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October 5, 2025 14 mins

Robert Patrick joins Reel Insights to talk about starring in both Tulsa King and Peacemaker, reuniting with Sylvester Stallone and John Cena, and what it’s like working with Taylor Sheridan and James Gunn. He reflects on his decades-spanning career — from Terminator 2: Judgment Day to today — sharing how he approaches complex characters, balances intensity with heart, and why he’s more passionate about acting than ever.


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(00:00):
Nerdtropolis. Nerdtropolis.
Mr. Robert Patrick, such a pleasure and honor to officially
meet you. What a pleasure.
I I feel like I've seen you. Before, maybe I run around the
concert a lot. Maybe you saw me in passing.
Maybe I have not seen us said hello to you in person yet until

(00:23):
now. It's super exciting to see you
starring in two fantastic shows right now that are right up my
alley, that's for sure. Peacemaker.
Oh, oh, I think so. I think it's called that.
Peacemaker and and Tulsa King. Yeah, I'm lucky I got 2 out
right now. No, it's awesome.
I've been hooked on Tulsa King since day one.
And your. Character.

(00:43):
It is. Jeremiah Dunmar is such a
commanding presence this season.Great addition.
I mean, you know, Dwight's got it tough this season.
I got to ask, how did this role come about?
Was it Sheridan or Stallone thatcalled you up?
It was David that called me up and he asked me and, but and

(01:05):
then when I got to the set and work with Sly, I found out that
Sly had had kind of been the oneto pick me, I think or or at
least been questioned about. What do you think about Robert
having had worked with him? I think he knew what I was
capable of and he's certainly someone that I in this business

(01:28):
that I call a friend. So, you know, I think our past
working relationship might have had something to do with it.
Not easy for him to find somebody to go toe to toe with.
Then he mentioned that the firstday we were working together.
So I'm certainly Copland had a lot to do with it.

(01:49):
Oh yeah, you have you got a couple films together.
And so it's exciting that you know that you are part of this
going head to head toe with them.
I just love your character. I mean, it's it's different.
It's very different from the other types of villains that
you've done and you know, in this season.
It's so rich. It is so much too.
There's so many layers and they're doing such a great job

(02:10):
of explaining it to me or not explain it, but of, of
expositionally, you know, capturing it for the audience.
So it's, it's, it's, it's, it's amazing the way they're filming
in the, the writing for me is great.
It's just juicy. And you just, you can't help but
get excited by it And it's like eating a nice rib eye, you know

(02:32):
what I'm saying? It's just like, oh God, I can't
believe they'll let me do this. Yeah, and at the mean of your
character, I really like. It's something different.
And, you know, in the season with Dwight's empire expanding
and so the enemies and obviouslythe Dunmyers are no small
threat. What excited you most about
helping to raise the stakes withyour character's involvement
being such a great asset to a show that's already gained

(02:54):
popularity since day one? Well, what a wonderful thing as
an actor, you want to you want to, you want to do your work and
have it be seen. So I'm enjoying that very much.
The people are are big fans of this show and, and the way they
shot me and you know, I'm super excited about it.
The protagonist needs a great antagonist and they know that.

(03:19):
They're smart storytellers and they're they gave me every
opportunity to exploit all theseassets.
So it's just such a great situation.
I mean, it's an old friend that I've I've worked with before, so
I'm very familiar with Sly. I feel comfortable around him.
Great other actors around to work with.

(03:41):
And you know, Annabelle Sciorra,great to see her again from
having worked. She was on Copland as well.
Dana Delaney. I mean, it's just wonderful
cast. Yeah.
I mean, it's one of the best characters I've had in a long
time. I mean you have.
Many of you know Sheriff McDowell and and Taylor in 1923

(04:03):
was another great character. So there's a there's a common
denominator here. It's Taylor Sheridan.
You know, he's a, he's real adept at creating these
wonderful environments to tell stories.
That's true. I'm waiting for the next
Sheridan product project that you pop in and you know we need
you in the Sheridan verse. Yeah, man.
Well, you know, I have done three things with Billy Bob, so
maybe, you know, hopefully I cansee me doing something in land,

(04:25):
man. So I.
Can't too. I can't too.
I've never really had an adversarial relationship with
Billy Bob playing his dad and stuff.
But you know, who knows, man? I'm just thrilled.
I mean, there's no better place to be as far as an actor than
working in the Taylor Sheridan world.

