Q&A Interview with HAVEN's Stars Emily Rose and Lucas Bryant About Season 5
Mike Vicic - September 11, 2014
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TV Tango recently participated in a conference call with HAVEN stars Emily Rose and Lucas Bryant, who dished details about Mara, Audrey and Nathan in the new season; discussed Lucas' upcoming directorial debut; revealed challenges in filming a double season; mused about future seasons; and thanked fans from around the globe for their long-time and continued support. For complete details, read the entire Q&A below, which we edited from the original transcript.
Season 5 of HAVEN premieres tonight (Thursday, September 11, 2014) at 8pm ET/PT on Syfy.
Season 5 picks up immediately after the whirlwind events of the Season 4 cliffhanger, in which Nathan, Duke, and Audrey finally succeeded in banishing the destructive Troublemaker William from their lives. In the season premiere "See No Evil," Duke is now a ticking time bomb, at death's door and fighting to contain all the Troubles within him, while Nathan faces his greatest fear that Audrey -- the woman he's fought so desperately to save -- may be gone forever. The 26-episode fifth season of HAVEN gets a new resident when Laura Mennell joins the cast in a recurring role playing Dr. Charlotte Cross, a brilliant and beautiful epidemiologist from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) who fears the town of Haven is on the verge of a deadly viral outbreak. She's a force to be reckoned with, as Audrey, Nathan and Duke quickly discover. Meanwhile, Dwight works overtime to keep the troubles hidden from Erin. But, when she unknowingly uncovers a genetic marker found only in Troubled people, the residents of Haven realize her discovery could lead to a scientific cure for the Troubles that plague the town.
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Question: Can you compare the relationship between Mara and Nathan to that of Audrey and Nathan? Emily Rose: Oh, I think Lucas should answer that.
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Lucas Bryant: ...is edible this season -- as always -- but exceptionally so in the role of Mara. It's a total treat to watch her and get to play with her, except for the fact that she kicked my ass all over the town. So that's a new development. |
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Question: Emily, are you kind of hoping that you get to extend this as long as possible even though we know Audrey will eventually come back? Lucas, are you getting tired of being the love sucker [that is, a sucker for love]? Emily Rose: Lucas, you're going to think on that while I answer.
Mara is a lot of fun and definitely something I never expected would be the case with HAVEN, but it has definitely turned out to be true. It's just the ability to play so many different characters. So her personality is a blast, even though there are definitely moments in this season that she made me really uncomfortable and I didn't like playing her at some point. For the most part, I do really enjoy being that evil and bad, so I don't know what that says about me. It really was fun and I do hope to get to play her for a long time. We don't know if Audrey comes back, do we? We don't know how and when and if she does come back... |
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Lucas Bryant: We don't, no we don't. |
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Question: Coming into this season, what were you hoping to see after last season's big cliffhanger? Emily Rose: It's a big question. |
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Lucas Bryant: Not in a no-hope sense, like it's hopeless, but just no ideas of where we were going or what we were going to do. I think that in some ways it kind of developed as it went, too. There's a larger idea for this double season that we're shooting right now. But I think some specifics were changed along the way because of what was happening in the shooting and what people were reacting to on the screen. So personally what I knew coming into this season was that we'd be doing shooting double episode blocks, and so that was exciting in that instead of having to deal with the 'Troubles' so quickly and succinctly every week, we had more time to explore really the effect that those 'Troubles' have on our characters. Emily Rose: It's a 13-and-13-episode arc.
