With From officially renewed for Season 5 and production beginning this week, we spoke with Robert Joy and Scott McCord on June 3. The two actors discussed building the complex relationship between Henry and Victor, exploring an alternate version of Victor’s life, Henry’s psychological unraveling, and their excitement about returning for the show’s final season.

You both are really good this season. I really enjoyed your performances.

Robert Joy: I’m so glad to hear it.

Yeah, so Henry’s arrival forces both him and Victor to confront memories and emotions that they have suppressed for decades. How did you two work together to build that complicated father-son dynamic?

Robert Joy: Well, we met off the set altogether. We’re both the kind of actors—I think it’s fair to say—who like to workshop things, and you don’t get to workshop things so much in television when you rehearse it just before you shoot it. And we figured the writing is so good, it merits a kind of investigation. So, at least the night before, if not a week before, we’re talking about, “Where’s the crux of this scene? Where are the changes? Where are the really important moments as opposed to the mere moments that build up to those moments?” So, we’re into the arc.

Yeah, so in Season 4, we briefly see a version of Victor who seems more adjusted, open, and emotionally functional. Even though much of that reality is an illusion, what was it like portraying a glimpse of the man Victor might have become if he hadn’t spent decades in Fromville?

Scott McCord: And it was fascinating. It was a real exploration, and again, it was about workshopping. I did my work on my own that I do, and Bob did his stuff, but we got together a fair bit and explored that together.

Robert Joy: Every department asks questions about it, too. Like the wardrobe department has to [decide] what kind of a jacket Victor is gonna wear, that kind of thing. You have to make a lot of choices.

Scott McCord: You’ve got to make those choices, and I think Bob’s been talking today about giving that reality as much weight as the reality in Fromville that we’re in as well, but it was exciting, for sure.

Yeah, and Robert, you are portraying feelings of paranoia, you’re being manipulated in a way. How did you approach portraying that?

Robert Joy: It’s one of the most challenging journeys of a character that I’ve ever had to portray, so it’s with a certain kind of excitement, and it’s also a certain kind of letting go because the floor of Henry’s reality is taken out from under him. He can’t trust the very foundation of where he seems to be at any moment. And so it’s more than paranoia, it’s schizophrenia. There’s two equally compelling realities, and he doesn’t know where he can trust. He can’t trust anything. And so he’s probing, looking for something to trust, and trying to find his way back into a father-son relationship that’s been very much threatened.

It was very tragic, to witness that with a father and son, and I am excited to see where it goes in the final season. When are you going back to the set?

Robert Joy: In about a month.

Scott McCord: 1 month or so, yeah.

Oh, that’s nice!

Robert Joy: Yeah, today’s [June] 3rd. It’s like 1 month and 3 days we’re gonna be back in front of the camera.

I can’t wait to see Season 5 next year.

From Season 4 is now streaming on MGM+.