Bill Hader Discusses BARRY Season 3, The Psychology of Barry, and Thoughts on How He Will Lose Loyalty with The Fans
Barry Season 3 is set to premiere this Sunday and I’ve been incredibly excited and curious about where this next chapter of the story is going to take this character. Remember, the last season ended up with Barry going on a killing spree that left 25 people dead. We left him in a super dark place and he has yet to deal with Henry Winkler’s Cousineau and the fact he knows the truth about his murdered girlfriend.
During a recent interview with Collider, Hader discussed his character, and while he may seem like a lovable guy, he really is a dark individual and a cold-blooded killer. When asked about the lovable aspect of the character, Hader said:
"I mean, I never found him lovable. It's interesting how people found him lovable. I think he's a highly, highly complicated guy, who's not that bright and pretty violent. He is trying for something. He's trying to understand himself, but maybe people sometimes see themselves in these things. But when we're writing it, it's always, 'What's the interesting, honest, truthful thing about the guy.'"
I mean, if you’ve been watching the series and the events unfold, it’s pretty clear to me that Barry is a bad guy, who wants so desperately to be good. But he does a lot of things, like murdering people, some of which don’t deserve it! He’s killing good people to keep himself from getting caught. These actions are considered irredeemable. But, this is a fascinating character. Hader goes on to compare his character to his experience watching Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas:
"'Goodfellas,' I'm along for the ride. 'Wow. What a cool group of guys.' And then Spider gets killed or the scene where he grabs a gun from Lorraine Bracco's and shoves it in her face. And that seems awful. And you go, 'Oh right. These are violent, awful people.' So, I see Barry that way."
That kind of puts things in perspective. With the way Season 3 is going to play out, Hader doesn’t think that Barry will hold the loyalty of some fans of the show. He told THR:
"I don't know if he will hold the audience's loyalty this season. With movies where they were trying to make sure that you liked the main character, I would always feel a little cheated."
Here’s the synopsis for Season 3: “Desperate to leave his violent past behind in favor of his newfound passion, Barry (Hader) is attempting to untangle himself from the world of contract killing and fully immerse himself in acting. But getting out is messy. While Barry has eliminated many of the external factors that pushed him towards violence, he soon discovers they weren’t the only forces at play. What is it about his own psyche that led him to become a killer in the first place? Season three finds Barry and the other characters trying to make the right choice.”
Barry Season 3 will consist of eight episodes and it will debut on HBO on Sunday, April 24th, 2022.