Edwin Hodge was thrilled when he learned that Steven Williams of “The Chi” and ‘The X-Files” had been cast to play Ray Cannon Sr, the father of his character Ray, in Tuesday’s episode of “FBI: Most Wanted.”
“I found out about a week prior and I immediately was excited by the choice,” Hodge told TheWrap ahead of the episode’s debut. “‘The X Files’ was my jam.”
In the episode, titled “Footsteps,” Ray learns that a pair of bombers is targeting cops from a 20-year-old case, which includes his father. Could his dad be next in line? TheWrap spoke with Hodge about how Ray’s idol worship of his father is called into question, and how we can expect more personal storylines from all the characters in Season 5 of the CBS procedural.
TheWrap: This episode is tough for Ray since not only is his dad in danger, but he has to figure out if his father did unethical things in the days after 9/11.
Edwin Hodge: Obviously, my character Ray, he jumped into law enforcement because of his dad, because he idolized what his dad did and what he represented. When we are introduced to his father, it appears that some some shadiness has gone down in his past and Ray has to figure out how to get his father out of this. And then to reconcile his feelings about whether or not he believes his father is as noble as he did growing up
We also see that Ray is still seeing Cora (Caroline Harris), the single mom who he saved last season from an illegal eviction.
I’m like, “Man, Ray needs to smile more.” So Cora gives Ray that light and it’s nice to be able to play that side of his personality. I think he finds a lot of joy being a father figure to her son Caleb (Ja’Siah Young), as well as enjoying the emotional adventure and roller coaster that he’s on with Cora. He’s taking on what he experienced with his father, which is the love and the dedication even though there may be times where he was off doing his job. But, he’s giving it right back to Caleb.
This season we’re going to be a little more engaged in everybody’s personal stories and where they come from and why they do what they do, which will then impact the job as well.
You’ve also got the sci-fi movie “Parallel” Danielle Deadwyler coming out, which you co-star, co-produce and co-wrote with your brother, Aldis Hodge.
I love working with my brother, he teaches me a lot and I hope that I teach him. He’s a skilled actor and anytime I get to be able to work off of him, I think it’s probably the most natural and most organic you’ll ever see me on screen.
It’s a remake of the 2019 Chinese movie movie “Parallel Forest,” right?
Yes, initially my brother and I were brought on to just star and in it. But it just wasn’t hitting the nail on the head, per se. And so our producing partners asked if I would step up and write it. One of them, Jalen Moore, he had read three of my scripts previously, and he believed that I could take on this task.
I was a little nervous, but I asked my brother to help me out, because he had the story in his head a little bit more than I did. And we just piggybacked off of each other, just going back, three, four or five pages at a time to make sure that we were both in lockstep with (co-writer Jonathan Keasey). He would interpret everything and give us our notes. We spent about two and a half months just polishing out the script.
And Hodge Brothers Productions has more projects in the pipeline?
Yeah, we’re in heavy pitch mode right now. We have got five projects under our belt and we’re talking to studios and other producing partners to get the projects off the ground. We’re going to span all different genres, whether it’s animation to the horror or a rom com to, a docuseries. So we do have a game plan.
“FBI: Most Wanted airs Tuesdays at 10 pm ET/PT on CBS and streams the next day on Paramount+.
“Parallel” will be in select theaters on Friday.
