"For me, one of the most profound moments in all three seasons,” [Damon] Lindelof says, “is when John Murphy, exquisitely played by Kevin Carroll, says to Kevin Garvey, ‘I don’t understand what’s happening.’ He said it in this way that was existential. When I saw Kevin’s performance I wept for like 45 minutes, because I don’t understand what’s happening either. That is humanity, That is what The Leftovers is—all these characters are pretending they know what’s happening, but no one knows.”
(https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2017/06/you-had-me-at-departure-damon-lindelof-talks-love.html)
"terrific performance ... from returning favorite Kevin Carroll"
(http://www.indiewire.com/2017/06/fx-snowfall-review-tv-show-john-singleton-1201848412/)
"Should be nominated: Kevin Carroll was a beguiling, frightening presence on The Leftovers last season."
(http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/07/emmys-2016-nomination-predictions)
"Carroll, in particular, is just spectacular, playing a ticking briefcase of a character who’s both charismatic and extraordinarily menacing."
"we hung out with the Murphy family, headed up by parents John (a blazing performance from Kevin Carroll) and Erika (the always great Regina King). ... And it's in John that Season 2 gets the teeth that Season 1 never had"
"it's easy to get into the Jarden version of the story because of the Murphys, a family led by the terrific Kevin Carroll and newly minted Emmy winner Regina King. ... After two-thirds of an episode of the Murphys, I was prepared to spend a season with only them" (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/leftovers-season-2-tv-review-829101)
"Kevin Carroll walks a high wire with John, making him simultaneously likeable and sinister. He’s up to no good, but I’ll bet he believes it’s not just good, but necessary. ... I am excited about this character"
(http://www.vulture.com/2015/10/leftovers-recap-season-2-episode-1.html)
"It matters that the anger and intensity of John (brilliantly played by Kevin Carroll) radiates outward, not inward. ... After a single episode, John is already ... richly drawn and compelling ... He’s a fireman who starts fires, a skeptic who’s afraid of the unknown. Thanks to him, The Leftovers finally has a threat that is something other than metaphysical, a spark more powerful than the one on the end of a plastic lighter" (http://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/the-leftovers-returns-for-its-second-season-much-improved-but-still-maddening/)
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"Thanks to the performance of Kevin Carroll as John and the slight change in tone ... what we will say for now is this: This is a vast improvement over season 1. We are thoroughly immersed in this particular tale, and cannot wait to see where we travel next" (http://cartermatt.com/181750/the-leftovers-season-2-premiere-review-a-hawk-an-exit-and-the-murphys/)
"John Murphy is enough of a riddle to carry a show by himself"
(http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/leftovers-stuns-bold-bracing-season-two-premiere-226300)
if I had my way, we’d all spend a lot more time talking about how amazing the show’s second season was, and Kevin Carroll’s role in making it such. Carroll, who recently appeared in FX’s Snowfall and stars in the upcoming film Blindspotting, has spent much of his acting career on the stage, and the result is a performer who knows how to command the emotions in a room, even when he’s not in the same room with you. ... His ability to translate the complexity, anger and grief that often plagued John Murphy on the HBO drama left me utterly hungry for more strange roles like this, and I suspect Carroll is, too. The actor’s been in the game for quite some time (many of us still look at him and see Calvin’s Paid in Full glasses), but I’d like to think there’s still a big, “breakthrough” role waiting for him in the near future.
(https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2017/11/beyond-boyega-boseman-and-them-5-black-actors-who.html)
Theatre reviews
“Kevin Carroll plays son Walter Lee as if from his nerve endings—a potent, unpredictable interpretation that bears comparisons to originator Sidney Poitier's." (Backstage West)
“A forceful Kevin Carroll” (L.A. Weekly)
“Excellent Kevin Carroll” (L.A. Times)
“Kevin Carroll, as a flawed man you really want to root for” (Melanie Macgruder)
With “the formidable but unjustifiably obscure Carroll as Walter” (L.A. Stage Times)