But in terms of what I was hoping for, I really had no clue. They gave me that one last sentence that I said in the cave as Mara last year that I didn't know was going to be a big-name character of this year. And I'm glad that it was. That was a really pleasant surprise and really, really enjoyable and a cool challenge. It's interesting to come back every year with some of the people coming back and playing the same people. They know these characters so backwards and forwards and up and down. Having to come back and not play Audrey Parker and to play a totally different person, a different personality, with getting to know someone new all over again and have those early conversations with the show runners and the writers about what we all felt like she would do and act and all of those things. So giving birth to a new character is always a new adventure and very exciting. And it was a real gift and I really appreciate them giving her to me in that way. |
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Question: With these double episodes, is it going to be a two-episode arc so that we kind of set up for every two episodes? Emily Rose: Pretty much. |
| Emily Rose: Yes, I think the cool thing that it offers also is it's a big reason for viewers to come back each week and watch what's going to be happening. It links two episodes together, where you're used to this underlying mythology, but now you add that the trouble is the cliffhanger as well to the mix. It really ups the stakes of wanting to make sure that I come and watch it live so the ratings are awesome every Thursday night. | |
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Question: What's the overall theme to this season? Lucas Bryant: Mm-hmm. |
| Lucas Bryant: It's my theme. Emily Rose: It's because he's a love sucker. [Laughter] We're just now embarking on filming the second half of the season and that definitely already feels different which is exciting. I don't know about you but I was a huge LOST fan and I remember when they discovered that there was this neighborhood that was on the island and that there was this whole other group of people that existed. It just shifted your whole entire perspective of what was going on. It's exciting when shows can do that, and I feel like there's kind of that feeling [for HAVEN]. It's not like that at all in terms of the neighborhood thing, but there's a feeling to that in the back half of the season. I think that will take on its own voice and its own tone. It's only in looking back at the first half of the season right now that I can kind of get a vibe for what that is, but it doesn't really feel themey per se, personally. Lucas Bryant: For Nathan it's always about the same thing. It's always about getting him some more Audrey, but, like Emily said, there has recently been a huge shift in our world, and that's an exciting journey we're about to go on. Emily Rose: Not to speak too much about Audrey specifically, but we haven't seen Audrey for how long now? Like since the end of Season 3 for Audrey proper? In Season 4 she was a Lexi-Audrey hybrid, so I think it's a whole hunt for Audrey 1.0 so to speak, for me personally. I really was missing that original Audrey for some reason -- I don't know why -- but I was definitely. So I definitely think that's a strong pull for viewers of wanting to see that. |
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Question: Do they tell you what's going to happen at the end or do you just find out a couple of scripts earlier? Emily Rose: We don't know at the end. Currently Lucas knows a bit more than I do, because he is getting his directorial debut this second half of the season. I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas morning. I don't know why, but I keep asking him "So what are you doing in director land today? How was prep? What's it like? What's going on? Have you heard anything? Do you have your script yet?" Very exciting. So in terms of what we're going to get at the end of the show, the writers are always very reluctant to give us any of that information, but if you want to get any spoilers, you need to get it out of Lucas, because he knows the most further south right now. |
