LOS ANGELELS — It is no Pokémon game, but in Prime Video’s new series, “The Bondsman,” Kevin Bacon is brought back after dying and going to hell to catch demons.
For Hub Halloran (Bacon), it becomes much more than catching demons. He must also fight his own with the help of his family and come to terms with the sins that got his soul condemned. All while fighting for a second chance at life, love and country music.
In an interview with Spectrum News, Bacon described “The Bondsman,” as “bloody, it is funny, and it is about family.”
“It has some music. It is a wild ride,” he said.
Yes, music. More precisely, country music. “The Bondsman” also has a music EP that is being released along with the show, and it will feature original songs from Bacon and Grammy Award winner Jennifer Nettles, who plays Maryanne Dice (Halloran's wife) in the show. Bacon, who has written songs solo as well as for his band with his brother, The Bacon Brothers, said he had a conversation with Nettles about writing songs for the show.
“Right away, we wrote a couple of songs. A couple of them ended up in the show. A few didn’t. It is music that is inspired by ‘The Bondsman.’ What is fun about it is that from a writing standpoint, it required us to think it terms of those characters. To write a song from Hub Halloran and Maryanne Dice’s point of view. That was a really cool exercise,” said Bacon.
For Nettles, “The Bondsman” might give folks nightmares, but working with Bacon was a dream. Nettles told Spectrum News how Bacon is a fantastic writer and an amazing lyricist and storyteller.
“We had a real ease and flow with our collaboration,” she said. “It just felt really natural together.”
While “The Bondsman” deals with death, Bacon told Spectrum News that making the show didn’t change his perspective on the subject.
“The older I get, it is such a cliché, but the older you get, the more you think about it,” he said. “My point of view about death is that life is happening right now, right here. What I have a responsibility to do is to be the best I am while I am here. I don’t think much about an afterlife.”
Other than her fictional show family, Nettles contemplated who she would enlist to help her hunt down demons.
“I feel like Dolly Parton would be a lot of fun. She would make demon hunting super fun. I think she would charm them all so you wouldn’t even really have to hunt them down,” she said. “Lady Gaga with her whole vibe, her whole aesthetic and her monsters, she’s already kind of halfway there, so I feel like she’d also be a good champion.”
Erik Oleson, the showrunner and executive producer for “The Bondsman,” told Spectrum News that he is making it as difficult as possible for Prime Video to not renew the series for a second season.
“I am cautiously optimistic that things might be looking good if people watch when the show drops and they see the numbers,” he said.
“The Bondsman” is now streaming on Prime Video. The music EP will be available on April 4.
Click the arrow above to watch the full interview with Kevin Bacon, Jennifer Nettles, Maxwell Jenkins, Beth Grant and Jolene Purdy.
Francisco Ramos-Moreno - Digital Media Producer
Francisco 'Paco' Ramos-Moreno is a two-time Emmy and San Diego Press Club Award-winning digital associate producer at Spectrum News. He previously worked at CBS News 8 and KUSI News in San Diego. Ramos-Moreno graduated from Pacific Union College and Andrews University.
