Glenn Howerton Says It Was Strange Playing A ‘Naïve’ and ‘Oblivious’ Character for Once on ‘Sirens’
In the new Netflix black comedy Sirens, Glenn Howerton somehow isn’t the one bringing the darkness.
Last week, the streaming giant premiered its limited series based on the Molly Smith Metzler play by the same name, thus introducing Netflix subscribers to a completely different side of Howerton from the terrifying one that we’re used to seeing. Howerton, of course, cut his teeth playing the heated, narcissistic and unfeeling Dennis Reynolds on as Howerton lamented in 2023, “I would love to play a character that’s not so intense all the time.”
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Sirens offered Howerton that valuable opportunity to be the non-psycho for once in his role as Ethan Corbin III, the eccentric, “oblivious” neighbor to a controlling billionaire couple who finds himself wrapped up in their cultish drama after falling for their assistant Simone, played by Milly Alcock. However, in a recent talk with PEOPLE, Howerton itted that Ethan’s innocent cluelessness was a challenge for him, given that Golden Gods are typically omnipotent.
“My character’s very kind of naive and slightly oblivious, and I sort of pride myself on being the exact opposite of that in the real world,” Howerton explained of Ethan’s pure heart and empty mind, which — spoilers ahead for anyone who hasn’t yet finished Sirens — literally send him over the brink during his affair with Simone. Said Howerton, “I try really to hard to understand how my actions affect other people and not move through the world in an oblivious manner.”
Howerton itted that Ethan’s “more oblivious moments” during the course of Sirens, which included an incredibly ill-timed marriage proposal, have been “a little difficult for me to play because it’s just so different from me, but that’s also what I love about it.”
After all, the Juilliard School alumnus enjoys exiting his comfort zone as an artist. “We’re always looking for a challenge. I don’t want to be myself all the time on screen,” Howerton reflected of his body of work. “Sometimes I do, and sometimes it’s good to just put on a lucky blazer and be a totally different person.”
Of course, this is nothing new for fans who have been following Howerton’s career for decades — everyone knows that becoming a different person is how Brian LeFevre loves to get off.
