Peter Krause’s career is far from dead.
The actor opted to take a much needed break following his Emmy-nominated, five-season run as Nate on HBO’s deceased drama, “Six Feet Under.” One year later, Krause is returning to TV to star in Sci Fi’s “The Lost Room.”
The three-part mini-series debuts at 8 p.m. Monday and will run through Wednesday. In it, a bearded Krause plays Joe Miller, a detective who is given a key to a room at the Sunshine Motel on Route 66 in New Mexico, where something terrible took place. His investigation into the mysterious room–which contains seemingly mundane objects that possess forbidding powers–puts him and his family in danger.
Joe discovers that rival organizations have dedicated themselves to collecting those charmed objects to pursue their own sinister goals. Now these shadowy cabals are after Joe in a relentless pursuit of his key.
Meanwhile, his young daughter uses the key to vanish inside the motel room.
Krause, himself a single father, chatted during a recent teleconference about the project.
On what “The Lost Room” symbolizes: “We worked really hard at keeping the nature of the room and the world rather ambiguous so people can interpret the show with their imaginations.”
On his “The Lost Room” role: “When I first started reading it, I was fascinated by what [the writers] did. I just wanted to find out what was going to happen next, initially. I liked having the chance to play a character who is a classic hero. He knows right from wrong. He knows what his objective is. I’ve spent a lot of time playing conflicted anti-heroes, and it’s only at the end that Joe confronts a real moral dilemma.”
On if “The Lost Room” were real: “I certainly would like to travel around the world like that so I wouldn’t have to unpack my computer, take off my shoes, and give up all my liquids and gels when I go to the airport. It would be nice to have a key to zip in one door and out the other.”
On his favorite science fiction: ” ‘Star Wars,’ the ones I grew up with–I haven’t watched the prequels–because kids can watch them, and the ideas beneath the stories are very sound.”
Back in business
Peter Krause’s return to television follows that of two of his “Six Feet Under” co-stars:
– Michael C. Hall (right) starred on “SFU” as David Fisher, gay brother to Krause’s Nate Fisher. He now plays serial killer/forensics expert Dexter Morgan on Showtime’s Sunday drama “Dexter.”
– Rachel Griffiths (left), who played Brenda Chenowith, Nate’s love interest on “SFU,” stars as Sarah Walker Whedon, eldest child of the Walker clan on ABC’s Sunday night drama “Brothers & Sisters.” [REDEYE].
