ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke with Pet Sematary: Bloodlines star Henry Thomas about the horror prequel. The actor discussed the timelessness of Stephen King stories and his work with Mike Flanagan. The film is now available to stream through Paramount+ and available to buy on Digital. It debuts on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD on December 19 from Paramount Home Entertainment.
“In 1969, a young Jud Crandall is set to leave his hometown of Ludlow, Maine, in search of his life’s purpose,” the movie‘s official synopsis reads. “Before he makes it out, however, Jud and his childhood friends encounter an ancient evil that has gripped Ludlow since its founding.”
Tyler Treese: Henry, congrats on Pet Sematary: Bloodlines. In this movie, we get to go into the past of Ludlow and explore the history of the city. What drew you most to this project and made you want to be on board?
Henry Thomas: I got the script from Lindsey Anderson Beer — the director and writer was a friend of Mike Flanagan, and I was working with Mike at the time on … I think, Midnight Mass. Anyway, I read the script, and Mike had spoken very highly of Lindsey. I liked the character, and it sounded like a fun time. I got to go to Montreal and work with some really great people, so it was a great experience.
One of those great people you got to work with was Jackson White, who plays your son. What stood out about working with him?
Well, Jackson was a great guy and a very skilled musician as well — like, a great guitar player and a great drummer. I play music as well, so we got on pretty easily, talking about instruments and music and things like that. But I thought he did a great job with his enthusiasm, youth, vigor, and everything. [Laughs]. It was, you know, inspiring.
Pet Sematary: Bloodlines takes place in 1969. The Vietnam War is happening, and grief is a theme throughout. What did you like most about that time period and the themes at play?
Yeah, well, it’s that whole feeling of encroaching doom or maybe encroaching change … the possibility of grief, right? Because you have this war looming and there’s a draft going on, and any day, your number could get called. That’s my character’s worst nightmare in this: he doesn’t want to see his son get called up into service and go to war. I think any parent can relate to that feeling, and whatever actions you would take or wouldn’t take. There is that feeling of, “Not my son. Whatever it costs, I will do my best to try to stop it.”
That totally comes through. You had a great role in Doctor Sleep. You’ve also been in Desperation and Nightmares & Dreamscapes, so you’ve been in a number of these Stephen King adaptations. What do you think it is about King’s stories that makes them stand the test of time and remain so adaptable and reshaped in different manners?
Aside from Stephen King himself and his talent, because of his success and all of his stories and the many adaptations that have already been made and continue to be made, the material itself is familiar to people. It’s almost like a modern folktale in the sense that you may not have seen The Shining, but you know the story, right? You may not have read the book, but you’ve seen the movie. You may not have read all of his short stories, but someone has told you six of them. It’s so widespread that it’s become familiar to people and it’s a certain style of storytelling. It has its own world of fans and, and its own medium.
You’re great in The Fall of the House of Usher, and that’s become such a hit. Why do you think you and Mike Flanagan work so well together? You’ve really been a winning combination.
Well, thanks! Yeah, I’ve really enjoyed working with Mike over the years. His career has taken off and he’s had amazing opportunities with directing films and developing things. It’s great to see that, and it’s great to have been a part of it in a small way.
Since you’re like his lucky charm, would you want to be involved in the Dark Tower series that he has coming up?
Yeah, sure. I mean, it’s kind of like a lottery amongst the recurring cast members, where we’re all like, “Have you heard anything? No, I haven’t heard anything!” [Laughs]. So, I mean, sure. Every actor wants a job. Of course, I would love to be a part of it, but I don’t have any kind of standing deal with Mike or Intrepid Pictures or any of these guys. It comes to me or it doesn’t.
It’s funny, though, because you hear through the grapevine, “Oh, Mike’s shooting this,” or, “Mike’s getting ready,” “Mike got a deal at Amazon.” The speculation going on … I don’t know, it becomes a funny thing because I always look at it like Mike is the guy who like just kept giving me jobs out of the blue for no apparent reason other than he liked my work, which was great, but it hadn’t happened before to me.
So it was always kind of a, “Is this a big sick joke that someone’s playing just to be cruel? Or is this guy actually casting me in in all of these things?” [Laughs]. It turned out to be a lot of fun, exploring all of these characters — and each of them [is] very different from the previous one. I think Mike liked to make me jump through some hoops just to see how dynamic I could be.
