Harold Perrineau Says ‘From’ Season 3 Is Scarier Than the Last: ‘Prepare for Worse’

From, the MGM Plus series about people trapped in a mysterious, fright-filled town, returns for season 3 on Sunday. It’s hard to imagine the show, which counts grinning nocturnal monsters as just one of its scary layers, heightening the horrors. Still, according to star Harold Perrineau, that’s what audiences are in for.

“You should prepare for a worse season 3,” Perrineau, who plays Sheriff Boyd Stevens, told CNET. “The creepy children come back, the monsters, and then it gets worse. Yeah, you should prepare for worse.”

From debuted in 2022 and follows different people in the same heart-pounding predicament. After witnessing an obstacle in the road, they enter an inescapable place with terrors lurking behind every forest tree and around every diner corner. At night, bloodthirsty beings taunt the residents, who also experience worms crawling under their skin, ghastly kids repeating unintelligible words, and nightmares they never wake up from. 

Ahead of season 3, which premieres just in time for spooky season, CNET chatted with Perrineau about what’s to come. His character is the well-respected leader of the motley crew that’s trying to stay alive, unravel the mystery, and escape. 

Though season 3 will find most of them with their feet still on scary soil, season 2’s final scene seems to free a townsperson from the frightening realm. (Spoiler: The woman, Tabitha, appears to wake up in an ordinary hospital.) As a synopsis for the new season puts it, “In the wake of Season Two’s epic cliffhanger, escape will become a tantalizing and very real possibility as the true nature of the town comes into focus, and the townspeople go on offense against the myriad horrors surrounding them.”

In the below interview, edited for clarity, Perrineau talks the cliff-hanger, what he would do if he wound up in From’s town, and what he didn’t like about killing one of the show’s sinister creatures. The series is executive-produced by creator John Griffin, showrunner Jeff Pinkner and director Jack Bender. Pinkner and Bender also worked on the TV show Lost, which featured Perrineau. 

Q: Between creepy children, ominous music boxes and the main nocturnal monsters, season 2 was scary. Should we prepare for a season 3 that’s just as terrifying?
Perrineau: You should prepare for a worse season 3. Yeah, because the creepy children come back, the monsters — and then it gets worse. Yeah, you should prepare for worse.

Season 3 is — the nicest way to describe it is that season 3 is dark. It’s dark. It’s heavy. Not only are you scared about all the things that are coming, your heart gets filled with empathy for all the things that are about to go down. It’s heavy.

My favorite moment from season 2 is, of course, a Boyd scene. It’s when he’s surprisingly able to kill one of the monsters. I wanted to know what you thought of that scene.
Perrineau: I was super surprised that that’s where that was going. … When I read it, I was like, “Oh, wow, it died? Like it just full died?” I was really, really surprised about that. But then, of course, was less surprised when then the body had cicadas and we couldn’t — we had to burn it, and all these other crazy things started happening. But yeah, I thought it was pretty cool. 

The only thing that’s a bummer about that scene is that the actor, Jamie, is maybe the nicest man you have ever met in your entire life. … Oddly, I didn’t realize how many people were like, “Oh my god, I’m so sad. Smiley’s dead.” He’s a monster, guys, [he had] to die.

The season 2 finale cliff-hanger seemed like a step closer to some clarity. I was wondering: Can viewers expect some of their burning questions about the town to be answered this season?
Perrineau: I’m going to tell you just, and this is the way the writer will say it: He is going to say, “Absolutely, yes, you’re fully going to get answers to questions. The question after you get the answer is, ‘Now what?'” And that’s the trick of the whole thing, right? Like, oh yeah, he’ll answer the questions, but now what are you gonna do? And so that’s the thing that’s — I think is really cool about the show, that it’s not a show really about questions, it’s not a show really about horrors, it’s a show about people. It’s a show about what do you do when you’re in a situation that you have no control over? And so, you find the answer, but now, what do you do? And that’s the thing that’s really compelling about playing all these characters and being in From, because I think John Griffin has really put together a group of really interesting characters that have to go through this trauma together.

I love that we get to spend so much time with the characters as they navigate that terrible, traumatizing reality. Do you ever think about what you personally would do if you were in a situation like that?
Perrineau: You mean, after I stopped crying? Sure, I think about it all the time. You know, one of the things that was really helpful for me is actually having kids. Me having kids, and my “protect” energy, is what I bring to Boyd. And so I imagine that in a circumstance anywhere like that, that my protect person would jump up and, just like Boyd, will relentlessly try to figure out a way to save his family or friends, people that he loves, from this horrible situation. I hope that I would do that after I stopped crying.

What have you enjoyed the most about playing Boyd over these three seasons?
Perrineau: Oh, that’s not a terribly hard thing to do. It’s really fun to play the hero, even if he’s a hero who makes questionable choices, do you know what I mean? I like this idea of somebody who, even if you don’t love all his choices, he’s actually trying to do something good. I actually like that. I’m not a big fan of antiheroes, you know what I mean? You know, ‘They’re a secret serial killer, but they’re serial killing for good.’ I’m not a big fan of it, though there are great people who’ve done those shows. I actually like this idea of somebody who’s really trying to do something, like he’s trying to save them. And I like the idea that John Griffin has written such real responses, and real people like, “This guy is an ex-military guy who thinks he can figure this out.” … You have to find some really human way to respond to all of the things, the stimuli coming towards you. I like that puzzle. I like the person that I’m trying to figure out. And so, yeah, I really enjoy being Boyd Stevens.