Before he terrorized audiences as Pennywise the Dancing Clown in both cinematic chapters of “It” (and later, HBO’s “It: Welcome to Derry” — which just got renewed for a second season), Swedish actor Bill Skarsgård scored his first English-language horror genre role on American TV. That role was in “Hemlock Grove,” one of the first original series from the fledgling days of Netflix.
Executive produced by Eli Roth, “Hemlock Grove” was a gothic thriller that took place in a dreary former Pennsylvania steel town terrorized by a killer. The 2013 series — which helped build Netflix into the streaming giant it is today — also starred Famke Janssen and Landon Liboiron. Bill played Roman Godfrey, a wealthy, troubled teenager who teams up with Peter Rumancek (a werewolf, played by Liboiron) to investigate the culprit behind the town’s gruesome murders.
While Bill grew up in an acting family, the role allowed him to flex his range on a major international stage. “For me, I care for Roman a lot,” he revealed during an on-set interview with Collider. “I love that guy. I love that character. I think that’s important for me to be able to portray that character, to find that deep bond and care for them as well. So I wouldn’t say that he’s bad. He’s a victim in a lot of ways.”
Given how saturated the market was at the time — with similar shows like “True Blood,” which just so happened to star his big brother, Alexander Skarsgård — Bill was initially skeptical about joining another supernatural horror TV series.
Bill Skarsgård said the script for Hemlock Grove blew his mind
“Even I thought, ‘Really? Are we doing this again?'” he confessed to The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s vampires and werewolves. It’s been so explored already even I’m fed up with it.” But when he got his hands on the script, it immediately won him over. “It kind of blew my mind,” he added.
Critics were far from impressed when “Hemlock Grove” premiered on Netflix. The show holds a dismal 38% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, but audiences were much more forgiving, granting it a more respectable 64% on the site’s Popcornmeter. On IMDb, where it holds a satisfactory score of 7.0, several fan reviews defend the cult series, highlighting Bill as a standout. User faulhabz wrote, “Bill Skarsgard should be a big upcoming actor, he does amazing in this show.” Meanwhile, user deloudelouvain praised the dynamic between Roman and his mother Olivia (Janssen), calling Skarsgard’s performance “excellent” and adding, “Once you start watching this show it becomes immediately highly addictive.” User samishoward echoed that sentiment, commending Bill for making the reviewer empathize with someone who behaves like a sociopath.
After “Hemlock Grove” ended in 2015, it didn’t take long for Bill to land his career-defining horror role. Just two years later, he landed the role of Pennywise in 2017’s “It,” returning for “It Chapter Two” in 2019. He continued building his horror résumé when he transformed into the putrid Count Orlok in Robert Eggers’ “Nosferatu.”
