‘HTGAWM’: Charlie Weber Talks Frank’s Darkness, ‘Buffy,’ and Going Beardless

After two and a half seasons, How to Get Away With Murder still hasn’t taught us how to get away with murder. So far, the only thing we’ve learned conclusively is how complicated and harrowing a murder cover-up can be, and, much like potato chips, when it comes to murder you can’t stop at just one. But while Annalise Keating (Viola Davis) is the law professor at the center of this macabre seminar, the true expert-in-residence is Frank Delfino (Charlie Weber), Annalise’s dapper (at first!) right-hand man with mysterious motivations. He not only committed the murder that started off the series, but also we’ve since learned that he indirectly caused the murder of Annalise’s unborn child. To an outsider, he sounds like a total monster, right? Wrong. Frank is one of the show’s most beloved (if tortured) characters.

Much of the credit for this goes to Charlie Weber, who’s spent the past few seasons whiplashing between cool confidence and messy confessionals. Though the former male model has been working for a while now (Buffy fans may remember him as Ben, the semitragic human vessel for Glory), HTGAWM has given him a role in which he can truly shine. For evidence of that, see the (highly disturbing) final scene from this week’s episode, which found a sobbing Frank poised to put a bullet through his own skull on Annalise’s orders. Weber kindly answered some of our questions about what makes Frank tick, plus whether he’ll ever grow that beard back again.

Yahoo TV: Until this week, Frank spent most of the season on his own. Was it hard being so isolated from the rest of the cast?
Charlie Weber: It was. It’s been very difficult. Frank’s story was something [creator and executive producer] Pete [Nowalk] and I discussed, and I was excited about it. And then we got into it, and I didn’t realize how deeply it would affect me to be alone like that. It was very difficult.

This season has been very Frank-centric, showing us what makes him tick, where he comes from. Have you known his backstory since the beginning?
Some of the broad strokes Pete and I talked about in the past, but it took getting into it to really define the details of it this season.

Related: ‘How to Get Away With Murder’ Recap: Framed and Ashamed

Frank’s caught in two different love triangles at the moment. Is it even possible for Frank to find happiness in romance?
I think he would have to be with someone who’s like-minded. Like with his relationship with Laurel, I think he was trying to be normal or trying to have what “love” is supposed to be. So I think if he found someone who was like him, he could find a way to be in a relationship on a real level.

I find his complicated relationship with Bonnie to be the most affecting subplot of this season, more so than just a regular romance. Is it their pain that’s resonating with people?
Yeah, it’s just two obscenely damaged people who know each other well and find comfort in each other when they can. And I think that is what’s resonating, is just seeing that. And that’s kind of what I was alluding to, that perhaps people like that, despite not being capable of what society would consider a functional relationship, could be happy in their own way.

To look at Frank, he looks like a leading man, just a handsome, dashing guy. But the show has proven he’s actually very dark, twisted, and damaged. Are you excited that you get to do something that’s more about behavior than looks?
I am. He’s always been a very layered guy who used his appearance to his advantage. It’s been helpful in him hiding what he really is, and it’s been really interesting too, to show him stripped down and let the audience see sort of what’s at his core in a lot of ways.

Is there any aspect to Frank that you especially identify with?
Yeah, I think I sort of cling to the fact that there is a big heart in that chest of his, and I try to bring that out and find a parallel there. And sort of channel whatever darkness is inside of me into him.

Is there a particular moment this season that you really loved doing?
Several, there’s been several. There’s been a lot of lovely moments, and I was so isolated, so getting to work with Liza Weil in the fifth episode was lovely. To be able to connect with somebody there’s history with, and to find my way back to Philadelphia and despite not being on the best terms to be back in a scene with Viola, it’s all been lovely to get back into that.

For me, Frank didn’t truly come alive until he shaved his beard and had this big physical metamorphosis. Will he be clean-shaven from here on out?
[Laughs] If Pete wants the beard back, it’s back. I mean, the beard and the glossy hair and the three-piece suit, and a different watch to match every tie… I mean, it was all a character that he played to present a sort of normalcy to the world. And that character’s gone. That character’s been exposed. So in my opinion no, he can’t go back to what that guy was. He can grow and he can change, but he can’t go back to that.

Would you say he was putting on an act, or was he actually trying to be a better person?
I think he was just trying to stay the course so that he could be there for Annalise. Trying to not let anyone catch on to what it is that was inside his head and so that he could focus on taking care of Annalise and Bonnie.

There are definitely some secrets about this season that you’ve had to keep close to your chest. Do you usually know what’s coming for your character, or are you ever as surprised as we are?
I had a very good sort of frame for what was going to happen up until the midseason finale. And now that things are changing shape, I’m not sure.

Is that scary, or do you like being kept on your toes like that?
It’s a lot. It can get a little nerve-racking. You always want to have some information to inform what you’re doing. But this is a group of actors who can really roll with the punches, so it tends to work out quite well.

You had a pretty memorable death scene on Buffy.
I remember!

If this show were to kill off Frank, do you think the death scene could top that one?
It would have to be big. It would have to be big. I certainly would want it to be, for Frank’s sake and all that he’s done.

How to Get Away With Murder airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. on ABC. Watch clips and full episodes of HTGAWM for free on Yahoo View.