Sleepy Hollow Gives Us A First Look At John Noble’s Role

By Brent McKnight | Updated

This article is more than 2 years old

We recently learned that Fringe alum John Noble would appear on the inaugural season of Fox’s gothic supernatural hit Sleepy Hollow. Now fans that miss the hell out of the Dr. Walter Bishop character can get their first glimpse at the Australian born actor playing a character called the Sin Eater.We heard that Noble was to have a “major recurring role” that would take place later on in the season of the pseudo-historical drama, and from the look of this promo video for the next episode, this arc will begin in three weeks time.

A Sin Eater is generally a person who takes on the misdeeds of others, thus absolving them in a manner of speaking. This usually involves a newly dead person, and the eating of sins allows them to remain at peace in the afterlife. Whether this holds true for Sleepy Hollow, and what this means for the characters, remains to be seen, but from the look of things, whatever the results, Ichabod Crane (Tom Misson) will bear the brunt of it, for good or ill. This does seem to bring up the idea that there is a way to break the bond between the former Revolutionary War soldier and the headless horseman—the two became accidental blood brothers way back when—so we’ll get to see how that plays out.

We’re also introduced to a new story element in the form of the Knights Templar, who join the ranks of secret societies in Sleepy Hollow either trying to prevent or encourage Armageddon. There are quite a few of them for a single, small New England town. And Noble is not the only new addition to the cast, as genre TV vet, and all around creepy-looking dude James Frain (Grimm, The Cape) comes to the party.

From the brief glimpse we get in this video, the Sin Eater part seems appropriately wing-nutty for Noble. He looks and acts a little like Walter, so hopefully Fringe fans will be able to get a nice fix from his appearances. Overall this pairing makes a lot of sense. Not only does this reunite Noble with Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, two of the creative minds behind Fox’s embattled paranormal police procedural, but Sleepy Hollow has a similar feel to Fringe. Granted, the two are quite different in a variety of ways, but they both deal in the strange and unexplainable, and they share a distinct feel and aesthetic.

Sleepy Hollow airs on Monday nights on Fox.

Walter Bishop