Titans Season 4: Pulling Off The Blood Moon Ritual Was Harder Than You Think
Joseph Morgan knows a thing or two about portraying iconic villains. Before appearing in "Titans" Season 4, the actor grabbed fans' attention as one of the most stand-out adversaries in "The Vampire Diaries" universe.
Charming yet violent, hybrid Klaus stuck around probably longer than expected on that show, because fans couldn't help but love him. Now, Morgan is at it again, as the actor returns to the villain stage via Sebastian Sanger (aka Brother Blood). Morgan's experience with larger-than-life antagonists came in handy while playing the comic character, the bloodthirsty leader of the Church of Blood.
Aptly named, the Church of Blood uses a pool of blood for the Blood Moon Ritual, intended for Sebastian to make his full transformation and access his powers as the son of Trigon. By submerging himself into the ritualistic pool, he would officially become the conduit for his father's return.
But as easy as it looked for Sebastian to slide into the liquid, the opposite was the case for Morgan. Two pools were required for the desired effect. One was more shallow for Sebastian's first steps, while a deeper one was utilized for his final descent. But both had their fair share of challenges for the actor to reach his destiny.
The second pool was the hardest
When something is called the Blood Moon Ritual, you want it to look the part. Sebastian's transformation into Brother Blood wouldn't have much of a punch if the color red was absent from the visuals. This was the first concern for the production to handle.
Joseph Morgan told ScreenRant that he was required to shoot in a shallow pool, full of coloring. After that, the liquid could be corrected to have a vibrant red color in post-production. But this was only the first half of the complicated rigamarole. The real challenge was filming the part of the scene where he slowly descends into the bloody pool. As it turned out, the consistency of the deeper pool was much thicker, and posed some unintended consequences.
In a deeper pool, buoyancy became a problem. In order for Morgan to properly, ominously descend, once his hands were submerged on screen what audiences won't know is that the next shot had him carrying a pair of 40-pound dumbbells, to help keep him properly sinking. Another issue was one that anybody could attest to who has had an unwanted bubble pop up in their bathing suit.
"I had to be sewed into my costume," Morgan recalled, "so it didn't come up around my head and tie the glasses on."
A testament to Morgan's acting, no one would have been the wiser about any production issues that occurred. Instead, all viewers see is the rise of a villain, ready to take on the Titans in the show's final season.