Meet The Pride of Marvel’s 'Runaways': Kevin Weisman and Brigid Brannagh

Fans of the Runaways comic book will notice a couple of significant differences in the presentation of Gert's parents, Dale and Stacey Yorkes, on the new Hulu TV series: first, they've doubled down on parenting duties, having taken responsibility for raising Molly following the death of her family; and second, for supervillains they seem extremely warm, caring, and likable.

Those qualities are furnished in abundance by actors Kevin Weisman (Alias, Scorpion) and Brigid Brannagh (Army Wives), who brings quirky, seemingly nurturing qualities to the Yorkes, even as their bioengineering skills are crucial to the apparently malevolent agenda of The Pride. During a press visit to the Los Angeles set of Runaways, the duo displayed their "finish each others' sentences"-style chemistry as they shared the inner workings of the Yorkes clan.

On whether they are the nice evil parents:

Brigid Brannagh: Yes, totally. That's what we think!

Kevin Weisman: We like to say altruists. We came with good intentions.

On adapting to the superhero aspect of the series:

Brannagh: This is not normally my genre. I mean, I'm a 90-year-old woman, I like Agatha Christie, and yet—

Weisman: She loves Murder, She Wrote!

Brannagh: I have seen every one! You know, I come to this pretty uneducated about comic books. And yet, every time we get the scripts, it actually adds to my curiosity. I'm like, "Oh my God. I didn't see that coming!" It really does keep me curious, and it does have a great pace. I'm surprised [at what] they're able to do.

Weisman: And it's a nice parable too. Yeah, and I think there are some themes people respond to. To question authority, I think it's a great topic choice. It may be good talking points for teens too. It's not a superfluous teen show. I think there are some deeper issues there.

On developing their take on the classic parent-vs-child conflict:

Weisman: You want to root for the parents too. It's not a black and white. There is some gray area, and we come to it from a very altruistic standpoint, why we joined this organization. Renewable energy, creating a serum that can help. We want to help, and we love our girls too. We're not helicopter parents. We really try to…

Brannagh: …to give them independence. Which how do you come to it as parents, with the kids? We're almost trying not to be in a way. We're trying to be like, "We're your friend. We're on your side."

Weisman: Which can backfire.

Brannagh: We're talking about things that make them awkward. They don't want to talk about it. So there are still things they can roll their eyes at, which I think is inevitable. But, we are trying to be the anti-that, and their friends instead of their parents. The good guys for them.

Weisman: We're the most loving [of the parents].

Brannagh: Right, which is really scary.

Weisman: I think we're the anomaly. Everyone else I think is can relate to the overall Pride aesthetic and purpose more than we can. Like "The Godfather": once you're in, you can't get out.

Brannagh: Yeah, there's definitely consequence to that.

On the reveal of their backstory, which is more gradual than the other members of The Pride:

Weisman: We did think we were creating something that was going to be beneficial.

Brannagh: Yes, we have been scientists for a long time.

Weisman: We're scientists for the greater good. So we think…We're the opposite of Scott Pruitt.

Brannagh: They do look back a bit. And there are things we're going to find out. We're actually just trying to keep it really present. And know what we are emotionally as human beings and not too many details because, they are going to change them on us.

It is sort of like going through something and being the red herring, and then you're like, "Oh, crap – I'm the one who did it!" We don't know really where it's going, which is crazy, and fun. It's like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.

On their instant chemistry together:

Weisman: I was speaking to one of the writers, and they did say that they noticed in the pilot we had a very natural on-screen chemistry. You know, I always try to approach acting from a very real place. As the great Harry Dean Stanton said, "You just put on the costume, and listen, and just be a person." I think we both approach that the same way. So we're married, we've been married for a long time. We love each other. We love our kids. So the chemistry developed as a result of that.

Brannagh: Coming into it we both had a little funny bent on it. And we're standing in the middle of the room like, "Is this funny?" I'm like, "What if I ... "

Weisman: We're not standup comics, but we've done characters that have been quirky or humorous.

Brannagh: We just kept going wondering "Are we too much?"

Weisman: I've never wondered that. No, we're never too much.