| Lucas Bryant: But it's only like another inch of information. I don't have any key to that kingdom. I don't have a clue where we're going to end. Emily Rose: I mean they always say that they know the final frame of the season. I sort of feel like we may shoot what that is and I don't know if there's something, because there is always hope that we're going to come back for another season. It's not done and done at all. So they know the end of it, but they haven't told us ever what that is. They're always sure that the fans will like it. To give them credit, I think they've been pretty right. Something has been kind of crazy this year, which has been a very interesting phenomenon is that we have had lots of people and meeting fans and visitors. And something that has really been a cool observation I think has been the range of age groups of fans. We have fans that are like 7, 8, 9, and then I think I met one of our oldest fans the other day who was like 83, I think. No? 73? [To Lucas] you're shaking your head like it's amazing. Lucas Bryant: I'm shaking my head. I can't believe... Emily Rose: The fact that we have mothers and daughters and husbands and wives. We have the teenager crowd and we have the adults-like crowd and things. And they're from... We just have a list here of people -- Australia, Germany, UK, Sweden, Monaco, France, Ohio, Florida, Illinois, Arkansas. They come from all over. And so I think the coolest thing that I've realized in fighting all these years for little details here and there is that the network and the writers and everybody have a really amazing pulse on a story that seems to appeal to a wide group of people. When you say, "Is it something that the fans will like?" I sure hope so, but I feel like our fans are pretty awesome and somehow we really get each other, I guess. Lucas Bryant: That list of people? Those aren't just the places that we have fans. Those are the people that drove here or took a plane or a boat -- traveled across the world to come and see this part of Nova Scotia where we shoot, which is quite an honor. |
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Question: Are we going to get more steamy Audrey-Nathan loving like last season or maybe some Nathan-Mara action? Emily Rose: Oh, dear. |
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Lucas Bryant: Yes, right, right, right. Question: Well, would Audrey forgive him if he made pancakes with Mara.. Lucas Bryant: No, that never happened. Emily Rose: That did happen. Lucas Bryant: The pancakes! Emily Rose: Well, no, waffles. What did they have in the '50s? Whatever they have. Lucas Bryant: Pies. I'm just going to shut up. Emily Rose: Yes, you should. Just got you right now. Lucas Bryant: If Nathan were to make pancakes with Mara, there would be a really good reason for it. Emily Rose: A really good reason, that's what they all say. I don't know though if Mara is getting....well, I'm going to leave it at that. |
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Question: What was it like for you to shoot 13 and then just shoot the next 13? Emily Rose: We didn't really get a break in between them. We literally are shooting the 26 straight through. We're about to go on our second hiatus, which is just like a weeklong, but we're shooting them straight through. It's easier to get the machine here up and going and to keep it going for everybody. |
| Emily Rose: What was weird was coming up on the 13 and being like, "Oh my gosh, this is it." In adding a double order, we took a day away from each episode that we're filming. We used to film in seven [days], and now we're filming six, so 12 days for the two episodes, which in TV talk that's insane. It really made the first 13 go by super quick. I remember at the end we just finished the first 13 and to be like, "Oh my goodness we would have been done by now. We would have been home, you know." It doesn't feel like we should be done yet. But it's exciting to do this next season. You feel like something that I always feel every year, but at the end of the 13 I might be like, "Oh no, I really am like in the heat of what we're doing" and then you have to go home. And this year I feel like it's like, "Oh, yes, okay, let's hit our stride and then let's even hit our stride even more." So I'm excited about that. Lucas Bryant: Like Emily said, it's interesting. I don't know if it's a chicken or the egg thing if the way we've been shooting this season has allowed for us to have more energy or if we have more energy because we're pacing ourselves for the marathon. But, like Emily said, we would normally be done right about now. I feel like there's a lot of gas in the tank left and thankfully it's so because we still have a long haul. Emily Rose: And you have to direct on top of that. Lucas Bryant: And I get to direct on top of that. |
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Question: Will viewers ask themselves, "Do I hate Mara or do I like her?".
Emily Rose: Yes, and that's honestly the question that was on set every day. I have a great hair and make-up team that are a big part of making that wardrobe and make that character be a different person. I'd have crew come up to me because and saying, "Guy, love to hate her. I can't say I like her but I don't - what is she saying?" I guarantee you, if you think that she has pushed the limit in the first episode, there are some things that Mara says that I would be really feel uncomfortable saying right now. So it's exciting that the writers get to go there as well in the show and in turn get to go to those depths with me.
