Joe Freeman Becomes One to Watch in the Stephen King Series “The Institute”
Spoiler Warning: This article contains light spoilers for MGM+’s The Institute.
“[It] was the best phone call I’ve ever had,” English actor Joe Freeman told EnVi as he looked back on the moment that he landed his first major screen role. On September 23, 2024, the third round of casting news for the MGM+ series The Institute was released via Deadline, with Freeman announced as a lead alongside Ben Barnes and Emmy Award-winning actress Mary-Louise Parker. Connecting with EnVi from across the pond, the 19-year-old clicked onto Zoom ready to share all about auditioning for the role, the experience on set, and what types of work he hopes to pursue in the future.
A Fusion of Firsts
Based on the 2019 Stephen King novel of the same name, The Institute, directed by Jack Bender, centers on Luke Ellis (Joe Freeman), a whiz kid who is set to finish high school and enter into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) — all at the age of 14. Before his dreams even get a chance to become reality, Ellis finds himself kidnapped and trapped in a strange compound located deep within the wilderness of Maine. The building, known as “The Institute,” houses children who are gifted, but not in the traditional sense.
The organization — funded by a mysterious donor known as ‘The Upstairs’ — forcibly recruits children with special abilities, which are referred to as TP (telepathy) and TK (telekinesis). Through a series of tests that are more like glorified torture rituals, the children’s abilities are further enhanced until they are strong enough to advance to what is known as ‘The Back Half.’ And what is this whole operation for, exactly? Well, as Sigsby (Marie Louise Parker), the headmaster, describes it, “saving the world.”
Upon hearing about auditions for the series, Freeman revealed that he was initially apprehensive, because the thought of his first role being with a big studio overseas seemed daunting. “[For] an actor like myself who hasn’t done any work, it was just another audition that came through. My agent approached me [saying] ‘This is very big, this is an American thing,’ which is very intimidating,” Freeman said. “As soon as you hear [about] the Americans in this kind of industry, it’s an intimidating thing.”
Due to a combination of doubt and a prior obligation of auditioning for a theatre production, Freeman tried his hardest to dodge the opportunity — but to no avail. “[I remember] I was getting quite far in a play at the time as well. And I [told my agent] ‘If this is a big American thing, leave it to [them], they’ll cast someone American or Canadian…let’s just prioritize this play and see if we can do something with this, because [auditioning for The Institute] is a lost cause already.”
Even though he wasn’t quite up for the task, the budding actor still turned in a self-tape that reflected his pessimistic mindset at the time: “It was a bad self tape,” Freeman admitted with a laugh. Not wanting their client to fail and miss out on a huge opportunity, Freeman’s agent kindly told him to try again. “And thank God, I did,” Freeman exclaimed, “Because they came back about a week and a half later and said, ‘We like him, we wanna see him again.’ And I had two more auditions, both on Zoom with the American casting directors, and the second was with Jack Bender [who just] joined and watched. Then two weeks later we got the call [saying] ‘Yeah, you got it.’”
Becoming One with Fiction
Before the young actor flew out to Nova Scotia to begin filming, he had several tasks set before him, one of which included becoming acquainted with the source material. “I wasn’t actually familiar with [the novel before filming],” he explained. “Obviously everybody knows at least five Stephen King stories, because there’s just so many of them. But this more recent Stephen King, I was less knowledgeable on for sure. [But, reading] the book helped out a lot when preparing to go out to Canada.”
Similar to his character Luke, Freeman seems to approach things with an analytical mindset. When it came to understanding how his fictional counterpart would come to life on screen, he turned to a digital outlet for research. “The only thing I had to go on initially was the self-tape scenes and a brief [that stated Luke] was a very very smart kid. Which is something I’m not,” he said. “I remember going onto the National Geographic, I think it was the Youtube channel, and [I watched] genius kids to see how they behaved. [Specifically] looking at what their mannerisms are.”
Although he didn’t get quite what he was looking for, Freeman was still able to gather enough insight to approach Luke with the composure he needed: “I didn’t think [what they were doing] really worked for Luke, because I feel like the kids that I saw, they didn’t have what I feel a television series would have needed — because they’re kids, so they shouldn’t need to,” he explained. “But [for my performance], it was just amping up what they were doing. [It’s like] you’re very assured with what you’re saying and you believe what you’re saying because you’re very smart.”
