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By Suzanne

Interview with Aaron Stanford, Amanda Schull, Emily Hampshire and Terry Matalas of "12 Monkeys" on Syfy 4/13/16

I missed this call that they invited me to because I was very sick with bronchitis... I really love this show, so I'm annoyed that I wasn't able to attend. I think it's the best scifi show on TV.

NBC UNIVERSAL April 13, 2016 4:30 p.m. ET

Moderator: Hi, everyone. Thanks so much for joining us.

Today from the cast of 12 Monkeys, we have Aaron Stanford who plays James Cole; Amanda Schull who plays Dr. Cassandra Railly; Emily Hampshire who plays Jennifer Goines; and also the co-creator and showrunner Terry Matalas.

Operator: And your first question comes from the line of Robin Burks from Tech Times.

Robin Burks: I read that there’s going to be a lot more time travel in this season of 12 Monkeys. What kind of time periods are we looking at? What would (we think it would be)?

Terry Matalas: This season, we really kind of jump into the wish-fulfillment aspect of it where we go to – many times, we go to the 40s, the 50s, the 60s, the 70s, and we really embrace the nostalgia of those places. It’s been a lot of fun.

Operator: And your next question comes from the line of (Heather McLatchie) from TV
Goodness.

Heather McLatchie: My question is for Emily. So you’re the only one that can kind of keep track of all of the timelines all of the time. Can you talk a little bit about…

Emily Hampshire: With my character.

Heather McLatchie: Your character -- about keeping track of that.

And so Jennifer is the only one that every time somebody hops in and out, and I don’t want to spoil it for folks who haven’t seen the episodes yet this season, but there’s a lot of times where Cassie or Cole pop up and Jennifer knows exactly what’s supposed to happen at exactly the right time because she’s kind of kept all of it in her head.

Can you talk a little bit about grasping that as being the only character that sort of the bible in the flesh for all of the timelines?

Emily Hampshire: Yes. She’s like the living embodiment of our show runner Terry Matalas because I don’t know how he keeps everything in his head timeline-wise but he does. So thank God I don’t have to really do that for real.

But I like that aspect of Jennifer a lot because I felt like in Season 1 that there was something about her that I felt wasn’t just crazy, that knew more of the truth of what was going on, and then Season 2 you find out she’s much more connected to the methodology of the show than we thought.

So I didn’t really have to keep everything in my head. I just had to say the lines. So it was easy for me but kind of brilliant thing of Terry to create.

Operator: And your next question comes from the line of Curt Wagner from TV Show Patrol.

Curt Wagner: Terry, I have a question for you. Now, I know time travel, you can’t really do it and all. But how much of what we hear is based on real science?

Terry Matalas: There’s a lot of bits between the scientists that we lead here a lot of theory, and particularly which influence whether talking or (girdle) or any of the other scientists that Jones sort of apply her splinter technique from. But you know, ultimately, no one has been able to do it yet so we – there is a bit of fantasy.

Curt Wagner: All right. And then for everyone else, are you able to wrap your head around everything that you’re saying? Or do you spend a lot of the day going, “I have no idea what I just said.” What that line (of dialogue meant).

Aaron Stanford: No, that’s the actor’s job.

No, we are able to keep it in our head. There’s a really long complicated writer’s process that has to happen a long time before we shoot it. So by the time we do go before cameras, we have, we know it all.

Emily Hampshire: I don’t know what I’m saying. It does take me a while to kind of break down Jennifer whenever I have a rant or something. I have to figure out what her real – what her logic is in saying all these things, like ‘horsemen of the apocalypse’, and just like these (ranting) things.

So once I do that though and find her logic, then I – I’m not explaining myself well, sorry people are doing antics around here. I’m being distracted with the antics that are up here. But I had a point and lost it now because of you guys.

Aaron Stanford: It’s hard not to.

Amanda Schull: Sorry. Sorry. (Crosstalk).

Amanda Schull: I think what Emily was – I think what Emily was saying is that we’re very lucky to have some wonderful dialog that can often get confusing from a scientific standpoint. But we have some wonderful resources at our fingertips with Terry and the other writers who are willing to answer questions and hash things out and help guide us through some challenging bits that they have very thoroughly researched.

Emily Hampshire: Oh yes. And my point is that I can’t do it without like sort of knowing what I’m talking about. So it takes a while to do that. And then when I do it, know what I’m talking about, then I can do it.

Terry Matalas: There you go.

Emily Hampshire: Got that?

Terry Matalas: Ladies and gentlemen, (Emily).

Operator: And your next question comes from Tom Gardiner from Three If By Space.

Aaron Stanford: Hey, Tom. How are you doing? How is it going?

Amanda Schull: Hi, Tom.