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Question: Emily, how much fun has it been playing Mara? Emily Rose: A lot of fun. I mean she has got a lot of attitude. It's funny, I watched the first couple of episodes too, just to kind of see how this new character rolled out because I'm a very visual person. I don't necessarily like to just let the world go. I stopped to kind of watch it to gauge where I'm at and where I feel like I should be at. While Mara is pretty cool in the first episode I feel like episode 5, 6, 7 she really, really hits true Mara form which is really exciting. |
| Emily Rose: I'm going to be in this for a while.At the end of playing a Mara day, I'm very exhausted because as much energy as it takes to just normally like solve the 'Troubles' and keep the world from blowing up all the time, it takes even more energy to just be sort of mocking everyone and in everyone's face and keeping a lid on her own stuff that she's dealing with. What was fun about Mara is sometimes, as an actor, when you're working on an episode, you'll do something that you think is really awesome and big and the directors will come up to you and be like, "Okay, that was a good exercise. Now, let's dig it down a couple of notches." And you're like, "What, that was great! That was big, that was dramatic, that was awesome." And with Mara I never got smaller with her. Rarely did I get that. I got bigger. Keep going, keep going. And I was like, fine. Permission to do that was a blast. Then to have it work is always nice, not go back and go, "Wow, I should never have done that. Oh, not at that angle." |
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Question: With these characters, would you want to go for 10 seasons or more? Emily Rose: I'm going to give that one to Lucas because he always answers that one. |
| Emily Rose: To be honest and frank with everyone it's really the fans that determine that for us 100%. We're not - you know, we're on - we're a cable show and we have all of our, you know, contracts or what not have expiration dates on them. So, you know, as much as we love the characters and, to be honest on one facet of your question, the way you phrased it, you said, 'Do the characters have the chemistry to continue on?' I actually think that is something that our show does have, really great chemistry like the friendships and the ability to work together in long, crazy conditions all the time for this long. I have no doubt that if it relied on chemistry and relationship like, you know, Adam Copeland has been a great addition to our cast and all the guest stars, I mean Richard and John and everybody, it's just like we really know how to operate as a family up here, and if it was based on chemistry and how that, you know, everybody getting along, it wouldn't be an issue. But because it's based on numbers and ratings and all of that stuff, you know, it will be interesting to see how the fans, you know, turn out for these next couple of seasons and then to see how the networks respond to those numbers and things. And obviously if we don't continue on on Syfy for whichever reason or what not, I mean I don't put it past anybody. You know, we live in a day and age where shows get canceled and picked up again all the time. So we all are kind of holding our breath to see, you know, is this the end? We don't know, you know, or is it the beginning to just a different chapter of it. But honestly, like every show, it just depends on the audience and on their dedication to showing up for it regularly. And we have great fans. No doubt that would happen but, you know, in days of DVR and everything it's hard for those numbers to translate. |
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Question: Are we going to be going back to the Colorado Kid anytime soon? Emily Rose: We do. We do not abandon it. Let me put it that way. It is definitely a piece of the discussion. I don't know, what do you think, Lucas?
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| Emily Rose: Yes, we don't abandon it. It's always a fiber to the magical rug that is HAVEN. | |
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Question: Last season Eric had a guest star that was kind of dedicated to do Duke. Then we had William who was kind of dedicated to Audrey and Lexi. Who is Laura Mennell going to belong to this year? Will she be making pancakes? Is she part of the heat? Lucas Bryant: She is. |
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Question: So at this point Nathan doesn't get a dedicated guest star?. Emily Rose: Will that be the name for Mara and Audrey Parker...a wall?br /> Lucas Bryant: The wall. Emily Rose: The wall, his dedicated wall. That's funny. |
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Question: With this double-length season fueling rumors that it might possibly be the last, are you finding that you really appreciate the time you get to spend together off set more? Lucas Bryant: Hmmm. |
