(All photos by Alice Jester)
On Saturday, March 29, a group of actors and one producer from Revolution embarked on WonderCon at the Anaheim Convention Center. I was there for both the panel and press room, and I must say both events were very lively and fun. This cast has really gotten to know each other well since their coming out party back in July at San Diego Comic Con, and their comfort level with fans and each other has grown very well. Given their close and isolated setting in Wilmington, NC, filming long and grueling days together, they’ve practically become a family.
The panel started with a preview clip of what’s to come for the next several episodes, and it’s clear that they’re raising the stakes and the action. It certainly got the large crowd in a frenzy, for the arena was nearly filled with fans anxious to find out what’s next. On a side note, they really, really, need to figure out how to transport this comfortable and spacious arena to San Diego. It’s the best setting I’ve ever seen for a panel.
Natalie Abrams of TV Guide was the moderator, she did a fantastic job keeping the questions fresh and interesting about what we can expect for the second half of the season. There was common theme in all these answers, there were clearly dodging any specifics about what’s coming in this next set of episodes. Here’s some of the things we learned from the panel (spoiler alert!):
- We will learn (in episode 13 airing on April 8th) why the power went out. According David Rambo, Eric Kripke ran his theory about why it went out to physicists and they actually thought it made sense. So I can’t wait to see what Master Kripke came up with.
- According to David Rambo, it’ll be discovered that 80 percent of the world’s population has died since the power went out.
- They will be visiting other republics like Georgia and The Plains. Billy Burke joked about how they’ll be able to move easily from place to place. “We’re super fast walkers on this show. We get from place to place very quickly.”
- There’s an episode coming up with flashbacks about a girl that both Miles and Sebastian had an attraction when they were 17. Miles will be running into her again, and I guess he got the girl that last time around. This twist gave Billy Burke a good opportunity to stress how much the planet needs repopulating and making lots of babies is in order. Somehow, I don’t think Miles would win father of the year.
- Will the finale feature a big showdown between Miles and Sebastian? “Yes” was the only answer we got!
- Aaron will run into his ex-wife again. That’s about all we got on that.
- The weird blinking capsule that Rachel pulled out of Danny’s body means something. Elizabeth Mitchell called it “The center of all things.” Hmm, what could that mean?
- Leslie Hope will play the president of the Georgia Federation, as previously announced. According to David Rambo, she’s a great leader and her people love her. They have much better lives. She really takes a liking to Miles.
- Why did Tim Guinee take the role of Ben? “I knew Billy Burke was a good kisser.” Zack Orth confessed that was his reason as well.
Here are several photos I took at the panel. Everyone was in a really great mood and had a wonderful time answering fan questions.
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Revolution Press Room
Immediately after the panel, I got to interview the panelists one by one as part of roundtables in the press room. How about the irony of attending a press conference on a show about the power going out, and multiple camera batteries failing on me as I’m trying to tape these interviews? My tiny canon was temperamental that day, failing during my interviews with Tim Guinee and Daniella Alonso, as well as creating a quite hilarious moment with David Lyons. Luckily, from that point the technical issues were solved and I was able to capture some great interviews.
Since I had an audio recorder as a backup, I did get the Tim Guinee (Ben Matheson) interview that way. He was the first person we interviewed. Below is the transcript of that interview:
Alice: We heard you’re in the next episode that you’re not allowed to talk about.
“Aren’t those panels exciting? Lots of people not saying anything at all about anything. I am in the next one. And uh, yeah (laughs). Thrilling information, isn’t it? This show’s so funny though, maybe even more than most TV, there’s so many secrets and so much intertwined stuff it’s like charting a ship through a reef or something on what we can say and what we can’t.
Are you allowed to tease what actors you might be working with?
I can tease what actors I’ll be working with in a movie next week. No, I think I work with Liz and I can’t remember who else.
From the panel we’re going to learn the reason why the lights went out. There’s more to it than anyone can expect.
Yes, always. I think that’s Kripke’s MO on a level – there’s always more to it than you expect. Also, like Billy said, we get frequently surprised when we read the scripts. What we’re expecting, it’s way beyond our guesses. We have lots of gossipy guess work going on the set.
Is there any betting pool?
No, we would all lose all the time.
You don’t get into defining Kripke?
No, you don’t want to go in there, that’s a terrible place to go. It’s funny, I was talking to David before and David just said he keeps pushing and pushing and pushing, and going. Great mind, Kripke.
Any theories of your own that you’re allowed to share.
No, but I’ll postulate one thing which I asked Kripke about. I think whoever the unlucky people are on the International space station, I think they have power. I think they would be sitting there without power. This is totally unofficial from Kripke or anybody else. But it’s my theory of the physics of it. Which would be a terrible place to be. I can’t imagine orbiting endlessly trying to call people on the radio, trying not to run out of food.
I think the great thing with this show the way it’s written there’s a mythology, a back story that slowly unfolds so it’s almost universally interesting to me to discover each week more and more about who people are. I think the backstories are fascinating that way because it confounds expectations and it deepens the audience’s investment in all of the characters.
