TR Knight On Portraying Conflicted Characters: 'Those Are The Most Interesting People To Play'

God Friended Me is back with a new episode this Sunday night featuring TR Knight as the fascinating Gideon. Gideon was formerly in main character Miles Finer's shoes trying to figure out exactly what his role is in the bigger plan and now he has returned.

CBS Local's DJ Sixsmith spoke to Knight about guest starring on the show, Gideon as a character and the struggles of learning Instagram.

DS: How's it going TR?

TK: I'm good.

DS: Thanks for taking a couple of minutes today.

TK: Of course!

DS: You've been a bunch of different shows, what was it like being a part of this crew and jumping into this show?

TK: Oh, it's great. It's one of those [shows] it has a lot of surprises like one of the writers and I were in this production of Much Ado About Nothing about 20 years ago back at the Guthrie Theater which is a large regional theater up in Minneapolis. That was a great experience, great people.

DS: That's cool, so what was it like playing your character Gideon, he's trying to give Miles some advice on life, what's been the most interesting thing about playing that dynamic?

TK: I think what was most fascinating about Gideon was the struggle he was going through, I think that was really fascinating to me, this decision he made to walk away years ago because he didn't think he could have a life, a relationship and happiness at the same time. It's that kind of question that we all have to a certain extent in our lives and it was so very profound with him; a missed calling, a missed life even though he has a happy home life.

The struggle of was he meant to do something else, should he be doing something else, I don't know how I would describe it. Is he being selfish, is he being small? Then looking at the face of his wife and his child, how could he have those thoughts, that's fascinating to me.

DS: I think the really interesting thing about this show is that it shows how people are brought together in specific times for specific reasons. Even in your character's case if you decide not to do something how that impacts your own life. What was it like unpacking that idea, whether it's the character's life or your own life, what was it like thinking about that throughout the whole process?

TK: To me that's the most interesting. If you talk about, going into nerdy actor talk for a minute.

DS: Sure, yea absolutely.

TK: Those are the most interesting people to play, the people who are in conflict, who have these unresolved nagging questions kind of weighing on them. I think it lends itself to unhappiness a lot, but it's a very real thing. To me those are the most interesting characters because it's not a storybook ending, it's not facile, it's not easy, it's difficult, it's rough, these are not only important questions, but really difficult questions and ugly questions. It's not neat, it's not something that can be tied up in a bow easily at all and it shouldn't be. And I think that's what makes it infinitely relatable.

DS: Yeah, life can be messy, it can be challenging, we kind of second guess our decisions at times, that's definitely stuff that's seen in the show, that's for sure.

TK: Right and I would go as far as to say that life is only messy.

DS: Agreed.

TK: You know what I mean. I don't think there's a neat easy life.

DS: No, definitely not.

TK: Not that I've seen.

DS: No, that's for sure. So when you think about the idea of guesting on a show, you're in your second season, it's had a nice run, it has a tight knit cast, what's it like for you working into the mix getting to know these people while also nailing your character in a limited amount of time.

TK: It's a real challenge. It's always a real challenge, and when you're on the other side of it and guest cast come in, it's not easy because you are entering a well-run well established family. I think guest star is a perfect name for it because you are guest, you're a guest invited into their home and you want to do your very best work, you always do, but you don't want to leave a mess, you want to do your dishes, you want to make the bed.

It's a challenge because you don't want to be the person who brings it all down, that sinks the episode. Not [wrong buzzard sound] we were doing great until you came along. So I think there's a different pressure, I'd say. Which is challenging. You could only make it challenging or you would never want to venture out into uncomfortable or uncharted territory.

DS: Would you be more like Gideon just 'nah, I'm not doing this thing' or would you be like Miles kind of having a pull back into it even if you're trying to get out of it?

TK: It's hard to even imagine that because I don't have, I can barely do Instagram. It's the only one I can do because it's my simple little gerbil brain says 'Oh it's a picture'. [laughs] So that's where I am. I had to do research what it's like to be on a wall.

DS: When people check out this Sunday, what are couple big thoughts you want them to have walking away from it?

TK: That's a great question. I think one thought that I have that I imagine is, how, without spoiling anything, seeing Gideon starts off and where he ends up from this specific episode. It's hard because I don't want to spoil how it ends. I just don't want to do that because I don't want to make anyone mad. I think his life after the episode is an interesting thought for me so I wonder if that will resonate with other people too.

You catch this person whose going through a very complicated problem in a very short amount of time. It's interesting to see how his interaction with the three of them will be and how it affects the rest of his life. How it changes things is interesting. And that's what the fascinating things about the show also you get a slight resolve. I think that's the fascinating thing, they help fix something, but how then that person uses that fix, I think is interesting.

DS: No doubt. TR thank you for the time to day really appreciate it and look forward to watching on Sunday.

TK: Oh man, thanks, nice talking to you, thank you very much!

Tune in for an all-new episode this Sunday night at 8:30PM ET/PT, only on CBS. Check your local listings for more information.