INTERVIEW: Malik Yoba on his super-human role in ‘Alphas’

As Bill Harken on the hit Syfy series Alphas, Malik Yoba knows a thing or two about power. Living in a world where selective humans have special skills, his character is able to harness an unbelievable amount of strength (he’s dubbed a hyperadrenal Alpha). This means moving cars, tossing bad guys and punching walls comes quite easy.

Harken is also the “suit” among the team of Alphas led by Dr. Lee Rosen (David Strathairn). While the rest of the team are fairly new to government work, Yoba’s character is a former FBI agent who desperately wants to return to the days of proper procedure and protocol. In his heart, Harken is a law-enforcement agent, much more than just a super-human.

Recently, Hollywood Soapbox talked with Yoba on a conference call with other journalists. Questions and answers have been slightly edited.

Do you like how your character has changed over the episodes and kind of softened a bit with the other Alphas?

Television being a long-form storytelling format, we have to evolve. And that’s one of the things in season two we try to figure out how we can retain some of that stuff that causes conflict and tension. Because that’s really where the comedy and all the drama will come from — conflict.

Plus, I just love working with Ryan (Cartwright). And the fact that he’s an autistic character, there’s always going to be so much that you can do and how far you can actually go. We have a lot of fun improving on the show. … As you’ll see in the course of season two, we’re not always happy with each other.

Have you ever thought: If you were an Alpha, what special power you would want?

I’d have the ability to make people stop asking the same question. (laughs) I don’t know, man. I guess I’d levitate or something.

How difficult is the shooting for Alphas? Is it difficult compared to your other work?

Filmmaking is difficult no matter what it is. But definitely the physical component, that definitely adds to the challenge of it. This season, because the way they’ve written episodes, the workload has been distributed a little more evenly, especially toward the second half of the season, for me personally. Like today’s a day off. Last season I had four days off the entire shooting schedule. This year I made five trips back home to New York. We were able to do Comic-Con. I was able to travel and do some of the things. It can be tough, but it hasn’t been brutal like it was last year.

When you were offered the role, did you jump in head first or was there any hesitation about getting into such a big commitment?

I said ‘no’ three times actually. … I had just done the series Defying Gravity the year before in 2009. We shot the pilot for this in 2010, so in 2009 I spent six months doing Defying Gravity. And Alphas is actually my 11^th television series, and the law of averages says that most aren’t successful. For a number of reasons, I said ‘no.’

I didn’t want to be away from kids. As I mentioned before I’m an entrepreneur, so I have a bunch of my own things going on. It is a huge time commitment. We spent four-and-a-half months of our lives in another country, away from family, you know, working on a television show. So if all the pieces aren’t working, if these interviews don’t happen, if the marketing isn’t right, if the outreach isn’t right … all the elements that make something find traction, if those things aren’t important, it can be very, very frustrating from a business standpoint. …

Business is longer than the show. You know what I mean? Literally. If the business isn’t right, then I don’t want to do it. I don’t want to be a part of it. Fortunately this has been one of the highlights of my career. I love doing this show. I love the people I work with. I love shooting in Toronto. I think we have an opportunity to really build a brand that can be around for a while and already seems to mean something to people.

And in television I’ve only had that experience a couple of times. Like New York Undercover, that show radically altered the television landscape. And then doing shows like Girlfriends or even doing a show like Arrested Development, being part of those shows that really mean something to people. So that’s the reason why I said ‘no’ initially. But I’m glad I said ‘yes.’

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

• Alphas airs Monday nights at 10 p.m. on the Syfy network. Click here for more information.