| Emily Rose: Yes, I think Lucas is blacking out every day I come to set in my bi-polarness and he's like, "So how are you?" And I'm like, "We have got to stop complaining about little things because we may not have this anymore and there's going to be a time when you are like, where is Emily and why can I not be acting with her?" Lucas Bryant: That's true. Emily Rose: "Where is my coffee?" And he's like, "Whatever, I don't know what you're talking about. We'll be acting together until we're 80." Lucas Bryant: Right. Emily Rose: "Because you're in my contract." Lucas Bryant: Yes, that is true. Emily has been reminding me every day to be thankful for her. Emily Rose: No, but every day I've been coming to set nostalgic. Lucas Bryant: She does. We're doing her close-up and she's like, "Just take this in, because someday you're going to be looking across the room and this face may not be there." Emily Rose: You're a horrible person. Lucas Bryant: "...and you're going to think back to all of it..." Emily Rose: I'm totally sentimental every day. Like Lucas said, we're trying to make a good show and care about it a lot and so we get in the ring and in this fight for our characters and everything and get in it. But I'm constantly looking around the room at our crew and getting sad about the fact that every year you're kind of like, "Well, maybe we'll be back on the set," but you're kind of like, "Oh, wow, they ordered 26 episodes. This really might be the end of the line." You don't know, and so these are friends up here and our family. We've been up here for five years. I mean that's a long -- that's a big section of our lives. There have been weddings, there have been babies, there have been all kinds of stuff so it's a tight family. Lucas Bryant: Yes. Emily Rose: And that's sweet. |
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Question: We've seen a few different time periods represented in HAVEN's history. So is there any period in the history that you would like to visit or revisit? Emily Rose: Yes, I've always wanted to do 1800. I've always wanted to do like a Western or petticoats and horses and that. That has been my dream before anything. I'm been trying to weave it in this one. |
| Emily Rose: I don't want horses. Lucas Bryant: I don't have a specific time that I'd like to visit. we did the 1955 episode and then that episode last year with the HAVEN in an alternate reality. And I think any time that we travel outside of this normal -- well, not that it's normal in any sense -- but what we've come to know as HAVEN those episodes have been my favorites to perform and to watch. So I'm up for any time travel really. Emily Rose: I'm just up for the 1800s. Lucas Bryant: Emily is only up for horses. |
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Question: Lucas, can you tell us about your directing and how it came to be? Emily Rose: He's going to be awesome. |
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Lucas Bryant: She doesn't even have a clue what I have in store for her. Question: Lucas, did you go through like the whole process of being prepped as far as shooting and then post production and pre-production?. Lucas Bryant: Right, every bit of it. Now there'll be some limitations I guess when we're doing it because -- I guess this isn't a spoiler -- Nathan is in the season. I am still alive in some way anyway. Yes, so I'll have to be working with my acting schedule exactly during prep. But a lot of that has been scheduled around the days that I have to shoot and so everyone's going to make those allowances for me thankfully. Question: Emily, is it going to be interesting taking orders from this guy?. Emily Rose: Ah, I mean I do it every day anyway. Question: Emily, do you want direct? |
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Question: Can you tease any new 'Troubles' that you liked in the new season? Lucas Bryant: Oh, they're running out of ideas. This new season we have weird bottom-of-the-barrel 'Troubles' like that guy whose eyes cross when he gets upset and I'm about that. No, that's not true. Yes, somehow, somehow they keep coming up with totally off-the-wall great stuff. |
| Emily Rose: Actually this season has a few of my favorite ones we've ever had. I think one of them affects our dear friend, Eric Balfour who plays Duke Crocker. It's earlier on and it's funny, in my opinion. And then another one affects everyone in the town and I can't really be specific about that but it's pretty, pretty funny. So it's as dramatic and freaky as the season is. What I do like about the 'Troubles' is they don't always take themselves too seriously and provide a lot of levity for the show, and there's a couple of those that I really like. I can't obviously state what those are, right. Lucas Bryant: I think we can say that one that's probably my favorite... Emily Rose: We can say that one? Lucas Bryant: ...to play definitely from this year. I won't tell you specifically what happens, but there is a sort of a kind of FREAKY FRIDAY-style 'Trouble.' And if you know anything about FREAKY FRIDAY that's a reference... Emily Rose: Google it. Lucas Bryant: ...to a movie where some people got trapped in each other's bodies. Emily Rose: That's really, really well-done and really funny. |
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Question: What was your favorite moment -- a scene, on-set mishap or prank -- shooting so far this season? Emily Rose: I have a couple, as always. I have two -- one I just shot the other day that will come at the very end of the season. It was just a cool moment I think just in my career in general just to be able to do. So that will play out at the end of the first season.
