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Source: SciFiWire

Stuart Townsend, who stars in ABC's upcoming update of The Night Stalker, told SCI FI Wire that creator Frank Spotnitz (The X-Files) hasn't told him much about the mythology behind the new show. "Frank's been very evasive," Townsend said in an interview at the Television Critics Association press tour in Beverly Hills, Calif. "He explained the concept minimally. And that really excited me, and I wanted to know more, but in a way I want to respect that he's still formulating in his mind."

Townsend (Queen of the Damned, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) plays Carl Kolchak, a character originated by Darren McGavin in a string of television movies and a short-lived series in the 1970s. Kolchak is a newspaper reporter who specializes in stories of the unexplained. The new series will delve into investigations of various phenomena, with a backdrop of a grander mystery to be slowly unraveled.

Though Spotnitz, once a reporter himself, hasn't shared the secrets of the show with Townsend, he has worked with him to develop the character of Kochak. "We talk about character, and I can use his experience as a journalist as well," Townsend said. "But it's not like a movie where you go, 'That's your script, here's your character.' This will be the first time where every week my character will grow, and I'll learn more about the character as I go along and I'm kind of excited about that."

Townsend added that he's made his own suggestions about how he envisions the character. "I hope he's written that he can be quite ruthless when necessary, because I like that," he said. "I want him to have an edge. Every week I hope that sometimes you'll really like Kolchak and sometimes you're not sure about him. And I like that ambiguity in a protagonist. As Frank said, I don't think you've seen that much in TV. And I look forward to maybe being the bad guy or the good guy and kind of osculating between them." The Night Stalker premieres Thursday, Sept. 29 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.