‘Wayward Pines’ Star Djimon Hounsou Reveals His Connection To ‘Beverly Hills 90210’

July is a busy month for Djimon Hounsou. In addition to the premiere of his film The Legend of Tarzan, his event series Wayward Pines is concluding. It’s not unusual for the two-time Academy Award nominee to have projects to promote: he’s been a noted working actor since his star-making turn in 1997’s Amistad.

In an new interview with The Los Angeles Times, Hounsou gave some insight into his most significant roles. Surprisingly, he didn’t stop at Tarzan, Guardians of the Galaxy, Blood Diamonds, and Amistad. He discussed his walk-on role on a classic 1980s teen drama, Beverly Hills, 90210, which gave him a job back in 1990.

“I was an extra on that show. I was just trying to get a job! I felt like I was in the mix. I came to Hollywood for that, and it made me feel like I was close. Or close enough.”

As his TV Guide biography outlines, Hounsou was born in Benin but immigrated to France as a teenager. He began modeling in the late 1980s and came to the United States to act. He appeared in music videos by Madonna, Janet Jackson, and Paula Abdul.

Fans who know Hounsou for his big dramatic roles may have been surprised by his quiet, but powerful, performance as C.J. Mitchum on Wayward Pines. Mitchum is a new character created for Season 2 of the series, and little hints of C.J.’s history and importance to the development of the town has gradually been revealed. In the beginning, he was toiling the soil, concerned about the food supply, but oddly seemed to have the respect of the town’s leaders. In Episode 7, “Time Will Tell,” it was revealed that C.J. was the person who woke up every 20 years to maintain the equipment over the 2,000 years the future residents of Wayward Pines were in suspension.

In an interview with Variety before the season debuted, Hounsou called his character a “duster,” referring to his job of cleaning off the suspension pods and technology every two decades. He also gave some potential hints about where humanity may end up when Season 2 concludes, as the citizens are scrambling to go back into suspension until the Abbie threat has passed. The actor implied to Variety that C.J. Mitchum might believe that the time for humanity may not be in the year 4014, when the “volunteers” woke up from suspension.

“C.J. feels that humans have doomed themselves. They’ve been disrespectful and mistreating the planet. Consequently there is a new breed that can thrive better than humanity. C.J. is somewhat understanding and more importantly, he becomes an ‘extinctionist,’ feeling that humanity has passed its time. It’s the time of the abbies now.”

Hounsou revealed that filming the C.J.-centric “Time Will Tell” was an emotional experience, especially since he was usually on his own, much like his character.

“[I]t certainly felt extremely lonely in that the whole week I was shooting by myself. The whole scenes were me waking up every 20 years to care for the seeds of humanity. And then 2000-and-something years later, we wake up most of the people we have preserved. But shooting that episode, it felt very lonely and depressive. I mean, I don’t want the world to ever have to come to this because it’s really sad to be left alone. You might as well be dead.”

As the season finale approaches, it’s yet to be seen whether the town’s inhabitants will survive a looming Abbie invasion. In a previous article by The Inquisitr, it was discussed that the last episode is called “Bedtime Story,” but it’s not clear whether that means everyone will successfully re-enter suspension. In Episode 9, it was revealed that the town could only take about half of its people.

The season finale of Wayward Pines airs Wednesday night on Fox.

[Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images]