How Half Man's breakout stars found the voice of young Niall and Ruben

Half Man focuses on how and why, while growing up near Glasgow in the ’80s, Niall has trouble accepting his sexuality, even though his mother is a lesbian. In episode two, he admits to his college crush, Alby (Bilal Hasna), that he believes it’s more shameful for men to be gay than it is for women. Most of all, Niall does everything in his power to hide his reality from Ruben, afraid of how his almost stepbrother will react. Mitchell convincingly brings Niall’s internal dilemmas to life—the fear and guilt are palpable in his expressions. “He’s panicking often, but hopefully, you can also see him trying to lean into what he’s experiencing as the show progresses,” Mitchell says, while discussing his view on Niall’s behavior. “He’s struggling to accept a part of himself. I can understand the concept of having negative feelings toward yourself. That’s what I wanted to do justice to.” 

As for Campbell, his goal was to convey to the audience why Niall might be drawn to someone like Ruben, who invites destruction wherever he goes. “Ruben has a lone wolf survivalist energy, with pent-up hostility that you instantly notice. But it was important for me to develop a lightness wherever possible to balance it. That’s why I think he jokes around as much as he does. I wanted to show him as a vulnerable young man, too,” the actor says—a stark contrast to the explosive, unpredictable Ruben introduced in the premiere. Episode two reinforces this further. The hour ends with Ruben, who, while staying with Niall on campus, attacks Alby so viciously that he gets arrested. 

Yet for all the hell that breaks loose before the violence erupts, Campbell notes that one of the scenes where Half Men behaves like a fairly normal college drama was the hardest to shoot. He was surprisingly nervous about playing spin the bottle on screen: “I had anxiety about figuring out how to capture the way Ruben fills up that room with his power and personality. It can be scary to play that energy up in front of a group of other actors. But I’m happy with how it turned out because we all got on so well. It was a safe environment for us to take risks and challenge each other, so that was a rewarding day of filming.”

Half Man digs into Ruben’s anger at the world, his dad, and anyone who gets in his way. It’s often triggering to watch Campbell’s depiction of Ruben’s mania, especially as he refuses to communicate his emotions healthily. Somehow, Niall is the only one Ruben strives to take care of, despite—or likely because of—their polar opposite personalities. (It’s also probably why Niall can’t stay away from this particular agent of chaos.) Campbell tells The A.V. Club that it’s why he was drawn to Ruben’s dualities. “I do feel the need to protect this character sometimes,” he adds. “He’s a walking, talking contradiction, but that’s the joy of being an actor and getting to go to these dark places. Half Man presents them as flawed and fully fleshed out, but it’s why they feel like real humans.” 

Saloni Gajjar is The A.V. Club‘s TV critic.