Tom Gardiner: Hi monkeys, it’s Tom Gardiner. How are you doing?

Amanda Schull: Oh, hi. How are you? He’s our friend from Twitter.

Emily Hampshire: He’s that guy.

Amanda Schull: Hi.

Emily Hampshire: Hi.

Tom Gardiner: Yes. I’m always online. I’m online right now.

Amanda Schull: All right.

Tom Gardiner: I’ve got a question. I want to be diplomatic, so this is for everybody. If you had a real-time machine, when and where would you go? And do you think you might stay there or would you return back to your own time?

Aaron Stanford: I think -- well for me, any place you want to visit, it would certainly be on a temporary basis, the comforts of our present day are sort of indispensable to me. So I’d love to go back in time and see the dinosaurs but I definitely wouldn’t want to stay there.

Amanda Schull: Aaron Stanford stole my dinosaur respond. This is Amanda Schull by the way.

Aaron Stanford: Yes. You’re the only person who has ever wanted to see dinosaurs.

Amanda Schull: That was so funny.

Tom Gardiner: What about anybody else?

Amanda Schull: Well, I always feel like I don’t make good use of this imaginary time machine thing, right? Because I would genuinely just love to go back to when I was like eight, riding my bike to the pool, and like spending all day at the pool and then riding my bike to get candy and then going back home.

Aaron Stanford: I knew candy was going (to be a factor), somehow.

Amanda Schull: But I feel like that’s a real waste.

Terry Matalas: I would go forward in time to see if we get a Season 3 pickup.

Aaron Stanford: Nice one.

Terry Matalas: So I know if need to start writing the novelization continuation as we speak.

Tom Gardiner: Thanks guy. I appreciate that I’ll let someone else go on first.

Operator: And your next question comes from the line of Tony Tellado from SciFiTalk.

Tony Tellado: Boy that first episode is a killer. I loved it. It’s great.

Amanda Schull: Thank you.

Aaron Stanford: Thank you.

Tony Tellado: What is so cool about this show and because you have the luxury of time travel, you can kind of redo the choices you’re making in life. But could you comment all -- and this is really for all of you, about those choices and how they will play into Season 2. It sounds like there’s a lot more that they have to make this year.

Amanda Schull: A lot more, many more choices that we need to make in Season 2 that we…

Tony Tellado: Yes.

Amanda Schull: I think for Dr. Railly, she doesn’t have as many choices available at her disposal by de facto that she’s now living in 2044, which is – she has limited amenity at her disposal on how she can go about accomplishing the mission. She has now – she now needs to rely on a very different skillset than she had in Season 1.

But Cassie is nothing – is not adaptive. And she is very capable of succeeding in environments that a lot of people wouldn’t be able to thrive in.

Aaron Stanford: And there’s always the moral choices that she has to face, which is, you know how far is she willing to go now? You know, how much of her humanity is she giving up for this mission? So…

Yes. Cole has to face a lot of moral choices this season as well. At the beginning of Season 2, he’s really a changed man and his world view has broadened and his perspective is a lot wider. And he really wants to go about things in a much different fashion than he did in Season 1.

And he has come up – he comes to begin a lot of choices that he has to make. He’s put in situations where he might have to take a life or do something violent and he has to make a choice whether or not he wants to engage in that behavior.

Tony Tellado: Cool. And for Emily?

Amanda Schull: Emily, how were the choices that you’re making in Season 2 different? And how does your character sort of evolve in Season 2?

Emily Hampshire: Yes. OK. Season 1 we know that there’s this old Jennifer who is this wise woman who has this army of women. And so how does young crazy Jennifer become this wise old woman? And I think that a lot of the journey in Season 2– that Jennifer is really kind of discovering herself and then growing up and becoming who she is kind of destined to be.

Tony Tellado: OK. Cool. I’ll get back in line guys. I still say this is like (ballsy) show in Syfy, just totally…

Amanda Schull: Oh, thank you.

Aaron Stanford: Thank you. Put that in print, please.

Tony Tellado: I will.

Emily Hampshire: Oh yes.

Aaron Stanford: We need that headline.

Emily Hampshire: And put that in the headline, and then put like (ballsiest).

Aaron Stanford: Ball to the wall.

Tony Tellado: Thank you.

Operator: And your next question comes from the line of (Mike Simpson) from (Geek Town).

Mike Simpson: Just a pretty simple question. What do you think will most surprise viewers this coming season?

Aaron Stanford: Well I think – I think the scope, I think, is very surprising. I think it’s a much more epic story. It’s almost as if Season 1 was a prequel in a lot of ways to where we go. So I think that’s how big the show gets certainly. By the end, it’s going pretty surprising.

Emily Hampshire: What was surprising to me was they did a screening of the last two episodes for us. And it kind of blew my mind how it was like an epic movie and not only that time travel but like this (pub) story in this.

