Prodigal Son Interview: Frank Harts Teases "Your Mind Will Be Blown" by Killer

Prodigal Son began with Malcolm Bright (Tom Payne) losing his job at the FBI and being brought into the NYPD by someone from his past, Gil Arroyo (Lou Diamond Phillips). Bright brought a lot of baggage with him when he joined Gil's team, which affected the other two team members, JT (Frank Harts) and Dani (Aurora Perrineau).

TV Diehard had the opportunity to talk with Frank Harts about JT's reaction to Bright joining the team and the new team member being accepted into the fold, and the unusual killer they are chasing in tonight's episode, “All Souls And Sadists." While Bright searches down his own history with his father after finding a photo of them, the team investigates a gruesome stabbing.

Read on for edited excerpts from our conversation with Harts.

How do you think JT and Bright's relationship or his view of Bright has evolved over these first few episodes?

Franks: JT started off extremely skeptical of this guy that Gil brought into the fold of the police force with the background that he has coming from a family of serial killers and just being kicked out of the FBI, no official title, and no proof of his abilities at all. I think JT was rightfully skeptical and continues to be slightly, but over time he's definitely grown to appreciate Bright's abilities. Bright's proven himself and that's all JT asks. It's the same way, he treated his partners in the military when he was serving in Afghanistan, and the same way he treats anyone, which is he has to prove himself. He believes he has to do the same thing on a personal level. He comes to work every day and tries to do the best job that he can and he expects everyone else to do the same. When Gil brought Bright in, it really made him feel like things were turning upside down. Over time though, Bright seems to be an important asset. He helps us get the job done and that's all that JT really cares about. ... I don't know if he's fully on board yet, but he definitely sees his worth and starting to appreciate him more as the season goes on.

Is he still skeptical of Bright's motivation and his stability and ability to be part of the team?

I think JT suffers from his own bout of PTSD and he sees the same signs in Malcolm. He might not have it as badly as Malcolm does, but he knows how unstable that can make an individual, but he also knows how possible it is to deal with it and function on a daily basis if you have the right help and the right support system. He's worried about Malcolm's stability, because he doesn't have a really great support system outside of the NYPD, at the same time, with Gil, JT and Dani, he's got another family now that's starting to look out for him. I think that gives JT comfort on some level, but he's always keeping his eyes wide open for that chance that he snaps. 

Can you preview this week's episode a little? What does the case involve that the team's investigating?

I'm not sure how much I can give away, but basically, I'll put it this way, there's a killer involved that is unlike anyone has ever seen kill. It's pretty unexpected. When I read the episode, I was like, "You really, really, have to be kidding me. This is impossible, but it's not." I don't want to spoil it, but just remember I said, "Your mind will be blown most likely." You just don't see this. I've never seen or heard of a killer like this. I'm sorry I can't give you more, but you'll be satisfied I'm sure or maybe a little moved in various directions, I don't know which, it's pretty freaky.  

Prodigal Son airs Mondays at 9 pm ET/ 8 pm CT.

Photo Credit: David Giesbrecht/FOX

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The 100 Interview: Bob Morley Previews What's New and What's Same Ol' in Season 6

The 100 takes the characters we know, puts them 125 years in the future on a brand new planet as the show starts Season 6 in "Sanctum." What's being called Book 1 finished with last year's finale and now the story moves to Book 2. 

We visited the The 100 set with a group of reporters and spoke with Bob Morley about what's coming up for Bellamy, including what his relationships are like after what happened before the Earth was destroyed last season. Read on for edited excerpts from the conversation. 

What’s the relationship going to be like with Bellamy and Clarke now that they’re kind of leaders again? Last season there were some challenges, so how are they going to work through that?

They still have to kind of resolve what went down last season with Madi, putting the chip into Madi, being left in the fighting pits, and being on opposite sides of warring factions. So that’s something that definitely is touched upon and they have to figure out a way to be able to get through that. But it’s really taking in that mantra from Monty, “Do better and be the good guys,” that they’re both trying to adopt and work upon. It’s a work in progress, as it is most seasons. The challenge of trying to do the right thing and even trying to define what the right thing is and the “good guy” terminology is in a new planet where everything’s new basically.

In the beginning of the season, how do they decided who to wake up and why to wake those people up?

BOB MORLEY: I think it comes down to – like the exciting thing about this season is there’s a whole kind of new adventure squad and a whole new group of people. Bellamy obviously has ties to Spacekru, but you know, this exploring this new planet he’s not too familiar with, there’s a bit of deliberation about who to take. I don’t want to spoil that just yet, but yeah. I don’t want to spoil that at all in fact.

Can you tease anything about Bellamy’s relationship with Jordan [Shannon Kook] because that relationship was kind of sprung onto him a bit.

