‘Legion’: Dan Stevens, Noah Hawley On David And Farouk’s First Meeting

Dan Stevens opened up about filming the scene in which David sees the true face of his nemesis, Farouk, for the first time in Season 2, episode 2 of “Legion.”

“It’s happened quite a few times on ‘Legion’ where something will happen that will put me in the mindset that is required for David (Stevens) in that moment,” Stevens told Variety when asked about shooting the significant scene. “There’s something quite awe-inspiring and new about meeting Farouk (Navid Negahban). It’s this uncanny interaction. They wanted it to be epic and have this sort of epic scale, and I really felt that out there. Even from the first shot of that scene where I’m lying down in the grass — I had never been out there and I was convinced that there were rattlesnakes within inches of my face. … So I was sort of lying there in terror, which was appropriate.”

As fans will remember, the scene opens with David projecting himself into a psychic realm where he wakes in a field and approaches a fortune-teller booth where Farouk appears. After Farouk tries to convince David to rule the world together, the battle of wits between the two takes a more literal turn, starting as a wrestling match and transforming into a battle of katanas, tanks, and storms. They, however, eventually come to an agreement that Farouk won’t kill anyone else during the search for his body and that he will be in David’s debt if they succeed.

When asked why they decided to do a telepathic fight sequence during David and Farouk’s first real meeting, series creator Noah Hawley said that Farouk in his real form deserves a “good introduction.”

“We [also] need to realize that as far as he’s concerned, he has this real relationship with David and has been with David since he’s a baby,” Hawley continued. “So there’s this kind of intimacy to it that David is not expecting and rejects. Farouk is a sort of elder statesman. He knows how to use his powers. He’s a strategist. He doesn’t feel like David is his equal, but he makes this sort of Darth Vader offer of ‘take my hand and we’ll rule the universe together.’ We need to see that offer, and we need to see David reject it.”

While David and Farouk will continue to be rivals in Season 3, the former is now the villain. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly earlier this month, Hawley said that Division 3 needs Farouk’s help to take down David.

“If you’re Division 3 and you’re realizing your biggest problem is David, then you do need Farouk as a weapon in that battle so you have to make peace with him,” Hawley told the news outlet when asked if Farouk would be an ally to Division 3. “Now, that may play exactly into Farouk’s hands, but it was an element that seemed like it would generate more of an interesting story line than just a fight sequence leading to a larger fight sequence leading to a larger ultimate fight sequence.”

What do you think of David and Farouk’s first meeting and the telepathic fight sequence between the two? Sound off in the comments section below!