sunday nights on TNT, the show follows a secret organization able to turn back time whenever the world is up against the threat of extinction.
“It also felt like The Lazarus Project is a secret international organization that could exist right now among all of us,” the actress said.
“I do feel — every now and then, I don’t know about you — that that the end of the world is a tangible possibility,” she added. “You hear something on the news and you’re like: ‘Could that be? No, we’re fine.’ I think that’s what I loved about it.”
Created and written by Joe Barton, the series begins when Mohindra’s character Archie recruits computer app designer George (Paapa Essieduinto) to join the group after he unexpectedly becomes one of the only people on the planet who can feel when time is being reset.
But when someone close to him is endangered, he challenges the organization to save the person even though it goes against its rules not to meddle in situations that aren’t globally catastrophic.
“Joe has created this whole organization and world and asked these massive questions about altruism vs. egoism in a time when we sort of value society over the individual,” she said.
“It’s so fun, as well. It’s so thrilling and cinematic and, yet, asks these brilliant, massive questions.”
Mohindra had no trouble understanding who Archie is and what motivates her.
“She is a workaholic. She is trying to find something greater than herself to submit herself to. She wants to feel like she is making a difference in the world,” the actress said.
“She is running away from pain. I think that could be said of a lot of us, and she uses humor as body armor and I really like that. I’m not like that,” she laughed. “I’m an over-sharer. I like making friends. I don’t have the strength of character that Archie has and that’s why it was so much fun to play her — because she is so different to me.”
Mohindra finds herself thinking about what Archie would do in real-life situations because the fictional woman doesn’t care about others’ opinions.
“Characters like her, you don’t get them often. They are often played by men,” she said. “She’s smart, razor sharp and not afraid to tell the men what she thinks. She’s really cool.”
Even though the criteria for time resets may seem harsh to some who want to use it to reverse individual losses or grievances, Archie gets why they are in place and respects them.
“She’s pledged herself resolutely to the cause. I think she is a rule-breaker in her everyday life, but she really believes in what the project is trying to do. I think she thinks it is as close to altruism as you can get,” Mohindra said.
“She wants to do everything she can to keep the organization going and to play by the rules, until George comes along,” she added. “It’s like having a kid at work who’s asking all of these questions about why we do what we do and I think it makes her question her own beliefs and morals.”
The show co-stars Tom Burke, Caroline Quentin, Rudi Dharmalingam and Charly Clive.
Season 2 has already been green-lit.
Imagine reliving the same day over and over again – get ready to unravel the secrets of time. The Lazarus Project Sundays on TNT at 9/8c. pic.twitter.com/m7d8vk7tng— TNT Drama (@tntdrama) June 26, 2023
