Kate Mulgrew dishes on “gleefully psychopathic” Mr. Mercedes role

Star Trek legend Kate Mulgrew tells Winter is Coming about her terrifying role as Alma in the third season of Stephen King drama Mr. Mercedes.

You haven’t seen Kate Mulgrew like you’re about to on Mr. Mercedes.

Mr. Mercedes season 3 is now available to stream on Peacock, complete with Emmy and Golden Globe nominee Kate Mulgrew in the role of Alma Lane, a million miles from Captain Janeway on Star Trek: Voyager. Alma has a strong connection with the deranged Morris Bellamy (Gabriel Ebert), and she’s not exactly put together herself.

We talked to Mulgrew about Mr. Mercedes finding a broader audience on the NBC streaming service, why she joined the cast of the Stephen King-inspired thriller series, and her own literary career—she’s authored two brilliant memoirs, Born with Teeth and How to Forget.

Winter is Coming: This season of Mr. Mercedes originally aired on Audience, but now it’s about to be exposed to a whole new audience on Peacock. What does it mean to you for season 3 to find that second life?

Kate Mulgrew: I’m just delighted with it…I’m going to watch it with great interest, because I don’t recall in my lifetime having as much fun as I had down in Charleston with [director and executive producer] Jack Bender, David E. Kelley having written this extraordinary character, and Stephen King having come up with the concept. Three masterminds, three geniuses—this is like hitting the trifecta, and I loved every second of it.

WiC: What do audiences need to know about Alma before jumping into the season? Peacock might be their first exposure to the show.

KM: This is as far from Captain Janeway [on Star Trek: Voyager] as I could possibly get. This character is actually antithetical to Janeway. So they should only watch with a full open heart and mind.

We’re talking about a gleefully psychopathic character who dances with the devil in extraordinary ways and has absolutely no regrets about doing so. From her 30 years junior lover, to the regrets that she nourished over a lifetime, savored them, and now they’ve reached the point of no return. The only way forward is through revenge. It is not that prolific, but it is deeply sculpted…I had the time of my life making her up.

WiC: Prior to Mr. Mercedes, we haven’t seen you do a lot in that darker space, but because of Star Trek you’re no stranger to projects with larger than life characters and happenings. So how was the experience of making this show for you?

KM: I would say that science fiction is ever hopeful. Philosophically, it’s different. [Mr. Mercedes is] about a person whose darkness will prevail. At the same time, she’s deeply human. She cooks and drinks wine, and she paints, and she dreams, and she’s funny, and she’s wicked, and she’s loud, and she’s soft, and she’s sensual, and she’s aggressive.

It’s just everything, until she pivots and she’s at the end of her rope. And then you know we’re going to slide off into the abyss with this woman.

There’s something really deeply satisfying about that. In the hands of a director like Jack Bender and the words being given to me on a silver platter, as they were with David E. Kelley, an actor just can’t ask for anything more. My partner Gabe Ebert was incomparable, unparalleled, just a terrific actor—completely present, on point, ready to go, at the races, charging at every turn. We had the time of our lives.

WiC: Are there any particular highlights that viewers should be on the lookout for?

KM: I would say that every time Alma Lane goes into the kitchen, something intriguing or indescribable happens. Not to mention when she goes into the bedroom.

WiC: You mentioned how much Mr. Mercedes is a departure for you. What was the filming experience like overall just to get to venture in that new direction?

KM: You haven’t seen me do any of it ever, and I made the decision that I would do it with such abandon. But I think when you’re surrounded by real artists, you’ll just try anything. It’s in my nature to do it, and Jack Bender unlatched that. He found the key and he found the lock and he put the key in the lock and that was it. He gave to me Gabe Ebert and David E. Kelley, and that’s all she wrote.

It’s interesting to know, I think, that Stephen King did not write the character of Alma Lane in Mr. Mercedes; she is a concoction of David E. Kelley.

I could not have guessed at my state of readiness for this performance. I was just waiting for it to come my way, like a cat waiting for the canary. And when it came, I just leapt as from a great distance and that was the feeling of free fall throughout the month that I filmed Mr. Mercedes in Charleston. I have seldom in my entire career experienced that complete and utter abandon.

WiC: We’re talking about a TV series based on several books, and you’ve written two wonderful books already. What’s next for Kate Mulgrew as an author?

KM: That’s what I’m doing down here in Kill Devil Hills in the outer banks of North Carolina. I’m writing my third book, which is a novel…It’s not at all like the first two books, which were memoirs. Granted, this is a different genre, but it’s a little darker. It’s a little more psychological thriller and much more an examination of what goes on in a woman’s mind. That mind that tells her to do the unspeakable.

Mr. Mercedes season 3 is now streaming on Peacock.

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