Y’lan Noel knows exactly why you’re rooting for the bad guy in ‘Nemesis’

 Y’lan Noel as Coltrane Wilder has the internet in a chokehold. The “Nemesis” star breaks down his most compelling role yet.

Over the last few weeks, Courtney A. Kemp and Tani Marole have pulled audiences deep into the world of Netflix’s top-charting drama “Nemesis.” And beyond the storyline and the thrilling action sequences, it’s the fictional heist mastermind Coltrane Wilder, played by Y’lan Noel, that has people, especially the ladies, in a full chokehold.

The action-packed drama follows LAPD detective Isaiah Stiles (Matthew Law) in his pursuit of Wilder, as the two nemeses go to extreme lengths to outsmart each other. So extreme, in fact, that many viewers found themselves subconsciously rooting for the bad guy.

“People calling me [Coltrane], some people calling me Trane, and you know, big upping me in the hallways, and then other people saying, ‘Hey, I’m about to turn you in. It’s a wide variety of reactions, which I love,” Noel told TheGrio, reflecting on the show’s top charting status. 

“I feel really good for the collective,” he added. “I feel great not only for myself, but for Tani and Courtney. It feels really good for people to be connected at this, at this scale, and at this rate, and so quickly, right? You know, that’s why we make stories for people and for them to connect, so for people to be eating up like this is really cool. It’s fun.”

For many social media users who first met the Panamanian-American actor on Issa Rae’s Insecure, he is (and will always be) Daniel. But while Coltrane and Daniel exist in completely different worlds, Noel sees how every role he’s taken on has fed into this one.

“Like all the other things that’s happened in my life with relationships and spirituality and all these other things, there’s no way I can’t incorporate that, and you spend so much time with a character like Daniel, like Dimitri, like all the other characters, that it would be hard to not have it spill in,” Noel shared. “But it’s definitely a curated process. I think for Coltrane, one of the biggest things for me that was different from other characters was how everything that happens with him is very internal. he’s very action oriented, but there’s this internal pressure that I hadn’t really experienced in characters because he’s not able to express it to anyone, because he’s the leader, you know, and he has to show up and be the example, and that doesn’t really allow him so much space to sort of say, ‘hey, here’s how I’m feeling.’” 

That quiet intensity, paired with a series of shirtless scenes and watching Coltrane lead both heists and his household, is exactly why the character has become the internet’s MCM (Man Crush Monday) for the past few weeks.

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Flattered by the love from fans, Noel is also clear-eyed about who Coltrane actually is. 

“Coltrane is sort of like a velvet hammer.  He’s a criminal, but at the same time, he’s a lover, and people responding to that think that is accurate,” he shared. “The only thing that rivals his desire to be with Ebony and his family is that sort of tragic flaw of wanting to win. He is obsessive. And I think the thing that made him successful is the fact that he is that rare ilk of individuals who need to win. There’s some narcissism, there’s some ego, there’s all of those things that can obviously become problematic.”

He continued: “With Coltrane, what I’ve sort of found is that that that control, if he doesn’t, if he’s not in control, he wants to get control, he try to, he tries to grip harder, and you know he can’t be as perfect as he thinks he can be kind of delusional in that way, and without the control, things sort of unravel from there, and lot of unnecessary sacrifices are needed to be made.” 

While Noel has a clear read and understanding of Coltrane Wilder, when it comes to his future, the actor, like the rest of us, is waiting to see what Kemp and Marole come up with for season 2. 

“Genuinely, I don’t know,” he shared. “I’m so intrigued as to what other people think. Some people say he could work with styles and all of that, like, hey, they do complement each other well. I would hope, and I know that the love for Ebony would be stronger than ever. And I think, for me, that’s one of the most attractive qualities of the character, is that he has that space to call home, especially in this world, even though it’s self-inflicted, because he is not like he’s a victim, right? He’s decided to be this, but he’s living in a world of chaos, and she’s his eye of the storm.” 

Season 2 has not been confirmed, but if the numbers keep going the way they are, it’s only a matter of time. Whether you’re obsessed or still on the fence, Noel’s message is simple: “Thank you for watching.”

“The dialog is great.  If you think it’s incredible, if you think it’s corny,  the dialog is all that matters, and everybody should have their own opinion, you know, that’s important. It’d be weird if it was just this universal [opinions of] ‘I like the show,’ or ‘I hate the show,’” he concluded. “It definitely, is a show that caters to all types of opinions, so yeah, keep it going. Appreciate y’all watching, keep running it up.” 

“Nemesis” is streaming now on Netflix.