Adam Fergus talks life after ‘Supernatural’ and Mick Davies

“Oh, Mr. Ketch, how could you!”

I’m sure those words – or a reasonable facsimile thereof – was on many a fan’s lips (or on social media) on April 6, 2017 – the day the Supernatural episode, “The British Invasion,” was aired – and Mr. Ketch (played by David Hadyn-Jones) ended the life of one Mick Davies (Adam Fergus) entirely too soon. Mick was definitely one of my favourite reoccurring characters in Season 12 of Supernatural; at the very least, he was the one that I started loving immediately. I was able to catch up with Adam Fergus a while back; the following is the resulting interview. This is my third interview with him, and yes, it’s definitely the charm!

adam fergus on life after supernatural interview 2017

Do you think Mick would have fought with the Winchesters?

Oh for sure, yeah, I think that was the route he was going. He was taken by the way they fought and their ideals, and obviously had a very strong bond from the get-go. I think eventually if he hadn’t been killed, he might have turned his back completely on the British Men of Letters and gone fighting with the boys.

adam fergus fighint supernatural winchesters jared padalecki

I totally agree with you; I think he would have too.

By the time he met his demise, he had woken a side of him that had been dormant since killing his best mate in Kendricks. He realized that this time he was fighting for a cause – maybe a person – in Dr. Hess that he felt out of an obligation more than anything else. Eventually, he had woken inside of him his decision.

adam fergus with supernatural god

What are your thoughts about Mick’s untimely death?

Well, it’s Supernatural, everyone seems to die at least once. I don’t know if I was expecting it, in that particular episode when I read it, but it always comes as a shock. I think it was well written, they did a great job, and at least he had a noble kind of exit; he’d stood up to Dr. Hess and the Men of Letters and really left a stamp on his time there.

I remember talking to you at the time, I’m like, “What? Did that just happen!”

They like to surprise people, that was only one of many, many surprises – and a small surprise compared to who else bit the dust, in that final episode.

adam fergus with brianna b supernatural interview

How do you think the British Men of Letters will react to their American contingent being dead?

What do you mean, me and David [Mr. Ketch], and Dr. Hess?

Basically, the old men, will they just shrug and cut their losses, or will they try and send more people?

I don’t know … I think the hypothetical is that you never know what the British Men of Letters would have done but in terms of the practical I think that story has been written in Season 12, and I’m sure the writers who put out some amazing stuff every year will move on to something new – or maybe they will. They may plan to bring another force of British troops, that might be one way of dealing with it in Season 13. I think they cut it off at the head when they got rid of Dr. Hess and myself and David [Mr. Ketch], they’re pawns but they’re fairly high up in the Men of Letters. I would imagine that in the Supernatural world the British Men of Letters might think twice about how they approach Sam and Dean Winchester.

What did you enjoy most about playing Mick?

The whole show was nice, y’know, working on each show is fun as an actor, to work on a show where the people on it are more like a family than I’ve ever experienced on the various plays, films and TV shows that I’ve done; [it] was a unique experience working on that show so that would be the thing that would spring to mind was that was the most enjoyable thing about playing Mick was working on Supernatural. I always like doing an accent, the practicality of it; I like playing Cockney; I like that he had a dark past that affected the way he operated for most of his life and I liked how that played in later episodes. He had more to him; there was a lot of substance to him than the guy who went around killing or involved in orchestrating the killing of werewolves or whoever they might come across. There was a good depth to Mick. It comes again down to the writing, the complexity of the characters that are created by Andrew Dabb and everyone else involved in the show, in the creation of the show and the characters. It lended accessibility; you can get in, you have a lot to work with as an actor when you have a well-rounded and deep character that had more depth to him than a lot of the other characters that come and go in Supernatural, at least obviously for me. There was substance to him, and that made it easier and enjoyable to play.

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He was definitely a three-dimensional character; he wasn’t just two dimensions where he was just a foil for Sam and Dean to go up against. That’s why I loved the parts where we went back into his history and the reasons why he did what he did, why he feels what he feels. That was pretty cool.

And the kind of vindication too, whenever you’re playing a character you don’t obviously know where they’re going to take it so you can do so much back story and research and create as much as you can yourself, but you have to be open to a writer saying, “No, no, he didn’t have any parents,” or “His parents died when he was young and he grew up on the streets.” You always have to be open in that fashion, especially when you’re working on an episodic drama … there’s always a sense in creating a story but you can’t be too tied to it, if you know what I mean.

supernatural adam fergus mick dead pool of blood

What was your most difficult scene to film?

That’s an interesting question. Difficult – there’s physical difficulties, and there’s taxing scenes of emotions involved like the last scene I did, I remember struggling a little with when he does get shot, and that’s a purely psychological thing. When you’re so involved, and you become, as I’d like to think you do, part of the SPN family, you know the end is nigh and so therefore in that regards, that’s difficult. I’ve worked on shows for numbers of years in the past, and I definitely felt, going back to the comradery that is Supernatural is; I definitely felt this time it was harder to see it out as it has been in the past. You’re normally looking forward to the next project and what’s coming down the road, but to say goodbye to that was tough, and so hence to shoot the last scene was quite emotionally tough.

