Law & Order: Organized Crime's Mykelti Williamson Talks Creating a Likable Villain and Teases Heat-Style Showdown
The world of Law & Order: Organized Crime is full of intriguing factions, and all have their own distinct motivations. The same is true of the Marcy Killers, who are currently steered by the guiding hand of Preston Webb, played by the talented Mykelti Williamson. While Webb has altruistic goals, the process of making those goals happen is at times messy and complicated, and watching Webb walk that tightrope between those two sides of the road is part of what makes him so compelling. ComicBook.com had the chance to talk to Williamson all about the role as well as the tease of an upcoming Heat-style showdown and an SVU character he'd love to share the screen with in a crossover.
Williamson has played a bevy of different characters from all walks of life over the course of his career, so I was curious what drew him to the character of Preston Webb. For Williamson, it's fun to play the villain, but that doesn't mean you have to sacrifice depth and conflict. It's also fun to play someone who is nothing like you in real life.
"I think one of the things that people enjoy with making movies is if you drive a fast car, you're not going to get a speeding ticket, and you can break the imaginary rules only within the world of art. You know? And so, it's fun to play a guy, I would never want to be like. Because the fascinating thing for me was, with this Preston Webb character, is that no one's all, all good. No one is all bad," Williamson said. "So when you see the typical bad guy, it's just all bad, all horrible, and that's not right, that's not true. And so, we're creating conflict within the heart of the audience, because these are people you actually like, and you can see they're capable of loving and they do good work. But oh my gosh, they're involved in this underground crime world."
"But the hope for the audience is that one day they'll get out of it and navigate their way out of it and build the next Amazon or Walmart, because that's what they want to do is go legitimate, and they're doing good work," Williamson said. "They're building churches, they're building health clinics, they're supplying computers and books to schools, and paying the salaries of tutors to health kids. And so, you know they want to do good work. They just want to get to a place where they can walk away from the life of crime. And that's the ticking clock for the audience. Will they make it? It's so much fun to be on that journey."
Williamson is working with quite the cast, as in addition to Organized Crime mainstays Christopher Meloni and Danielle Truitt, new additions like Denis Leary and Jennifer Beals have joined in on the fun, and it makes for quite the entertaining experience behind the scenes.
"Yeah, I am. I'm having a great time with Jennifer. Denis Leary. I've been a fan of Leary's for ages. Leary's one of my kooky crazy friends. He's so creative, but uniquely creative. You just don't see things coming that he's doing," Williamson said. "And then I've worked with Chris Meloni before, but he's terrific in this role. I've also worked with Danielle Truitt, and she's fantastic, just like Chris, in everything that she does. And so, it's just nice to have people who care and want to do the best work possible and just don't do things that don't work. We sit there, we rewrite it, we work with the writer, with the director, we reshape it. And Chris Meloni is one of the giants at doing so. I mean, he can look at a scene and then take it to the next level, just within moments. It's really a lot of fun."
Speaking of Truitt, fans are anticipating the eventual showdown between her and Webb, as up to this point they've been making chess moves around each other more than going head-on. When they do collide though, it's going to be something unforgettable, and fans of a particular classic scene in HEAT will love what's coming down the road.
"Bell is after Webb. She can't wait to bring him down, but she has no idea what that residual fallout would be," Williamson said. "There's coming a moment, where Webb and Bell actually have a heart to heart. It's almost like in Heat. Al Pacino and Robert De Niro ended up having a conversation where they kind of talked around things, but you got the point. That's what you'll see coming between Bell and Webb and also between Webb and Stabler, where they talk around things. They really don't want to have to take each other out, but if it happens, everybody's planning on going home alive."
Another element fans are waiting to see completely unravel is the relationship between Webb and Nova, as Nova has been working undercover for Bell right under his nose. We asked what he could tease about that eventual reveal and fallout, and that could very well be when you see the switch fully flip in Webb.
"Well, keep in mind that Webb absolutely loves Nova, who he thinks is Nova. He's learned that her name is Carmen, but he has no idea that she's undercover. And he loves her so much and has taught her so much," Williamson said. "She actually knows Webb's heart, which is what causes her to be so conflicted. Because she knows that it won't be very long before he walks away from this life and starts to do things that benefits society. And she knows it too."
"So, I won't tell you what that moment is like when it comes to fruition, but it's one of the toughest things I've ever had to play," Williamson said. "Because I actually looked at Nona Parker as like ... She's one of my daughters in the industry. She's the same age as my girls. She's sweet like my girls, she's talented, like my daughters. And it made it easy for my Webb character just to just fall in love with her and be protective of her."
Now, we couldn't let him go without asking about an eventual crossover to Law & Order: SVU or the newly revived Law & Order series. Williamson is completely open to the possibility, and if it happens, he would love to get some time with a certain Fin Tutuola.
"I'm open to it. I'll just say that. It's been mentioned, but I'm open to it. Ice-T and I actually went to high school together, so we've known each other a long time. And I haven't seen him in years," Williamson said. "We talk on the phone all the time, but I haven't physically seen him in a few years. And so, that would be quite a reunion if Webb did venture over into that SVU world."
You can catch the next chapter of Webb's story in Law & Order: Organized Crime, which airs on NBC tonight at 9 PM CST.
What have you thought of the season so far? Let us know in the comments or as always you can talk all things Law & Order with me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!
