Neil Jackson talks ‘Sleepy Hollow’ season 2, Headless Horseman, romance with Katrina
While Sleepy Hollow is introducing a frightening new creature in the new episode “Weeping Lady,” co-star Neil Jackson is talking about his role as the Headless Horseman, or more specifically, Abraham (Headless when he has a head) and his character’s “genuine affections” for Katrina (Katia Winter).
“She’s a captive against her will and she’s also a very strong, intelligent, manipulative woman, so he knows that she’s willing to say whatever she thinks she needs to say in order to get what she needs. She’s shown that she’s willing to stay there when she could have escaped, so he trusts her to a degree, but I don’t think that trust is anywhere near complete. And he also knows that’s reciprocal as well, and he needs to show her that she can trust him and that his affection is genuine and his interests are honorable.”
Abraham is Katrina’s former fiance and has a hatred for Tom Mison’s Ichabod Crane. This an interesting story arc because Headless is partnered with their son, Henry (John Noble) to be aligned with the demon Morloch.
“I think it’s pretty difficult. He’s very, very angry at Ichabod. Ichabod is the cause of everything bad that has ever happened in his life. He was never supposed to be a Headless Horseman. He was never destined to be caught by the Hessians. He was destined to be the man that he was, which was a rich, aristocratic man who funded Washington’s efforts, and was a friend to all and had a beautiful fiancee until Ichabod Crane stepped in and had desires on his fiancee and they fought. So he’s just justifiably pretty peeved at Ichabod and that frustration has sat with him for the last 250 years. So to be constantly reminded of the woman he loves’ affections for this man, and this man continually trying to scuff his plans, is a thorn in his side, to say the least.”
While talking with Variety, Jackson explains how and why Abraham reaches out to Katrina, pulling her over to the “dark side.”
“…he’s a dude without a head, so how much of a relationship can they actually have? But when we throw it into the world of how Abraham is thinking, I think that he thinks it’s kind of Stockholm syndrome. If he shows her enough affection and shows her that he’s honorable and that he’s genuine and that he’s not going to force himself on her — he wants her to come to a decision through her own volition… If he showers her with gifts, and if he constantly gives her that affection — affection that she’s not getting from the man that she’s married to — he hopes that over the course of time she will, very Beauty and the Beast-like, slowly fall for the Beast and have some sort of affection, or sympathy, from which love might grow.”
Check out the full interview HERE
