‘They cancelled us out of nowhere’: Ashley Zukerman on the show that got away

Ashley Zukerman has established himself as a perennial “that guy” on TV, one of those familiar faces who pops up on whatever hit series you might be watching and makes an instant impression. Following a breakout stint in Succession, the 42-year-old starred in the local series Apple Cider Vinegar and earned a Logie nomination. He’s now in the new season of Apple TV’s dystopian drama Silo, but home is never far from his mind.

“I want to continue to work in Australia; I think that’s always been the plan,” says Zukerman, who was raised in Melbourne. “I like being involved there and making sure we can keep telling great stories.”

Worst habit?
I get up in my friends’ business a bit. It sounds like a nice quality, but it’s actually very invasive. I try to fix their problems, and then I resent them for not doing what I say. It’s always trivial stuff like, “You should join that website and make sure you use your Qantas points to buy that thing …” They’re like, “Thanks for the advice, Ashley, but back off.”

Greatest fear?
Billionaires. It’s difficult to understand that mindset when we face so many problems as a people. No one needs that much, so it’s a choice you’re making to hoard that wealth. I’m a Millennial, and we grew up in a different world. I grew up – for want of a better word – as a capitalist, thinking the harder you work, the more money you can make. But now I understand that’s a fallacy, that the accrual of wealth on that scale only happens by the subjugation of others.

The line that has stayed with you?
I played Hamlet in high school. There’s a line from Hamlet to Horatio where he says, “There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” I find myself saying it out loud sometimes. It’s a reminder that I don’t know everything, and that everything I think I know will one day probably not be true.

I did the play in year 12. I had this incredible drama teacher, David Dunn. He was the first person of the “artist class” I’d ever met, and the passion I have for this work I observed first in him. I don’t come from a creative family, my parents are both academics – my mum’s a computer scientist and my dad’s an electrical engineer. I investigated that path first. I went to university for engineering before getting into drama school in Victoria. I think they always thought that if it wasn’t gonna happen for me, I’d find my way back to something else. But they never pressured me, which was quite remarkable.

Biggest regret?
Regret is funny. There were periods where I felt a lot of regret, akin to guilt and shame, but I’ve come to the other side where I can’t regret anything any more. Everything is just about acceptance, that it has led me to who I am now. You can’t live life backwards.

I just wish I’d learnt a musical instrument when I was younger. At school, I tried clarinet and guitar, but they never stuck. So when I turned 40, I started teaching myself how to play piano. I wish I could play like those people who pick up an instrument and just express something with it, but I’m not great [laughs]. Ask me again when I’m 50 and we’ll see.

Tell us about your turning point.
There was a TV show I did in Australia about 13 years ago called The Code, which was an ABC series. I’d just done a production of Angels in America at Belvoir, with Eamon Flack directing, and I’d struggled with that. But it was between those two productions that something clicked for me, something to do with bravery. I really learnt to throw myself into something. I felt that to do this work, you have to put yourself on the line.

That series demanded everything of me. We shot in Sydney and, if I had a late start, I’d ride my bike to Coogee and just throw myself into the cold water. I remember thinking that was the energy I had to bring every day to be able to do that job. I’ve carried that on in some way ever since.

The artwork you wish was yours?
The third season of [TV series] Manhattan that we didn’t get to shoot. It was right after The Code, it was my first American job and it was a profound experience. I loved it. The writing was beautiful, and the people I got to work with were incredible. Tommy Schlamme directed it, and Sam Shaw wrote it. Heroes of mine.

We did the first and second seasons, and we had so much more story to tell, and the way we were telling it felt so good – and then, out of the blue, it was abruptly cancelled. It was by a network called WGN, which was new to television. When the streaming boom took off, WGN – which was known for playing Chicago Cubs baseball games – decided to start making its own content. It wasn’t an expensive show to make, but it fell apart just as peak TV started to crumble. They cancelled us out of nowhere, and I was devastated by it. It took me years to get over it. I didn’t understand it. I still don’t.

If you could time travel, where would you go?
I’d go back to a time pre-man and see the natural world for what it really looked like. We’ve lost 70 per cent of the wildlife on this planet in the last 50 years. I’d love to be able to see what it actually looked like. I probably wouldn’t survive it [laughs], but I just think what we’re doing to this planet is a crime.

Silo, season three, is now streaming on Apple TV.