But physically, I don’t know, probably that last episode too, the physical scene when Dagon survives and she blows us all up, there’s a couple of little stunts that we had to do; my stunt double was brilliant. He was in the last two episodes that I did, 16 and 17, he’s a really talented stunt guy. There were a couple of stunts in the last episode that I wanted to tackle myself because it was the last and he advised me against it; then when I saw what he did I’m like, “Oh, that was a wise move.” Physically there was a lot of jumping around; I love the physical side of acting, you do wake up the next morning with a few bumps and bruises. They are like badges of honor. You can wake up and go, “I owned that scene!”

adam fergus dancing with spn family richard speight

Completely on the opposite side, what was the funniest thing to happen while filming?

So many … so many. There’s spontaneity, there’s a lot of moments; like anything with Jared and Jensen, when you’re shooting with the boys there’s all these little moments like trying to get a scene done when all three of us are in the car and we’re in the studio with the car and one of them making fart noises with the app on his phone; you’re really trying to hold it together whilst crying and laughing at the same time. That’s one that sticks out; yeah, there are countless times … what else happened that was really funny? It’s been so long since I was filming it.

When filming Ladies Drink For Free, with the wonderful Kathryn Newton, the boys had adopted her like a little sister and every time she started to talk they’d make these “waa-waa-waa” sounds like everything coming out of her mouth was a baby talking. It was all four of us; a lot of the episode was with the four of us in a room together trying to keep her from turning into a werewolf. A lot of that dialogue took place in a hotel room and there were times when no one could speak because we were buckled over laughing at the guys. They were being like big brothers to young Kathryn, and God bless her she could take it so well, for a girl who was 19; she was well able to take the guys’ crap they were throwing at her. It was admirable. It made for a very enjoyable day.

It’s funny when you work on a show for 12 years I’m sure the boys have had tough enough days on set to have the sheer drive to invent something new every day and be as dedicated and committed to everything; it’s just so admirable. As a result, you have to have that level of fun; to work as hard as they do and be as inventive as they are it’s a sight to behold, really.

supernatural adam fergus with mr ketch movie tv tech geeks interview

What’s a little-known fact about Mick?

Did you know he was left-handed?

No, I didn’t know that actually.

There you go. There’s a fun fact about Mick Davies …

But is Adam Fergus left-handed?

Yes, he is.

There you go.

There’s not a lot of left-handed people in the movie business, Carol, well, not a lot of characters in the movie business, so I decided to throw that one in.

I’ve played a couple of real life characters, and they’re inevitably right-handed; as the majority of the world is. It’s nice to be able to make that decision for yourself.

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So what do you think of the cons so far? Are you looking forward to ChiCon?

Oh absolutely. It’s like I said, I miss the show, I miss the craic of the show – spelled CRAIC, that’s Irish for fun. Not to be confused with amphetamine; I’m often misinterpreted when I say I miss the craic – “You miss the what?” No, no, no – it’s fun, in the Irish language. When you miss the fun on set, this is a way to help relive the experience that I had. As well as meeting other characters from seasons that you weren’t on. And iconic characters like Rob Benedict, and God, and you know, the list goes on. I’m now really friendly with Kim Rhodes, Briana, Aliana, Matt Cohen, Gil McKinney; just to name but a few they’re all so much fun. As I said, I’ve done a lot of theatre in my life, and I miss doing theatre; but the response that you get from the audience at the end of a play is never there when you film. It’s press tours to promote films, but it’s not the same. This is the first time I’ve gotten a similar, if not more powerful – that kind of feeling from an audience and from a fan base that you get at these cons. You get a similar kind of sentiment that people actually don’t come to see you but they come to see the particular play if you’re on stage and then they come to these conventions to get the same experience. As an actor, it’s extremely rewarding. I didn’t know what to make of it before, all I could go on was how highly everyone had spoken of them. Jared and Jensen really spoke very highly of it, and were determined to get me on … it’s been so much fun. Blackpool was great fun, Rome was great fun, and you know; I’m doing some next year, can’t be revealed as yet. What I can tell you, as everyone knows, is Chicago next week. That’s going to be great fun. That’s the first one on U.S. soil. It will be fun to see the American fan base is like in comparison to the British and the European.

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What does the SPN family mean to you?

I think everything that I just said – it’s something that’s empowered by the writing, the story, definitely by the boys; Misha is such a huge part of it, in the growing of the fan base; it’s more than just a TV show. It’s the charities that everyone does and are involved with … it’s GISHWHES — which I have never been able to pronounce – I got roped into taking part in … it’s just so many people in the immediate family, the crew and the cast, the larger more involved SPN family. It just means a huge amount to me that I can still be involved in the medium of conventions and to keep living that phenomenal and unique experience over the last year. As long as other shows that I’m doing allow me time off to do it I’ll continue to do them because it’s something that’s an iconic moment in my career as an actor. I definitely want to keep reliving it as much as I can. As I said it’s the charities that the guys have set up and the people they’ve touched – and the people they’ve helped – it’s just so much bigger than a TV show.

adam fergus in costume for supernatural movie tv tech geeks interview

What can you tell us about what you’re working on?

There’s a show I’m doing in Norway which I can’t say much about … except that it’s set in the 60s and 70s in Norway, and I am playing a Texan. That’s all I can really say. But that’ll be out sometime next year. I’m doing another show that’s here in Ireland called Striking Out, a legal drama, which I start filming next week, I think, maybe the week after. So, busy as a bee … but the way things have fallen I’ve been able to do these wonderful conventions.