{"id":639732,"date":"2026-04-30T03:33:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T03:33:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/639732\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T03:33:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T03:33:16","slug":"euphorias-darrell-britt-gibson-plays-bishop-like-a-ninja","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/639732\/","title":{"rendered":"Euphoria\u2019s Darrell Britt-Gibson Plays Bishop Like a Ninja"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n Photo: Patrick Wymore\/HBO\n <\/p>\n

Need more? Sign up for Euphoria Club<\/a>, a newsletter overanalyzing season three of Sam Levinson\u2019s HBO fever dream, for subscribers only<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Euphoria was once a provocative teen drama, but in its third season, the lens has widened to depict an underworld of drug dealing, sex work, and violence where the stakes are existential and deadly. It is in this world that we are introduced to Bishop when Zendaya\u2019s Rue meets him at the Silver Slipper, the strip club owned by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje\u2019s Alamo. As Alamo\u2019s right-hand man, Darrell Britt-Gibson portrays Bishop with a lurking, enigmatic energy that personifies danger and can put the fear of God into anyone who dares challenge his boss.<\/p>\n

This week<\/a>, Bishop goes on a mission to get the last word on the \u201ctit for tat\u201d that started<\/a> when Laurie (Martha Kelly) called Alamo \u201ca fucking pig.\u201d Alamo retaliates by unleashing an enormous pig into Laurie\u2019s house (it ends up shot dead back at the Silver Slipper). Bishop is enlisted to poison Laurie\u2019s beloved parrot, Paladin, a task he accomplishes with characteristic stealth, even though he, like Britt-Gibson, loves animals.<\/p>\n

Bishop\u2019s die-hard commitment to Alamo\u2019s operation and brief moments of humor are a highlight of Euphoria\u2019s venture into Tarantino-esque crime plots. In preparing to play Bishop, Britt-Gibson referenced Javier Bardem\u2019s Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men. He also looked at cartoons as well as Akira Kurosawa\u2019s 1954 film Seven Samurai to pin down Bishop\u2019s inscrutable air. \u201cI envisioned Bishop being a ninja in a world full of cowboys,\u201d he explains. \u201cHow can you be present even if you aren\u2019t speaking all of the time? And how does that motivate another character\u2019s energy?\u201d<\/p>\n

What was it like for you coming into this highly anticipated season of Euphoria? Had you seen the show before?
I had not watched the show. Of course, I knew about it. It\u2019s impossible to be a living, breathing human being and not know about Euphoria in some capacity. I had just finished doing a very long, intense press run for the film that I wrote, She Taught Love. It was so hard trying to get people to watch this film that meant everything. It\u2019s a Black love story. It put me through the wringer physically, and I was like, You know what? I don\u2019t really want to act; I need to sit and be still and ground myself, because of how it made me feel.<\/p>\n

Then this audition came through. I remember trying to connect the dots, because I\u2019m thinking, Euphoria \u2026 Aren\u2019t they in high school? What am I going to be? A guidance counselor? But everybody was like, \u201cYou should just do it.\u201d I do this tape. I don\u2019t really hear anything about it. I honestly forgot about it. Then I got a call from them that they loved the tape. Sam Levinson wanted to do a Zoom with me. I remember I had a photo of me when I was 4 years old dressed up as a cowboy. I remember showing him, because thematically, they\u2019re talking about cowboys. Another couple of months passed, and, \u201cThe role that you originally read for, you skewed too young for it. But Sam loves you so much. He wants to craft this character for you.\u201d I think Bishop was originally there, but he wasn\u2019t fully fleshed out the way that he is now.<\/p>\n

So you originally auditioned for Alamo?
Yeah.<\/p>\n

This season deals with a lot of American western mythology. How do you think Bishop fits within that mythology?\u00a0
I envisioned Bishop being a ninja in a world full of cowboys. I studied samurai for it, Buddhist monks. A big inspiration was Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men, that stillness \u2026 How does a samurai move in the West? I watched Seven Samurai. I brought all these ideas to the table with Sam, and, you know, sometimes an actor brings ideas, and the director is like, \u201cNo, no, and no.\u201d But every idea that I brought to Sam, he was like, \u201cYes, yes, and yes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bishop is kind of a cipher. He\u2019s enigmatic and mysterious, but little by little, he\u2019s revealing himself to the audience.
I never wanted Bishop\u2019s resting heart rate to be above 65, so that\u2019s how I would be on set. I was always going to try to keep my heart rate at 65 and below, because that is how calm he has to be in any situation.<\/p>\n

The first person Rue meets in Alamo\u2019s world is Bishop. There\u2019s a great exchange between Bishop and Kidd in the first episode<\/a>, in which Bishop calls Kidd out on counting cards and says something about luck. That made me think, Okay, this is a guy we have to watch out for.\u00a0
I don\u2019t think Bishop believes in luck. Bishop believes in fate. Bishop believes that what is supposed to happen is going to happen, and there\u2019s no way around that. In that scene, Asante Blackk\u2019s character Kidd says, \u201cI got lucky,\u201d and Bishop is like, \u201cThere is no luck.\u201d<\/p>\n

