If you’ve followed our obsession with American Gods, you’ve no doubt noted there’s a lot to discuss when it comes to its themes and crazy cast of colorful characters. We’ve dissected each episode with gleeful abandon, discussed its look at religion and belief (or, if you’re Laura Moon, a lack thereof), and we’ve even given you the 4-1-1 on the historical significance of the IRL gods the series portrays. There is one member of the cast, however, who’s a bit down on his luck when it comes to our adulation: Mad Sweeney, the leprechaun portrayed by Pablo Schreiber.

Thankfully, one of our favorite characters from the Neil Gaiman novel has been delightfully expanded and realized this season, so we sat down with everyone’s favorite, abnormally tall lepre-lad to get his thoughts on playing a fightin’ Irish, tackling such a prescient story during this time, and what it’s been like to portray this character and watch the story come to life. And while he did not get a chance to read the 4,000 years worth of history Neil sent to showrunners Bryan Fuller and Michael Green (sigh), he does tease us with some details as to HOW his story is expanded—though we’ll get into more specifics on that particular front soon (no spoilers!).

Which is a fun way of saying: this is just the beginning of our interview with Schreiber! Be sure to keep it locked to Nerdist after episode 7, when we’ll air a more spoiler-y part of that chat.

Are you loving Mad Sweeney and American Gods? Let us know in the comments below

Images + GIFs: Starz

Alicia Lutes is the Managing Editor of Nerdist and creator/co-host of Fangirling. Find her on Twitter (because she’s an unfortunate slave to the new gods). 

And for more from the Gods gang, check out Dan’s chat with them about their complex characters: