I first interviewed Kevin Sorbo back in 2013, when he was doing a promotion for a little film called Storm Rider. But, back then, I was talking to him over the phone while on my lunch break at the day job I had at the time. This year, I was able to speak to him in person for five minutes. Sure, that’s not a lot of time for an interview, but it’s enough to get in some questions while he’s on a break from signing autographs and taking pictures.
Sorbo is one of the many guests lined up for the fourth annual Wizard World Sacramento Comic Con, which started on June 16 and will run until June 18. Sorbo will be there all three days, so fans can get the opportunity to meet him and ask him questions about the projects he’s done or what he has coming up soon.
There was a brief moment during the interview in which Sorbo lost his voice, and we had to pause for a bit so he could quickly drink some water and try to get it back before I had to wrap things up. Thankfully, it wasn’t too much of a hiatus, and we were able to resume shortly afterward. We talked mostly about Hercules, of course, and we also talked briefly about him taking on more villainous roles, as well as playing an exaggerated version of himself in a movie that was just recently released.
First off, welcome to Sacramento.
Thank you.
You have a lot people here wanting to meet you and talk to you. Is there anyone on the guest list, in particular, that you are looking forward to meeting or catch up with? I know Lou [Ferrigno] is down there.
I haven’t seen the whole guest list. I mean, Lou is a good buddy of mine. Lou and I just did Battle of the Network Stars last Saturday. I can’t give away what happened, but we won. But I met Adrienne [Barbeau] years ago; I do want to say hi to her again. But, on the other side, I haven’t really had a chance to look at who’s here yet, and I will when I go over there. So, I can’t tell you that right now. Jon [Heder] and I did a show together. Jon’s a great guy.
I saw, in your filmography, there was a movie called Boone, and it has Michael Parks in it. Was that ever filmed? Did anything ever get filmed?
It’s out on DVD now, and I just did it as a favor. My manager’s friends with the director, and I went on to work one day on it. I just did a little cameo in the opening, playing myself, and [John Hennigan] plays a bounty hunter. It opens on a huge chase scene; it’s actually very funny, because it’s me getting out of my car, running through neighborhoods, going through people’s homes, going down alleys, and they had all these different – they’re filming it, like any bounty hunter does. And he finally catches me, slams me on the ground, face on the ground, and he goes, “Sorbo, you just got Booned.” And I said, “Better than boned.”
So, is that more of an exaggerated version of you?
Oh, yeah. Excuse me, I lost my voice. It’s weird.
I’ll give you time.
That’s weird. It’s slowly coming back. That’s never happened before. You should have panicked. Where were we?
You were talking about Boone: The Bounty Hunter, but there’s another movie I saw just called Boone, and it’s about a serial killer. It was listed as “announced” on IMDb.
I did this [points to Julia X Blu-ray]. I play a serial killer in Julia X, but I don’t know much about Boone. I think they want to make it a TV series. I don’t know if that’s going to happen.
Oh, OK. I just saw that Michael Parks was in it, and you were in it, too, so I’m like, “Oh, I wonder if he got to work with him at all.”
No. I don’t know.
Back when Hercules was on the air, it was a first-run syndication show. For scripted television, that format doesn’t really exist nowadays. If Hercules was on today, on which channel do you think it would air?
That’s a good question. I think it’d be a network show. I mean, it would probably be The CW. That’s probably where it would be. I kind of wish it was, because, back in the ’90s, there were comic cons around, but they weren’t anything like they are today. I know if the show was on now, and was as big of a hit as it was back then, I would have Walking Dead lines in front of us right now. We were the number one show in the world. We passed Baywatch as the most-watched TV show in the world.
And I find it funny now that Baywatch and Hercules are now movies with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in them.
And you know what’s weird? I know Dwayne. Dwayne is a great guy. I called him up before they started filming. They shot his movie in, I think, Romania, and I said, “Tell that stupid director to put me in a cameo.” They did it with Lou on Hulk, and I was like, “Why wouldn’t you do that?” I don’t need to be a star; just put me in for two minutes. The audience would have loved it; they would have. But the director, from what I heard, he’s not the nicest guy, from what I understand.
We live in an era where a lot of the classic shows get a reboot or remade like Twin Peaks and The X-Files. They’re talking about doing a Xena reboot. Do you think there is going to be a Hercules reboot in the future?
Well, that’s up to happen. Xena was given birth out of Hercules. [Lucy Lawless] is married to the executive producer of Hercules and Xena, so, of course, he’s going to do something for her show before he does anything for mine. I mean, he put her in Spartacus. Now, she’s in Bruce Campbell’s series [Ash vs. Evil Dead], so it’s good to be married to a producer apparently.
In recent years, you’ve done more villainous roles in Julia X and the brief story arc you had on Supergirl. After spending years playing a heroic character or a good-natured character, what is it about taking on the villainous roles that is more of the challenging aspect?
It’s kind of fun, just something different. I mean, I’d rather still, overall, if I got another TV series, I’d like to play a good guy. I got a series we’re developing now that, if it gets picked up, we shoot in South Africa. But it’s like a Little House on the Prairie type of show. It’s got a nice message. My character’s a guy that has got to go through his own journeys, his own growth. He’s kind of a jerk, but he’s not, like, a villain. He’s an independent guy that comes across this widowed woman and her kids, and they basically bore each other’s land, so it’s his growth watching that family and the life he’s led himself to land in such an isolated part. So, it’s interesting; it’s a nice little show.
All right, well, I’m going to let you get going. I know you got some people coming up.
Ah, it’s all good.
Thank you, sir.
Thanks, man.