(04:46):
Yeah, I love everything he's delivering and I have to ask it
seems like it, but do you enjoy the unpredictability of TV
storytelling compared to some ofthe most straightforward when it
comes to the film? Yeah, You know what's
interesting? I I touched on this earlier
today that, you know, I didn't have all the scripts.
I knew that. I knew where I was going to

(05:06):
start and I we fleshed out the character created done Meyer and
I, they had explained to me whatthey who the guy was and we took
it from there and we ran with it.
But I really didn't know what all was going to happen.
So there were some things that were revealed to me as they're
going, as you're reading the script, you're going, oh, wow,
that's interesting. So there was some cool things
that happened, one of which you're going to see the attorney

(05:28):
general. And he's one of the guys that I
have control over that is now possibly going to, I, I, I don't
want to be a spoiler guy, but let's just say he's the guy that
I've had control over for a while who's starting to get a
little squirmy. And that was played by a dear
friend of mine, Tim Guinea, who I had done a, some work with.

(05:50):
And he's a friend of mine, you know, I, I, I see him all the
time. And that was a lot of fun.
So there's some great characterscoming down the Pike.
I mean, Dunmeyer has a lot of people in his pockets, that's
for sure. Absolutely.
What do you think sets Tulsa King apart from other mob
stories and other shows that, like I said, something

(06:11):
different? I really still haven't figured
it out but I've loved it since like the first second I've
watched it and it gets better each season.
Well, the premise is so cool. I mean, it's, you know, a guy
that went away to prison to protect the family that he was a
part of, only to be betrayed by that family and jettisoned out
to Tulsa to make it on his own. I mean, talk about betrayal.

(06:33):
I did 25 years for you and this is what you do to me.
You disrespect me like this after I held you in such high
respect. And that's that's a great
premise. When you hear that, you go like,
oh, this is going to be great for Sly.
He's he hasn't had a character like this.
And it's a totally different environment for him because this
is a whole new, you know, way toway to tell stories.

(06:55):
It's not like film. You don't have, you know, four
months to shoot a film. You have, you know, a finite
amount of days to shoot a whole heap of dialogue.
And he's got to stay up on that because he's in every scene.
And, you know, that's got to carry out for like 10 of it.
He's working his butt off right now.
So what a great challenge for him to take on.

(07:19):
Yeah, he is working, but, and soare you, honestly.
You've been working. I, I feel like even more and
more of recent, you mentioned it, there's a little show called
Peacemaker. I have to ask, was the Marine
the last time you and John Cena crossed paths?
No, John and I, and that's another neat part of the story.
James Gunn. James Gunn had saw, had had saw.

(07:40):
I saw the performance I did in Perry Mason for HBO.
And HBO has been really good to me over the years with doing The
Sopranos and, and and then he thought of me for that role.
Unbeknownst to him, he had no idea that I had a past history
of John Cena. And John and I like each other,

(08:01):
but we were were protagonists, antagonists in in the Marine.
And then we had worked on psych.We had done another thing.
We worked on psych, which was not quite so adversarial, and I
had gone to watch John wrestle. I'd taken my son to watch John
wrestle, and John was great to my son.
So I had a friendship with John.And then, lo and behold, we show

(08:23):
up on the set together and Jamesfinds all this out.
I'm going to play his dad. And it was great.
We had this chemistry to draw on.
As a matter of fact, the first thing we shoot is when he comes
back to my house for the first time coming out of jail.
And we shot that with no rehearsal.
Wow. No, that is that is awesome.
What struck you about him about about John since you first, you

(08:45):
know, with the Marine, you know how much work he's put in the
creating, like building on his craft From those early days to
now, I feel like there's been a big transition to his craft.
Well, he's a serious guy, takes his craft very seriously and
he's obviously done a lot of work and learned a lot.
And I think John is one of thoserare guys that, you know, he, he
literally every day at the end of the day, he wants to know

(09:06):
what can I have done better? He's constantly looking to
improve and he does not rest on his laurels.
Yeah, I just love the chemistry with you, with anyone, Like
every film you're in or show anything that you're in, you
play great across everybody, andI think everyone's better
because of you. I think you helped elevate.

(09:26):
That's a hell of a compliment. It's it's the truth.
It's the truth. You know that that show is, you
know, Peacemaker is famous for balancing this absurd comedy
with real emotional weight. From your perspective, how does
James Gunn manage to kind of keep that balance without
undercutting some of the darker themes of of that series, you
know? He's James is a fascinating guy.

