Levi Meaden Talks Syfy’s ‘Aftermath’ [Exclusive Interview]

Syfy’s new series Aftermath is one of many new shows making its debut this Fall.

I recently had the chance to speak with Levi Meaden — who you may also know from his roles on The 100, The Killing, iZombie, and Olympus — about his upcoming role on Aftermath.

“Aftermath is a show about a family who goes through the troubles that any family goes through — facing off against what seems at first to be a series of natural disasters and what later turns out to be the world coming to an end by various beasts, prophecies, and horrific plagues,” Meaden explained.

Meaden also shared a bit about his character, and how he adjusts a new world.

“I play Matt Copeland, the oldest son of the Copeland’s, and I’m an ex-football star who has just come back home after a knee injury, trying to figure out where he’s going to go. At first, it seems like he’s going to go to the Peace Corps, and then the end of the world starts coming about and he finds a more aggressive side of himself — becoming a warrior in this new world.”

Filming Aftermath included having to deal with more action than Meaden has ever had to before.

“The Killing was a pretty subdued subtle show, and Olympus was more of a sword-and-sandal epic, but this is just kind of non-stop action. Shooting explosions, we had guns in every different scene, and there was a lot of running around playing an action hero like I grew up watching.”

“I think Aftermath certainly offered a whole new front and a whole new set of challenges that I had to face. Certainly with exercise, that was a lot of fun, ” Meaden laughed.

For Meaden, one of the biggest challenges in playing this role had to do with preparing the character. “The biggest challenge was we didn’t know where the story was going to go. So, I had to come up with a certain idea of what I thought the character was going to go through and how to kind of prepare for that,” Meaden stated.

“At the end of the day, it was really about rolling with the punches, which I actually ended up liking quite a bit because I was a little more grounded. It wasn’t planned out. It was about discovering things as Matt discovers things too,” he continued.

When it comes to keeping up with his favorite shows and hobbies, Meaden certainly has a wide variety of tastes.

“I’m a huge fan of Mr.Robot. Fargo Season 2 I thought was just phenomenal. Game of Thrones, Silicon Valley, Archer, and Rick and Morty. I love Rick and Morty. I also loved the documentary series that they did over O.J., O.J.: Simpson Made in America. I think that was the best thing on TV this year,” Meaden said.

“I’m a huge classic movie geek, so I collect and keep trying to find new old classics. I spend a lot of time going online trying to find forgotten classics. I’m also a huge hip-hop nerd, so I spend a lot of time reading hip-hop lyrics and finding old hip-hop, or listening very intently to albums,” he continued.

Apart from his love for the classics, he tries to life a healthy lifestyle, which includes getting out of the house.

“I do a lot of pick-up games with my friends, a lot of camping, and a lot of hiking. Anything that gets me outdoors and gets me free and clear of the city,” Meaden said.

One role that Meaden would like to attempt in the future would be something having to do with mystery.

“I want to play something in a John le Carré. I love his writing and the characters he creates and that brand of espionage just blends to such a very cinematic storytelling, but also characters that just have so many different layers you can show or hide. I think that would be super interesting to kind of play with. A complex character that’s playing a different version of themselves as like an undercover agent or maybe a double agent,” he explained.

When asked about who he would want to work with in the future, he resorted back to the classics. “Jack Nicholson, but he isn’t acting anymore. Jack Nicholson and Dustin Hoffman.”

Be sure to catch Levi Meaden as Matt Copeland on Aftermath, premiering September 27th at 10/9c on Syfy.

Meaden will also be starring in Pacific Rim 2 alongside John Boyega, Scott Eastwood, Cailee Spaeny, and Jing Tan. Don’t miss it!

Featured image credit: Marc Cartwright

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