Monday 23 September 2013

Is Root Crazy or Sane? Amy Acker Talks Person of Interest: Season 3

Person of Interest returns to CBS this coming Tuesday (new night!) at 10/9c, picking things up where we left off in the Season 2 finale - with the Machine now in an unknown location and talking to "Control," Finch and Root, separately. And now that both Amy Acker and Sarah Shahi have been bumped up to series regulars, things are bound to get out of hand quickly. Because you know that mental institution won't hold Root for long.

I had a chance to talk to Angel/Alias alum Amy Acker about her role as Root, the deep mythology of the series, getting intimate with The Machine, and whether or not Shahi's character, Shaw, is going to cause problems for Root down the line.

IGN: Firstly, congratulations on being promoted to a series regular for Season 3.

Amy Acker: Thank you. It's a really fun character so I'm happy to be a part of it.

IGN: Was the possibility of becoming a regular anything that was originally discussed with you when you took the role at the end of Season 1?

Acker: Not really. It's interesting, when I first talked to Jonah [Nolan,] and Greg [Plageman] about the part they'd already actually introduced the character in an episode where you'd only seen the back of her head and her hands. And it wasn't me obviously, but they asked me, "Would you come play this part?" and said, "We'll show you what we've done with her so far." So it was nice to come into a part that I'd already got to see get set up and what they had in mind. So they told me I would probably be on about five episodes last season -- Season 2 -- and then when I read the script for the finale I saw they'd put me in a mental institution. Which was good, because killing me off would have meant I got fired!

IGN: Have you had a chance to talk to Michael Emerson about becoming a regular since that's what happened to him on Lost? Where he started as a guest and they liked him so much they had him stay?

Acker: You know someone mentioned that at Comic-Con, but I guess I hadn't realized that about his character. I feel like he was there all along. So someone did mention that before, but we haven't talked about it.

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Acker, as Root, talking to The Machine on Person of Interest.

IGN: CBS is known for it's "case of the week" shows that don't exactly pry that much into the lives of the investigators. But Person of Interest has a ton of mythology to it - so much that people can actually lose track. Are you glad to be a part of a show with so much backstory?

Acker: For me, I think that's kind of the great thing about the show. That they manage to keep that "case of the week" element but still include so much mythology. I mean, after being on Alias and other things that had such deep mythology -- like Angel -- all of the shows that I've been on before have been so rooted around the mythology. And that's really fun because it means there's always new coming in and they bring a new energy with them. And a new take every week. I kind of gives us room to explore the mythology. And I feel lucky because most of my character on this show is based in the mythology, and revolves around that part of the show, with the Machine. And I think that's going to be even stronger this year.

IGN: We saw Root's origin story, but will there be more flashbacks into her past? This time, you know, showing you, now that we know which of those teenage girls grew up to be Root?

Acker: I hope so! I don't know. I mean they use the flashbacks so well with other characters. We've learned so much about Finch and Reese and all the others. So it would be exciting to see what they'd do with my character. Showing how she went from living in Texas to where she is now. We haven't done that yet, but who knows?

IGN: What can you tell us about Root's devious schemes in Season 3?

Acker: I don't know how much I'm allowed to tell. Let's put it this way... I know I'm talking to the Machine, but they haven't exactly written the other side of that. There's no concrete dialogue for what the Machine's actually saying to me, so a lot of it just determined by my actions. So I realize, 'Oh, she told me to do that and she told me to do this." But we are in close contact. She's kind of my only friend right now.

Acker talks more about The Machine, Root's mental state and whether a showdown with Shaw might be coming on Page 2.


Source : ign[dot]com

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