BOB MORLEY: It’s kind of funny, at the end of the season he kind of becomes this surrogate parent, him and Clarke, with Jordan. Jordan’s such an interesting character because he’s spent his whole life on a spaceship with just his mom and dad. I know if I spent – what is he like 24?  -- 25 years with just my parents, I’d probably be a little bit insane. Take from that what you will. Shannon’s a great addition to the cast, and he’s a lot of fun. Jordan is a very quirky kind of character that I don’t think we’ve necessarily seen that much on our show, so I think Bellamy is a little taken back by it, not really sure how to deal with that situation, but it’s an exciting addition that’s for sure. 

Are there any parallels between his relationship with Jordan and Bellamy’s relationship with Octavia, who was in kind of a similar situation, where she grew up a little bit confined?

Yeah, I guess there’s always those parallels. I mean, we all grew up on a spaceship, now that I’m thinking about it, so I guess it’s not too far removed from what they were used to. In terms of the parallels, Jordan and Bellamy haven’t gone through those trials and tribulations that Bellamy and Octavia have, so there’s not all that baggage there that has to be unpacked. Maybe there are some similarities, but they’re jumping off at two different points basically this season.

Bellamy and Madi kind of developed a bond in the finale. How do they kind of pick up and do they rely on each other at all?

Now that Clarke’s back on the same side now, it’s more of a Madi/Clarke situation there. Bellamy, as always, kind of has to think about his family with Octavia. He’s more or less dealing with Spacekru because that was kind of defined as his family -- and Octavia. Not that Madi isn’t part of that, but it’s definitely more of a Madi/Clarke situation because they were on opposite sides of the war at the end of Season 5, so it’s something they have to deal with too. When it comes to storytelling, I’m sure that that’s the story that you’ll see. Bellamy and Madi are probably going through a lot of stuff off-screen. 

Talking about Spacekru, do they still see themselves as Spacekru and the Grounders? Is there Wonkru still? 

I think Wonkru kind of disbanded, especially at the end when Indra said, “You broke Wonkru,” to Octavia. Whether or not Octavia is taking that on board, I don’t know. Maybe you can press Marie about it. It’s very much about exploring this new world, and it’s not necessarily – old alliances aren’t hanging around as much as they have been previously. So yeah, press Marie. You’ll probably get more answers out of her. 

On Bellarke.  Any chance it’s going to be this year that we might see them?

Oh wow, I don’t know. I guess just as much chance as there was all those other years? That’s just a minefield right there. Have you guys had this soup? [Morley picks up a cup of soup.]

On Jordan

I wouldn’t say socially inept, but [Jordan] definitely has an awkwardness about him. There’s a real charm to him too that I think he’s really been able to encapsulate what Chelsea brought to Harper and Chris to Monty. It’s quite sweet actually. He looks crazily like the two of them melded together, which is great casting. But yeah, he does bring his kind of like a naive charm to the character that we haven’t seen in the show before. It’s quite nice. 

What can you tease about fun stuff coming up for Bellamy and Echo because they’ll pick up right where they left off, I assume?

I think we delve into a bit more of Echo’s backstory this year, which is quite nice. I think it’s something that we needed to flesh out and to start to understand where Echo is coming from. But yeah, those two, still very much in love. But yeah, we’ll be looking a bit more into that backstory there with Echo. Tas [Tasya Teles] does some great work, which I’m really excited for everyone to see. We’re going to get into the emotional realm with Echo and Bellamy, so yeah that’s a story to check out this year as well. 

Exploring this new world, were there any flashbacks in your mind to Season 1? 

BOB MORLEY: For me as an actor, I’m like, “Yeah this is kind of funny,” because it does feel like the show’s been recreated. We’re doing a new planet, and I think there are even some lines about déjà vu or “We’ve done this before,” or this, that and the other. So there are callbacks for sure. It’s once again building a world. We’ve had the last five seasons kind of fleshing out the Grounder mythology and all that, so this year it’s much more figuring out a new world and building that story behind those new people that we come across.

This is a show that reboots itself almost every season. Now that you’ve kind of reached the point where you’re literally blowing up the world and starting completely fresh, do you think that there’s actually a way to top this and do it again this year?

Look we’re definitely giving it a crack. We have some new writers to the team. You can tell there’s like new voices coming in. The show feels quite different. We still hold strong to the same core values and stuff like that – whatever values we do have, brutal values – but yeah, having a new set of writers, you can hear their voices come through and the world being totally different. It’s different for sure, but it’s exciting. I’ve always thought that Jason and his writing team have found a way to recreate the wheel almost every season, and this is basically just doing that all again but on a larger scale. 

The 100 premieres Tuesday, April 30 on the CW.

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Manifest Interview: Matt Long on Zeke's Relationship with Michaela, Jared, Cal and More!

