HomeThe PopWatch interview: 'Reaper' star Bret Harrison speaks!
May 8, 2008, 04:48 PM | by Gary Susman
Categories: 'Reaper', Television
Reaper fans have been having a devil of a time these past few weeks. At long last, the show returned from the writers' strike with episodes that took the supernatural action comedy to new peaks of creativity, even while the freshman series remained conspicuously absent from the list of programs the CW has renewed for next season. Star Bret Harrison (pictured), who plays retail peon/bounty hunter for hell Sam Oliver, phoned me today from Los Angeles to plug the season finale (airing May 20), which he promises will be full of answers to questions the show has been posing all season, and to urge fans cross their fingers that the CW will renew the series. (In fact, they can do more than that. In honor of sidekick Sock, played by Tyler Labine, some fans have joined in a Jericho-like campaign to send their socks to the CW's Burbank office to demonstrate their support. Harrison has a post on his website, Krakoom.com, showing solidarity with the sock-senders.)
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Do you have any indication whether or not the CW will pick up the show?
Bret Harrison: I have no idea. I think they're going to let us know Tuesday
morning or something. [Tuesday, May 13, is the day the CW announces its fall slate at its upfront presentation to advertisers.] We just finished shooting the last scene on Monday. It's really hard to say goodbye to the
whole cast and crew when it's "Bye... maybe?" It's a weird emotion.
Assuming there is a second season, what would you like to see happen on the show?
What they've been doing these last five episodes is what I hope
they'd keep continuing. It's what we always wanted to do. It's the show we pitched. For a while, it went down this whole
path of hammering the premise home because of new viewers. I was like, "What about the
viewers we always had?" I don't know if it was the strike or what, but finally, the writers got a chance to do what they always wanted:
the mythology, the Ken Marino-Michael Ian Black story [about the gay couple, Sam's neighbors, who were also demons plotting a rebellion against Satan], Sam being chased by demons and not just souls,
and trying to find a way to take down the Devil. The big question is: Is the Devil Sam's father or not?
Do you think Sam is the Devil's son?
I really have no idea. I kind of think so. I'm thinking hybrid.
Like a Prius.
Yes.
Fans have been divided on whether Sam and his love interest, Andi (Missy Peregrym), got together too quickly, whether it was too soon for him to reveal to her that he hunts down escaped souls from hell, and for her to join the soul-busting gang that includes Sam, Sock, and Ben (Rick Gonzalez).
I think it's awesome. My vote is just to let it all out. You
go for it, you don't hold back on too much of anything. I think its really cool
that she's part of the gang. There certainly won't be any less drama. I'm sure Sam will run into some hot demon that will tempt our relationship.
I had a theory early on that the reason the Devil was keeping Sam and Andi apart was that she had some supernatural secret of her own. Does she have any surprises like that in store for us?
Hopefully some of those questions have been answered. If we
just throw these two characters together in scenes were there's action, it'll
be inevitable for stuff to come out that way.
There are some other lingering questions, such as, What was on the page of the contract for Sam's soul that his dad tossed into the fire?
They kind of answer that in the finale episode. A lot is coming out in the finale episode.
Are we ever going to see Cady (Sam's earlier girlfriend, who may have been the Devil's daughter) again? I'm guessing not, since Jessica Stroup got cast in that 90210 spinoff.
Probably not.
The show is so funny; how do you guys manage to keep a straight face?
We don't. A week and a half ago, we were shooting a whole sequence where Sam has to be on Sock's shoulders while he's making out with this succubus. And I'm attached to these wires that are attached to a truck so I can take some of the weight off Tyler's shoulders. That was the best day. He'd bail out, and I'd go flying behind the truck and whack the truck a few times. It was a very fun day. I feel like I have the best job in the world. I'm laughing all day every day.
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