Posted in: Netflix, Preview, TV | Tagged: frank quitely, Hutch, Ian Quinlan, interview, jupiter's legacy, Mark Millar, netflix

Jupiter's Legacy Star Ian Quinlan Talks Hutch, His Power Rod & More

Published Thu, 13 May 2021 08:07:12 -0500

by Jimmy Leszczynski

Comments

Netflix's look at an epic superhero story spanning generations is first and foremost a superhero show. Jupiter's Legacy is a realistic look at complex family dynamics and the cyclical nature of history, but with capes. From the pages of Mark Millar and Frank Quitely's smash comic book comes Netflix's latest superhero drama. After a century of fighting villainy and upholding "The Code," The Union must now struggle with the next era of supers in a world that has somewhat outgrown their antiquated ideals. Battling evil and stopping runaway trains is not what Jupiter's Legacy is about. Kids who never asked for these powers and responsibilities to live their own life.

Ian Quinlan (Gotham, The Long Road Home) plays Hutch. The charismatic but unpredictable son of supervillain Skyfox/ George Hutchence (Matt Lanter) runs his own crew of young villains. Hutch didn't inherit powers from his father, like the other super kids, so he uses his power rod. Giving him access to super-like abilities he navigates life as a con man with a conscience. During a recent junket for Jupiter's Legacy, Ian shares his relationship to the original Millar's work and discusses how he obtained the power rod from its original owner Blue Bolt (David Julian Hersh).

Auto Draft — JUPITER'S LEGACY Cr. MARNI GROSSMAN/NETFLIX © 2021

Ian Quinlan: I'm a big fan of Mark Millar, I grew up reading a lot of his stuff. I grew up reading Civil War, The Authority, and when I read for this part something felt very familiar… When I was testing for it I realized it was Mark. I definitely know the themes he is exploring here and I definitely know the idea of values meets politics meets the ideal versus how to implement [it]. So I went and read Jupiter's Legacy and I was like this is exactly on par and on-brand with Mark and I knew exactly where to go from that. So I just went to work on trying to figure out how Hutch fits into this dynamic where you have this somewhat didactic, I would say, "Code" that has been established for like a hundred years. [Hutch] is the guy that is going to drive a bus through that wall.

"Jupiter's Legacy" doesn't give too much info about Hutch other than he is a super villain's kid and he uses a power rod to protect and enrich himself. Ian delved a little deeper into the character:

IQ: There were two driving factors both kind of related to my father. We see that George [Skyfox] is not in The Union anymore. He's sort of on the run, he's on the lam. So that creates two problems for Hutch. Number one, the Union broke his family up and ruined his life essentially. Or left him fatherless leaving him stranded to pick up the pieces and have to fend for himself from day one. So, you will notice my father might be on the lam but, where has the Union been in my family this whole time? Nobody came to visit. Nobody knows who I am. ..So you have this kid who grew up fighting for everything because this union destroyed his family and simultaneously we will come to find that the situation wasn't so black and white. Like everything in Jupiter's Legacy. And that, actually, the Union might have something to atone for. .. their legacy might be a complete and utter sham, along with this "Code", along with the Utopian [Josh Duhamel]. I, as Hutch, am also on this search for answers. Both from my father and both from the Utopian and the Union. To perhaps expose the counter-narrative to their so-called legacy.

Hutch is the only child of the original six, so far, that we've seen that doesn't have any powers. Quinlan seems to wish his power rod could work in the real world.

IQ: I really do like the ability to teleport like the movie Jumper. Like I could just go anywhere and have a million vacation homes that are full of stuff that I've stolen. To just be able to go anywhere with the flip of a switch. Wake up every morning and surf in a different country… go to dinner in a different country every other night and have like a million vacation homes full of stuff that I have stolen.

How do you end up with the power rod?

IQ: I'm not sure how much I can say about this, but, I'm surprised that you caught that. ..it's right there in front of us. I don't know why no one has seen BlueBolt holding it then me holding it. Nobody has drawn that connection yet. Kudos to you for catching it, but I'm going to throw the question back at you and I'm going to say, is it the same power rod?