Manifest took an unexpected turn when Cal (Jack Messina) followed a calling and saved a missing man's life in the wilderness. This mysterious man, Zeke (Matt Long) lost time just like the passengers on Montego Air Flight 828 and added to the overall mystery about the callings, what they mean and why people have lost time. Will Zeke's integration into the Stone family disrupt their lives, help them solve the mystery, or a bit of both?

TV Diehard spoke with Matt Long to get answers about what's coming up on the final two episodes of Manifest Season 1, including about Zeke's relationship with Michaela,  the reunion with his family, his introduction to Jared, the wolf calling, the special bond with Cal, and a tease of the finale.

When Zeke and Michaela first meet, they had some skepticism of each other. It seems that they are starting to build some trust between them. Is that the direction they're going? Are they starting to really trust and rely on each other? 

Long: Yes. Yeah. I mean if you think about it for Zeke, Michaela is sort of the only thing he has in the world right now and you'll see more about that in the next episode. That answer will make a little more sense. But he's been gone for a year. He's estranged from his family. So when you've been gone for a year and everyone thinks you're just disappeared, or your dead or whatever, you can't just show up and then get back in to all your friends' lives necessarily. There's already trust issues because of his previous behavior in his past with his addiction issues. So he looks to her now because of that stuff, but also because of his experience in the cave having a picture of her, latching onto that, and using this image of this girl he didn't even know. There's sort of a reason and a will to continue to live under those circumstances. 

For Michaela, I think she relates to Zeke because we both had the shared callings, we've had similar experiences in the past with my sister and with her best friend in the car accident, the guilt that comes with the shame that may come with that. And also that like I said the shared experiences the callings that she doesn't have with Jared. And I guess Zeke would obviously just be understanding of those things that she wouldn't have to explain. They also went on this journey together. You know she helped me overcome or deal with this huge hurdle that I was trying to deal with when I got stuck in a cave. And that brings two people close together. And she went on the journey with me so it brings her closer to me in my eyes and also me closer to her in her eyes I would think.

You mentioned that that Zeke's going to reach out to his family. Can you preview a little bit of what what that looks like?

Long: He makes a decision on his own to do something, but he has good intentions, but the thing that he tries to do get him into some trouble. He doesn't go about it the right way.

Zeke and Jared are going to meet and are not going to necessarily get along. What's the dynamic between the two of them? What's the struggle look like?

Long: When he meets Jared, he doesn't know who the guy is because Michaela's never told him anything, but immediately Jared is hostile and you'll see that in the next episode. I don't know what the world's going on but right after that I ask Ben and Ben tells me that they used to be engaged. So obviously, Zeke gets the message that there's all kinds of history there. Jared doesn't trust Zeke because he's mysterious guy. He just showed up out of nowhere suddenly everyone's trusting him. I also think he has this air of mystery about him and Jared's a cop and he sees a lot of people that maybe have the wrong intentions or something. So he's always, he maybe is always questioning people. And then I think he also has some jealousy because Michaela was gone for this long period time when she was in the mountains and going to the cabin in the mountains with me. And he was questioning what where are you what's going on. And she never really told him what was happening. Then she comes back and tells him that she was with me. That obviously raises all kinds of questions and also creates some jealousy on his part. Plus Michaela and I both have callings and he doesn't have them, so he feels left out of that sort of experience. He starts to do some digging on Zeke and he finds out some things. 

Oooh. A mysterious background?

Long: Yeah, a bit. [laughs] It's all a bit mysterious because we don't know anything really. 

In last week's episode Cal and Zeke both were having the wolf calling and James Griffin gets pulled out of the river. How does Zeke have any kind of draw to James Griffin or involvement in what happens next?

Long: You'll find out a lot more about James Griffin in the next episode. A lot more. The only connection I could tell you that Zeke has to him really is the curiosity of who this guy is and the fact that when you when you see the next episode that something similar happened to this guy. So, as they all feel. Everybody who was on 828 as well and everybody on the show has questions about him because he sort of skipped time. 

In last week's episode one of my favorite parts was when Zeke was talking to Cal and trying to reassure him that he wasn't creating these futures. In these last to episodes, do Zeke and Cal build a relationship? 

Long: Yeah. I think Zeke comes to realize that Cal is also somebody that he takes some solace in or feels some warmth from because because Cal drew pictures of him as we saw in the last episode. There's something about Cal that's special and I think Zeke realizes that. And he also appreciate the fact that Cal trusts Zeke and that means a lot to Zeke.

Were there things that shocked you in the Manifest Season 1 Finale?

Long: Yeah for sure. Multiple things. Things that don't have to do with me that happen to other characters, things that have to do with all of us, and things that I'm directly involved in. A lot of stuff that happened there. There are some big answers given, but I feel like with those answers come some huge questions, as well as, some huge problems. 

Manifest airs Mondays on NBC.

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