Ray Liotta has been one of the most prolific actors in the business since making his screen debut over 40 years ago, racking up over 120 credits in a wide range of film and television projects covering almost every genre under the sun.
One thing he hasn’t done all that often is play a recurring role in a TV show, with Season 3 of Amazon’s Hanna marking his first time as a series regular since crime drama Shades of Blue ended in 2018, and just the third time he’s played a character with a multi-episode arc on the small screen since 1985.
Adapted from Joe Wright’s 2011 action thriller of the same name, the third and final season of Hanna comes to Prime Video on November 24, with Liotta debuting as Gordon Evans, a government suit who has hidden connections to several major figures introduced previously.
Ahead of the show’s return, We Got This Covered had the chance to speak to Liotta about how he got involved in Hanna, whether the pandemic has affected his insatiable work ethic, and his unique distinction to have co-starred with Miss Piggy twice, which you can check out below.
Hanna is your first recurring role on a TV series for three or four years, so had you watched the show or were you aware of it at all before you ended up joining the cast
Ray Liotta: Actually no, I wasn’t. But before, I watched… I guess they call it ‘binging’, the first two seasons. And I liked it. it was a little hard for me to follow at first, but that’s just me. But, it just looked intriguing, different then when I read the third season. This is the third, I think. I liked the part, I liked what I had to do. But no, I hadn’t seen it before.
You’ve played a lot of characters that are slightly similar to this one in the past. Was that something you took into consideration when you were approaching your performance, to try and put a different spin on a path that you’ve been down before?
Ray Liotta: Oh, you just try to get the best parts that you can! At the beginning of my career, I would… if I just did a certain type of character, I waited to make sure that there was another kind of character, and I’m not sure that was the best thing to do. So now, if I got to play a bad guy in two or three things, it doesn’t bother me because I have… I don’t expect you to know all of my credits, but I did a movie with Miss Piggy and I didn’t eat her.
Muppets in Space!
Ray Liotta: Exactly! And I did Muppets Most Wanted. Well, me and Danny Trejo were singing and dancing.
You’re known for always keeping yourself very busy. Have the events of the last couple of years changed how you decide which roles to take, if it has at all, especially something like Hanna that’s largely set and filmed across Europe?
Ray Liotta: Yeah… no, it’s really all about the story. You know, I mean for that year with the pandemic, work-wise it was tough. You know, I like working, I like playing pretend. But personally, it was great.
Throughout your career, you’ve worked with some of the biggest names in the business on either side of the camera. So where would working with Esmé Creed-Miles on Hanna rank in terms of the younger talent you’ve seen in the way she deals with both the drama and the action?
Ray Liotta: You know, she’s very smart in terms of the script and everything, and she knows who that character is that she’s playing. And she’s not afraid to tell you, which is…. I found that to be a good thing. I just, really… I was coming into their world. So I just sat back and did what I had to do, and let them do all the heavy lifting, so to speak.
That concludes our interview with Ray Liotta. The third and final season of Hanna comes exclusively to Amazon on Wednesday, November 24.