I’ve always a fan spoiler – never mind. I take back everything I just said.

Amanda Schull: I retract

Terry Matalas: I’d say one of the big surprises in Season 2 are the characters. There’s a lot of more development with them. There’s a lot more expansion of the back stories of these characters. And I think you’ll find that a lot of them turned out to be not exactly what you expected them to be.

Operator: And your next question comes from the line of Henry Otero from TV Fanatic.

Henry Otero: I’m on the road but I didn’t want to miss a chance to pop in and say hi.

Amanda Schull: Oh, thank you.

Aaron Stanford: Awesome. How are you doing, Hank?

Henry Otero: Season 2 is incredible so far.

Amanda Schull: Thank you so much.

Aaron Stanford: Thank you.

Henry Otero: When Cassie dying at the (CDC) there was that promise of, you know, their relationship. And you’ve kept them apart so much of the second season. So I was wondering if you were concerned about that, that maybe the fans would get frustrated, that Cassie and Cole are still being kept apart at the start of Season 2.

Terry Matalas: Well, I would tell them to stay tune because that won’t always be the case.

Henry Otero: Ah.

Terry Matalas: They spent some time and a lot of – a lot of time -- you know – yes, stay tuned. So that’s all I could really say.

Henry Otero: That’s good enough for me.

Aaron Stanford: The journey is long from over.

Terry Matalas: Yes.

Aaron Stanford: It leads to exciting places.

Terry Matalas: Exactly. I think, you know, they have lots of push and pull. I think Episode 7 and 8 are very emotional for them and for the rest of our characters. And the back half of the season challenges the few and away that I think will surprise you.

Aaron Stanford: It’s a great ride. People are going to love it.

Operator: And your next question comes from the line of Jamie Ruby from scifivision.com.

Jamie Ruby: So I really love the first eight, although I’m kind of upset because now I have way longer to wait and see what happens.

Aaron Stanford: All right. Sorry about that.

Jamie Ruby: But it’s good. A cliffhanger, there’s always a cliffhanger on, but it’s great.

So my question is, and this is kind of continuing when talking a bit about how the scope is changing this season. It’s like it was really a bold new to kind of move away from, not completely, but kind of shift the focus from the virus to time and kind of dealing with that. So it’s almost a new, like a big new part of the show, I guess. It has changed a lot.

So Terry, can you talk about kind of the idea to shift to that? And then the rest of you, kind of how it’s going to affect your characters in this season?

Terry Matalas: Sure. I mean, the – it was always the plan since Season 1. It’s the reason we introduced the Army of the 12 Monkeys, the way they are, and have their connection to time travel, their ambitions to use the machine, the witness seems to know the future, and there’s this thing, the Red Forest, and it’s house made of cedar and pine.

So we’ve always kind of set these things up to be part of the show. And we do get back to the virus in the episode you haven’t seen yet, that that does – it is a component of the show but it is part of a much bigger conspiracy.

But we never thought it would be a status-filling show to go from lab to lab every week looking for virus. It’s not – we’re not the time travel show and not the virus show. So it was something we knew from day one we had to do.

Jamie Ruby: OK. Great.

And then, like I said, the actors, can you kind of talk a bit about how it’s like affecting your character this season? Because obviously goals are changing.

Aaron Stanford: Yes. I think it’s – you know, first of all, and obviously it raises the stakes. If the death of seven billion people is only the beginning and the conspiracy goes even deeper, then obviously it’s a pretty big deal.

And I think also, it knocks us completely off-balance because suddenly we have to question everything that we thought we knew. We thought we were coming to some sort of a solution. We thought we were finding answers to some of these riddles. And once we got close, they all ended up spinning off into infinite new questions and riddles. So it’s just – it makes the journey that much a longer and more difficult.

Amanda Schull: I think the tag theme on Aaron that it – having all these other questions asked, and all these other puzzles and riddles introduced, it opens up our world and our scope and our capabilities, and it gives us a lot of freedom, and it gives us so much more story that we can expand upon.

And as an actor that’s so exciting to not be able to predict where or when you’ll be from one week to the next, and to have each script be its own entity, its own world that you can just dive into from episode to episode, what a beautiful gift to be able to be comfortable in the bones of your character but then get to expand on this incredible methodology and go on a journey every seven days. It’s a really nice treat.

Emily Hampshire: I mean for Jennifer, it’s definitely -- the virus and stuff in Season 1 was something outside of her that she was kind of a part of. And Season 2, I think this is the way into Jennifer and how she is really connected with the methodology of the show in such a much more profound way than we thought before and that she is connected deeply into time.

Operator: And your next question comes from (Heather McLatchie) from TV Goodness.

