Actor Noah Emmerich talks about Apple TV+’s new crime drama ‘Suspicion’ (2025)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Veteran character actor Noah Emmerich (“The Americans,” “The Spy,” “Super 8″) is no stranger to playing law enforcement officers involved in a high-pressure, cat-and-mouse game.

His latest role in Apple TV+’s “Suspicion” -- debuting Friday, Feb. 4 -- is an FBI agent attempting to solve a high-profile trans-Atlantic kidnapping involving the son of a prominent American businesswoman (Uma Thurman) from a New York hotel.

The unlikely suspects are visiting British citizens who may or may not have anything to do with the crime of the century.

We caught up with Emmerich to discuss “Suspicion,” his penchant for playing FBI roles and his surprising “The Walking Dead: World Beyond” appearance late last year.

Noah, congrats on “Suspicion.” What was your initial reaction when reading the suspenseful drama script?

It was a great, thrilling read. It had me on the edge of my seat. It was a really visceral experience reading the script, which is the best sign to me of something that has captured my attention. I was excited to be a part of it.

How unique was it to play a fish-out-water F.B.I. agent in the U.K.?

That’s what makes it interesting. It had a lot of different layers going on. Here’s a man who is very advanced in his career and who is used to being a big cheese, being autonomous when running an investigation. All of a sudden, he finds himself in a foreign country with different rules. He doesn’t have autonomy and he has one hand tied behind his back because he’s supposed to be observing and advising but he’s very frustrated by the British approach. The clock is ticking, a life is on the line and he’s stuck on this foreign soil trying to figure it out. It’s an interesting position to be in, and one I never encountered before. I’ve done FBI agents before, of course. I’ve done policemen, but never out of their element, never in a foreign country, operating under foreign circumstances.

“Suspicion” is so much more than a kidnapping story. Sure, there’s high-tech surveillance and spy tradecraft, but what drives the story is a heightened reality around conspiracy theories, social media rumors and out-of-control egos. How could you possibly relate to that?

I feel like that’s really relevant now in terms of what’s going on with advances in surveillance and with digital fingerprints. Also, how would you defend yourself when the woke mob comes after you on Twitter or Facebook? It feels like the accusation has such power that it takes precedence over the notion of being innocent until proven guilty. These things are so relevant in our times. In fact, we felt like we were in the middle of “Suspicion.” Like it’s a suspicious world, conspiracy theories are blossoming everywhere. We don’t have an agreed-upon reality. We don’t have an agreed-upon truth. Everyone has their own version. Everyone thinks the other person is crazy. The show felt very current. It didn’t require any research at all. It just took waking up and dealing with the stuff we’re really dealing with.

So, the elephant in the room regarding your career is when you’re not playing an FBI agent, we’ll see you as a law enforcement officer or a spy. What’s up with that?

You can tell me better than I can tell you. I don’t know. It’s the physicality, it’s a height. It’s never ceased to sort of amuse me and baffle my friends and family why I continue to be perceived as a law enforcement officer but I’m having a great time doing it. Somehow, you look at me and I look like a cop.

OK, with that in mind, what is Hollywood missing when it comes to other acting skills you have in your toolbox?

I would love to do more comedy. I started out doing musical theater. I’d love to sing, I’d love to do comedy. I’ve done some little bits here and there. I have a recurring role on “Space Force” that’s great fun to do. It’s the antidote to the heavy dramatic stuff I’ve been doing.

As a character actor, you’re been in so many different films and television shows. When walking on the street, which roles do people recognize you from the most often?

Sometimes you get surprised. Look, I’ve made a lot of films and done a bunch of shows but you never know. I’ve been stopped for literally everything I’ve done. The surprising ones are the smaller films that not many people have seen or didn’t do well at the box office. I got stopped the other day for a movie called “Beyond Borders” with Angelina Jolie and Clive Owen film about Doctors Without Borders that no one really saw but it’s a good film. When someone says I saw that, it’s amazing. That’s one of the beautiful things about film. It lives on forever. And with all of the streaming platforms, things are revisited that are 10 or 20 years old and it has a second life. You never know when people will see it and it will come up again. That’s a great joy of being in this business.

Speaking of getting a second life, how surprised you were to get a call last year about returning to your “Walking Dead” character Dr. Edwin Jenner, who more than a decade ago died in season 1 of the series?

Yeah, what was really bizarre about that was I was talking with my team about different roles I’m interested in playing. I had just brought up Dr. Jenner from the “Walking Dead.” I said I would love to do something in that direction. And literally a day or two later they called and said, “Do you want to do a Dr. Jenner again?” I thought, ‘This is incredible.’ Yeah, sure, that was good fun.