User:Ophois/Zachariah

Development
The character of Zachariah is portrayed by Kurt Fuller, who broke his habit of not auditioning for episodic television because he was so impressed by the series. At the time, Fuller was unaware that the character would be revealed as an angel. Upon learning of the character's origins, Fuller was excited at the chance to break his tradition of portraying villainous characters. However, Fuller noted, "Then I got the script for my second episode and I wasn't so nice. By the third episode, I was stealing people's lungs and giving them stomach cancer. So I've just decided that apparently I'm incapable of playing a nice guy. I turn all my characters bad. I'm the meanest man on TV..." Although Fuller did prepare for the role by researching angels, he did not allow that to influence him, as the stereotypical concepts tend to "[get] away from the spirit of the show". As Fuller explained, "The script will tell me how this particular angel acts. Besides, this show does not strictly adhere to anything, so I made a decision to really use the script as my 'bible'."

Although Fuller expected Zachariah to die in the fifth season, he feels that the character's death in the hundredth episode was "a little early". Fuller felt proud of the role, noting, "I was actually very upset that he was dying, because it honestly was a part of me that died."

Characterization
Upon receiving the role, Fuller was told Zachariah was "a Morgan Freeman-type with a lot of equanimity". Although Fuller based his performance on this concept, he feels the character ultimately ended up resembling Donald Trump. The actor admits that he himself typically comes off as a jerk, even when portraying good guys, so he chose to play Zachariah as a boss. Fuller found that Zachariah's introduction as Dean's boss "was a great way into it". In regards to the character's initial friendliness to Dean, the actor explained, "You don't get what you want by being a complete jerk, so you use a little threat, enticement, and appeal to their best natures or the part of them that wants to do good. Just like in life, you can't dominate someone and get what you want. You will only get resentment and they will try to screw you any chance they can. That's what I was trying to avoid."

As the series progresses, Zachariah's true intentions are revealed. Fuller decided to fully embrace the character's decisions. He deemed Zachariah a "genius", explaining, "Zachariah knows what he is doing is the right thing, and he's really doing it all. If people would only understand, he's doing it because he knows what's right." Due to the character's self-righteousness, Fuller noted that Zachariah "can be funny, strong, pathetic, cool, or do whatever he has to do". Of these characteristics, the actor especially enjoyed Zachariah's sense of humor, and also admired his ability to manipulate people. As Fuller explained, "It takes a lot more creativity... Anybody can blast somebody out of a building. That's easy, but to talk them into jumping out of the windows is much harder."

The character finds humans to be an "inferior incarnation of life" &mdash;Fuller believes Zachariah's long-awaited paradise on Earth "would be completely malleable humans serving Heaven" &mdash;and the actor likened the character's willingness to kill millions of humans as breaking a few eggs to make an omelet. For Fuller, the prospects of "getting a big promotion" in Heaven initially motivated Zachariah. The character's animosity towards Dean thus stems from him being in Zachariah's way, with Dean's determination and intelligence leading to contempt from Zachariah rather than respect. By Zachariah's final appearance, Fuller feels that the character "has really cracked" due to his rivalry with Dean. The actor posited, "He's fifty-two percent revenge, forty-eight percent still trying to make his plan work." Nevertheless, Fuller finds Zachariah to be the "hero of the story", attempting to "save all of eternity and maintain the proper balance between Heaven and Hell".

Reception
Fuller received universal praise from critics for his portrayal of Zachariah. Maureen Ryan of Chicago Tribune felt Fuller was "absolutely spot-on as the overly chipper and slightly sinister" character, and loved the actor's ability to "[wring] the humor out of almost every one of his lines while still remaining scary under Zach's bluff exterior". John Kubicek of BuddyTV found Fuller perfect at "balancing that fine line between comedy and evil". While Kubicek admitted he would miss the character, he was excited to see Zachariah die "in as awesome a way as possible". Tina Charles of TV Guide also enjoyed Fuller's time on the series and felt he "can do no wrong in [her] book as Zachariah". She liked that the character could go "toe to toe with Dean like no other", and considered him "downright evil" despite his motives. Likewise, Diana Steenbergen of IGN deemed him "definitely a villain that it is easy to hate".