One of the newest recruits to the group is Jonah Heidelbaum, played by Logan Lerman. The young man learns about Meyer Otterman’s (Al Pacino) crew after a tragedy strikes his family, and he begins to dedicate himself to the pursuit of Nazis.
Lerman spoke with Screen Rant about his character’s immersion into the new world, and how his love of comic books helps make sense of things.
Logan, this show was incredible, at least from what I’ve seen of it so far. Talk to me about how Jonah gets involved with Meyer.
Jonah is really our eyes into this world. Can you talk to me about how he kind of views the other hunters?
Logan Lerman: So, at the beginning of the series, my character Jonah Heidelbaum suffers a great tragedy. His grandmother is killed in front of him, and he’s trying to find out why anybody would do this. Who would do this? The authorities aren’t really following any leads, not doing anything, so he takes it upon himself to investigate. And he discovers that she’s a part of this group of people that were working to identify and locate Nazis that are living in the US in 1977. And the head of that organization is a man named Meyer Offerman, played by Al Pacino.
He kind of just comes into his life and takes over. Jonah becomes a part of this group and kind of fulfills the position that his grandmother had, and he works to find these Nazis in the US.
There’s a lot of diversity in front of the camera and also behind it. Can you talk to me about how that helps propel everything forward in the world of Hunters?
Logan Lerman: Yeah. I mean, this story… Jonah is a huge comic book fan, and he works at a comic book shop. So, the way that he kind of views the whole situation and the way that it’s kind of imagined in the show is in a very comic book-esque format. So, he’s kind of terrified of these people, and he puts them in these caricature versions of themselves in his fantasies throughout the show.
This takes place in 1977, which was a big pivotal time in the United States. Can you talk to me about why that’s the perfect setting for a show like this?
Logan Lerman: I don’t even know how to answer this. I can say that it just feels right. It’s right for the show. It’s what the creative leads were looking to do, and it makes sense. It’s all justified in the series.
Does Jonah fully trust Meyer?
Logan Lerman: Well, I mean, it’s perfect setting for a show like this selfishly because I love 1977, and it’s cool to see how we were - we being the department heads for every medium involved in making a TV series - recreated the time period.
But the show takes place in 1977 because timing-wise, it kind of had to. Because it takes place after [World War II]. The show is about a group of people in 1977 that are going to identify and locate Nazis that are living in the US. So, if it was any later, they would be a little too old. It’s 30 years after the war, so it kind of needs to be in 1977. And it’s about finding them in America, in their new lives and their new identities, and bringing them to justice.
What about the members of his team?
Logan Lerman: Yes. Jonah does, yeah.
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Logan Lerman: Do they completely trust him? Yes. I think everyone’s dedicated to Meyer and grateful for him in a way; grateful for what he’s doing. And they’re dedicated to finding these evil people.
