Examiner.com interviewed Nico about ‘The Following’ and Jacob, the character he portraits.

Here’s the first part from the interview:

“The Following is easily the best new show of the season, with each week bringing thrills, chills, edge of your seat moments, and surprises. On Friday, we chatted with series star Nico Tortorella, who plays Jacob, one of Joe Carroll’s (James Purefoy) followers who is “a product of the upper-middle class who is deep-seated with daddy issues,” as the actor describes him.

Examiner.com: Where does Jacob fall in the “hierarchy,” I guess you could call it, of the followers? We see that Emma’s [played by Valorie Curry] the leader, but what’s Jacob’s role?

Nico Tortorella: “We all have our specific roles and relationships with Joe and in terms of the hierarchy, I don’t know that there necessarily is. There are people who are second in command who will come up later, but in terms of my position I would say that I’m in charge of somewhat taking care of his son right now, so that’s pretty high up there because between his wife and his son, that’s really what he’s trying to take care of.”

He knows they both love him, crazy enough, and he loves both of them.

How much will we see of Jacob in flashbacks?

“A lot. You’re going to learn a lot from Jacob. You’ll learn a lot from all the followers actually in flashbacks. The show lives just as much in flashbacks as it does in real time. It’s kind of like the prequel to everything that you’re seeing.”

How would you describe Jacob’s relationship with Emma?

“Jacob and Emma start dating three, four years ago, and it’s pretty strong. He’s definitely fully in love with her and looks up to her and is her best friend too.”

And Jacob’s relationship with Paul [played by Adan Canto]?

“It’s relatively the same. He definitely loves and cares for Paul. He’s been in a house for three years pretending to be in a relationship with him. We kind of completely support each other in terms of being part of this cult. You’ll see really how it all unfolds pretty soon.”

And how does it affect Jacob how he sees things between Emma and Paul?

“He’s kind of the mediator between the two of them. We’ve all spent time together before, but this is kind of like our big reunion and this is the first time we’ve been living in a house together and it sucks for him, but he knows they both love him, crazy enough, and he loves both of them, so he’s just going to do whatever it takes to make it work.”

It’s a pretty dark show. Are there any moments that stand out for you?

“It’s pretty dark, and that’s the whole theme of the show, but I think that a lot of the characters, our storyline, Kevin Bacon included, are able to bring moments of comedy to the show and light-hearted moments, which are my favorite parts of the storyline personally. It’s not all bad.”