My heart (and viewing schedule) is already full of more TV crushes than I can keep track of, including Peter from The Bachelorette and young William from This Is Us. Before yesterday, I didn't think I'd have energy to commit to another crush. All that changed when I tuned into Midnight, Texas, a new NBC show poised to fill the True Blood -shaped hole in my life.
The star of the show, Francoise Arnaud, is probably familiar to fans of the Showtime show, The Borgias, where he starred as Cesare Borgia. Arnaud's character on Midnight, Texas, Manfred Bernardo, is lacking Cesare's dastardly, politically manipulative ways. As a psychic on the run from gangsters, all Manfred wants is some peace and quiet. Though he initially travels to the small town of Midnight to seek refuge, it's clear his life surrounded by other "gifted" people is about to get much more complicated.
I doubt I'm the only person utterly charmed by Arnaud's performance on Midnight, Texas. Here's everything you need to know about this up-and-comer.
Midnight, Texas premieres on Syfy UK on July 27.
He's a proud polyglot.
Hailing from Montreal, Canada, Arnaud grew up speaking French and English. When speaking to Interview magazine in 2013, Arnaud explained that he picked up Spanish while traveling in Latin America and dating a woman from Chile.
"When I hear myself speak French, I look at myself differently. Certain aspects will feel closer to the way I feel or the way I am and others won't. I like that — to tour different sides of yourself. I often find when looking at people who are comfortable in many languages, they're more comfortable talking about emotional stuff in a certain language or political stuff in another and that's really interesting, how people relate to those languages," Arnaud elaborated.
@francoisearnaudHe might be playing a medium, but he sure doesn't believe in them.
While preparing for the role of Manfred, Arnaud spoke with many psychics — but he refused to let the tables turn, and let the psychics study him.
"I didn't want a reading. I'm very skeptical of anything supernatural or religious, but at the same time, I'm incredibly scared. I don't want to know my future. I don't want to talk to anyone half-dead," Arnaud said while speaking to the Build Series.
He's only read the first Midnight, Texas book.
The show's creator, Monica Owusu-Breen, recommended Arnaud not read past Harris' first installment of the Midnight, Texas series. Looking ahead in the series, Owusu-Breen is planning for departures from the text. This way, Arnaud doesn't get too attached to the character on the page.
@francoisarnaudHe big break was on The Borgias.
Arnaud played Cesare Borgia, the eldest Borgia son, on the Showtime show about a real 16th-Century Italian family who climbed the ranks of the Roman Catholic Church and accrued vast power. Despite being a priest, the character of Cesare is violent, remorseless, and hellbent on maintaining power.
The real-life Cesare Borgia was a major inspiration for Nicola Machiavelli when writing the famous political handbook, The Prince.
Unfortunately, The Borgias was cancelled prematurely, before Arnaud could act through Cesare's downfall.
His head of hair defies logic.
Not to dwell, but the guy has a seriously fantastic hair. What volume!
Gregory Pace/REX/ShutterstockHe got a big tattoo to mark his passage into adulthood.
When speaking with Interview in July 2017, Arnaud explained his difficulty adjusting to the actors' inherently nomadic lifestyle, traveling from set to set. "It's hard to carry your home with you. I find myself having to create a home in all these places and then there's the whole grieving process of abandoning that home when you have to leave it," he said.
So, Arnaud got a tattoo of a house on his back.
"For me, to get that tattoo was part of moving into adulthood. Making a choice that is permanent and that I'll have to stick with."
@francoisearnaudHe's not a big fan of social media.
According to his Twitter profile, Arnaud is a "reluctant partaker in social media."
As he elaborated in Interview, "I never wanted to be famous or get any sort of recognition for my person or my personality; it has always been for my work. There's something that bothers me intrinsically about social media, but it's just expected of you now. It's almost part of your contract. But that's not what I'm selling. I don't want to sell anything."
Arnaud is of the belief that social media is "just narcissism."
His dog is the real star of his Instagram.
So, Arnaud will never be a social-media star. But he has high hopes for his pup.
"He has a movie-star face. I think I should just quit my job and be his manager. He'd be much better at social media than I am," Arnaud told Interview.
@francoisearnaudYou can catch him in two upcoming indie movies.
The first, Permission, is about a couple who open their relationship just before they get married. Rebecca Hall's character starts an uneasy affair with Arnaud's.
Then, he'll appear in Origami, a dark French-Canadian psychological thriller that was much more difficult to shoot than Permission. The role took a major toll on Arnaud's mental state.
"It wasn't my decision to stay in character, but after shooting it for five weeks and crying every day and going through psychosis, I couldn't do anything after. I told my agents that it didn't matter what the work was, I wasn't physically able to do anything for at least a month," Arnaud said in Interview.
To recover, he rented a cabin in the woods, as one does.
@francoisearnaudFor more, tune into Midnight, Texas.
Now that Manfred's house has been overrun by ghosts sneaking throughs the border between Hell and earth, what's a medium to do? We'll find out on next week's episode of Midnight, Texas, airing on Monday, July 31.
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