Kevin Bacon had been looking to make his way into television for some time and finally found a role that attracted him on Fox's new show The Following.
The Following is about retired FBI agent Ryan Hardy (Kevin Bacon), who is pulled back into the Bureau after the escape of notorious serial killer Joe Carroll (James Purefoy), a murderer that Ryan apprehended 10 years previously, reports The Huffington Post. Joe isn't working alone this time and leads Ryan on a deadly cat and mouse chase as he tries to get ahead of Joe and his followers before more people are killed.
"I liked the heroic aspect of the character in combination with the vulnerability, the damage, the complexity that he has. He’s a guy that’s hurting, so he’s not your cookie-cutter hero-hero," Bacon explained when asked why the script and the role attracted him.
"I liked the fast paced, page-turning part of the show, and it had a lot of surprises for me. And I thought, well, if you could make a show that becomes the type of show where, on Tuesday, people are standing around the watercooler going, 'Sh-t, do you believe what happened?' that would be something that would be cool to be a part of. And I was looking for something with high stakes, life and death," he continued.
The 54-year-old actor attended the show's premiere on Friday, January 18 in New York City at NY Public Library’s Astor Hall along with his co-stars Nico Tortorella and Natalie Zea, according to Just Jared.
The Following premieres on Fox Monday, January 21 at 9 p.m. EST.