What was it that interested you in the series?
Eric Kripke and I did a series called Tarzan years and years ago. Jon Favreau and I did the first two Ironman movies together. Bad Robot you kind of want to work for. I actually find this sort of dystopian thing fascinating. I went to the movie theater the other day and there’s trailer after trailer after trailer of post apocalyptic movies coming out. There’s something about the idea of Revolution that’s in the zeitgeist of what people are thinking about and what people are concerned with. I think we’re all slightly nervous that we’re on the lip of something bad right now. That’s an uplifting answer, isn’t it? (Laughs).
We got the big emotional whammy of Danny last week, he’s gone. Was that expected? I didn’t see that coming.
I think we were all really shocked and sad when we found out about Danny. We really are this great family and there’s something great about being location where you bond with people. So on a personal level, the same with Analiese, when that character died, we were all startled. Which also feels right to the world this is in. In a world without power you can get a toothache and die, you can get an infection and die, you can get a splinter and die. It’s precarious world so it makes sense, and it’s awful.
Next up was Daniella Alonso, who plays Nora on the show. She was so sweet and perky! Just like Tim Guinee, she was very evasive with answers on what’s coming up next for the show. She even avoided talking about the episode coming up when Nora is captured by Monroe, choosing to tell us about the fight scene that aired with the most recent episode. Most of the interview can be found here. One question about fight training is missing, because that’s how long it took for me to find another battery.
http://youtu.be/NzHR4m-CeM4
This was my favorite part of the entire afternoon. David Lyons, aka the very serious and very dour General Sebastian Monroe, came over to our table in a very lively mood. He noticed one guy at our table with three recorders lined up in a row, and asked how many did he need? As someone who was experiencing major technology failures, I don’t think he was being overcautious at all!
David then went around the table formally introducing himself, getting our names and shaking each one of our hands with a huge and cordial smile. He’s definitely a very outgoing and polite person! He took his seat and given his good nature, I decided to ask him for a quick personal favor before we got started.
Alice: A writer for my site, Nicole, does the Revolution reviews. She’s a massive Bass fan and all she wants is the redemption of Bass. Can you say Hi to her in the camera (I swear it was running!)
David: Nicole, thank you so much for loving Bass more than he loves himself. Which is not much. I wish you all the best. At the moment you’re just a small Canon camera so I can’t see you but thank you.
It’s right around this time I realize the stupid camera wasn’t running and I had to hit the record button. That’s when David asked, “Was it not on?” When I said it wasn’t, he erupted into huge laughter. He sent another small message and we assured that the original wasn’t lost, for I got it on audio and others at the table had it on video. After that, we went onto the interview and I’m really impressed what a phenomenal grasp he has on his character. The following interview starts with the tail end of his “thank you” to Nicole.
http://youtu.be/qNPATUh-lDU
By the time Billy Burke got to us, the camera battery seemed to be holding. I was able to get these great interviews with Billy, Tracy Spiridakos, and Elizabeth Mitchell without problems. Might I note that both Billy Burke and Tracy Spiridakos were in much better form this time than when I first met them during the Revolution press room at San Diego Comic Con. They’ve clearly eased into these roles, and talking to the media about them. Tracy especially has come out of the shell she seemed to be in back in July. She’s a lot more confident now.
http://youtu.be/WJHDA4cycvU
http://youtu.be/uR4-m-I30Ro
http://youtu.be/UX4LfXiXGDU
Our final interview was with David Rambo, co-executive producer and there by proxy for showrunner Eric Kripke. Nicole had the honor of meeting him at Hampshire college during a lecture he gave just a few days earlier, so that’s me mentioning their meeting at the beginning. I always love talking to producers, because they do a much better tap dance around what they can and can’t say than the actors. Rambo had a lot of good information without giving too much away.
http://youtu.be/QNVkSGmeN4s
Might I also add that toward the end of this interview, the low battery light started wildly flashing on my camera. I was sweating it out, because I really wanted to get all of Mr. Rambo’s interview since he was giving such great answers to our questions. I also knew that if we had time to talk to Zak Orth, the only panelist we hadn’t spoken to yet, I would not be getting a video interview since this was my last alive battery. Unfortunately, the press conference ended after this and we didn’t get a chance to speak with Mr. Orth. Perhaps I’ll get that chance at San Diego Comic Con, for season two is looking pretty certain given Revolution’s ratings compared to other NBC shows.
I want to extend my personal thanks to Billy Burke, Elizabeth Mitchell, David Lyons, Tracy Spiridakos, Daniella Alonso, Zak Orth, Tim Guinee, David Rambo and Marc and Holly at Warner Brothers for putting on an amazing event for Revolution at WonderCon. Many fans left happy and eager to see the rest of the season. I know I’m psyched!
Revolution can be seen on Mondays at 10pm on NBC. Come back to TV For The Rest of Us for Nicole’s Revolution reviews, endorsed by David Lyons himself! 🙂
