Tony Dalton, known for his captivating portrayal of Lalo Salamanca in "Better Call Saul," is back on screen as Lieutenant Ray Vega, a corrupt police officer in the second season of Apple TV+'s noir mystery drama "Sugar." Showrunner Sam Catlin sought Dalton for the role, looking for an actor who could embody an "unaffected menace" and serve as a formidable foil to Colin Farrell's titular detective, John Sugar.
Dalton finds parallels between Vega and his "Better Call Saul" character, acknowledging a similar charismatic yet villainous energy. However, he emphasizes distinct differences, noting that Vega is American, unlike Lalo, and possesses a distinct confidence. "I don't really think about one role compared to the other. I just read the script and start from scratch," Dalton told Decider. "Ray Vega is American, and there’s a confidence there that might be similar, maybe from Sam, who wrote it and thought a little bit about the [Saul] character. But we tried to do different things."
Farrell praised Dalton's presence, highlighting his stillness and intensity. "We’d be leaping around the room sometimes, but his stillness and his focus, he’s got a very real and present intensity. I loved our scenes," Farrell said. "The way he brought Vega to life and that sense of threat, but also, not being so arch as well. Also, the breeziness and easiness of the stuff with his daughter. That comes in, and that’s important as well, because it shows the human being."
The season's narrative quickly establishes Vega's dangerous capabilities. In Episode 4, a flashback reveals Vega killing Chuy (Edgar de Santiago) and encountering Sugar's missing person, Ji Moon (Raymond Lee). The present-day storyline sees Vega and Sugar confronting each other in an intense interrogation, where Vega recounts a story about a chaotic ride-along with Jude Law before shifting to a tense discussion about Chuy's murder and Vega's pursuit of Ji Moon.
Beyond his role, Dalton expressed enthusiasm for reuniting with familiar faces from his "Better Call Saul" days, including directors Michael Morris and Adam Bernstein, and director of photography Marshall Adams. "There was a lot of the crew from Better Call Saul. A bunch of people. And it was great to see all those guys," Dalton recalled. "The camera team, pretty much everybody, were the guys who we worked with in Albuquerque. They’re so professional, and they’re so good at their jobs. They work like clockwork together."
Dalton also touched upon the show's significant extraterrestrial twist, revealed in Season 1: John Sugar is an alien. "There’s something to it there. There’s this Maltese Falcon noir detective in LA, and then when they flip it to that, it gives it a whole new meaning," Dalton said. "What’s it like to be a human? What are all the good things about what we’re doing here and why we do it? It makes it a little more profound, because it’s from an outside point of view of our lives. I think it’s beautiful."