Nicholas Gonzalez Breaks Down Levi's Shocking Return on 'La Brea'

He also talks about his mission and how his return might affect Eve!

Levi’s return to 10K B.C. may have been unexpected, but it was the circumstances surrounding his return that undoubtedly sent shockwaves across La Brea audiences.

On the Feb. 14 episode, titled "The Return," Levi returns to 10,000 B.C., and though only a few days have passed since everyone last saw him, for Levi, it's been a decade, as he informs Gavin (Eoin Macken) that he arrived from 1998 despite being last seen in 1988.

Thankfully, Parade was able to get Nicholas Gonzalez on the line to break down his shocking return, his mission, and the state of affairs when it comes to Eve (Natalie Zea).

Let’s unpack the twist at the end of the episode—you’re back!

I think it's a big surprise, I would imagine. I think a lot of people figured Levi was gone for good. And to walk back in like this, especially after having a few episodes off, I think it makes the reveal that much stronger. And so much time has passed, so it really changes all the dynamics immediately in a way I didn’t expect, either.

He seems to have teamed up with people working to close these sinkholes, is it safe to say he knows more than anyone does at The Clearing at this point?

Oh, definitely! Whether he shares that information, we’ll have to wait and see, but he definitely has a lot more insight about what’s been going on.

Upon his return, he lied to Gavin about the reason for his return to 10,000 B.C. Can we trust him?

It all depends on who “we” is, and who you’re rooting for, but I think as we start to hear more and more, Levi has his motivations. As for our “heroes,” if we can trust Levi, well, Levi is working off of a lot more information than they have, and he had to take matters into his own hands, and those of the shadowy organization that has sent him back.

Will Eve help him? She didn’t trust James initially, but now Levi is essentially asking her to betray her husband once again.

It's tough, you know, I mean, the funny thing, too, is to realize how much time has passed from when we were in the mines and made love, and then Gavin popped in and the family started up a relationship again. For Levi, it's been 10 years, but for them, it's been a few days.

So now, Eve is still hot off of making her decision on who she's choosing, and, you know, she chooses her family, which I don't think Levi can blame her, but at the same time, as we've seen before, Eve has a real commitment to the greater good, as well. As much as she wants the best for her family, she also can't shirk off the weight of knowing that our actions—and the actions of James—can result in hundreds of thousands of people being killed, and multiple disasters that are larger than anything we can ever imagine.

Levi says his wife is dead—and we’re taking his word at that point—so the door remains open for him and Eve to explore old feelings. Do you think that might happen? Or do you think that romance is completely over? I know it'll be a different dynamic now that we're going to be exploring.

Again, it’s interesting because of the timing. Eve is, again, just a few days fresh off of the renewed romance with Levi and then choosing her husband, and yet Levi had all of this time—10 years—and a whole other family to really change his feelings.

I believe Levi when he says he's not back for Eve. But I think old feelings die hard. I don’t know if [his love for Eve] is going to dissuade him from his mission. I think he’ll always carry that love for her, and her for him, because they were there for each other when, you know, either of them needed it. Both pre-first sinkhole and all that time down there, but I think that Levi's looking back with a lot of nostalgia, and he's not as fresh in the incident as, you know, Gavin and Eve are, which is going to make it really interesting to see which way he goes here.

Does Levi's return have anything to do with the vision that Gavin had of Eve?

I think it's interesting to play with that and to wonder. At this point [in the episode], I wasn’t sure either. I think everybody runs the risk of extreme harm or death because of Levi’s actions of coming down, because we realize that he's willing to almost sacrifice everybody for the sake of his mission because he’s felt lost and hurt from what James was causing his life personally. So we can’t discount any of that having been caused by Levi, because I think a lot of what happens from here on out is because of him.

I do feel like there's so much more to Levi that we haven't really explored because we’ve been so focused on him as a love interest. What would want audiences to get to see about the character?

I think it's that original characterization of Levi that I always felt so—not proud of, but I understood. Levi was this upstanding, very loyal man and here he is obviously involved in something—his affair with Eve—that would point to the opposite, but I think getting back to the person that he was prior to getting involved with Eve, the trustworthy hero, and really realizing that he's acting now off of extreme trauma and pain, it's even a third Levi that we're going to be witnessing, but I kind of really hope that people will see all the love and where he’s coming from.

