Interviewer / Writer: Antonina Schubert
During a packed weekend at Motor City Comic Con 2026, Shawn Ashmore spent time connecting with fans from across multiple generations of television and film fandoms. Whether attendees first knew him as Bobby Drake in the X-Men franchise, Wesley Evers in The Rookie, Lamplighter in The Boys, or Mike Weston in The Following, Ashmore’s career has continuously spanned superhero stories, psychological thrillers, crime dramas, and character-driven television.
Ahead of The Boys series finale and following the explosive season eight finale of The Rookie, Ashmore sat down with us to reflect on balancing genre storytelling with grounded humanity, joining projects as both an actor and fan, and why morally gray characters continue to resonate so strongly with audiences.
When discussing the types of roles that challenge him most as an actor, Ashmore explained that every genre presents its own unique balancing act.
“I think they’re all challenging,” Ashmore shared. “Genre things tend to be challenging because it’s usually a normal person put into an abnormal situation.”
While heightened worlds like horror, superhero stories, and thrillers naturally bring larger-than-life stakes, Ashmore explained that grounded dramas can be equally demanding in entirely different ways.
“You have the advantage in a genre piece where these really intense things are happening to entertain an audience just based on the scenario,” he said. “Sometimes you have to try to find the humanity or the interest in something that’s sort of mundane, and that can be a challenge in itself too.”
That balance between spectacle and emotional realism has become especially important throughout Ashmore’s time on The Rookie, where his character Wesley Evers exists within both high-stakes crime storylines and deeply personal family moments alongside Angela Lopez and their children.
With fans still reacting heavily to the season eight finale cliffhanger, Ashmore admitted he expected the series to leave audiences anxiously waiting for season nine.
“We always know there’s gonna be a cliffhanger,” Ashmore laughed. “We definitely know how to do it well in The Rookie.”
While fans continue passionately theorizing online about what comes next, Ashmore explained that the creative team behind the series understands exactly how invested audiences have become after eight seasons.
“We’ve luckily had eight seasons to do it,” he said while discussing showrunner Alexi Hawley and the writers’ room. “You really figure out what our audience is looking for and what they react to.”
That strong fan investment is part of what continues to make The Rookie feel so engaging years into its run. We also discussed how emotionally invested audiences have become in the relationships and cliffhangers surrounding the series, especially when it comes to Chenford.
Between evolving relationships, emotional twists, and season-ending cliffhangers, The Rookie has built a fanbase eager to analyze every detail between episodes and seasons alike.
Ashmore’s trust in the series’ creative direction also comes from a long history working alongside Hawley. Before the pair reunited on The Rookie, Hawley previously worked on The Following, serving as a writer during the show’s first two seasons before becoming co-showrunner for season three. That existing creative relationship helped build a level of trust and familiarity that has carried into their work together on The Rookie.
Outside of The Rookie, Ashmore also reflected on joining The Boys, revealing that his casting process for Lamplighter was far more unexpected than many fans may realize.
Before ultimately landing the role of Lamplighter, Ashmore had originally auditioned for a different character on The Boys. A few weeks later, the team reached back out encouraging him to audition again, this time specifically for Lamplighter.
“When I looked at the role and realized it was Lamplighter, I understood,” he said. “Knowing The Boys and how they like to subvert the genre, I was like, ‘Oh, they want Iceman to play Pyro.’”
For longtime superhero fans, the casting reversal created an especially fun connection back to Ashmore’s time portraying Iceman throughout the X-Men franchise.
Even with years of experience in genre television and film, Ashmore admitted joining The Boys came with a unique kind of nervousness because he was already such a fan of the series himself.
“You don’t want to mess up something you’re a fan of,” he said.
However, despite briefly worrying that stepping “behind the curtain” might change the experience of watching the show, Ashmore explained that working on the series only deepened his appreciation for it.
“I actually continued to enjoy the show after that,” he shared.
Ashmore also appeared alongside Karl Urban and Laz Alonso during The Boys panel at Motor City Comic Con earlier in the weekend, where the cast reflected on the series finale, behind-the-scenes memories, and the emotional complexity underneath the show’s chaos and violence. You can read our full panel recap and photo gallery coverage here.
One of the most thoughtful parts of the conversation came while discussing the morally gray storytelling present throughout both The Boys and The Following. When asked whether any similarities existed between Lamplighter and his role as Mike Weston in The Following, Ashmore explained that while the connection was not intentional, he has always been drawn to stories that challenge traditionally heroic characters.
“I do enjoy that kind of storytelling,” Ashmore said. “Mike Weston from The Following was a Boy Scout until he wasn’t.”
Over the course of The Following, audiences watched Weston evolve from an idealistic young FBI agent into someone increasingly shaped by violence, trauma, and impossible decisions. According to Ashmore, that emotional transformation became one of the most rewarding arcs of his career.
“It’s an effective way to put a ‘good character’ through the wringer and see what happens to them on the other side,” he explained.
Still, Ashmore emphasized that maintaining a sense of humanity underneath darker character arcs remains essential.
Mike Weston’s “moral compass was shaken, but never broken,” he said. “You want to see the humanity.”
That focus on emotional realism and character complexity has become one of the defining through-lines across Ashmore’s career. And after a weekend filled with conversations, one thing became especially clear: Ashmore’s passion for storytelling and character work continues to resonate deeply with audiences across multiple generations of fandoms.
Whether he is stepping into grounded dramas, darker psychological stories, or larger-than-life genre worlds, his performances consistently bring humanity to even the most chaotic situations. And with fans already counting down the days until season nine of The Rookie, audiences will undoubtedly be eager to see what project Ashmore takes on next.
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