Heather McLatchie: Hey. So my question this time is for Aaron and Amanda.

So one of the things that Hank touched on and I’ll ask as kind of a follow-up to that, is that, I don’t want to say that Cassie and Cole are strange but they’re not in the same place for quite a bit into Season 2.

And one of the things that I noticed that was so profound is in Season 1 they’re much more tactile with each other. It’s not unusual for them to touch each other at least put the hand on the arm, and things like that. And we go for a little while where they don’t even touch each other, like it’s almost a physical barrier between them.

Was that something that you guys worked out that you would try to sort of physically convey that they are, you know, just in a different place with each other? Or was that all written and you were just kind of leading from the script with that? Because it was very powerful that I just kept waiting like, “Touch her arm,” or your know, “Do something.” And there was just nothing there. Was that hard to do? And what kind of went into that?

Aaron Stanford: Well, that’s an interesting observation. I think you’re absolutely right. But it’s not something that, at least I actively thought about or planned out. I think it was just sort of a natural thing that happened given where you find the two characters at the beginning of Season 2.

There’s that great inversion of the characters where, you know, Cole has come around to her way of thinking, and suddenly she is radically changed, and she comes around to his way of thinking, who he was before he met here. And they end up diametrically opposed.

So yes, there is that tension and that animosity. And I’m sure that sort of manifest in a physical way.

Amanda Schull: I think Aaron is right in that, you know, we’re mentally and physically worlds apart as these characters begin second season. And for the two of them to get back on the same page, it’s going to require some time, some understanding, and I think a lot of patience and joint mission going for both of them.

And I do think it’s an interesting observation.

Heather McLatchie: Well, it’s something. I’ve seen the first eight. So I’ve seen…

Amanda Schull: Oh, thank you.

Heather McLatchie: I’ve seen where it goes. And it’s just beautiful, beautiful work by all of you.

But I just – as I was watching that, I was just sort of pained because I thought, “Oh God.” And I know that we have to kind of watch this play out. But when I would see sort of hesitation physically on top of what was happening with the dialog, it made that that much more powerful.

So kudos to all of you all, because it’s…

Amanda Schull: I can’t wait until you see the rest of it.

Heather McLatchie: I know.

Amanda Schull: How it happened.

Heather McLatchie: Well, thank you so much. I’m looking forward to the rest of the season. I think fans are really going to enjoy it.

Aaron Stanford: Thank you.

Amanda Schull: Thank you very much.

Operator: And your next question comes from (Hank) from (Geeks Worldwide).

Hank: My question is, I guess it’s kind of a theory, but you know, please feel free all of you to answer.

In like the Season 1, it was a cautionary tale kind of man meddling and viruses unleashed, and you know, kind of the consequences that go with that. And our heroes are doing their best to try to counteract that.

But it feels like Season 2 is also the cautionary tale from, you know, what do you do when you dabble in that (pine)? And you start, you know, you’re going to have ramifications that are unforeseen.

And just, if you could just talk about, you know, just showing that (inhabited) will, you know, you’re trying to save seven billion people, but what if you in turn undo all the reality? So now – you know what I mean? So if you can just kind of speak to that and how that process just kind of came along?

Terry Matalas: Well, you know, it was really about stakes. You know, the idea that the army of the 12 Monkeys wants to use a time machine and to what end and to really broaden the scope of the show. And you know, it’s one of the things we explore thematically at least, in the first episode, is Brendan Coyle’s character, Dr. Kalman, talks about mother nature.

Hank: Right.

Terry Matalas: And tampering with mother nature could undo everything. It can undo humanity. It can do truly horrible things. And – what if that was the plan? Or at least part of somebody’s plan?

So the stakes are a lot higher for our heroes. There’s a countdown this season, as you know. They stopped this. And so time is not on their side exactly. So it’s just really about making things really hard on your heroes.

Hank: And every season seems to carry such a weight, such as – you know, because you’re trying to scope out what this is going to do when I save this person. But in reality, you know, you don’t really know how time is going to, you know, if you’re doing around.

Terry Matalas: Yes. It has a mind of its own.

Hank: I think it’s almost like another character in itself. You know, I don’t know if that’s how you end it up.

Terry Matalas: It is.

Hank: But it’s not…

Terry Matalas: Absolutely. Yes, absolutely. Especially when you see the season, you definitely feel its presence.

Hank: And that – some of the - just comment on, you know, put frame of that weight of the decisions, I know you kind of touched upon it. But just the widened scope of the decision. I mean any person that’s carry in the depths in the – you know, of all the reality upon your shoulders, you know, that obviously, comes with a certain – it begins to take a toll. As you can see I watched, you know, quite a few episodes so far.

Amanda Schull: I think the person who carries that weight most profoundly isn’t sitting in this room. It’s Barbara Sukowa’s character Jones.

