Five Things You Don’t Know About ‘The Following’s Sam Underwood

Of all the shocks The Following‘s new season has delivered so far, the one we really didn’t see coming was the reveal of murderous twins Mark and Luke, and their wacky mommy issues. The siblings are a double dose or wrong, yet Sam Underwood, who plays both roles, is so right. But who is he? To find out, read (sorry) the following!

He’s British: Even though he packs a nearly perfect American accent, Underwood is actually from Surrey, England. “You didn’t realize?” he asks. “Oh good!”

He loves a good challenge: Calling the two very distinct dual roles a “luxury,” Underwood is psyched to be bringing the blood-splattered brothers—suave, sadistic Luke and the unsettlingly introverted Mark—to life. “They are psychopath serial-killer brothers,” he says with a smile. “This is a dream job!”

He’s all real: No tricks here — it is all Underwood on screen. “We thought of digitally [removing] the hair one of the characters’ chests to make him look different,” offers executive producer Kevin Williamson, who also nixed a set of fake teeth for Luke. “We tried it and then we thought we don’t need any effects. [The subtle differences in] his performances are enough.”

He has killer taste in television: “I loved Dexter even before I was on it,” confesses the 26-year-old, who played Dexter’s protégé Zach Hamilton on the Showtime thriller’s eight season. “I am a huge Michael C. Hall fan.”

…yet he’s not 100 percent down with the scary stuff: “I like them,” he says when asked about his taste in horror films. “But things like The Conjuring? That edge-of-your-seat tension? God, no!”

This story was originally published February 10, 2014.