The exclusive virtual premiere of upcoming TV series COYOTE, which will air exclusively on Universal TV (DStv Channel 117) in Africa, took place on Tuesday evening with a host of stars donning their red-carpet outfits from the comfort of their own home – including Lerato Kganyago, Jeannie D, Candice Modiselle, Moshe Ndiki, Janez Vermeiren and Unathi Nkayi.

Hosted by the charming Chris Jaftha, all the VIP guests were treated to a goodie bag with refreshments, delivered earlier that day.

The guests were shown Episode 1 prior to its first broadcast next week. 

A special, pre-recorded appearance included an interview with the lead star, US actor Michael Chiklis.

Tune into Coyote on Monday 17 May at 20:00 CAT on Universal TV (DStv Channel 117) to see the first episode of this gripping drama series. 

WHAT IS THE SHOW ABOUT

Michael Chiklis (The Shield, Fantastic Four, Gotham) stars as US border patrol agent Ben Clemens as gripping new drama Coyote lands on Universal TV in May.

The series transports you to the heart of conflict between the police and drug traffickers on the Mexican border. After 32 years as a US Border Patrol Officer, Ben finds himself forced to work for the head of a criminal ring, the very same people he spent his entire career fighting against.

As he comes to experience life on the other side of the border, Ben begins to question his views of right and wrong and must make decisions that go against everything he used to believe in.

From Michelle MacLaren, an executive producer of Breaking Bad, this must-see series also stars Adriana Paz (The Empty Hours) and Juan Pablo Raba (Narcos) and will air exclusively on Universal TV in Africa.

Interview transcript with Michael Chiklis
Question:
We’d like to explore the character you play, what can you tell us about Ben Clemens?

Michael:

He’s a man who has spent most of his life looking at life through a particular prism. I thought it particularly fascinating, the notion of a white man from America to all of a sudden literally and figuratively to have had all of his choices taken away from him and to have to walk a 100 miles in another person’s shoes. That struck me as something fascinating as a storyteller and as an actor to delve into. He’s filled with contradictions. I will say he’s very different from Vic Mackey – even though the tone of the show, the shooting style and the authenticity has that same sort of grit. What is thrilling is that Vic was a sociopath and an anti-hero; Ben isn’t a hero or an anti-hero, he’s just a man. But a flawed man to be sure but he’s a good man trying to rewrite his own epitaph.

Question:

We know that it is important to choose your roles wisely, what attracted you to this role?

Michael:

This is something that is incredibly relevant to what’s happening right now. And this was two and a half years ago when she brought me this script, and we had to develop it and find the right showrunner. Very similarly, you’re always looking for the best scripts that you can find, scripts like The Shield don’t come around everyday, they just don’t. And there’s the realities of life, I have two daughters and they’re going to private schools and college and you have to make a living, but you’re always looking as an actor to do your best work, with the best material and with the best filmmakers. So here comes one of my dear friends who is one of the best filmmakers in the

industry, Michelle Maclaren, with one of those kinds of scripts. Playing a character who is very complex, and very, again maybe it is my Greek heritage, but the idea of going on an Odyssey and walking a 100 miles in another person’s shoes appealed to me. And the idea of a reverse immigration story where a man is forced to look at the world from a completely different lens. That is thrilling and also challenging for me as a person. I’m 57 years old and I want to continue to challenge myself. My mother passed away a couple of years ago from Alzheimers. And honestly when talking to the doctors you become fearful for yourself – I just want to live my life to the fullest and i want to do things that are challenging and I’m going to learn things from and challenge my own mind and keep my mind alive. And this I found exciting – it checked every box.

Question:

So your character goes on quite a journey in the show. Can you talk us through how your character Ben Clemens changes and secondly what was part of the appeal in taking the role?

Michael

One of the thrilling things about this show is a lot of people are trying to do shows about the border in the United States and it’s hard to find the right way to do it. And this was just a really interesting way to do it as far as I was concerned. Something really challenging and interesting. Also it took the politics out of a very hot political topic and reduced it to its human form, to human issues. We’re not interested in being political, we’re interested in being authentic and telling real stories from multiple points of view that are first and foremost very entertaining and they make people think and feel and have conversations. We’re supposed to be empathy creators, right? With film and television and music and art. And how do you create empathy? One of the biggest problems we face in the United States today is that all the nuance has been taken out of our political discourse. You are either for something or you are against it. This or that. And that’s ridiculous. It’s not the way life is. Life is filled with colour and nuances and shades of grey. And the great joy of doing this show is being able to delve into those nuances. And in an entertaining way, you as an audience take from it what you will.

Question:

Michelle Maclaren is an amazing producer, director. How did she pitch the show to you?

Michael:

So I’ve known Michelle Maclaren for 26 years now, we’re very dear friends, like a sister to me, we’ve always wanted to work together. But we’ve never had the opportunity as she was off making Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad and I was doing The Shield and all these different other shows. She called me two and a half years ago and she said ‘I found it. I found what we are going to do together.’ She said ‘you’re going to take an Odyssey and it’s really going to be hard because we’re really going to go through this. And this is a reverse immigration story. And I really referred to it as ‘Breaking Good.’ And I went….I’m in….because Michelle Maclaren is a great filmmaker and I was worried because of the hot political aspects of this. I was worried because it would be political and filled with an agenda. And I was thrilled to see that it wasn’t. And we

worked on it even further, we wanted to tell the story from multiple points of view through the eyes of Ben Clemens. It’s not about him – it’s about the people and the places, the things that he encounters on this Odyssey. That is really what this story is about. And it’s about the collision of cultures that’s happening not just in the United States and Mexico but all over the world. We see this playing out all over the world and what’s really unfortunate in the United States right now is that much of the nuance has been taken out of our political discourse. It’s extreme, it’s polarized and that’s ridiculous as that’s not the way life is – nothing is black or white, either… or. Life is filled with nuance and complexity. What’s thrilling about what we are doing is that we are able to delve deeply into all those shades of grey and colour and hopefully be first and foremost really entertaining but then we’ll make you think and feel. And have a conversation. I want people to watch this show and talk about it. That’s what film and television and theatre is when it’s at its best.

Question:

Without being too political how important was it filming in Mexico with a predominantly Mexican team?

Michael

It was really important to us that we shoot in Mexico because Mexico, the country is a character in this play, so because we wanted it to look and feel authentic, we insisted that we go down and shoot it in Mexico. And so as a result we have an 80+% Latin cast and crew – the crew is all Mexican pretty much from South and Central America, and we wanted the writer’s room equally to be 50/50 so that we’re representing people from every perspective. We’re not looking at it from a political lens but from a human lens. And that we’re able to ask each other – it’s a conversation – it’s about the collision of cultures and it’s hopefully the beginning of a long and fruitful wonderful conversation between our two countries and cultures.

Question:

Michael most people know you from The Shield. How does Coyote differ from your other work?

Michael:

Well, what I love is that it is similar to The Shield in its authenticity with its storytelling style, impact and grit. But it couldn’t be more different in terms of the character and the actual story. The character Vic Mackey was an anti-hero and that’s not Ben Clemens. Ben Clemens is not an anti- hero nor is he a hero, he’s just a man and he’s seen the lens through a very particular lens and now he’s forced to look at life through a completely different lens. And hopefully people will take this Odyssey with him. So commercially speaking I guess this is on brand for me but what’s appealing for me is that he’s a very different character from Vic Mackey. And so people who loved Breaking Bad and who loved The Shield will love this show because of the style and the feel of it. But also because it is a totally different story. And totally different characters.