SYFY’s upcoming episode of its addicting, new supernatural series SurrealEstate is a big one for Father Phil Orley. The episode, titled “Ft. Ghost Child,” finds the fallen priest going back to his Catholic church, a place where he grew up in and devoted his life to. While searching for answers to the agency’s latest case, the research specialist finds an unlikely ally who helps lead his way to what he’s looking for.
In an exclusive interview with PopWire, Adam Korson discusses Phil’s freedom from the church, the episode’s trippy opening, and previews what fans can expect from the latest installment, written by Gillian Müller and directed by Wynonna Earp‘s Melanie Scrofano.
“When the church didn’t accept him for who he is, and he sort of witnessed the hypocrisy within the church, he ended up leaving the church, but was able to continue to do what he always wants to do when becoming a priest, which was to fight evil,” Korson tells us.
RELATED | “SurrealEstate” Episode “A House Is Not A Home” Recap: Under the Influencer
“Fight off evil from the people we’re dealing with within and also the evil that is paranormal. He was able to continue doing that when he moved over to The Roman Agency, which was sort of funny for him. Who would’ve thought that a real estate agency would be able to provide him with the same love of his career.”
The Toronto, Canada-native explains that his character has always been the man that he’s been before when he’s in the church, but he has this new-found freedom. “He doesn’t want to be tied down to the church,” he says. “Branching out and wearing the things that he wants to wear, he’s living his life with his husband in freedom and not feeling judged accordingly because of who he is.”
The fallen priest is still in a significant struggle within the church and his relationship with God and the church. Korson says that it’s a relationship he doesn’t think his character comes to deal with by the end of the season.
SurrealEstate‘s upcoming episode prominently features Korson and his character, where the issues with him and the church really come to the surface. “He goes back to the church and faces his own inner demons, confronts people from his past, both in a good way and in a bad way,” he says. “It’s a big moment for him in his religious journey.”
Before viewers get to see those big moments in his journey, we will first get to see Phil in the heart-racing opening of the episode. “I don’t think that we’ve had an opening like this in the season yet,” Korson says. “You’re sort of smacked with this paranormal, malevolent being and us dealing with it and the immediacy.
“It really grabs you, it grabs the audience,” he continues. “It’s fun for Phil and August having to deal with that sort of being. It’s sort of a fit-to-fit, brawn-versus-brawn type scenario. We get to see Phil specifically get manhandled by this being. And it’s scary. It was a lot of fun to shoot.”
Writer Gillian Müller and director Melanie Scrofano have crafted quite a terrific and chilling episode in “Ft. Ghost Child.” Korson previews that what makes this episode “exciting and fun” is the musical component and the relationships of the in-depth characters that get catapulted.
“We also — I’m getting goosebumps now — we get to see Luke and a softer side to him that we’ve sort of been teasing throughout the last few episodes. The being that is stuck in this house, this one really tugs at the heartstrings.
“It’s magical and it’s moving,” Adam Korson says. “It’s definitely an episode that you’ll want to watch.”
SurrealEstate airs Fridays at 10pm on SYFY.
