The Shield's Visceral Storylines Ended Up Giving One Star Nightmares
Have you ever been so committed to a job that it's had detrimental effects on your physical and mental well-being? If so, you might be able to relate to Kenny Johnson, whose intense method acting on "The Shield" — one of the TVLine's favorite crime dramas – really messed him up.
Johnson told Entertainment Weekly in 2022, "Sometimes I had dreams at night where I murdered someone and hid the body on the property, and I've got this guilty feeling that they're going to find out. It felt horrible; I started getting a lot of stomach ulcers." Johnson also noted that he was so wrapped up in playing his character, Detective Curtis "Lem" Lemansky, that he wrote diary entries from his perspective. This dedication is why some fans regard Johnson as one of the best TV character actors out there, but it clearly took its toll on his psyche.
Lem receives a shocking TV death in "The Shield" Season 5 after Shane Vendrell (Walton Goggins) drops a grenade in his car, blowing him to smithereens. However, Johnson wasn't ready to say goodbye at the time.
Kenny Johnson recalls moving on from The Shield
Playing Lem on "The Shield" awakened some darkness in Kenny Johnson, but he loved working on the series. In fact, he was so invested in the project that he needed to stop watching Shaun Ryan's crime drama after his character was killed off. "When Season 6 was coming out, I was trying to watch it, but I felt too close to it. I thought, 'It's not time yet. I've got to wait,'" Johnson confessed to the Boston Herald in 2007.
What's more, Johnson didn't want to just join any series after leaving "The Shield," a show that's regarded as one of the best prestige TV series of the 2000s. He read scripts for several projects, but he was selective with his pickings. He explained, "You always go out of a job thinking, 'Am I ever going to work again?' I thought, 'I'm not just going to take any job and I don't want to take a step back. I want to take a step equal or forward.'"
Ultimately, Johnson went on to star in shows such as "Sons of Anarchy," "Dexter," "S.W.A.T.," and "Mayor of Kingstown." However, it's unknown if any of those shows gave him nightmares.