Anthony Carrigan Hasn’t Yet Processed His ‘Barry’ Goodbye
This story about “Barry” first appeared in the Down to the Wire: Comedy issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine. All actor interviews in that issue were conducted before the SAG-AFTRA strike began.
The series finale of “Barry” aired months ago, but actor Anthony Carrigan admitted he still hasn’t quite processed saying goodbye to the character of Noho Hank. “I’m still in the grieving phase of it,” he said. “It was just such a special show to work on, and honestly projects like that do not happen often. So all you can really do while you’re working on them is just not take a single moment for granted.”
Carrigan’s character was famously supposed to die in the pilot, but co-creators Bill Hader and Alec Berg were so wowed by his performance that they kept him around. When “Barry” first began airing on HBO, viewers were immediately taken with mobster Noho Hank’s abundant positivity in such a deadly business. This made Hank’s fate in the series finale all the more nerve-wracking for Carrigan, who was worried fans might revolt when they discovered that Hank would (spoiler alert) die in the show’s final episode.
“I did a pretty good job of keeping it from everyone. When my mom called me just crying hysterically, I was able to console her, but I knew that I had done my job right,” he said with a laugh.
The actor found the final season downright “Shakespearean” and he embraced the show’s unique balance of comedy and darkness. “From the very beginning of the series, really dark things were happening. There was a lot of levity, but at the same time the darkness was always there,” he said. “It became something so unique, and I think the last season was just an absolute ride.”
Read TheWrap’s full Down to the Wire: Comedy issue here.
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