'Hell on Wheels' stars take EW's Pop Culture Personality Test

Hell on Wheels returns Aug. 10 with a two-hour season 3 premiere (AMC, 9 p.m. ET) that follows an all-day marathon of the western’s second season (starting at 11 a.m. ET). Having already gotten 10 teases from Anson Mount about the new season — which picks up in the winter of 1867 and finds Cullen Bohannon (Mount) readying to assume control of the Union Pacific Railroad and emancipated slave Elam Ferguson (Common) wondering whether wearing a badge will be too dangerous for a new family man — we can now focus on important questions, like what the stars suggest fans drink while watching the drama. “That’s a very good point, actually, now that we’re gonna be on Saturdays instead of Sundays, they can imbibe a little bit, which means maybe we can slack off a little bit,” Mount jokes. “The show doesn’t have to be as good now. People will be entertained by whatever we do.” While Common is a wine drinker, he’d vote for Coronas or Heinekens; Mount would lobby for some good bourbon.

Below, the co-stars take our EW Pop Culture Personality Test (and have a good time busting on each other’s answers).

Bonus!

On Mount’s most prized pop culture possession:

Mount: I got to attend Roger Ebert’s Overlooked Film Festival one time with my movie Tully, and he gave me a thumb’s-up statue. So I have a mold of Roger Ebert’s hand and thumb’s up with a little plaque.

Common: God bless his soul, for real. Growing up in Chicago, I knew more about movies because of Ebert and [Gene] Siskel.

On what TV moment really made Mount cry:

Mount: Those Kodak commercials, with that Cyndi Lauper song “True Colors.”

Common: [Laughs] That’ll do it all the time.

Mount: Or anything where the veterans are coming home and seeing their family again after a long time. A veteran hugging his child, the wife crying — I mean, come on. It just kills me.

On something from their childhoods they wish they still had:

Mount: I had an original Dukes of Hazzard Matchbox car. And the Star Wars carrying case. We didn’t have enough money for me to, like, actually get all the figures to put in it. So I just had the case and Luke.

Common: My Atari. There were different games on there that I loved, like Space Invaders. I know they kinda remake them, but I go around artsy people, and they have the original things, and I’m like, “Damn, you’ve got the original Defender.”

On whether they ever wrote a fan letter when they were young:

Mount: When I was really young, like 10 or 11, I wrote a fan letter to Marvel Comics. I had an idea for a new character. I can’t even remember what it was at this point. And then when I was 20 or 21, I wrote a fan letter to Dwight Yoakam. I didn’t get a response, but I met him recently and he was really gracious. I was starstruck when I met him, and that doesn’t happen very often anymore.

Common: I wrote fan letters to the pretty girls in my elementary school. I let them know I was a fan of theirs and I’d like to meet them somewhere very chill and private. [Laughs] No, I definitely wrote my little love letters, but seriously, I don’t remember writing a fan letter. If I would have, it would have been to Michael Jackson because I always admired him. I think he was the greatest entertainer. He’s one of the reasons I just wanted to do something in life.