'Daisy Jones & The Six' star Josh Whitehouse defends Eddie's villain arc: 'It began with nothing but love and admiration for Billy'

• Josh Whitehouse stars in "Daisy Jones & The Six" as Eddie Roundtree, the band's bassist.
• Whitehouse told Insider he empathizes with Eddie, even though he resembles a villain in the show.

Warning: Minor spoilers for ahead for episodes one through six.

Eddie Roundtree is the character who most resembles a villain in "Daisy Jones & The Six."

Prime Video's new show, adapted from Taylor Jenkins Reid's bestselling novel, is set in California's '70s rock scene — a world that's predominantly populated by morally gray musicians and self-destructive singers you can't help but root for.

Eddie is something of an outlier. The Six's guitarist-turned-bassist seems to have a chip on his shoulder from the start, and his growing bitterness makes him difficult to side with.

But not for Josh Whitehouse, the London-born actor who was tasked with stepping into Eddie's shoes.

"I don't think he's necessarily 'right.' I think he's a little caught in his own vision," Whitehouse recently told Insider. "But I do empathize and I tried to bring a lot more love into his story — and who he is — than was sort of there on paper."

The show follows the rise and fall of The Six, a fictional rock band founded in Pittsburgh by guitar-wielding brothers, Billy and Graham Dunne.

As in the book, The Six attempts to operate like a democracy. Even the band name suggests equal weight for each member. (In the book, Eddie's brother Pete is also in the band. In the show, Pete doesn't exist and the de facto sixth member is Camila, Billy's girlfriend and eventual wife.)

But it becomes increasingly difficult for the bandmates, especially Eddie, to ignore the self-important behavior of their frontman.

"I kind of decided that it began with nothing but love and admiration for Billy. And a desperate feeling like, 'Just notice me. See me as a peer,'" Whitehouse explained. "Scene by scene, he constantly skips over him. Or he doesn't care. 'Not you, Eddie. I don't care about you Eddie.'"

Small moments seem to chip away at Eddie's self-esteem and add fuel to his resentment. It all starts when Billy commands him to switch from guitar to bass. Soon after, Billy marries Camila, for whom Eddie has harbored a secret affection since childhood.

All this tension comes to a head in episode six, when Camila and Eddie run into each other at a bar, away from Billy's disapproving eyes.

"He never ever gets that kind of peer love from Billy. So I think that Billy kind of earns it in that way," Whitehouse said, referring to Eddie's animosity. "It becomes difficult for him to not get a little bit jaded."

"Daisy Jones & The Six" is available to stream on Prime Video. Follow along with our coverage here.