(09:48):
He's a storyteller and writer. And I've asked James about his
process and I, you know, he justhas a real knack.
James comes from a world where he likes all that.
He's he has a wonderful heart. If you look at Superman and you
look at Guardians of the Galaxy,he understands all that.
He comes from a large family. James and I have become friends.
You know, he's a big hearted guy.

(10:08):
He likes all that extreme stuff,but he understands, you know,
right and wrong, good and evil. And I think he's pretty
irreverent the way he goes aboutit.
I don't think he really has any.You know, James, you know, I'm,
I'm, I'm, I'm going to quote himreal quick, but James isn't, you
know, I don't, I'm not really trying to get Oscars.
I'm just trying to entertain people.
So that frees you up. You know, it's not like he's,

(10:33):
he's, he's just, I just want to make people have something fun
to watch and, and, you know, take their mind off their lives.
And if you want something fun towatch, you just got to get
Robert Patrick in these shows. One other show that you were
going to really like was ReacherThat.
Yeah, that was paramount. That was paramount.
Prime Prime Video and. Yeah.

(10:54):
That had Alan Richardson, who I'm a big fan of.
Yeah, great guy. What you know, what made him
stand out compared to other leading men?
You've done you've, you know, worked a lot of leading men with
size, and Alan has a huge size. So what was something about him
that really stood out to you? Well, I really appreciate it,
how hard he was. He's very much like John.
And since he was always trying to figure out how he can be

(11:14):
better and he was really conscious of the fight scenes in
the sequencing, in the way the camera moves and, and he seemed
to have a real drive to do that in a way and make it make it to
elevate that aspect of it as well.
A great guy, wonderful guy to work with.
Showed up, knew, knew what was expected of him, didn't

(11:35):
complain. You know, it's interesting, you
know, talking about Sly as the number one when you've got a #1
like that, that's leading the show and setting the tone for
everybody else. You know, if you show up and
you're not prepared and you're dragging the ball, it's not
going to go well, you know what I mean?

(11:56):
So the number one is so crucial.He sets the tone.
And I think Alan is a is a great#1.
No, for sure. I haven't said it yet, but it's,
I think it's obvious, you know, you made me fall in love with
the Terminator films. You know, I think the second
film was the first one I saw because I was due to my age.
But I know you got questions a lot about that franchise, but I
have a different question actually, because I love that

(12:18):
T23D battle across time attraction at Universal Studios.
Sure, yeah. And it was fun.
It was groundbreaking, and I need to ask you what was the
most memorable or challenging part of working on a project
that blended film, but a theme park spectacle on top of that,
to extend the story that was told in the film and just offer
something for these these peoplethat love this, loved going to

(12:39):
the park. Well, it was fun.
It was in a way that was, that was James Cameron's sequel to
Terminator 2 was T23D and it wasgroundbreaking.
His sense, of course it was being filmed in 3D.
It was going to be a ride kind of a thing.
So you know, T2 was a first motion capture performance.
So it was, it was an interestingthing to take that a step

(13:01):
further. The main thing for me when what
I remember of that time was thatI was not in as good a shape.
And all of a sudden now James is, you know, he's got this idea
of a where you going to run in those, those motorcycle boots
and you're going to run after. And I was like, Oh my gosh,
James, I'm not, I'm not, I'm notthat I'm not as in good shape as

(13:21):
I was. This is you can't kill me with
this stuff. You're going to get a couple
takes. That's all I'm going to be able
to do. So let's make sure we do this
right. That was kind of where I was at.
You know, it's such a cool attraction and I, I love
revisiting when it was possible.Lastly, I want to, you know, end
on this. You built a career balancing
this villainous intensity with surprising heart across TV, film

(13:42):
and even gaming culture. What has been the biggest
constant in in your approach to characters across all these
mediums? Wow, The biggest Well, I just
try to be truthful. I mean, I think that every one
of us has dark and light and I try to be able to access
whatever I need to access, but Itake acting very, very serious.

(14:03):
I'm, I'm, I, I love the opportunity to explore and
escape my reality and into thesecharacters.
And I have fun doing it. It's what I wanted to do.
And I feel like I've been very fortunate that I've been given
the opportunity to do it and I'mvery grateful for it.
So I don't know, maybe that maybe that's it.

(14:25):
I, I, I just love it. We are very grateful for you.
Everything that you decide to do, we we love it and I can't
wait to see more episodes of Tulsa King and Peacemaker and
everything else. Mr. Patrick, thank you so much
for your time today and hope youcan do it again.
Absolutely. I look forward to it buddy.
Absolutely enjoyed it.
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