Zachary Quinto’s villain from AMC’s upcoming horror series “NOS4A2” is really into Christmas.
Like, very into Christmas. So much so that the name of the place where Quinto’s Charlie Manx deposits what remains of the children whose souls he feeds off of is called Christmasland.
“It’s a place that Manx has created with an actual deep belief that it’s a destination of joy,” Quinto told TheWrap Saturday during the Television Critics Association press tour. “He genuinely believes that he’s giving [the children] a better life, which is obviously really f—ed up.” Especially because the children — or whatever is left of them after Manx is done feeding off their life force — are rendered as barely-human ghoulish creatures.
Christmasland is a twisted Christmas village of Manx’s imagination, where every day is Christmas and unhappiness is against the law. But, of course, Manx’s idea of “happiness” is not exactly what Santa Claus would have in mind. “[Manx] was exposed to really unspeakable trauma and violence and horror as a child,” Quinto said. “The reality is that he never confronted that within himself or processed it or examined it, and so it evolved into this exploitation of these young and innocent souls as he got older.”
“NOS4A2” is based on the novel of the same name by Joe Hill, who is the son of horror writer Stephen King. In the book and on the show, “NOS4A2” is the license plate on Manx’s 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith. While Quinto would not divulge on the deeper meaning behind the plate (besides the fact that, spoken out loud, it sounds like “Nosferatu”), he said the car is, basically, a character unto itself.
“Manx is an extension of the car and the car is an extension of Manx at this point,” Quinto said. “He’s had the car for 80 years. They literally are connected. He is nothing without the car.”
“NOS4A2” premieres this summer on AMC