Tyler Posey Dishes on His Murder in a Small Town Role, Filming With Rossif Sutherland, & Future Projects

Murder in a Small Town has excelled at bringing in well-known guest stars in its second season.

On Murder in a Small Town Season 2 Episode 5, Tyler Posey appeared as Ryan Coogan, a man who tried to redeem himself from a terrible accident years ago.

He played Ryan brilliantly, and the character kept us guessing until the end of the episode.

TV Fanatic spoke with Tyler Posey about his favorite aspects of portraying Ryan, his interactions with Rossif Sutherland, and his upcoming projects.

Check out the interview below.

Hi Tyler. We were excited when you were announced as one of the guest stars on Murder in a Small Town this season.

I was beyond excited. I was thrilled to have had this opportunity.

What appealed to you about the role of Ryan?

Ryan is an actor’s dream come true. His trajectory throughout the episode, as seen through Karl’s eyes, was that he was a bad guy and murderer who tried to put on a face and a front, a mask.

He had this carefree attitude of “I’m good. Everything’s okay. I wouldn’t do this. I would never do this.”

But the character is actually layered because he didn’t want to do any of this. Killing Jack’s daughter was an accident and a dumb mistake, but then, he tried to get closer to Jack to ensure that he wasn’t on his trail about it by going through grief counseling.

 By doing so, he found a friendship through Jack and became one of his closest friends, loving him deeply. Then, Ryan is seen by him, and Jack pulls a gun on him in this fight, prompting Ryan to defend himself. It was self-defense, you know.

Every single thing that has led him to this point was falling. It was an accident, and he was a good person, but he sometimes made really dumb decisions, which only dug him deeper into a hole.

As an actor who was super appealing because he’s really layered, there are not many times you get to play somebody who feels like they have to kill their friend, but feels remorse the entire time doing it.

Knowing that it’s something you don’t want to be doing and being able to play that dichotomy, the layered decision-making, and those sorts of feelings underneath the surface is advantageous and a lot of fun as an actor.

Murder in a Small Town is super appealing. I love the location where we filmed. It’s a fantastic role to play as an actor. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to do it.

I didn’t initially suspect Ryan, so you effectively sold the layered, complex character.

Great. I think that’s what’s fun about these kinds of shows: everybody’s a suspect in the audience’s eyes, and you’re putting the pieces together and trying to figure it out, doing your own detective work as an audience to figure out who it is.

So, if we’re able to steer you away from that storyline as long as we can until the very end, and I think we did a good job.

So, do you enjoy playing diabolical characters who keep you guessing until the end?

It’s so much fun. That kind of storytelling is so much fun because it involves the viewer and makes it like a puzzle piece for the viewer to solve while you’re watching the show. To me, that’s some of my favorite genres.

Many of the books I read are murder mysteries. Sometimes, you don’t find out who it is until the last couple of pages. I’m a massive fan of that kind of thing. Being able to play a character who gives that to the viewers was a creative storytelling approach.

It’s a challenge to create a story like that and keep the viewer guessing throughout. I have a few movies that I’ve written that do that, and they’re murder mysteries and whodunits and all that fun stuff. So, I think it’s fantastic.

They never completely confirmed it, but were Jordan’s death and Jack’s daughter’s jet ski accident connected?

That’s a fun question, but no, I don’t think so. I believe Ryan embellished a little bit on his friend’s death in the story just so that he could have a reason to go to grief counseling to meet Jack and keep an eye on him.

They weren’t actually connected, but that would have been a cool and creative idea.

What was it like working with Rossif Sutherland and Aaron Douglas?

When you get to work with seasoned and talented actors, everyone is a well-oiled machine. Working with Rossif was really cool because, before we even started, we discussed the character extensively.

He was involved and passionate about the show, ensuring that every guest star was well-informed, knew the ins and outs, had a backstory, and could effectively relay that through their work.

Rossif was a fantastic actor, and he did an outstanding job; he made me feel really welcome.

I also worked with his father, Donald Sutherland, a few years ago, just before the COVID pandemic, before he passed away. So, that was an amazing full circle to be able to work with Rossif now.

Working with seasoned actors was wonderful because there’s a certain air about them and professionalism that seems to emanate from their very being, and their talent is effortless. It’s always a great pleasure to work with them.

I can imagine so. What did you like best about filming along the coast in Canada?

Canada is my favorite country. I filmed in Canada a lot when I was growing up, mainly in Toronto. However, I also worked on an episode of Smallville, which was cool because I went full circle with Kristin Kreuk, obviously.

It’s the most beautiful place in the world. I don’t know how else to put it, especially given the opportunity to work on this island. I walked everywhere. I was the happiest I had been filming in a location in a long time. It was perfect.

It made me want to purchase property on the island. The setting is surreal. It was just a perfect little small town. There was this little cafe right on the water, and it was just a perfect little port beach town.

What’s so cool about the show is that it looks like this beautiful, picturesque town. But on the show, of course, underneath there’s all this crime. And that, to me, is an incredible symbol for its characters, because many of the characters, like Ryan, seem like charming people.

However, underneath, there’s a lot of mystery going on. I loved this location and would really like to return. I want to bring my wife. It’s just so beautiful. Have you been?

 I have not, but it sounds gorgeous. I’ll have to come sometime.

You would love it. The food is excellent. The people are great. It’s just such a cool place.

What other projects are you working on?

So, I just finished two films. One of them was with Leighton Meester, and that’s a BuzzFeed Amazon movie. I have two films that I’ve written, and we’re going to start producing them soon.

I filmed a pilot for a TV show that I wrote and directed. It’s like a Twilight Zone spoof. It’s as if Mel Brooks did a Twilight Zone episode, so it’s a funny anthology, but really creative and spooky.

I’ve got another movie coming up. I’m going to start filming soon, so I’m busy. A lot of it is stuff that I am developing on my own, which is what I’ve always wanted to do.

I can imagine. And when will the one with Leighton be coming out?

That one just finished up last month, so it will probably be early next year. It’s a great film. She’s amazing. The storyline is fantastic. We had a great female director.

Sherry Cola is involved, boasting an amazing female-led crew and cast. It was an entertaining romantic comedy with a unique storyline.

That one will be lots of fun. We have fans of all three of you. Did you write that one?

No, I didn’t write that one. A talented and excellent female writer wrote it.

And then, when will the ones that you wrote be coming out?

We plan to start filming in the first quarter of next year for both of these projects. So, if we’re lucky, they’ll probably be coming out sometime next year. We’re going to start production pretty soon.

We’ll have to talk again sometime and catch up on your work. Thank you for chatting with us about guest-starring on Murder in a Small Town.

Thank you. I was honored to be part of the show.

Conversations like this make television memorable. Let us know in the comments what else you’d like to see on Murder in a Small Town this season.

Murder in a Small Town airs on Tuesdays at 8/7c on FOX and streams on Hulu the next day.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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