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| Emily Rose: And then the other one isn't necessarily a specific moment but it's kind of like what the 26 episodes and shooting a double block has kind of allowed for us -- it has been a love-hate relationship for me -- is that in creating these double blocks we're in this location all day to make it easier on production in terms of not having moves or anything. So inevitably what happens is we end up block-shooting a lot of the day which means we're in one direction filming all the scenes for the day and then we turn around and do them all again on the other side. And a lot of what they did to alleviate the pressure on production initially was to do a lot of the two-person scenes. So with Mara being a character obviously new to the forefront, I had a lot of scenes with just Nathan or just Duke or just Dwight or what not. This is just kind of like one-on-one scenes. And having been in a show that operates exterior mainly and is dealing with the end of the world to have it all pared down and to be able to do some scene work like back in theater school was a huge challenge, but really rewarding at the end of the day, and allowed for the water to my actor's soul to actually do scene work which was really a pleasant surprise and I really enjoyed being able to do with Mara. Lucas Bryant: Like I mentioned before, that FREAKY FRIDAY 'Trouble' one. All aspects of that were a joy to shoot, and you'll understand why when you see it. But then also I guess what I've really enjoyed this season is working with Emily Rose honestly, getting to see her play this totally outrageous character and getting to watch that character develop over the season and then having to react to that character who is giving me something that is totally as far from what I'm used to getting from someone that looks exactly like Emily Rose has been. That has really been a real pleasure.I've really gotten to watch literally on her face, her discoverer. I think just like she said, the lengths that she can go to in this character and the freedom and abandon with which she has attacked it has been really easy to react to and be with. And so that has been a real pleasure. |
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Question: Do you have a message for the fans who pushed to keep HAVEN on the air? Emily Rose: Totally. Here's the deal. When I go back and I re-watch all of the episodes, I start to buy into it around Season 2 where I'm like really hooked into it. So for everybody that's stuck in through Season 1...
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| Emily Rose: We were just a baby back then. I love it. I hope that it's paying off and that the stories are exciting and enjoyable. We're just really thankful and humbled by your dedication to our show and the fact that we know we wouldn't be coming back if you guys weren't watching and tweeting and getting online and on Get Glue making our show one of the top 10 watched shows. You know, just talking. All of that stuff is a result of our fans, and so we're really, really thankful for it -- not only here in North America, but our global audiences. It's so impressive. I mean I was staying in a bed and breakfast and there was an Italian family there and they were like, "Oh my god, you're on HAVEN. We love that show." And I was like, "In Italy, really?" It boggled my mind. It's so impressive. So thank you so much. And then also know that the characters are always fighting for the little things that made HAVEN original in the very beginning and trying to keep it true to some of its original forms. So we not only do that for ourselves but we're always like, "We think the fans will really like it." You guys are always in our minds in that way. Lucas Bryant: Yes. Emily Rose: Again I've steamrolled Lucas. Lucas Bryant: You nailed it. It's absolutely true, like we said earlier. Especially that year I think more than any year we've been up here there have been people showing up in town from all over the world because they were inspired to come here not just necessarily to try and track us down but because they we're introduced to Nova Scotia through seeing it on their TVs. It's not a place that is normally shown on television. There was a family here this year who had been saving to travel from France who decided two years ago that they were going to make the trip. They started saving so that they can do it, and they came and spent a week here. That sort of dedication, like Emily said, is totally humbling, and we are honored that people love the show as much as we do. It is reason #1 that we're still here and still able to do this every day is the fans. So thank you for all of that. |
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If you can't wait for the new season of HAVEN, which premieres tonight (Thursday, September 11, 2014) at 8pm ET/PT on Syfy, you can check out this sneak peek:
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