David Dastmalchian is one of the busiest (and coolest) actors in Hollywood right now. But he’s also crushing it in the comics world, working on an original story that twists together many different mythologies, titled Knights vs. Samurai, as well as a Creature Commandos story for DC. On top of this, Dastmalchian will soon be playing the role of Mr. 3 in Netflix’s live-action One Piece. (And definitely would join the DCU if James Gunn called him.) That’s not to get into his surrealistic role in Bryan Fuller’s first feature film, Dust Bunny. Of course, he still makes time to play D&D.
Recently Dastmalchian sat down with Nerdist to discuss all the incredible (and incredibly nerdy) things on his plate. And he even shared his latest D&D character with us. You can check out everything he had to say below.
Nerdist: Next up, you’ve got Knights vs. Samurai, which was just released this September. What should readers expect when they crack open that comic?
David Dastmalchian: My dream when people open Knights vs. Samurai is that they find themselves immersed in a comic book fantasy world unlike anything they’ve ever seen, but that evokes the way they felt when they were first experiencing Dungeons & Dragons—the immense pleasure we got as kids while learning about and watching things that involved ninjas, samurai, and all manner of Japanese warrior culture. The incredible feeling that fantasy storytelling like Game of Thrones can bring to character growth. And hopefully that magical realization of the kind of confrontations that we used to make believe as kids. Imagine seeing some of the greatest knights of the medieval warrior class rising up in battle against a battalion of incredibly skilled samurai while a mighty dragon is swooping in, and no one knows whose enemy is whose and whose ally is whose.
Well, you’ve won me over! Do you have a favorite scene that comes to mind from Knights vs. Samurai ?
Dastmalchian: I do. In issue Knights vs. Samurai #1, our artist, Federico Mele, created such a beautiful, visually stunning world, and each of the characters in it are so specific. There is a moment when the Royal Legion, which is a group of knights led by Charles Ward, is traveling by boat from the northern seas of England all the way around northern Europe to the far east. And at one point on this journey, they encounter a sea creature that they have to battle. And this team of knights, who really are kind of a hodgepodge mix of personalities that don’t necessarily get along very well, have to start figuring out how to work together if they’re going to survive this journey. And this is just the very beginning of their adventure together. So nobody knows who to trust, nobody knows who’s on their side, they have no idea what they’re walking into.
Since you mentioned Dungeons & Dragons, I have to ask, are you a D&D player yourself?
Dastmalchian: I love Dungeons & Dragons. When I was a kid, I played a lot, and then I kind of drifted away. Then fortunately, during the pandemic, myself and a group of filmmaker friends got together online, and we started to play together again. It was really a great gift for me, which helped me not only get through the lockdowns but also to reinvest in how much I love D&D.
If it’s not too personal a question, could you give us the highlights of your latest character?
Dastmalchian: Let me pull up his character sheet for you off my computer!
So Marinus, that’s M-A-R-I-N-U-S, Crowley is a Paladin, a dragonborn level five. He’s lawful good. He does what’s right as expected by society to promote order and compassion for all. He carries a war hammer and a javelin. He has, obviously, draconic breath as a weapon, and he’s been really fun to play with because people on the outside just automatically assume that he’s not to be trusted, but he actually has a really good heart and he saw a lot of his kind killed when he was young, so now he’s on a campaign for good. I really loved playing with him, he was really fun.
I think people will love to know that. But getting back to the comics of it all, this comic project is not the only one on the horizon for you. Can you tease anything about your DC comic projects in the works?
Dastmalchian: Yeah, so right on the heels of Knights vs. Samurai, we have another really exciting debut issue coming, which is Creature Commandos from DC Comics, which will be in comic shops at the beginning of October. And for me, Creature Commandos is yet another dream come true.
Just like with Knights vs. Samurai, where I get to take all the things that I love about English warrior fantasy mythology and Japanese warrior and mythology fantasy and combine them. In one story with Creature Commandos, I get to take all the things I love about war stories, superhero stories, and the DC Universe, and wrap them up in a monstrous horror tale. This one is focused on a character I got to create named Dr. Barbara West, who is a scientist who believes there is a way to merge the realms of both the scientific and the supernatural, that the supernatural is merely science that we haven’t understood yet in a scientific way.
And she’s recruiting a team in an emergency situation for the Army Futures Lab, where she’s being funded to do her work, and puts together a reanimated soldier made of different parts kind of in a Frankenstein style named Lucky, Lucky Taylor, Private Lucky Taylor. She has a Gorgon assistant, who is the person who looks up to her the most as a mentor, named Mina, who is afflicted with a rare condition that gives her the abilities and appearance of a Gorgon.
