Ken Kirby Talks ‘Good Trouble’ and ‘The Gifted’ [Exclusive Interview]

The Fosters might have ended but the trouble is just beginning, Good Trouble that is.

Good Trouble is the spin-off from the popular Freeform show The Fosters. It is based around the lives of Callie and Mariana Foster as they moved to LA with new jobs, new friendships, new challenges but the same sisterly love.

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with one of the show’s stars, Ken Kirby, who plays the role of Benjamin.

Talking about the show’s fans, Kirby said that he had faith that a lot of the fans carried over from The Fosters. After all, they grew with these characters and wanted to follow them on the next step in their journey. He said he thinks the show is relevant right now and that he thinks people are responding to it well.

While talking about The Fosters, Kirby said he’d only watched the finale as he wanted to give a different take to the character.

“I almost didn’t want to watch too much of it because I knew that this would be a kind of different world for them to explore. So I just wanted to come into their coming with the character fresh.”

He also talked about the different worlds that make up the show itself.

“When you watch the show, there are three different worlds almost, between Speckulate, Mariana’s Tech world, and the Coterie where everyone comes together. Communities build the relationships, the personal kind of off work relationships today, and then there’s our world, which is which is pretty serious for the most part,” Kirby explained. “It’s a very unique show because it basically seems like three shows at once if you think about it that way.” 

As for how Kirby began developing his character, he admitted to watching legal dramas for inspiration, including one popular one in particular.

“I’m a big fan of the show Suits. So I watched that show and it almost feels like they might shoot it that world. So I tried to draw on some shows that were based on the legal world for kind of character inspiration,” Kirby said.

Shows that feature lawyers have always been popular, but they can at times be confusing with all the legal jargon. Since Ben is a lawyer, we talked about how challenging it was to learn all the terminology that was needed for his character.

“That was a challenge for all of us,” he admitted. “You definitely need to know what you’re talking about if you’re going to be believable playing a part and acting it. So there’s a lot of research and understanding the dialogue and also understanding the terminology and actually how to pronounce the terminology. We had a lot of fun with going over ‘You know, is this how you say that word and is it British law or is it American law.'”

Talking about the legal side of the show led to Kirby talking about what drew him to the role of Benjamin in Good Trouble. He spoke about getting inside the character and what interested him about the role.

“[Ben] was written as Asian-American. There’s more to this guy that is on the surface, and on the surface he is extremely hard-working. He is seeking the judge’s approval. He would do whatever it takes to work his way up the ladder, because ultimately he wants massive success and for his parent’s acceptance that’s kind of all he is concerned about,” Kirby noted.

“But underneath that, there [are] a lot of pressures and there are some family things built-in. And without giving too much away, I think there’s going to be more as the show continues. You’ll get to know a little bit more about what makes him tick.”

Kirby also had a few thoughts on his character’s relationship with Callie and the other law clerks.

“It’s not going to be the trusted ally that Callie is looking for,” he explained. “Between Rebecca, and Callie, and Ben it’s this kind of three-way fight for the judge’s approval of who’s going to be the favorite and work their way up the ladder faster.”

Kirby let out a laugh when talking about his character getting a romance. He discussed how the show follows the footsteps of The Fosters, having something for everyone.

“Oh yeah, romance. With this show, I think everybody at some point will be romantic? It’s a very fun kind of sexy show. I mean, of course, you look at the first episode, the end and everything. People just love that twist and how open the show is you know,  gay, straight, LGBTQ,” he said. “It carries that same kind of passion that The Fosters did and explores those relationships even more now.”

“For Ben, I can say there are relationships,” he continued. “Some of them happen. At some point. I think everyone in the show will end up in a relationship of some sort.”

Good Trouble is a show on Freeform, so the possibility of shirtless scenes is always there after all. “It’s Freeform, yeah. If you don’t end up with your shirt off by Season 3 then something is wrong,” Kirby joked.

In addition to Good Trouble, Kirby also had a small arc on The Gifted as Noah. Kirby talked about what it was like working on that show, noting that it was his “first venture into the Marvel/DC Universe.”

“It was cool to play Noah who was a mutant who had his powers suppressed,” he said. “But you know, there’s really some stuff underneath there that he was thinking. He was working for the positive side — he was actually working for a doctor that is going to try to eliminate mutants across the entire world. So it ended up being a truly unique character that was fun to play because he gets his world gets flipped upside down and kind of has to make a choice.”

Kirby also talked about what it was like filming that pivotal scene in The Gifted, Season 2 Episode 9 “gaMe changer.”

“When we shot that last scene, they actually had this entire medical cabinet blow up and it was cool to be part of the bigger stuff like that where I was in the front having to scream my face off,” he recalled. “I lost my voice towards the end. I was like was okay, okay did we get it?”

No talk of The Gifted can be complete without talking about the source material. It turned out that Ken Kirby was actually a big fan of the X-Men before he got the role of Noah. He shared what it meant to him to actually be a part of that world.

“I was a huge fan and love those movies and watched the cartoons growing up. [I] actually had some of the comic books when I was younger,” he said. “So to be actually in that world, which was really exciting, especially because The Gifted is basically, it’s the X-Men storyline carried through a television. So I was really pumped when that came through.”

He even expressed that he wouldn’t be opposed to coming back to the show. “I mean, they’re carrying into another season and my character doesn’t die — technically.”

As for people he would still love to work with in the industry, Kirby mentioned how much he loved comedy and would be delighted at working with some of those great comedians.

“There are still so many people out there that I would love to work with. I love doing comedy. It’s something that I could very passionate about, so there are so many comedic inspirations that I would love to work with. You know, Jason Bateman. I love him and I think he’s so talented and really doing these really dramatic roles now in his career. I’m a huge fan of The Office. Any of those big comedy gurus would be huge to work with.”

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Be sure to catch Ken Kirby on Good Trouble airing Tuesdays at 8/7c on Freeform.

*Featured image credit: David Higgs

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