Jason Isaacs Says of THE OA and Its Creators - "We Want to Finish It" "It Can't Be Done"
Jason Isaacs has been in the Harry Potter film franchise, Peter Pan and The Patriot. He has voiced characters in the Star Wars universe, as well as Marvel and DC.
He is known by his voice, his name, and his face as a fantastic dramatic actor in so many projects, like the most recent season of HBO’s White Lotus, and yet he says the role he gets asked about the most is Hap from the Netflix series The OA.
I’ve written about this show many times over the years. It’s one of those shows that was so next-level brilliantly written, and so beautiful and interesting, it just sticks with you. But the tragedy of it was that it only aired two seasons before the streamer pulled the plug, leaving viewers on the cruelest cliff-hanger.
The creators, Zal Batmanglij, and Brit Marling (who also starred in the show), have said they’d love to finish the story over the years, and recently Isaacs expressed the same sentiment.
In a recent interview with Decider, which you can watch the clip of below, Isaacs was asked about The OA, and as soon as he hears the name, he closes his eyes and puts a hand to his heart and says, “I love that show.”
He went on to say of the show’s creator, “Zal came and stayed with me in England recently. We talked about a lot, we sometimes talk the three of us, me, Zal and Brit. We want to finish it. And it’s not like there aren’t millions of people in the world who’d like to see it finished, including executives at various different streaming companies. So, it’s, you know, it ain’t over til the large lady sings.”
When asked what the fans support of this series has meant to him, Isaacs said, “Oh, it’s everything. People are so moved by it. They come up, they don’t want to say, it’s not like other television programs, where they go, ‘I liked that show.’ It affected people profoundly.
“It inspired them. It gave them hope. It made them feel more human. It connected to things that are often deep buried inside people. Sometimes, there’s magic happens and you don’t really know why. Something happened on The OA that touched people and inspired people and connected people.
“And we know that. Zal and Brit know that. And I know that. And since then, for years, everything else that I publicize, journalists always want to talk about it, filmmakers always want to talk about it, and they probably will talk about it. So, it can’t be done. It mustn’t.”
I agree! My husband and I bring it up when we talk about the best shows we’ve ever watched over the years, and when we bring up the greatest TV injustices, it’s always at the top. Netflix would be so smart to let it return.
So many more viewers have found it since it left, and we are all hungry for the resolution of its story. Hopefully they, or really any of the interested streamers Isaacs mentioned, will pick it up and give us the conclusion we deserve.