HUNTER CARDINAL
Q&A
GN: You star on Netflix’s new hit series Bet as Michael. Tell us a little bit about him.
HC: Michael is the lone resistor at St. Dominic’s—a reluctant heir who’d rather test the system’s edges than roll the dice inside them. Beneath that defiance, he’s the younger part of us that once drew a line in the sand, “this is right, this is wrong.” From that moment on, every time he looks at the world, he sees how often it falls on the wrong side, and that knowledge traps him: act and risk everything, or watch in fear and shame. The sharpest sting? Realizing he drew the line himself, placing a quiet bet on his own idea of goodness without ever knowing the odds.
GN: The story revolves around a group of privileged teens at an elite boarding school where you move up in social status by gambling. Where does Michael fit in with these students, and what is his role at St. Dominic’s?
HC: Think of him as the school’s conscience in exile. He refuses to play, yet he understands the rules better than anyone and uses that insight to hold up a mirror to the players.
GN: Your character has a major plot twist…how do you think this will change Michael going forward?
HC: That revelation forces him to confront the gap between who he thought he was and the darker possibilities inside him. Whether he collapses under that weight or embodies it is the question that keeps me awake at night.
GN: There is a lot of buzz about a season 2. If this happens, what would you want your storyline to be?
HC: I’d love to see Michael navigate the fallout of choosing principle over safety and watch him step into true danger, not just moral danger, discovering whether resistance can survive contact with power.
GN: What three words describe your style?
HC: Grounded, tactile, flow.
GN: What does the phrase ‘Goodnight’ mean to you?
HC: If anything happens between now and the morning, know I always have and always will love you.
Photography: KIMBERLY GOODNIGHT Style Assistant: JAZMYN HEGGINS Groomer: FAYE LAUREN at TRACEY MATTINGLY using CHANEL Location: AE STUDIO Production: AMBER KYLE CIR at MEDIA PLAYGROUND PR