Hank: Right.

Amanda Schull: She really understands the ramifications of decision-making and changing time and how those repercussions play out.

And I don’t want to speak for Barbara and her decision-making with how she portrays that. But it’s something she is much more aware of, and she is much more concerned with than sort of the – not, I don’t want to say that we’re (pun), but then sort of the soldiers who go forth and try to accomplish the mission physically.

Hank: Right.

Amanda Schull: But it is true that each action has a reaction. And some of them are big, and some of them are huge.

Hank: Butterfly flaps its wings.

Thank you guys for taking the time and I can’t wait to see the rest of the season and continued success.

Amanda Schull: Thank you very, very much.

Aaron Stanford: Thank you. Thank you.

Operator: And your next question comes from the line of (Bilal Mian) from The Workprint.

Bilal Mian: Season 2 has many different character interactions that we haven’t seen in Season 1. Can you just go through what viewers can expect going into Season 2 between this new character interactions?

Aaron Stanford: Yes. I think we – I think there are some surprising dynamics. I think there are some characters that you would think don’t like each other, could never get along, will get along; and some characters that have famously got along are going to be at odd.

And you’ve seen up to eight, I believe, right?

Bilal Mian: Yes.

Aaron Stanford: Yes. By the back half of the season, there’s – while you kind of know that there are some new alliances being made that could threaten the mission.

Amanda Schull: And humanity.

Aaron Stanford: And humanity, depending on how you look at it.

So it’s exciting. You know, it’s an amazing cast. And they all have great chemistry with each other in different ways. So it’s fun to pair them up.

Operator: And your next question comes from the line of Robin Burks from Tech Times.

Robin Burks: I know we talked a little a bit about how Cole and Cassie are in opposition with each other in the season. How is it going to play into the season as a whole? And is that something that’s eventually going to come to ahead or get resolved?

Terry Matalas: Well you got wait and see. I can’t – I mean, there’s a – that’s part of the drama. And the mystery is to find out if these two ever going to get back on the same page.

You know, I think it’s – you know, I think that’s complicated only for each other. But there are some big stakes getting in the way.

Robin Burks: OK.

Amanda Schull: That’s not the answer she wanted.

Robin Burks: It’s OK. I will be watching, so not a problem

Amanda Schull: So you wanted specifics. And I’ll give you all sorts of specifics.

Terry Matalas: Spoiler. How much have you seen of the season?

Robin Burks: I’ve only seen the first episode so far. I’m like (inaudible) I think pretty much this sums up like what? They are completely on different sides of the fence.

Terry Matalas: Yes. We – that’s two peaks off, right, where we left off. So you’ll get a real understanding of where they’re at.

Amanda Schull: You’ll get a few answers. But as you say, they are very much on opposite side to the sense. And it’s not going to be an easy resolution between the two of them.

Operator: And your next question comes from the line of Curt Wagner from TV Show Patrol.

Curt Wagner: Hi, again. My first question is for Aaron. I thought maybe in 1943 we’d see you clean shaven for once. What’s going on there?

Aaron Stanford: I actually would have loved to have done that, as well as get a period of appropriate haircut. And every period we went to, if we were making the film, we might have the opportunity to do that. But the reality is, the production are that whatever you established is that’s pretty much what you got, that’s what you stuck with.

So shooting it the way that we shot it, you know, out of order, black shooting three separate episodes at once, we – you know, you have to pick one – basically pick one look and stick to it, and alter it in the small ways that you can. And that’s what we did.

Curt Wagner: All right.

Well, the serious question I have for all of you was, in your preparation with your characters, and I know that, you know, the scripts – I mean this is what you’re playing. But in your preparations as for your own self and what your characters lack and everything, your characters have a lot of times nearly given up but always find a way to sort of pick themselves up and keep going.

And I was just wondering to know what drives them, in your minds, to do that? Why do you think they’re not going to give up and they don’t give up?

Amanda Schull: I will say for Cassie, I think that she has this endless quest to solve. I think that comes from being a doctor and her need to heal. I think that she wants to understand things and she’s spurred by this need to be educated on things, and then solve the problem.

And I think that that’s part of the reason why she agreed to go on this mission with Cole from – starting from the very first episode of the very first season with the pilot. She was intrigued and she was willing to take that leap of faith, you know, two years later to meet him at the hotel because she needed to know.

I think there’s even a line in there that she says to him, “I had to know if you were real.” And she needs to know that he’s telling her is the truth. And when she believes him, she’s all in. And that’s something that’s going to carry her forward into the second season that she believed this world now, and she believes the threat is real, the threat keeps evolving, and she needs to know everything she can possibly know to understand this, and then solve the problem.

