Phil Dunster’s New “Villain” In HBO’s Comedy Series Rooster Explained By Creators & Star: “He Thinks He’s The Best”

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Be warned, this article contains spoilers for the first episode of Rooster, titled “Release the Brown Fat”! Phil Dunster returns in Rooster with a new character who’s set to cause trouble, and the show’s creators are sharing details about what to expect from him.

The HBO comedy series, created by Bill Lawrence and Matt Tarses (of Ted Lasso fame), stars Elizabeth Dunster as Archie, a Russian history professor at Ludlow College. Archie’s life is turned upside down when he leaves his wife, Katie (also a professor), for a graduate student. As he navigates this new relationship with Sunny (played by Lauren Tsai), things get even more complex with the arrival of Katie’s father, Greg – a popular novelist – who comes to campus to support his daughter.

Before the show launched, Liam Crowley from ScreenRant spoke with Phil Dunster, Bill Lawrence, and Matt Tarses about Rooster. Dunster described his character, Archie, as being supremely confident, playfully stating he’s “the best, the smartest, and the prettiest” of the group, and genuinely believing he excels compared to everyone else.

Phil Dunster believes the character is very talented and fully aware of it. He also feels entitled to all the good things that have happened to him, which comes across as unlikeable to viewers. What we’re seeing now is him facing real-world consequences for the first time, and having to deal with them.

According to Dunster, the show’s setting – keeping the characters, including his and Danielle Deadwyler’s, primarily on campus – creates a great foundation for the HBO comedy’s stories. When asked about how his new character compares to Jamie Tartt from Ted Lasso, both Dunster and Deadwyler emphasized that they are very different, though his new character will still have some redeeming qualities.

Lawrence, who co-created the show, jokingly admitted he tends to reuse actors in his projects, referencing his previous work with Dunster on Ted Lasso and the appearance of John C. McGinley from Scrubs in Rooster. However, the Emmy-winning creator explained that if he enjoys working with an actor, there’s no reason not to continue collaborating with them.

Bill Lawrence explained that Phil was the first actor to playfully mislead him during auditions. Bill admitted he’s easily fooled by accents, and initially thought Phil sounded exactly like the character Jamie Tartt. However, Phil quickly revealed he was playing a different kind of character – one who was more upper-class and a bit arrogant.

Lawrence complimented Dunster on his portrayal of a unique villain in Rooster, noting that the Emmy nominee is “very convincing as a scoundrel.” He added that even though the character becomes increasingly unlikeable, he still finds it impossible to completely dislike him. Lawrence also admitted that, having never worked with Dunster before, he was surprised by the range and talent he brought to the role of the antagonist.

What really struck me about the casting of Rooster was the intention behind it. The creators weren’t looking for someone to play a villain, but someone you could still root for, even when he was being awful. And honestly, they nailed it with Dunster. The co-creator told me it’s just hard not to like him as Archie – he’s genuinely funny and incredibly quick on his feet, bringing a real energy to every scene.

Even before starring in the Apple TV comedy, Phil Dunster had a solid acting career. But he truly became a global star playing the arrogant Jamie in Ted Lasso. Like many characters in previous shows created by Bill Lawrence, Jamie wasn’t simply a villain. Over the first three seasons, he showed real growth and complexity, ultimately proving he was more than just an antagonist.

As the characters previously discussed, Archie won’t be getting a chance to turn things around later in the series. The season begins with Dunster’s character and Charly Clive’s Katie attempting to reconcile, encouraged by Steve Carell’s protagonist. However, he reveals that Sunny is pregnant, and in a fit of rage, she destroys his valuable first edition of War & Peace, accidentally burning down his house in the process.

Although the fire, whether accidental or deliberate, presents a major problem for Archie and Sunny, it’s still unknown how Archie will handle Sunny’s pregnancy and a possible reunion with Katie. If he chooses to stay with the graduate student he had an affair with, it will be harder for viewers to forgive his cheating, making his path to earning back trust more difficult than Jamie Tartt’s journey on Ted Lasso.

A major difference in how the villains are depicted is that the HBO show doesn’t offer a positive role model figure like the one seen with Jason Sudeikis’ character. Steve Carell’s character seems just as disruptive and flawed as the other troublemakers, and he likely won’t provide the same guidance or valuable life lessons that helped Jamie grow and become more relatable.

However, considering what Lawrence, Tarses, and Dunster have said, there’s a possibility that Rooster could react to the pregnancy news by betraying both Sunny and Katie. This would be a challenging role for the actor, requiring him to maintain the character’s likability even while being manipulative, and it would allow the writers to show that Rooster is a more complex character than just a typical villain like Jamie Tartt.

New episodes of Rooster air Sundays at 10 p.m. EST on HBO and HBO Max.

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2026-03-09 06:09