When Dennis Lehane decided to bring his new Apple TV+ series, Smoke, to fruition, he “roped in Taron Egerton immediately.” He “went running” to approach Thom Yorke to perform the theme song. Additionally, he envisioned one pivotal character with a particular star in mind: John Leguizamo.

“When I first named him, that’s when I said, ‘This is a Leguizamo part. That was literally it. Right there, I’m like, ‘This John Leguizamo part,” Smoke‘s creator told Decider with a chuckle when discussing the casting of Ezra Esposito, the former partner of arsonist/arson investigator Dave Gudsen (Egerton).

“I had a chance to write for John on another show, and felt that they handcuffed me — they forced me to write a character who did not play to John Leguizamo’s strengths,” Lehane explained. “It was like, you gave me the keys to a Ferrari and you wouldn’t let me leave the garage. And so I was like, ‘If I get another chance to work with Leguizamo, I’m gonna let it rip.’ And I did.”

After Michelle Calderone (Jurnee Smollett) learns about Gudsen’s former partner in Episode 4, she spends Episode 5 tracking him down and hearing his version of events. While Gudsen’s out of town at an Arson Investigator Conference, Calderone stakes out Esposito’s trailer park. Once he catches her watching him, the two spend the day together, bonding over their shared concerns about Gudsen.

After watching Episode 4, it’s hard to imagine another man in Esposito’s shoes. Leguizamo melts away into the role, donning a loud patterned shirt and exuding the charm, humor, intelligence, unexpected warmth, and hurt needed to make viewers trust and empathize with Gudsen’s ex partner from the jump.

“He was always my idea for this part,” Lehane explained. “Taron was the first. Obviously he was in. And I wrote Esposito to John Leguizamo. He was a blast. He was wonderful to work with.”

Esposito claims that the arson investigator set him up to accidentally shoot himself in the foot, then got him fired out of spite — all because he saw Gudsen for the arsonist that he is. When Esposito realizes Calderone is in the same position he was as Gudsen’s partner, he lets out one of many iconic lines Lehane cooked up to play to the actor’s skills: “Oh! You’re me. I mean you’re not fucking me. And you’re definitely not fucking me, I mean — but things could change. You never know, right? Hope springs eternal.”

The character was hardened by his experience with Gudsen. He’s rough around the edges, but even after the betrayal — as he works in the sex tape business, estranged from his family and desperate for companionship — he’s still a smooth, charismatic, quick-witted guy with a whole lot of heart. Leguizamo excels at capturing all those different facets, giving a standout, scene-stealing performance that will leave you wanting more.

“It was such an exhilarating moment to have somebody write a role that uses all of me. And I read Ezra, and it was amazing. It was like, ‘I can do this. I can play a guy who’s fighting for the truth, who’s hit rock bottom, who’s self-sabotaging but still has a sense of humor and thinks he’s sexy.’ I got all these colors in me,” Leguizamo told Hola! in an interview.

Esposito is a character unlike any other on Smoke, one that lets Leguizamo show his range despite the limited screen time. He seamlessly toggles between rage and grief, has a penchant for swearing, and injects the series with invigorating energy and renewed motivation to catch Gudsen.

Notably, Leguizamo’s line delivery of Lehane’s writing, in brilliant lines like, “I usually pride myself on refraining from profanity around the ladies but not with this odd fucking anal abscess of a human being who should have eyes plucked out and his balls cut off and tossed in a punch bowl full of chlamydia,” proves he’s the perfect man for the job while highlighting Lehane’s deep understanding of his skills. And Leguizamo’s role in Smoke is even more impressive once you learn he starred in Point of Origin, a 2002 film that adapts the same true story of real-life arsonist John Leonard Orr, played by Ray Liotta.

After seeing glimpses of Esposito’s history with Gudsen, his chemistry with Calderone, and Leguizamo’s talents on-screen, here’s hoping we haven’t seen the last of him in Smoke.

New episodes of Smoke premiere Fridays on Apple TV+.