‘Slasher: Ripper’ Actor Gabriel Darku Reveals How Batman Influenced His Character

Slasher: Ripper, the new season of Shudder’s hit anthology horror series, premieres this week, and viewers are in for one of the most compelling — not to mention the bloodiest — seasons of the series to date, as a Jack the Ripper copycat killer known as The Widow wreaks havoc on the wicked wealthy in the 19th century. Ahead of the premiere, PopCulture.com had a chance to speak with cast members Gabriel Darku and Paula Brancati about the show and get some insight into what fans can expect. In a very interesting turn, Darkiu shared that his role as Detective Kenneth Rijkers was heavily influenced by Batman.

“I love the detective and mystery genre. I’ve seen a lot of the Sherlock that are out, and so I think I already had a good idea of where I wanted to go in that aspect,” he shared during a roundtable interview with other entertainment news outlets. “Then I also had a lot of conversations with Adam [Martin, Slasher creator] just about the kind of character that we wanted Kenneth to be and the term ‘Batman’ was thrown out a lot, just because Batman at his core is a detective.” Darku continued, “I think it was fun for me to try to use that as heavy inspiration and really find this place of a character that walks into a room and is immediately taking in all of his surroundings. He’s way more observant than you might initially see him to be. He notices every little detail and he’s not afraid.”

Elaborating more on how The Dark Knight helped to inspire his role, Darku said, “He doesn’t scare easy and he’s not afraid to really get into the mud to find out what he needs to know. So I think bringing a lot of what I’ve seen from past detective work, detective properties, and also this really other fun aspect of this superhero detective almost. It was really cool. It’s really fun to get my feet into those boots.”

In addition to Darku and Brancati, the fifth season of Slasher also features a number of other incredible actors, including franchise newcomer Eric McCormack. Fans will know him best from his starring role on the iconic NBC sitcom Will and Grace. Speaking about working with the beloved Canadian actor, Brancati said, “Oh, it was so cool. I had to really keep my fan-girl in check.”

She then joked, “In fact, I didn’t realize how steeped in some Will and Grace references are. Just into my day to day… I was about to do a Will and Grace bit about Cher, forgetting that he was there. It was super mortifying. I don’t think he knows. Maybe he’ll read this one day and understand just how much Will & Grace meant to me and my mom growing up. But he is so kind and such a delight, such a Toronto boy through and through.”

Brancati then revealed, “He actually went to the same high school as my mom and Mike Myers. He’s one of us. So he’s incredibly humble and also loved the genre and loved diving into the writing. It was just so much fun. I’m sure Gabe has stories too, but it was very, very cool and he’s so good in this. I’ve never seen him do something like this. So it’s also just a pleasure to watch and be in scenes with him.” The first two episodes of Slasher: Ripper debut on April 6 on Shudder and AMC+, with new episodes rolling out weekly on Thursdays.