Paglia was no less thrilled with having Callis on board, and said, “To have [Callis] . . . embrace the character that we created for him and to come over and be a part of our series, was really exciting for all of us.”
Suffice it to say, Paglia and Ferguson are not going to be the only ones tickled with the addition of Callis, the fans will be too once they meet his character in the riveting returning episode, “Founder’s Day.”
Commenting briefly on what to expect for this next season as far as storylines and character changes, Paglia shared that there would be some familiar faces returning, which include: Jaime Ray Newman (who plays Tess Fontana), Jordan Hinson (who plays Zoe Carter), and Matt Fewer (who plays Taggart). In addition to these well-known and beloved characters, they will also be introducing episodes which feature appearances by Wil Wheaton, Jamie Kennedy and Allison Scagliotti.
Paglia also confirmed that the “Eureka” – “Warehouse 13” cross-over is going forward and that Neil Grayston’s character Fargo would be making a trip to the world of “Warehouse 13,” and in return this leads to a visit by Allison Scagliotti’s character Claudia to the world of “Eureka.” (The cross-over episodes will air on August 3rd and 6th respectively.)
Paglia had only glowing things to share about Allison and said, “Allison was fantastic. I think everybody loved her. I would totally keep her and, if I could figure out a way to steal her away from Jack Kenny without him coming over and pummeling me, I would do it.” He promised that every effort would be made to do more cross-over episodes with “Warehouse 13” in the future, so long as it worked for the storylines and scheduling. By far the biggest proponents of future cross-over’s involving Fargo and Claudia are Grayston and Scagliotti, who are now best friends and dying to work together again.
Additionally, the Wil Wheaton episode will be an homage to the film “28 Days Later” and will air July 23rd. For those attending Comic-Con, Wil Wheaton will introduce that episode for a special screening the same night it airs.
Commenting on what it was like working with Jamie Kennedy, Ferguson was quick to describe Kennedy as being the consummate actor who could deliver comedy on cue, but who was also prepped to do each take as straight or serious as needed for the scene. Like Callis, Kennedy is a huge fan of “Eureka” and kept prodding for a role on the series until one was created just for him.
As for the return of Zoe, Ferguson revealed that Zoe will be back for more than one episode. He also shared that Jordan Hinson is pursuing other projects they have to work harder to fit in her tight scheduling. Paglia also made sure to emphasize that the Jack and Zoe father-daughter relationship is still vital to the show and that it will have a bit part to play later in the season. (The episode with both Jordan Hinson and Jamie Kennedy will air on July 30th.)
If you are looking forward to the return of Taggart, you will have to add him to your Christmas list as he will be featured in the “Eureka” Christmas episode due out in December.
When queried about a possible return of Ed Quinn who played Nathan Stark, Paglia said that because it was not out of the realm of possibility as anything is possible on a sci-fi show, and they would love to have Quinn back. He said, “I think if the circumstances are right – I’ll never say never.” Ferguson also added, “I’m really good friends with Ed and we always joke about bringing him back – well I have no say in it but it would be really funny to bring him back as his brother and call him Tony Stark and then just get mileage out of him having the same name as Iron Man. . . . He’s big enough. That would work.” To which Paglia quipped, “Seriously. He doesn’t even need the suit!”
Daring to dream a bit, Paglia also shared that he would love to have Bill Shatner, Felicia Day, Eddie Olmos on the show, as well as Lee Majors appearing perhaps Carter’s dad on “Eureka” — and perhaps one day with the stars aligning, that could happen too.
Throwing a bone to the fans, Paglia also let it slip that Carter’s love life is heating up this season with more than one love interest looming on the horizon — and to further whip the fans into frenzy, he teased, “We’re not going to string you guys out any longer. Let me just say that.”
Sharing what some of their favorite science-y creations on the show has been to date, Ferguson said he liked the serum that made one run really quickly, the hover board, and he liked traveling to another dimension. For Paglia, he was particularly fond of the underground biosphere and the ability to mind-link with somebody else and relive their memories.
