James Van Der Beek’s Final Big Screen Performance in “The Gates” Took Me Back to One of His Most Underrated TV Roles

When most people think about James Van Der Beek’s body of work, the first project that comes to mind is Dawson’s Creek, the ’90s classic in which he plays a charming teenager in touch with his emotions; it came out during peak millennial youth years, so the nostalgic attachment to Dawson Leery will always be undefeated. The character, I venture to say, wasn’t that far off from Van Der Beek himself. His past interviews show that he was just as charming, easy-going and friendly and in the wake of his passing, loved ones spoke highly of his kindness and warm nature.

But for me, whenever I’d see James Van Der Beek pop up on my screen over the years, the one role that always came to mind was his two-episode stint on Criminal Minds back in 2007. It was season 2 of the procedural drama, and the show needed a villain who could truly send chills down your spine — and Van Der Beek delivered.

The actor played Tobias Hankel, an unsub (unidentified subject/killer, for the uninitiated) with dissociative identity disorder, who assumed the role of his abusive father, a ruthless archangel named Raphael in addition to inhabiting himself in his body.

It was a striking performance, one that I don’t think enough people talk about when looking back at Van Der Beek’s body of work, but one that fans within the Criminal Minds fandom can easily argue is one of the best unsubs of the show’s history. Dawson’s doe-eyed vibe was gone, replaced by a sinister blank stare that reflected the cold and unfeeling ruthlessness of his character.

Nowadays, stars aren’t afraid to play against type by taking a sinister onscreen turn, but back in 2007, the idea was still novel. Crime procedurals existed but hadn’t exploded, and true crime as a genre hadn’t gained its chokehold on pop culture yet. So, the idea of this familiar, friendly face convincingly playing a serial killer was mind-blowing to me.

In the years since, fascination with serial killers has grown and so has the procedural drama space. The world of Criminal Minds alone has seen plenty of big names (Tim Curry, C. Thomas Howell, Mark Hamill and more) appear in dark roles. And the proliferation of celebrities making these appearances on an ever-growing universe of crime shows means that the the sensation of being edge-of-my-seat-anxious has been elusive for me more recently.

That is, until I saw a screening of Van Der Beek in The Gates.

The film, which comes out March 13, is a suspense thriller that follows three friends — Derek, played by Mason Gooding, Tyon, played by Keith Powers, and Kevin, played by Algee Smith. In a classic horror plot, the trio gets lost on their way to a house party. One wrong turn leads them into a gated community where they immediately realize they’re not exactly welcome.

Red flags start to go off for the three Black men, but the desire to see their adventure through clashes with the desire to also get home safe. As they’re looking for a way out of the gated community, they stumble upon Pastor Jacob’s house — played by Van Der Beek — and witness him kill his wife in a heated argument. The plot thickens from there.

Pastor Jacob is similar to Tobias Hankel in several ways, particularly in how astonishing Van Der Beek’s whole transformation is. Seeing him become the cold and relentless psychopath in the film (when he was by all accounts the opposite) is impressive; as is watching him play off the equally convincing performances by Gooding, Powers and Smith. (Powers and Smith — who previously worked together on BET’s The New Edition Story — bring the nail-biting, ill-timed bickering, while Gooding’s questionable decisions throughout had me convinced he wasn’t going to make it.)

On set, director John Burr revealed at the screening, Van Der Beek was “the glue that held all of us together when it came to actual production … He was a guy that I could have only dreamed to work with when I met him in an unassuming little cafe outside of Austin and found out how psyched he was to be in my personal movie. That really made me believe that this was something that needed to get made. So, wherever you are, James, thank you.”

But to watch the film, you’d never know he was such a kind presence off-set; you might have believed he stayed in character and avoided the cast to turn in such a convincing performance. As a fan, losing him at 48 felt especially gutting that there was still so much good work left for him to do.

I wasn’t exactly an avid Dawson’s watcher, but I have been a part of plenty Dawson vs. Pacey debates over the years. My position was always that Dawson’s Creek was hardly a reflection of the best of his abilities; the idea of him playing an endearing character doesn’t seem far-fetched when you know his personality.

Seeing him flip that welcoming smile into a menacing frown, seeing his warm eyes turn dark and cold and hearing his often friendly, deep voice become dark and sinister, perfectly encapsulated the range he had and how much he had to offer. If only we could see more.

The Gates hits theaters Friday, March 13.

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