‘Deadly Class’ Star Benjamin Wadsworth On How He Prepped For The Trippy Vegas Episode

Deadly Class goes to Las Vegas tonight, and if you have read the comics, you know that means Benjamin Wadsworth had to play not just stoned but really, really stoned for almost the entire episode.

That can be difficult for an actor to sell, and so during an interview about tonight’s episode, we asked what it was like to prep for 40 minutes of total mayhem.

“In the beginning, I thought it was going to be a pretty daunting task,” Wadsworth admitted. “Our director, Adam Kane, wanted to have a meeting with me before we started shooting the episode because he was telling me that I was going to be in such a crazy state throughout the whole episode that it would be really tiring on me. But it was actually some of the most fun I’ve had as an actor. They allowed me to be as crazy and maniacal as I wanted. I did a lot of research with acid trips, with bad trips, with good trips. I talked to a bit of people who have done acid. I actually did try to maybe get my hands on some, but that didn’t work out, so I talked to people who have had experience and I went from there.”

Promotional material for the episode has shown off a wide-eyed and delirious Marcus enjoying a drive down the Las Vegas strip — but not all of the episode is like that. Between parts of the trip itself that are not great, and events within the episode that conspire to put Marcus to the test, Wadsworth had to exercise a lot of range…while still playing a version of his character who is dialed up to 11.

“It can be difficult sometimes, but it’s all about how the actor personally preps. It doesn’t always shoot in order, so it’s all on you,” Wadsworth said. “You’ll get time to get into it. I enjoy the emotional scenes. I like the challenge as an actor and I want to get better at things like that. I think it just made it more fun because I can be this crazy, tripped-out kid on acid, but still sensitive and has a heart. It’s fun to play a character like that.”

You can watch it — in an episode that we loved — tonight.

Deadly Class airs at 10 p.m. ET/PT, Wednesday nights on SYFY.