And out of Detroit, Michigan, they recruit a werewolf and out of Chicago they recruit a vampire. And oh boy, it is a lot of fun. The mission that they go on is going to take them halfway around the world and each of them has, I guess you’d say, a secret reason they’ve agreed to do this because these monsters don’t trust humans. They haven’t been treated well by humans, but they each are hoping to get something out of this collaboration.
And we’re going to find out who in the government can be trusted, who from the DC universe is going to show up and to either help or hurt them. And I believe this has now been announced, but I’m excited that Zatanna is a character that I’m getting to incorporate into this story.
I wanted to bring the drama and power of really compelling character stories and relationships but with all the fun of classic monsters, action, and heroics that we come to expect from DC. It’s such an honor to get to write Creature Commandos, which has been one of my favorite comic books since I was a kid.
Speaking of DC and the Greater DC universe, of course, James Gunn is heading up the DCU. Is there any character that you would love to play in the DCU if James Gunn was like, wow, you’re so perfect for this role?
Dastmalchian: The fact that I got to play Polka Dot Man in James Gunn’s masterpiece, The Suicide Squad, was so amazing. That movie was so awesome and the fact that I got to be in that, I’ve always felt like I can’t believe that happened.
So if James were to call me and say there’s another character in the DCU that I think you could play, honestly, I can’t even imagine. I probably would faint and die of a heart attack. But I love so many of the more obscure characters and villains in particular. So I guess we’d have to see… Anything in the horror space to me is really fun.
I don’t by any means think that I could hold a candle to what he did with the character, but Cillian Murphy’s manifestation of the Scarecrow, Jonathan Crane, is so special, and I’ve always thought that would be a fun character to play. I think that the Mad Hatter, Jervis Tech would be a really disturbing, dark character to embody. And I wonder if I could bring something unique to that role. Who knows? Who knows? I would love to be in anything that James Gunn makes, I don’t care. If James Gunn was making a Carl’s Jr. commercial. I would be there. I don’t care. I want to be in anything that James Gunn does.
Turning to some of your other recent announcements, it looks like you’ll be in live-action One Piece, which we’re very excited about. Is there anything you can share about your take on Mr. 3?
Dastmalchian: I mean, he’s so unique and such a fantastically interesting odd character. So, the idea of getting to be a part of what is already an amazing ensemble is incredible—I think that season one was just so great.
And I think that what I want to bring to him is finding the David that lives inside of Galino. I want to find the David that is, I mean, he was just an office worker at Baroque Works, and now he’s this really cool, weird, often seen-as-bad guy character whose alliances can kind of shift around just like so many of the characters in One Piece. And I’m excited to see what they want to do because they’ve done such an exceptional job making the anime and the manga into a live-action world.
One Piece crosses genres a lot of the time and borrows from horror and supernatural stories. All the Devil’s Fruit powers seem to be kind of body horror adjacent. Do you think you’re going to borrow from your horror background to bring Mr. 3 to life on One Piece?
Dastmalchian: A hundred percent. Also, there’s a level of energy and performance that the show taps into really well when you think about the source material. So I would also like to bring some of my theater background into the world of One Piece and what Mr. 3 looks, moves, and speaks like. Hopefully no one will be able to hold a candle to what I’m about to do.
I’m picking up what you’re putting down. Can you speak all about Mr. 3’s unique hairstyle and how that might come to life?
Dastmalchian: I haven’t seen anything yet, but I know that the design team on the show has done such a great job staying true to the source material. So even though I haven’t seen anything yet, and I don’t know what it will look like yet, I am certain it’s going to pay great honor to the design from the source material. And I am just super curious about what kind of eyewear I’m going to get to have and I’ll see if I can maybe hopefully make my arms look decent enough to be wearing the very short sleeve shirts that he wears.
Last question! We are very excited for Bryan Fuller’s Dust Bunny and your role in it. Is there anything you can share about going into that?
Dastmalchian: So recently, I got to watch the film with Bryan and a group of our closest creature pals and it is so beautiful. It is so cool. It is so unique. It is so Bryan Fuller, and I am dying for people to get to see it now. I cannot wait for people to see this movie that he’s manifested. I’ve never seen anything like it. And people don’t make movies like this anymore. It evokes a different time to me. It’s got so much attention to the beauty of the world that he creates, while in the characters, there’s a level of danger and a heightened sense of threat that makes everything, even in the most fantastical moments, feel very scary.
The stakes are really high, and watching actors like Mads Mikkelsen and Sigourney Weaver deliver the kinds of performances that they do, it bowled me over. I’m so honored to get to play in that space. And I’ll say, he gave me a really juicy, really wonderful character that’s quite different than anything I’ve done before.
Knights vs. Samurai is now available for purchase.