Kevin Bacon Talks Being an Otherworldly Bounty Hunter in The Bondsman

Kevin Bacon is no stranger to the realm of horror, having starred in a variety of terrifying tales throughout his career. Whether it be the slasher Friday the 13th or the supernaturally inclined Stir of Echoes or the monster movie Tremors, Bacon has tackled all corners of genre storytelling. The actor once again ventures into the realm of the unknown with his new series The Bondsman, which might be one of his most ambitious projects to date. Despite his years of experience in the genre, this new project required him to dive deep into unconventional research. The Bondsman is now streaming on Prime Video.

“There were some other YouTube rabbitholes that I went down around bounty hunter/bail bondsman stuff like that,” Bacon shared with ComicBook about preparing for the role. “For an actor, YouTube is gold, because you really get a chance to — or just the Internet in general. If there’s something that you want to see around a certain kind of world, it can be really, really helpful. I’ve often said that, to me, I’ve never prepared for a role by watching other people act. I loved to watch other people act, but I don’t look at that as a way to figure out how my character’s going to be. I’ll toss off and watch real people in real interviews, in real documentaries, and in all kinds of real-life situations, and that’s very, very helpful.”

The Bondsman is described, “Kevin Bacon stars as Hub Halloran, a murdered bounty hunter who’s back from the dead after being resurrected by the Devil to trap and send back demons that have escaped from the prison of Hell. By chasing down those demons with the help and hindrance of his estranged family, Hub learns how his own sins got his soul condemned — which pushes him to seek a second chance at life, love, and country music.”

The series also stars Jennifer Nettles (The Righteous Gemstones, The Exorcist), Damon Herriman (Once Upon a Time In Hollywood, Justified), Beth Grant (No Country for Old Men, Donnie Darko), Maxwell Jenkins (Arcadian, Lost in Space), and Jolene Purdy (The White Lotus, Orange is the New Black).

[RELATED – Tremors Star Kevin Bacon Still Wants to Revive Series (Even After Scrapped TV Reboot)]

In addition to being a beloved actor, Bacon is also an accomplished musician, with him and his brother Michael performing as The Bacon Brothers. The actor went on to note how much a role music plays in his preparation for embodying a new character.

“I literally make a playlist. I’ll go on a platform and just make a playlist. I’ve been doing that for … I’ve been doing that [since] before there were platforms, making mixtapes out of two cassette boxes that would interface with each other,” Bacon detailed. “I remember back in about, probably in the late ’70s, early ’80s, I was working with the actor Andrew McCarthy. We were actually — weren’t actually in the play, but we were — I was in one act, and then he was in another act and, or these two, one-act plays playing back to back. And I would see him and he would listen to music on his Walkman and it was a way to get himself into the headspace.”

He continued, “And I started thinking about that, how characters would have music that was important to them. So it’s just it’s equally as important as trying to figure out where they grew up, what their parents are like. If you like to do this kind of research, I’m not saying that everybody does, but what’s their religious background? How many members are in their family? What do they like to eat? These are all things that go into building a character, and the kind of music that they listen to is obviously right up there.”

The Bondsman is now streaming on Prime Video.

Will you be checking out the actor’s new series? Let us know in the comments below!