The 'Dropout' and 'Lost' alum talks to ET about joining the Fox drama and how his girlfriend played a small role in him saying yes.
As the newest addition to the season 2 cast of The Cleaning Lady, Naveen Andrews -- who most recently played embattled ex-Theranos executive Sunny Balwani in The Dropout -- is adding some spice to the Fox drama. Andrews plays Robert Kamdar, Nadia's (Eva De Dominici) dangerous and charming ex-lover, who enters the world hellbent on driving a wedge between Nadia and her mobster husband, Arman (Adan Canto).
When the opportunity came his way to join the mob drama's ensemble, it was Andrews' girlfriend who played a small part in pushing him to say yes. "Before I even looked at the script, my girlfriend told me that this was one of her favorite shows. She'd seen the whole first season and because of that, she said, 'You should do it,'" he shared with ET over a recent Zoom chat. "Because of that, I saw the first season. And then I agreed to do it because the show's about immigrants, and I'm the child of immigrants myself."
"The fact that it's about our common humanity, that we are all immigrants in this country -- America in particular -- it seemed important," Andrews noted.
Ahead of Monday's new episode, Andrews opens up about why he gravitated toward The Cleaning Lady, what's surprised him the most about his character, Robert, and how his girlfriend feels about his character now.
ET: What hooked you about the show when you initially read the script?
Naveen Andrews: What really drew me in was the performances of the actors, that they have a kind of emotional force and punch. Heart and soul, the real guts of it, which was very powerful. And that's what I responded to. Particularly the episode, I think it's [episode] 5 in season 1, where Martha [Millan]'s character, Fiona, you think she's going to be deported. They had the [Rolling] Stones' "Moonlight Mile," I think, playing on the soundtrack, which is one of my favorite songs. I was sobbing, thinking, "Oh no, don't deport her." Of course, she wasn't deported, but plenty of people are -- and one of the other characters was. It's undeniable, the force of that.
Can you give us a sense of who you play, Robert Kamdar, and how he shakes things up this season?
What's interesting about Robert is that he's almost representative of a certain class of educated criminal. He's highly educated, more educated than I am. An education doesn't necessarily mean that one can't be a criminal... or be a psychopath, a sociopath, or however a psychiatrist might care to define it. Moral depravity, it seems, is universal and has nothing to do with status or wealth. So it was interesting to explore a character that has that side to them.
How did you get into his headspace? How did you prepare to play someone with those traits?
I try to look at an emotional connection that the character might have with something or someone. And for Robert, if there's one redeeming factor in his makeup, it's his love for Nadia. For some reason, she's exempt from his rather dark worldview. She's the sort of lone candle in the wind, so to speak. Once you have that, it's easier to build a character around that because people are complex and nothing's black or white.
What has surprised you as you've spent more time being in his shoes?
With a fictional character, you do have a lot of freedom and there's a certain kind of mercuriality he has, the fact that he can go from naught to 60 in seconds. It's almost as if he can find himself in a certain zone and it surprises him. And then yet for somebody who actually has, let's just say, a conscience, that might be distressing or unnerving even. For him, it's exhilarating. He gets a charge from it. It was interesting to find that.
What has it been like working with Eva, Elodie Yung and the other cast members in forging this tense dynamic that you bring onscreen?
With Eva, who plays Nadia, we'd spoken and worked on our backstory, which we felt was important before we'd even shot anything because we felt it was necessary to have some idea of the depth or significance of their relationship. And I'm so glad that we did because I think the audience hopefully will feel that this is a relationship that goes back a number of years and was very important for both of them. There's a kind of intimacy between them that also influences the other characters, but particularly Adan's character, because it's almost like a certain kind of darkness that's intrusive.
How would you describe your character's arc this season?
Just the way he insinuates himself into the lives of the main characters. And it's done gradually. In some instances, it's very subtle. In others, just downright shocking.
Do you personally gravitate toward characters like this or do you secretly find joy in playing characters like this because you consider yourself far removed from these personality types?
I can't deny that there is a joy in finding and exploring complexity in human beings, whether it's light or dark. Because if you are really doing it, you get to live on another plane. I was talking about this with Adan. It's like you're at a certain kind of pitch for that period of time and then you go home and go back to your life. As odd as that may feel, it can be exciting.
You mentioned your girlfriend is a huge fan of the show. What are her feelings about your character?
As soon as she knew about the character -- because she knows me -- she said, "You can do this. You can do it." Maybe she knows too much!
The Cleaning Lady airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Fox.
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