'He Is Without Morality And Empathy': Michael Emerson On Leland Townsend & CBS's 'EVIL'

(CBS Local)-- "EVIL" just finished up its first season on CBS and Michael Emerson loves being on a show that's scary.

The actor has made a name for himself by playing villains on shows like "Lost" & "Person Of Interest" and the CBS drama with Katja Herbers and Aasif Mandvi allows him to go darker and deeper.

"You don't think of CBS when you think of horror" said Emerson in an interview with CBS Local's DJ Sixsmith. "It's so great. Robert and Michelle King read the paper together and talk about odd items that they see. Stuff that seems a little super natural or questionable and they have differing points of view on these things. He's a religious Catholic and she's agnostic. That conversation they've been having for years is being played out in our scripts. I myself by nature am skeptical and the writing is so compelling. If you say you don't believe in ghosts or demons, how are you going to explain the stuff that is unexplainable out there."

FULL INTERVIEW:

Emerson plays a man named Leland Townsend and his character loves pushing people to do evil things.

"I don't think so much about the good or evil a character does," said Emerson. "I just think about how they feel doing it. He's having a good time. He has got a kind of crazy power to manipulate people and a power to himself. He's sows confusion and loves watching it play out. He likes to set little human dramas in motion and see how they go and how he can affect the world around him in a negative way. He is without morality and without empathy."

Binge all of "EVIL" on CBS All Access.