Tim Kring returned to Comic-Con with his latest show, Dig, a TV mini-series on USA, which will employ the multi-story narrative style that he used so effectively in Heroes and Touch.  Gideon Raff, a writer and producer on Homeland, serves as series co-creator on Dig.  The show is set in Jerusalem, where Raff was born and raised, and follows an American FBI agent (Jason Isaacs) who uncovers a far-reaching conspiracy while investigating the murder of an American archaeologist.  Anne Heche also stars as Isaacs’ love interest and David Costabile is an American minister with possibly sinister intentions.

Kring and Raff answered questions for the press, following the show’s debut at Comic-Con on Thursday.  During the interview, the two shared their thoughts on shooting on location in Israel and the importance of using multiple digital platforms to engage an audience.  Hit the jump for more highlights from the interviews.

Question: What is it like to actually shoot on location instead of on a soundstage?

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TIM KRING:  It has been the bane of my existence for the last decade to have to use Los Angeles, which is fabulous to shoot in, but it isn’t Tokyo, it isn’t Paris and it isn’t Africa.  Whenever you have to shoot something, you always have to turn it into something else.  To be able to actually go someplace and point the camera, and everything you saw from the camera to infinity was the actual location you wanted to be, in was incredible.  We took advantage of these exquisite, amazing locations.

Will the show be featured on different platforms, like comic books and online, similar to what you’ve done on your other shows?

KRING:  Nowadays, it’s very hard to not have those components with a show.  The audience is everywhere on all their devices.  If that’s where they are living, then that’s where you want to reach them.  With a story like this, it has a tremendous amount of content.

What made USA the right home for this show?

GIDEON RAFF:  What attracted them to the show is that it’s a little different from what they are used to.  They understand the darkness of the show and they embrace it.  Tim and I also think it was the perfect home for us.  How they saw the creative vision of the show matched what we wanted to accomplish.

KRING:  USA was very committed to it, from the very beginning.  They felt it was a project that would push the boundaries of their own network.

How did you come to cast Anne Heche?

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RAFF:  When her name first came up for Lynn, I thought we wouldn’t be lucky enough.  And then, we met with her and she loved the script.  We absolutely adore what she brings to the role.  She’s the opposite of Peter.

Are there any plans to turn this into a regular series?

KRING:  We have an order to do six, but with this particular story, we can expand to 12 episodes.  On top of that, the idea was designed to be a franchise. This character we created could easily find himself in another country.

Do you see Heroes Reborn as an opportunity to tell the story the way you wanted?

KRING:  Heroes Reborn has a beginning, middle and end.  It has a set number of episodes.  The event series or mini-series can be open-ended in success.  Rather than looking at it as an ongoing series, you look at it as a franchise.  I had always hoped that with Heroes, because it was about multiple characters, we could re-populate the show and start brand-new with fresh stories.  It does feel like it’s the right time.

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