I guess if you really believe that, then there is actually nothing to fear.\u00a0
Exactly. He operates from a space of zero fear, you know? That\u2019s what\u2019s so beautiful about this character.<\/p>\n

Bishop is this wise, fearless character, and Alamo and G are a bit more extroverted. What was it like working with Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje<\/a> and Marshawn Lynch on that dynamic?
I love those dudes. Those are my brothers. It was a total joy to work with them every day. I remember our first day \u2014 it was me, Marshawn, and Adewale \u2014 we\u2019re sitting in one of the trailers, and we\u2019re doing a scene. Everybody had already come so prepared with what they wanted their character to be, and in that moment, you\u2019re like, This just works. Sometimes people can write Black people as a monolith. But these are vastly different characters and vastly different individuals. That\u2019s what makes it zip and hum the way it does.<\/p>\n

This week, there\u2019s a big confrontation between Bishop and Laurie\u2019s crew. It\u2019s a racialized conflict; Laurie and her guys are explicitly presented as racist characters. I\u2019m wondering how that racial context informed the way you approached that scene.\u00a0
There is not a room Bishop will walk into that he would fear. So he walks into this room full of these racist, neo-Nazi, hillbilly guys, and it doesn\u2019t faze him. In that room, Bishop is saying to himself, \u201cI am outnumbered, but everybody should be way more afraid of me than I should ever be afraid of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

In that scene, Bishop has two goals. He needs to poison the bird, and he needs to show up Laurie\u2019s crew. I thought it was a great character moment and a more active moment from Bishop than we\u2019ve seen so far. He scares the shit out of Laurie. Afterward, everybody is like, What was that?\u00a0\u00a0
They are aware of Alamo. They have done business with him. They know who he is, and then the bogeyman shows up. It makes Alamo more of a threat that Bishop exists. They know how to get under Alamo\u2019s skin, then Bishop walks in, and they\u2019re like, We didn\u2019t plan for this. He doesn\u2019t flinch in the face of perceived danger. There\u2019s a little bit of ballet in his movements, so fluid. There\u2019s no wasted movement with Bishop.<\/p>\n

I was curious to know what it was like coming into that. Bishop is part of this sect of new characters that are really vital to the story. What was the dynamic like on set, working with the established ensemble cast that had been doing this for a few years already?
I have worked with some of the greatest actors in the world \u2014 Daniel Kaluuya, Sam Rockwell, Frances McDormand \u2014 and I consider these people family. I never go to a set feeling anxious about being there. I tell any actor who will listen: When you get to a set, remember that you\u2019re supposed to be there. Coming to this set was no different; it just so happened that everybody was so lovely. Working with Zendaya, that\u2019s family. I never felt like I was new. I was never given the opportunity to feel like I was new, because I was embraced with such love from the second I stepped on set.<\/p>\n

That comes off in the dynamic between Rue, Alamo, Bishop, and G. It feels really lived-in.\u00a0
It\u2019s this \u201ciron sharpens iron\u201d mentality. Everybody is bringing their hard hats and their best work, and you don\u2019t want to be the person who doesn\u2019t bring their best work, because you\u2019re going to be dancing with some of the best, so you better be ready to do it.<\/p>\n

Bishop is an animal lover, and it\u2019s kind of an unexpected point of connection between him and Laurie.\u00a0
That\u2019s the thing. He can\u2019t lie. He\u2019s a soldier for Alamo, and he\u2019s being asked to do something, so he\u2019s going to do that thing, even if it goes against who he really is, which is someone who genuinely loves animals.<\/p>\n

We have to talk about the pig scene. My favorite line is when Bishop looks at it, all bloodied and dead on the floor, and goes, \u201cIt is a beautiful pig.\u201d What was that day like on set?\u00a0
I think they were twins \u2014 there were really big pigs running through the club. I genuinely love animals. So I would just walk over and talk to the handlers. Anytime I\u2019m on a set or anywhere with an animal, it becomes the most important thing for me. I just want to live with animals, so being on set with them, I\u2019m like, \u201cOh, it\u2019s the best day of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n

They were huge, too.\u00a0
They\u2019re gigantic, but they\u2019re beautiful. Have you ever seen Babe? One of the greatest movies ever made. If it\u2019s ever on, I have to stop what I\u2019m doing and be like, Well, I\u2019m here for the next hour and 40 minutes. The cool thing about it is that because those pigs are on set, they\u2019re actors now. They were probably going to be sent to slaughter, but because they\u2019re actors now, that\u2019s not going to happen. They get to live their beautiful, natural lives. I could talk to you about animals forever. I literally wanted to be a zookeeper when I was a kid, so it goes deep.<\/p>\n

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