Curt Wagner: All right. Anyone else?

Aaron Stanford: I think Cole’s motivations changed radically. In the beginning, it’s sort of his lack of hope that gives him strength. He just – he wants to be done with it. He wants to go, complete his mission, kill this guy, and erase himself.

And through his experiences, he changes his entire world view. And discovers help, and he values life, and he wants to cling to it, and he wants to – he wants other people to share that same feeling that he has.

So I think it’s a – in terms of motivation and hope, it’s a very interesting journey for him.

Curt Wagner: All right.

Emily Hampshire: I have to admit that I was just (pinged) when that question was asked. So I still don’t know what the question is.

Amanda Schull: I’ll paraphrase if that’s OK. Why do you think that your character hasn’t given up?

Emily Hampshire: Oh, I don’t think Jennifer can give up. I mean – I think Jennifer is kind of like, you know, weird wish, like have to keep swimming or die. She just have to keep going.

Operator: And you have a follow-up question from Tom Gardiner from Three If By Space.

Tom Gardiner: Hello again, guys. In the first season, we saw that, you know, changing time or not changing time, it seem like doing the right thing was a matter of perspective. For example, Ramse wanted to preserve the timeline to save his son and the life he knew, while the others wanted to change the past to hopefully make a better future.

Is that sort of going to continue into Season 2, as far as, you know, what the right thing to do is? It might be a matter of your perspective, your point-of-view?

Aaron Stanford: Definitely.

Amanda Schull: Totally.

Aaron Stanford: Definitely, yes. I know you’ve seen the first eight, right?

Tom Gardiner: Yes.

Aaron Stanford: Well, then you know there’s a cliffhanger at the end of eight that totally did…

Tom Gardiner: Oh yes.

Aaron Stanford: So that could divide some of our major characters.

So yes, what the right move is, and its complicated mission is – and how everybody is personally motivated is very much a part of the show. And yes, that will continue this season.

Tom Gardiner: OK. And on the subject of both personal motivations, Amanda, I’ve got a question for you.

When Cassie shot Ramse last season, she obviously saw him as an obstacle in mission, but she also just lost Aaron in the fire and it seems like she might have (inaudible). Do you think any part of pulling that trigger could have been a little payback sort of, you took something from so I’m going to take something from you, kind of a move?

Amanda Schull: Maybe subconsciously. I don’t think that that was a superficial motivation for her to kill Cole’s bestfriend because her former fiancé was killed by Cole. I think at that point Cassie is so goal-oriented that Aaron sits in the way. And he betrayed them. He put her life at risk.

And that’s something she says, you know, at some point, I think she says it to Cole when they’re in the café kind of recounting what just took place. She doesn’t even want to talk about. She said, “He betrayed us.” That sort of the end. She cuts that limb. He’s dead to her literally and figuratively.

And I think that when she goes to shoot Ramse, that’s a solution. And that she doesn’t understand why Cole won’t just pull the freaking trigger. End it. This is it. We have our moment right here. And the fact that he won’t do it, it inferiorates her on another level. Now that she’s willing to do it to cut the tie between the two best friends, she’s willing to do it because she wants to just put things to rest right then and there.

Tom Gardiner: So we really had the -- I’m sorry. Go ahead.

Aaron Stanford: Well, I was just going to say that. But I do think if you really dig deeper and we do, we do talk about it in episodes that you haven’t seen, that moment between Cassie and Ramse is revisited in a way you wouldn’t expect.

But it is interesting that Cassie called back exactly what Cole said, which was that Aaron made his choice. And then when she shot Ramse she says the same thing. So deep down, it’s exactly what Amanda said, it’s 100 percent logical about what needs to be done. But there is hurt there. And I think we’ve exploit that a lot this season.

Tom Gardiner: So really this – so the tough Cassie we’re seeing in Season 2 was really there in Season 1. I’m kind of just beginning to realize that now. But she was there.

Aaron Stanford: Absolutely.

Tom Gardiner: Just little burned.

Aaron Stanford: By the finale – by the finale, she’s beginning to head into that territory.

Tom Gardiner: And I think I’d ask Emily because she do so well at playing this really intelligent, really troubled young lady, with a heck of a sense of humor. What kind of research did you do to help you turn out such as (woman)?

Amanda Schull: She watched a lot of sitcoms.

Emily Hampshire: I actually -- I didn’t do any real research. I mean, I felt like everything of Jennifer is really to me on the page, in the writing, it’s all there, and in the world that Terry has created for us.

But the only little bit of research I get, it was at the beginning, we did talk to like a psychiatrist about mental illness, like – so it was antics going on in here. And I’ve lots of train of thoughts.

Amanda Schull: You talked to a psychiatrist about mental illness. I remember when you were in the conference room discussing that, I went by. You took that (inaudible).