His affair with Eve wasn't completely selfish. There were two people who were abandoned by a husband and a dear friend, still caring much for the family they created, which Levi was a part of as Uncle Levi. At the beginning, Gavin abandoned both of them, and their love for each other and their family brought them together. It wasn’t a thing of malice but more of almost a preservation.

Eve’s kids don’t see Levi in a good light right now, but will we see more scenes between them kind of honing in on that relationship that they had?

Yeah, and I felt very adamant about showing that Uncle Levi wasn’t Uncle Levi just for proximity, he was that because he was a father figure for these kids when they didn't have one. His love for the kids is going to play a major part in what happens next and what Levi decides to do next.

Will we see flashbacks to Levi’s time between 1988 and 1998?

We get a little more light shed on it, but there aren’t any actual flashbacks where we get to see it in real-time.

How did you approach playing this older and wiser Levi in comparison to the Levi that we met early on in the season?

I have certain ideas that I’ve wanted to do, but the action almost just ramps up. So we don't get a chance to see a 10 year older Levi. I think he's also kept himself in the top condition as he could knowing the mission that was still ahead of him and his determination there, I think that's just a part of who he is. So while his hair may gray and his skin may wrinkle, he's still very much the steadfast hero that he was before.

It doesn't seem to slow him down as much as I kind of thought it would, but I think we find a little bit more of a contemplative Levi. You know, ultimately, there's going to be a bit of a break and he might not be able to stay as calm, but initially, I think we get a little bit more of someone who has a lot more distance from the situation.

Some of my favorite scenes are between Levi and Gavin, will we see a little bit more of their bromance and teaming up?

I agree, that's part of my favorite scenes too, and I think if you were to ask Eoin, he feels the same way. I think in the beginning we really felt a lot of simpatico, and not only did we actually feel for each other the way these characters are supposed to, but I think immediately we had a real affection for each other. And he's a sweetheart of a man, and we both really enjoy the time that we get to hang out together and did hang out in Australia to really build that friendship, which wasn't hard work at all. So that's definitely something we asked for more of, and you're definitely going to get!

What’s been your favorite thing about filming a series that’s so sci-fi in nature?

In some ways, it’s almost felt like improv in the sense that these scenes we have to do, a lot of times you're reacting to these things that are larger than life and these kind of fantastical moments, whether it's a giant ground sloth or evading wolves, you know, a huge man-size wolf, there's been a bit of like, "Okay, what's going to happen at work today?"

Since the sets are so big and so extreme, and the situations are so big and so extreme, that even when you read it, you don't get a sense until you step on the set, and you're like, “Oh, my gosh, look at this set.” I've been doing this for years, obviously sets are incredible on different things I've worked on, but the fantastical sci-fi angle just makes for an even more exciting shoot sometimes.

Do you have a favorite part of filming in Australia?

The people, hands down. I mean, we were there through very difficult times. In the first season, maybe viewers know, that we were there during Australia's lockdown. So, Australia was like COVID-free, with everyone walking around like it never happened, because you had to be in quarantine before you got up there. The rest of the cast was there a few months before me and they had to go through a quarantine period of two weeks, but then live their life. But then I got there, and I went into a two-week quarantine in Sydney, and by the time I got out and got over to them in Melbourne, five days later, we were in lockdown. And it hit Australia.

So that was really difficult to film a show like this, be far away from family, and have a curfew essentially. So when I say the people, I really mean that was the kind of calming force. We had an incredible crew, who I truly enjoyed. As tough as the situations were, and as miserable as the shooting conditions sometimes were—cause we’re outside in the elements and it's cold arctic winds coming up from the south across Australia—it was a tough shoot, but the crew made it really worth it and fun, and they were young and hungry, and it just was so nice to have people like that around because we're in such extreme conditions and so far away from the people we love.

Would you say you're team Gavin or Levi?

Maybe Gavin, because he needs it since everyone else is Team Levi. I feel bad for him.

You guys were recently renewed for season 3—congrats!—how are you feeling?

It feels good, we worked really hard and fans have really responded to the show, so it’s nice to have a little bit more to cook up for them! There’s still so much to happen!

La Brea airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on NBC.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.