Linden Porco talks taking over from Warwick Davis in Leprechaun Returns

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Last St. Patrick's Day, Syfy gave us an awesome surprise with the announcement that they were producing a direct sequel to the original 1993 LEPRECHAUN, a sequel that would be titled LEPRECHAUN RETURNS. But there was also another, bittersweet surprise within that announcement. Although the Leprechaun from the first movie would finally be returning (the Leprechaun was a different character in every sequel), franchise star Warwick Davis would not be reprising his iconic role. Instead, the Leprechaun would be played by a young Canadian actor named Linden Porco, who recently appeared on the TV series Channel Zero as a character called Smart Mouth.

We still have a while to wait before we can see Porco in action in the film (you can see a preview of his performance in the teaser below), as LEPRECHAUN RETURNS won't be airing on Syfy until March 2019, around next St. Patrick's Day. But during this wait, Porco has made an appearance on the Slasher Radio Podcast to discuss what it was like to play the Leprechaun.

Speaking with the show's hosts, Porco admitted that he hadn't watched the previous films until he was cast in the sequel, because horror movies scare him too badly. He was familiar with the character, though, simply because you can't avoid the Leprechaun.

Whenever I would get into a scene, I did transform into being the Leprechaun. … It became a part of me. Even after we were done doing a take, I would tease the other cast a little bit and do my creepy Leprechaun laugh and voice.

… I didn't really try to take too much from (Warwick Davis). I think everything in this movie is my own. When I was talking to Steven Kostanski, the director, we developed this character that is the iconic character and everything like that, but I modelled it actually after (Heath Ledger's The Joker in THE DARK KNIGHT). As soon as I thought of the Leprechaun, I thought of The Joker. … Heath Ledger was an absolutely outstanding performance for that Batman movie, so I just sort of modelled it after him a little bit and sort of put my own spin on it as well."

It's interesting to hear that Porco turned to a different source than Warwick Davis for the inspiration for his take on the Leprechaun. Ledger's performance is definitely a shining example of an actor taking on an iconic role and making it their own, though, and I'll be looking for any hint of his Joker that might slip through in LEPRECHAUN RETURNS. 

Directed by Steven Kostanski from a screenplay by Suzanne Keilly, LEPRECHAUN RETURNS has the following synopsis: 

25 years after the events of the 1993 original, which found a maniacal leprechaun doing whatever it takes (including committing gruesome murder) to track down his stolen pot of gold. The leprechaun menaced Tory Redding (Jennifer Aniston) until he was finally defeated by shooting a four-leaf clover down his throat. LEPRECHAUN RETURNS finds the leprechaun revived in the modern day when a group of sorority girls unwittingly awaken him while tearing down a cabin to build a new sorority house.

Porco's co-stars include Taylor Spreitler, Pepi Sonuga, Sai Bennett, Emily Reid, Oliver Llewellyn-Jenkins, Ben McGregor, and Mark Holton, who reprises the role of Ozzie from the '93 film.