Emily Hampshire: Yes, I did so. But what I came out of that research with was kind of more – I felt more confident in my initial view that people with any sort of mental illness are the ones who kind of speak the truth the most because they don’t have – and I say, they, like (inaudible). We don’t have this kind of the social filter that “normal people” have.

But I think what’s great is what you discover in Season 2 is that Jennifer is not just crazy. She’s actually tapped into something so much deeper and so much more true. So I didn’t really do research.

Tom Gardiner: Yes. Considering her situation, she really held this together well, as she knows what she knows.

Emily Hampshire: Yes, yes.

Amanda Schull: And you know she knows what she knows.

Emily Hampshire: I mean I feel like this part is just a gift because I can just – I get to do everything.

And Jennifer role-plays a lot. So a lot of it is, like every episode is, Jennifer pretending to be a new kind of her idea of like what a CEO would do, and her idea of what a sane person would do. So it’s all kind of acting on acting and pretending and playing.

Tom Gardiner: You do an excellent job at that.

Emily Hampshire: Thank you.

Tom Gardiner: And if I could ask you one more question to Mr. Stanford.

I read recently that you said you were a fan of apocalypse stories. You actually found yourself in the apocalypse. How well do you think your experience in that situation? Would you be a scathe or a victim, or maybe some more in between?

Aaron Stanford: I don’t know. That’s an interesting question. I mean, that’s a great thing about the apocalypse genre is that everybody fantasizes that they are the ones who would survive, and that they are the ones who would end up being in these bands of survivors, you know, fighting off hordes of zombies or other scavenger survivors.

I think the truth is that nobody knows what would really happen. And for the most part, you know, people would die due to matters completely outside of their control. So I don’t have a real – I don’t have a real answer to that.

Amanda Schull: I think Aaron is pretty clever and he’d do all right.

Aaron Stanford: If I didn’t starve to death or die with some sort of infection or get shot, yes, I can do all right.

Tom Gardiner: Oh thank you guys. I really appreciate everything if you’ve done.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Tony Tellado from SciFiTalk.

Tony Tellado: Hi again, guys. Just an easy one because we don’t have a lot of time. Is there going to be more time travel this season as opposed to Season 1?

Aaron Stanford: Yes.

Amanda Schull: Yes, there’s a lot of time travels.

Aaron Stanford: Well, a lot more and a lot – we go a lot further.

Emily Hampshire: We actually use the machine to its fullest capacity.

Aaron Stanford: We do. We do. Yes.

There’s oodles and oodles and oodles of time travel.

Amanda Schull: I think…

Aaron Stanford: You can quote me on that. Lots of nostalgia, yes.

Amanda Schull: I think also we get to use the time travel machine, something that Aaron has mentioned before, that we use the machine and we go back places that not – that didn’t intentionally – weren’t intentionally set to be fun. But we end up dabbling in eras that none of us are familiar with.

And some fun gets played out, some interesting scenarios and some lifestyles that none of us are accustomed to as our characters. And it’s good fun to be able to live in those as an actor and a character, but also to be able to see some of the things that people came up with when I got to see final cuts. It was very enjoyable.

Tony Tellado: Cool. Very cool. Great. Great news in casting Madeleine Stowe from the movie. I thought that was a great move by you guys, definitely.

Aaron Stanford: Thank you. We can’t wait for you to see her stuff. It’s really good.

Amanda Schull: Yes. She’s beautiful. And her work was very impressive.

Tony Tellado: Cool. And real quickly, Emily, I’m not going to curse but I’m enjoying your work on Schitt’s Creek. It’s a very funny show.

Emily Hampshire: Oh, thank you.

Tony Tellado: All right guys. Thanks a lot. And hopefully we’ll see you all at the San Diego Comic Con.

Amanda Schull: We hope so. Thank you Tony. Thank you so much.

Aaron Stanford: Yes. That would be great. We would love that.

Tony Tellado: Awesome.

Operator: And your next question comes from the line of (Mike Simpson) from (Geek Town).

Mike Simpson: OK guys. A question first for Terry, and then quickly if the other guys can answer it too that’s great.

But what do you love most about writing a time travel show?

Terry Matalas: Well, I mean, the emotional territory you get to take your characters. You know, you get to see characters at different points in their life, get to see somebody young and get to see somebody old and ask the question about how the egg became the chicken.

And I think, you know, I also think all good time travel stories have an emotional component. And you’re able to do thing – I mean, the fact that going back to the future it’s about a kid who goes back in time to make its parents fall in love. So there’s nothing better than that.

So it’s – I think it’s just, the sky is the limit really as to what you can do, and the places you can go, you know, the different time periods and how they reflect in the characters.

Mike Simpson: Cool. Thanks.

