The actor breaks down his character’s journey on the haunting drug drama.
Warning: This article contains spoilers for theDopesickfinale.
Throughout its eight episodes,Dopesickchronicled the start of the opioid epidemic by telling a number of different stories.
Will Poulter on ‘Dopesick’.Gene Page/Hulu
In the finale, we watched as Billy slowly realized what he had participated in.
EW spoke with Poulter about his journey on the show and Billy’s good-guy ending.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: When you started this project, you didn’t have all the scripts, correct?
At what point did you know Billy’s ending?
It was really, really informative.
I really fell in love with his journey.
It was full of gray zone and moral conundrums and will he, won’t he.
It was so enticing the way that he pitched it.
The script surpassed my expectations.
Were you hoping that Billy would do the right thing and send in the tapes?
Yeah, I hoped so.
I can’t say that.
Is there any way you might turn it down?"
Michael’s awfully heartbreaking in that scene.
He no longer is the man that you saw in the first four episodes.
He’s been fundamentally changed by this drug.
We talk about Billy eventually doing the right thing, which is great.
But in the larger scheme of this story, he is in many ways one of the bad guys.
What did you do to get into that headspace?
Initially, I saw a kid who was coming into the sales force with noble and fairly honest intentions.
He had ambitions to do well and succeed and make money for, ultimately, a benevolent cause.
That it was devastating communities.
That it was associated with spikes in crime and infant neglect.
That people were overdosing and dying.
It was interesting playing the different shades of gray in that respect.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
