NEED TO KNOW
Michael Cyril Creighton loves most of his Only Murders in the Building character’s fashion choices, but there’s one article of clothing he has no desire to wear on-screen again.
Creighton, 46, spoke with PEOPLE ahead of the Hulu hit comedy’s fifth season premiere on Tuesday, Sept. 9, and shared his thoughts on his character Howard’s enviable cozy sweater collection. The actor recalls that in his first episode on the show, he wore a “pretty simple” blue sweater, but things quickly snowballed from there.
However, early on, Howard experimented with turtlenecks, which is one fashion move that Creighton was happy the costume department agreed to nix.
“The second episode I was in, we were trying to — it was when my cat died, and I was mourning the death of my cat in season 1 — and I had a turtleneck on and a very long, long cozy sweater. And being the vain person that I am, I was like, ‘I don’t ever wanna wear a turtleneck again.’ I don’t like turtlenecks.”
Disney/Patrick Harbron
Thankfully, Creighton was given a reprieve from any future turtlenecks, as the costume department decided to let Howard lean into his sweater obsession instead. “They were like, ‘Absolutely, that’s fine. We don’t have to put you in turtlenecks, but I do love you in sweaters,’ ” he tells PEOPLE.
Creighton adds that he was “all in on sweaters.” In fact, he now finds himself sending photos of unique knits to the team when he spots them while he’s out shopping. “I would be seeing sweaters, sending them to our costume designer and our costume design associate, and they would be like, ‘I already got it on my list. I already have it on my list.’ ”
“I walk by sweaters and crave them and they’d always be two steps ahead of me,” he adds.
Season 5 of Only Murders in the Building returns the show’s action to the Arconia as Mabel (Selena Gomez), Charles (Steve Martin) and Oliver (Martin Short) investigate the death of beloved doorman Lester (Teddy Coluca).
Their investigation will be full of twists and turns as they become mixed up with the mob, tech titans and apartment politics.
As for Creighton’s Howard, he’ll be looking as fabulous as ever, but the actor teases that his character isn’t in the best place as season 5 begins. “Howard is struggling with connection again,” he tells PEOPLE. “That seems to be a theme with him.”
Disney/Patrick Harbron
He continues, “He is rather upset that his animals have bonded with each other and are sort of leaving him out. He is not satisfied with the attention he’s getting from the trio. He’s saying he’s done with them. Although, I think we all know deep in our hearts he’ll never be done with them.”
As Howard seeks out connection in unexpected places, his wardrobe will evolve, too.
“This season we’re playing with some other ideas. There’s like this section where [we see] Howard’s version of a tech bro, which is so, so silly. But he’s in a jacket with … he’s in a sweater, but he has a T-shirt on under the sweater — you know, that’s a big departure for Howard — or he is in a little bomber jacket and a button-down.”
“He’s exploring different looks, but I think he’s always gonna come back to the sweater,” Creighton says.
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Only Murders in the Building season 5 debuts Sept. 9, with three episodes, followed by weekly new episodes on Hulu.
