Diksha Sundriyal
Netflix’s ‘I Came By’ is a thriller that focuses on an ex-judge, named Hector Blake, who is hiding some horrible secrets. Havoc ensues when a young graffiti artist discovers his secret. The film offers a very twisted sense of perception, making it clear that there is never one hero in a story. To bring down an evil person like Hector, a lot of people have to come together. The reason behind it is explained by his far-sightedness which always keeps him one step ahead. He is so shrewd and calculating that it makes one wonder whether a person like him existed in real life. Is the character of Hector Blake based on a real person? Let’s find out.
Was Hector Blake A Real Serial Killer?
No, Hector Blake is not based on a real serial killer. It is an original character created for ‘I Came By’, which is written by Babak Anvari and Namsi Khan. When the casting for the film began, Anvari had Hugh Bonneville in mind to play the role of Hector. The actor is known for his roles in ‘Paddington’ and ‘Downton Abbey’ and has generally played the characters that people like. He wanted someone with that image, someone whom the audience could trust easily, but then be surprised by his real nature.
A departure from his regular characters, Bonneville took it as a challenge and collaborated with the director to add more details to Hector’s character. For example, in the original script, Hector’s wife was supposed to be dead. But then Bonneville suggested that it would be more suspicious if she was in a mental institution, giving the audience one more reason to doubt Hector. The writers also kept in mind to give some unexpected traits to the character, like the scene where we see Hector enjoying an episode of ‘Rick and Morty’. Anvari also used it as an opportunity to display his love for classic film and gave a nod to ‘Citizen Kane’ in the scene where Hector chooses to sleep in a single bed rather than sleeping in the master bedroom of his family house.
Talking about Hector, Bonneville drew similarities between him and Ted Bundy. He’d watched a documentary about the infamous serial killer and found the parallels with his own role. “There’s that phrase, the banality of evil, and this guy is not a particularly pleasant man and he’s got some fairly questionable attitudes to life and people. But I think if you look at people in recent history like Ted Bundy and characters like him… perfectly rational, apparently smart, apparently empathetic, but actually really really quite dangerous and I think it’s just the normality of those people that makes them a bit more chilling,” he said. So, while Hector Blake might not be based on a real serial killer, the filmmakers tried to keep him as close to reality as possible.
Why Did Hector Blake Kill People?
For every murder mystery, one of the most important questions is why. Why did the murder happen? What was the motive? We find ourselves asking a similar question to Hector. Why did he kill all these people? In the case of Toby and Liz, the answer is simpler. Toby happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. He saw what he wasn’t supposed to, and he made a mistake while trying to help the man held captive in Hector’s basement. He knew too much and Hector couldn’t let him go, so he killed him.
The same happened with Liz. In the search for her son, she got too close to Hector and was without any help when he trapped her. She had to go too. As for the man in the basement, he never really died, but Hector had his personal reasons to keep him captive. This leaves Omid. He never got involved in any of that. Hector actually sought him out. Why did he kill him then?
For the public, Hector is a saint who advocates for the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, people of color, and refugees. In reality, however, he is a homophobe and a racist. This has to do with his father and his young Indian lover named Ravi. Hector’s hatred for Ravi grew so much over time that he started to seek out gay people of color and kill them. Omid happened to fall in that subset. Initially, Hector spiked his drink and it is unclear whether he had different plans for him, probably something like the man in the basement. However, when Omid escaped, he became a liability that Hector had to get rid of, so he killed him too.
Read More: I Came By Ending, Explained: Who is the Man in Hector Blake’s Basement?
