Stephen King, master storyteller of all things creepy and strange, has created a collection of work that might never be matched. As the author continues to write and amaze us with his talent, filmmakers and studios continue to adapt his work (for better or worse). The newest adaptation is MGM+’s The Institute, an eight-episode TV series based on the novel of the same name. The story centers around children and teens with special abilities abducted from their homes and used in experiments for mysteriously sinister reasons.
Actor Joe Freeman plays Luke, the central figure in this Institute full of exceptional children. Ben Barnes plays Tim Jamieson, a man haunted by his past who seeks to vanish in a small town but ends up caught in the horrors behind the doors of The Institute. Many may recognize Barnes from his roles as Logan Delos in Westworld and King Caspian in The Chronicles of Narnia films, but he is also known for portraying the notorious Billy Russo in Netflix’s The Punisher.
When we talked to Barnes, he explained that it was nice to step away from that kind of character for a while. “I’ve come off playing a stint of some untrustworthy characters, manipulative characters, so to play someone who was a good man, who it was essential for them to be a good man in the world, a force for good.”
Barnes continued, “However, he’s still carrying this baggage, some weight, and kind of being thoughtful about that, a bit self-reflective. I think I’m also quite a self-reflective person. It’s very important to me to be a good man in the world, so I think it was interesting to come back to that after so many years of playing those protagonists, hero types, so to circle back around was really interesting. Hopefully, both characters, Tim and Luke, are interesting enough to draw you into this creepy tale.”
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While playing Luke, Joe Freeman had his own intriguing and challenging approach to portraying his character. He told us, “I was playing four years younger at the time, we shot it when I was eighteen. Also, I was playing someone with superpowers who was a genius, so it was all kind of compacted together. So it was trying to find that balance between this genius character and a kid, and me as an eighteen-year-old. It was trying to find out the perfect balance and how to make it all work together, you know?”
Over eight episodes, The Institute follows two storylines, primarily focusing on Luke’s experiences inside the facility and Tim’s outside. Although they are on different paths and points in their lives, there’s an interesting parallel between the characters—they both seem trapped. Luke is fighting to escape, and Tim is struggling with his own inner demons. I asked both actors about this similarity, and they agreed, with Freeman explaining, “Yeah, I think the similarities in the characters is ultimately what leads them to each other. Tim’s getting back into the root of things, and when they finally cross paths, yeah, it definitely shapes how they meet. You’ll find out why, but yeah, I agree with you.”
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Barnes added, “I think you find out they are both trapped, and I think that is purposeful. I think you see how important it is for Luke to stand up for the other kids in the Institute. Then you start to see Tim, he’s guided not by ambition but by a very protective nature, to want to be there for people, to protect them, particularly when the two of them meet, because there’s a trust between them. They recognize that in each other, they can smell it, and they really form a bond quite quickly. They have this kind of pseudo father/son connection where they really look after one another and can work together and put together what they’ve assimilated and learned to try and kind of challenge this system.”
The Institute premieres with two episodes on MGM+ on Sunday, July 13, at 9:00 p.m. EST.
