By Karen Moul
We're just two weeks into
Sleepy Hollow's second season and already fans are raving about the series' new character - Benjamin Franklin. At first glance, Timothy Busfield (
The West Wing,
thirtysomething) seems too young to play the old man we know from the $100 bill, but viewers can't get enough of Busfield's snarky, domineering mentor to Ichabod Crane.
Busfield is also thrilled with the role. Despite the schedule challenges of working on two series at the same time (Busfield is also a producer/director/actor on ABC's
Secrets & Lies), he jumped at the chance to play Franklin.
"I was really excited to get the call...and jumped all over it," he told journalists this week. "I took it as an honor, absolutely.To play somebody that's that well-known, it was an honor."
Busfield admitted, however, that his excitement was followed by "immediate panic and terror."
"It's scary," he explained. "You have to do your homework. I don't think it's a part you can just throw on the wig and the outfit and say, "I'm Ben Franklin," like you're going to a Halloween party."