As far as what lies ahead in the wondrous science realm of “Eureka,“ previewing a few of the cool upcoming storylines, Ferguson shared that there is one involving metamaterial cloaking, where it can match any sort of item to another item, mind-melding, and even a race around the moon. Plus, Paglia happily said that he is finally getting to do his “Jurassic Park” theme episode: Momstrosity.
When asked about the major game-changing storyline that comes about in the first return episode of this season, Paglia mentioned that he always had the idea for the “Founder’s Day” episode in the back of his mind since the first season. But due to the high cost of doing such a large storyline, it was put on the back-burner vuntil this season when they finally could pull it off.
Paglia shared, “It reenergized us because it was a chance to really kind of reboot in some ways and again embrace the aspects of the show that we’ve loved, . . . . [and for] our cast it was just new stuff to play and they seemed pretty excited about it.”
Ferguson added that from his perspective, “It’s a monstrous thing to do. It’s a monstrous reboot to do in Season 4. So the fact that [the network] would sign off and show their faith in Jaime and the writers and all of that stuff on that level, sort of gave us a bunch of confidence and a bunch of energy. . . and it made for probably the best ten episodes we’ve done.”
Finally, delving a bit more into the nuts and bolts of what it takes to bring “Eureka” to life on screen, Ferguson commented on why he thinks his character Jack Carter is the one who frequently saves the day when he is constantly surrounded by super-geniuses that can swim around him on the IQ scale. Ferguson thought it was because Carter has a good moral compass and logical head. Thus, Carter is more likely to just follow the numbers to get from 1 to 20, whereas everyone else is used to skipping steps and then they cannot see what was the one element that they needed to focus on.
Plus, Carter was a federal marshal before taking the assignment of sheriff, so he clearly has to have some capacity for analytic skills or he would not have gotten as far as he had. Ferguson analogized that Carter is like Peter Falk’s Columbo in that Carter just pretends to be not as smart as he actually is. It keeps people off-balance and from seeing that Carter is actually paying closer attention than they thought.
Ferguson also said that he as an actor is willing to do anything, no matter how ridiculous or physically challenging to sell a scene, even if it means risking personal peril to get it done. So if a scene calls for Carter to fall down a set of stairs and onto his face, he will do it. He said that he got so married to the idea because it was hilarious, but got so excited about it that he forget sort of the ramifications of what happens right afterwards. He confessed that while he is a bit more enthusiastic about such prat-falls earlier in the season, he is not so enthusiastic when later in the season he remembers that his body does not heal as fast as it used to.
He also admitted that for the episodes he directs, he is just as stringent on his fellow co-stars on scenes that call for them to take on the physical challenges and risks. He said, “I’m a bit pigheaded about it to be honest . . . I feel like I take the body [hits] so many times that when someone else has to do it I sort of relish it and I’m not really like, you know, ‘oh you have to wear knee pads? Oh, okay. Sure. Alright. Whatever.’ . . . I’m not a soft guy when it comes to that stuff.” Ferguson figures that he does it for them in every episode, that when it is their turn, they have to step up and take their lumps.
However, for him as a director, it is not about the pay-back as much as he wants to provide the best product possible. Ferguson is much more interested in whether they can pull off a stunt and the mechanics behind it. It is all about maintaining the integrity of the product and keeping the show at a level so that is providing the best entertainment possible to the fans.
Though he was a bit alarmed when he read the script for last season’s finale, in which Carter dodged a mine-field of tools flying about in a garage. Ferguson also ended up with a mild concussion after the one scene he did thrown himself down the stairs and landed on his face. But for him, he is willing to suffer for his art.
On a strong end-note, Paglia happily exclaimed, “But we have fun!” And in the end, that is the secret of “Eureka’s” success: it is a fun show — the audience not only has fun watching it, it is clear that those working on it are having fun too — and the fun is infectious.
“Eureka” returns for its fourth season on Friday, July 9 at 9:00 p.m. on Syfy.