And for Aaron, Amanda, and Emily, a similar question, what do you love most about acting on a time travel show?

Emily Hampshire: Oh, I feel like you don’t – you don’t get to do this kind of any other things except for theater. Like I get to play myself at 65 because we can time travel that long. I guess it’s not time travel…

Aaron Stanford: It’s the characters that are traveling.

Emily Hampshire: Yes. Yes. And like to play the whole life of somebody on screen, you never get to do that. So I love that.

Aaron Stanford: Yes. You get to play, like she said, with circumstances that you would just never arise in any other genre. And it’s a lot of fun. Every new script we get we’re looking forward to reading, you know, what new twist there is or what new place they’re going to take us to.

So I think it’s a challenge, it’s an adventure, and it’s just a lot of fun.

Amanda Schull: I’ll tuck on to those and (dido) everything that was said. I think Terry’s initial response was a very generous one that he gets to put these characters into emotional circumstances. And what a gift that is that he sees that as one of the greatest – one of the greatest opportunities with the time travel show because we reap those benefits.

We get to be placed into these emotional circumstances that we’re comfortable with, but we don’t know what’s coming. And we’re – we have to stay on our toes because of that. But at the same time, we have – we have a little bit of the comfort of familiarity.

So it’s not like doing a completely different role from week to week. But a lot of element is changed and we have to adapt. And so it’s not just – it’s not just your ordinary run of the mill weekly procedural. We got a nice fat gift.

Mike Simpson: Cool. Thanks very much. And best of luck for the rest of the season.

Operator: And you have a follow-up question from the line of Jamie Ruby from scifivision.com.

Jamie Ruby: My first question is just for Emily. I’m just curious, what version of Jennifer do you enjoy getting to play most? Your kind of crazy side, or did you like getting to play her more normal side as well this season?

Emily Hampshire: I enjoy the most about Jennifer is that I do get to play all the sides of her and all the different versions of her.

And I love that each episode or each new kind of version of Jennifer is, it reminds me of like being a teenager when you’re trying on roles to figure out who you are. And I love getting to go through all that might – it’s weird because when I think I don’t like one, I then by the end of episode end up, or later on in the season end up falling in love with that.

Or like even playing old Jennifer, first I was kind of like I wasn’t sure. I like to play young Jennifer better because I was used to it. And then playing old Jennifer, I felt like I didn’t know what I’m doing. And then ultimately in the end I ended up loving old Jennifer so much.

So I really can’t pick one. And when you say like seeing Jennifer to me, that’s – there’s always just Jennifer pretending to be other part of herself. So…

Jamie Ruby: She has a lot of sides.

Emily Hampshire: Yes.

Jamie Ruby: And then my second question, which, I guess this really doesn’t apply to you. But can you guys talk about Deacon being part of the team and kind of how that’s affecting everyone quite a bit this season.

Amanda Schull: I think Deacon’s role is a real wrench in some plans that a lot of different characters thought they had figured it out.

Ultimately, I think he makes – well, I don’t want to say the biggest, but a very large – he makes a very large impact on Cassie’s character. And this is because she didn’t know him at all. She has no frequencies, ideas of who he is or what he’s done. And she’s thrusting to this world where he is very comfortable and very capable. And he provides her a bit of an education.

Jamie Ruby: Definitely.

Aaron Stanford: I don’t know. Am I allowed to explode my feelings? Well, Cole doesn’t like it one bit.

Jamie Ruby: Obviously.

Aaron Stanford: He has a history with Deacon and I think he feels he knows him better than anybody else on the team at this point. And he doesn’t trust him and knows that relationships with him usually lead to no good.

That being said, there are some – they do have some interesting moments with each other where there might be some sides to Deacon that are revealed that Cole was not formally aware of.

Jamie Ruby: All right.

Well anything else to add, Terry?

Amanda Schull: Well I can – may I say one more thing about Deacon?

Jamie Ruby: Of course.

Amanda Schull: Todd Stashwick has been texting me for the last 45 minutes wondering where we are because he wants to hang out with us. So I’ll say off screen that we’re all good friends.

Jamie Ruby: All right.

Amanda Schull: Sorry. I interrupted Terry’s prose of wisdom about Deacon and what he has to offer and mix up and see what…

Terry Matalas: Oh, I was actually going to say (inaudible) has been blowing up my phone. He said, “I’m hungry. Where are we going?”

No. I mean, I think these guys covered it really well. You know, I think it’s complicated and, you know, nothing different black and white on the show. So stay tuned.

Jamie Ruby: OK. Great.

Well thank you so much to all of you. As I said earlier, I really, really love the show. So I can’t wait to see what you have to us next.

Aaron Stanford: Thank you.

Amanda Schull: Thank you very much for watching.

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