When viewers press play on the series, one of the most noticeable things about Freeman will likely be the absence of an English intonation. While discussing how he went about accent training he noted that he practiced through watching television, as opposed to taking on formal training. “For me accents have always been something that I’ve been quite good at. Because obviously in England we have a lot of American media that we watch, so it’s just listening, and hearing how sounds work and go into different words with the accent.” With his preliminary research complete, Freeman arrived in Nova Scotia well equipped to take on four months of filming — which included an array of challenging moments.
Throughout the series, audiences watch as Luke and his fellow forced recruits navigate through mental and physical hurdles. When looking back on all of the grueling scenes he had to film, Freeman explained that he was the most worried for a moment that came in the series’ sixth episode. In this particular episode, after much observation and vetting of the staff, Luke is able to make an escape from the Institute. As he runs through the wilderness, anxious and bleeding from the place where his tracker used to be, there is one major obstacle standing between him and freedom.
“The most difficult thing [when] initially reading in the script was when I found out when Luke escapes he has to go in the river. That was tough,” he explained. “[It] was just a physical thing that was incredibly tough, because there’s no way around that with special effects or anything. You’ve gotta get in the river and actually do the thing. But my great stunt double Tristan did a lot. He swam the length of the river, which was ridiculous.”
Learning From Observing
Throughout the interview, Freeman expressed a consistent gratitude to everyone around him, as he credits them with helping him grow and find comfort as an actor — even if they didn’t know it. When thinking back to his first day on set, he spoke about how filming his first scene with Canadian actor Fionn Laird was a welcome relief, as they were on the same level experience-wise: “It was very good to have him around because neither of us had done anything even close to the caliber of what [filming the series] was. We’ve literally acted in front of a camera, but never to [that] extent.”
As he became more accustomed to set life and bonded with accomplished young actors like Canadian actresses Simone Miller and Birva Pandaya, Freeman explained how he would draw from them in an attentive manner — similar to how he observed the genius kids on National Geographic. “I think the most experienced out of all five of us were Birva and Simone, in terms of screen,” he explained. “And [Simone] doesn’t know this, but I would watch how she would behave because she knows the camera a lot better than I do.”
Continuing on, Freeman noted how Miller and Pandaya, who collectively possess an average of eight acting credits, carried themselves with humility despite holding more experience than their fellow castmates: “They’re honestly such nice girls. They would never come and give advice because they wanted to let us do our own thing. But I would certainly watch how they interacted with the camera, because that’s what people like Fionn and I have to go on.”
When it came to his interactions with veteran actors like Ben Barnes and Mary-Louise Parker, it appears his nerves were practically nonexistent. While discussing his experience working with the pair, Freeman expressed nothing but reverence: “It was very impressive to initially meet Ben and Mary-Louise, because they’re [both] A-class in what they do — especially Mary-Louise in terms of the duration of her career. It’s been an insanely long career and she’s done incredible work. So has Ben, but just for a shorter amount of time,” Freeman said. “[I remember] during the episode one table read, I was trying to gauge how they were gonna be when I inevitably had to do scenes with them. And [in comparison to my younger castmates], they would come to me with ‘I think you should maybe try this’ and you are gonna listen to them because it’s Ben Barnes and Mary-Louise Parker!”
Between Set and Stage
Before Freeman landed his first major television role, he was more focused on making a career for himself in theater. Regarding the moment he first considered pursuing acting as a career, he recalled participating in a Mark Twain theater night at his school when he was thirteen years old. “That was my first relationship with performance. We did a bit of a play called Snowbound. And I really liked it,” he said. Although the initial spark was lit during that time, Freeman further clarified that it was during his penultimate year in school that his decision was solidified. “When I was sixteen, we did a play called Everybody’s Talking About Jamie,” he revealed. “[It’s] this musical about a young boy who wants to pursue drag. I was Jamie, and every second of it was incredible — just incredible fun with brilliant people.”
After conquering an international production as his first role, the path ahead of Freeman is full of possibilities. In discussion about what kinds of work he would be willing to take on in the future, the young actor expressed openness to any opportunities that might come his way. “Hey, look, anything in the current climate [of] the industry will suffice for me,” he said. “Because I feel the thing that differs between the States and Britain is that America quite clearly produces the biggest works in the world. If there’s gonna be a blockbuster, it’s only gonna be filmed by one nation and put together by one nation.” Freeman continued, “I think with Britain, there’s more of a care for the actual art form because of how big theater is everywhere in the UK — but any work would be brilliant.”
Be sure to keep up with Joe Freeman on Instagram and stream The Institute on MGM+ now.
Ready to discover another hidden-gem talent? Check out our interview with the Juilliard-trained actress Naomi Okada here!
