Noah Wyle: Still hot. And I told him so.
Dec 3, 2008, 12:11 PM | by Mandi Bierly
Categories: Inappropriate Crushes, Television
Yes, we're all eagerly awaiting the return of Dr. John Carter, but before Noah Wyle checks in for ER's final four episodes (read what he has to say about that after the jump), he's resurrecting another of his favorite characters: Flynn Carsen, the Indiana Jones-lite at the center of TNT's Librarian franchise.
In the third made-for-cable caper, The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice (premieres Dec. 7., 8 p.m.), overworked and unlucky-in-love Flynn travels to New Orleans for vacation, but ends up having to stop big bads who want to find and use the chalice to resurrect Prince Vlad Dracul and raise an army of vampires. (He must also make time to mack on the sexy chanteuse, played by Feast of Love's Stana Katic, who guards the cup. That, he does not mind.) Though the movie's original tagline -- "The world's most unlikely hero is back for his final adventure" -- was enough to break my colleague Alynda Wheat's heart, Wyle assures us that Flynn will live to outwit, outsmart, and outspit-take another day, if fans want him to. "When I read that tagline, I was as surprised as everybody else," Wyle says. "And when I made my queries about it, I was told that this is a way of generating viewership and certainly not indicative of anybody wanting to see the franchise come to a close. In some fashion, whether on TNT or not -- maybe on the big screen, maybe on a different channel -- we'll make more of these, assuming that the audience is there for this one. I think that will be the deciding factor across the board."
Should The Librarian franchise continue? I vote yes for two reasons: (1) It'll give us another flimsy excuse to trot out our random 18 Wild Trips to the Library Stacks gallery. And (2) It'll force me, a masochist, to relive this exchange...
EW: So in addition to being about an unlikely hero, these films are about an unlikely sex symbol. Who are some of your favorite unlikely sex symbols?
Wyle: [Laughs] It's the word unlikely that I'm having trouble with. I think you either are a sex symbol or you're not. Right?
Well, yeah. But, for instance, one wouldn't necessarily think of a librarian as being sexy, however... you know... [Silence]
Wyle: Go ahead, finish your sentence. [Laughs]
EW: You're like, "Say it! Say I'm hot! Say it!" Fine. I said it.
Wyle: Your words. Your words.
After the jump, ER comes full circle, and a trailer for the latest Librarian installment...
As for his return to ER, Wyle has a rough idea of what's in store for Carter. "Given that the pilot was the character's first day on the job, there's a nice sense of closure to having him come back in as the established authority and take ownership over the ER in some fashion. I assume that's still in [executive producer John Wells'] thinking," he says. "The nice thing about what John's doing this year is he's not relying on an easy device to bring old characters back -- like a funeral for a compatriot, or we all hear that the hospital is closing so we all go and chain ourselves to the front door or something silly like that. In the way that he used Anthony [Edwards], it's sort of a seamless and completely natural way of bringing these characters back that keeps with the narrative that they were involved with when they were with the show. I think that is a lot more satisfying than sort of having a big finale. I think 19 really well-executed episodes written to a focused end point will be the best way of sending the show off the air."
Wyle admits he hasn't been a faithful viewer since he stopped being a series regular. "I watched maybe the first two episodes after I left, and then, I described it as watching somebody else raise my kids," he says, with a laugh. "I'm always a little too close to it, and too emotionally invested in it. But it's an odd thing: Even if you're not on the show anymore, you're still accountable to it. You still are answerable to it. And so, having it still be out there in the national consciousness and not being a contributing factor is difficult. So I really am looking forward to going back and having a hand in writing the last chapter in what's been the most defining job in my life."
Comments