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| Mitchell, courtesy NBC |
The big bad wolf lives in Portland, except he’s not all that bad since he discovered Pilates and an appreciation for wine. He does occasionally wolf out still, but now it is for the purpose of fighting monsters on the side of good or for his were-fox girlfriend.
Such is the life of Monroe, the fan-favorite character on Grimm, NBC’s fairy tale/cop procedural show which was recently renewed for a third season. And the man behind the wolfman is Silas Weir Mitchell, a character actor whose career has been transformed by Monroe – and not just in the ways of CGI or the prosthetic makeup he wears when things get hairy.
Since Grimm debuted in Fall 2011, Mitchell-as-Monroe has become as well known as the reformed “blutbad,” a type of “wesen” or creature we regular humans thought were relegated to folklore. Instead of chasing down girls wearing red riding hoods, or just generally wreaking havoc and terrifying people, Monroe is a Stumptown clockmaker who opts for the quiet life. He drives around in a yellow Volkswagen, cooks, plays the cello and hangs out in flannel shirts and comfy sweaters.
That is, until he pairs up with Nick Burkhardt (played by David Giuntoli), a homicide detective and wesen-hunting “grimm.” The show, which was moved from its Friday night timeslot to Tuesday nights at 10 p.m., and wraps its second season May 21, often finds Monroe and Nick, along with Nick’s partner Hank (Russell Hornsby), fiancee Juliette (Bitsie Tulloch), his shady police captain Renard (Sasha Roiz) and Monroe’s wesen girlfriend Rosalee (Bree Turner) at the center of a city overrun with magic and myths.
But through it all, Monroe has remained the friendly monster of the bunch who has saved the day a few times, and has generated a lot of Grimmster fan love.
“I’m descended of a species of rapacious wolf-people, but I’m a nice guy, trying to help this other dude who would normally want to kill me, and I would normally want to kill him,” Mitchell said in a recent phone interview when asked to describe Monroe.
Read the rest of our interview with Mitchell at MTV Geek...