Orange rain slickers are in as Rainn Wilson grabs a detective badge for Fox's new drama "Backstrom."
Although the show is built around a brilliant, but prickly detective (Everett Backstrom), Rainn said his character doesn't have a lot in common with another of Fox's brilliant problem solvers – Gregory House, M.D.
"I saw 'House' a few times and I think it's a terrific show. [Hugh Laurie is] amazing on it. [He's] just such a different guy," Rainn told AccessHollywood.com, during a visit to the show's Vancouver, B.C. set last fall. "This is a guy who's slovenly, wears his heart on his sleeve, just blurts things, lets it all out. … He's kind of voraciously addicted to anything that crosses his path, always says the wrong thing at the wrong time. Sometimes on purpose."
PHOTOS: ‘Backstrom’: Scenes From Rainn Wilson’s Detective Drama
While some of those characteristics fit House too, Rainn said Backstrom is a lot less put together than the doctor on the now-concluded Fox hit.
"I guess when I think about 'House,' I think about a kind of like a sharp, shrewd pill-popper, you know? And Backstrom is just –- he's just not that," the actor explained. "I mean, he's just much more kind of all over the place. But, there's been a long and fruitful history of, essentially, really unlikeable messes of characters driving shows and this is definitely in that tradition. So if it could be favorably compared to 'House' or to Walter White or to, you know, Tony Soprano, or something like that, that would be absolutely amazing."
WATCH: Rainn Wilson: What To Expect From His ‘Backstrom’ Character
The series is built around Backstrom, a man working to keep his job back on the force (he is under the care of a physician, who gets to decide if he keeps his gig). His colleagues in the field include "24" alum Dennis Haysbert as Det. Sergeant John Almond and Kristoffer Polaha as the Zen Sgt. Peter Niedermayer. But with Rainn's character at the center of things, does the actor feel pressure for the show to be successful?
"Yeah, sure. I feel a certain amount of pressure, but I don't really worry about that," Rainn told reporters. "I've been acting too long to care about whether people are going to like it or not. They're going to like it or they're not going to. There's stuff that I've done that I thought was stupid that people loved, there's stuff I did that I thought was amazing that people just hated, and, I don't know how they're going to respond, that's completely out of my control. But I do feel the pressure in terms of, I have to drive these scenes, I gotta learn these lines, I've gotta make sure that the arc of every episode tracks and that we're really following Backstrom's story through every episode. Yeah, that's crucial."
"Backstrom" came up not long after Rainn had finished NBC's "The Office."
"I was finishing 'The Office' and my agents called and they were like 'We want you to read a TV script for a pilot, a one-hour'. And I was like, 'Are you high? What, are you, crazy? Are you drunk with power right now? What are you thinking? I just did 202 episodes of a TV show! I'm not going to do another TV show.' And they're like, 'We would never ask you this. Just trust us, just spend, you know, half an hour and read the script,'" Rainn recounted. "And I read the script and I was really moved by it. And I was instantly captivated by it. And part of it was...taking this role was not like, 'Well, I'm going to show the world that I'm not just Dwight', you know. But I was definitely looking for roles to play that had different colors in the palette. And Backstrom is just a magnificent role. I hadn't read anything like it in a TV show before."
WATCH: ‘Backstrom’ Cast Talks Character Dynamics
"Backstrom" premieres Thursday at 9/8c on Fox.
Production assistance provided by Fox.
-- Jolie Lash
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