After an extended hiatus, the NBC drama series Revolution is back with more action, heightened emotion and even higher stakes. At its heart, the story is about a family (both blood and otherwise) struggling to stay together in an American landscape where every single piece of technology – computers, planes, cars, phones and even lights – has mysteriously blacked out forever, or so they thought. Having harnessed the power of the pendant, militia leader Monroe (David Lyons) sets out to obliterate the Rebels, and if they don’t do something fast, they won’t stand a chance. From executive producers Eric Kripke, J.J. Abrams, Bryan Burk and Jon Favreau, the show also stars Billy Burke, Tracy Spiridakos, Giancarlo Esposito, Elizabeth Mitchell, Zak Orth, JD Pardo, Daniella Alonso and Tim Guinee.
While at WonderCon, actress Tracy Spiridakos spoke at a roundtable about exploring a new side to her character, how the mother-daughter dynamic will change, if Charlie feels more loyal to Miles or her mother, how she and Elizabeth Mitchell like to have fun with people during takes, and her own personal level of tech addiction. Check out what she had to say after the jump, and be aware that there are some spoilers.
How does it feel to shift gears now and get to play a different side of Charlie that’s motivated by revenge?
TRACY SPIRIDAKOS: It’s very interesting to play. I’ve had a lot of fun with Charlie because I feel as though her growth and her character arc is very cool and very unique to what everybody else has got going on. I love the fact that she comes from a place where she was a little bit more wide-eyed and naive and so innocent. Throughout the experience, with the audience, she gets to grow and learn, and the audience gets to watch her develop and grow into a warrior. So, this whole revenge thing is going to be interesting. It’s interesting to see her battle between whether she’s going to go to the dark side, if you will, or if she’ll be able to keep her humanity.
She’s lost her brother but regained her mother, which may not be an even trade. How does that dynamic affect her?
SPIRIDAKOS: She gains her mother, but there’s also a lot of things that she’s finding out, that she didn’t know that her mother withheld from her. There are a lot of trust issues there. We’ll see how their relationship grows. They do try to fix it, but are they able to?
Does having a common enemy help bring them together?
SPIRIDAKOS: You would hope that it would. I hate that I can’t tell you as much as I would love to, but we’ll see that growth progress. They do have a common enemy, but the way they go about things is very different, as you could see through the series. They both have different angles to things. Charlie has got a lot more Miles influence in her life now. That’s a very different approach.
Miles has become more of a parental figure than Rachel has been. If Charlie gets an order, is she going to follow Miles or her mom?
SPIRIDAKOS: Miles is not only her parental figure, if you will – which I think was earlier on – but they’ve grown to be quite close. He’s her best friend and somebody that she trusts implicitly. Throughout the first half, she didn’t trust him because she kept finding out all these things. She’s the only person that doesn’t know anything, by the way. People were like, “Oh, yeah, I knew you did that,” and she was like, “What?!” So, Miles is that person where now they’ve grown to a place where they’re a lot more equal. Miles has a lot more of the training and all that stuff, but she’s not a valuable asset to this war, and that’s fun. Their relationship definitely grows even further, which is really cool.
Has it ever crossed your mind that Miles could be Charlie’s father?
SPIRIDAKOS: It has crossed my mind. I’ve thought about it. Definitely, no one’s hinted to it, so I don’t think that’s the case. We always joke around with Elizabeth [Mitchell]. We’re like, “Rachel really just has no boundaries. Could we keep [Nate] for Charlie?” We’re always bugging her. She’s a little promiscuous, that one, so who knows.
Is Charlie going to blame herself for Danny’s death?
SPIRIDAKOS: I think whenever you lose somebody close to you, there’s always a part of you that wishes you could have done something differently. Everybody has lost somebody that they care about, or hopefully you haven’t, but that’s part of life. Charlie definitely has that thing where, if she would have persisted or done things definitely, then it wouldn’t have happened. She would have died for him, any day, so the fact that this has happened is definitely hard for her to swallow.
As a cast member, are there things coming up that blew your mind, when you read the script?
SPIRIDAKOS: Yeah, for sure! It’s really cool. Especially finding out about the whole power thing and what’s gone on there, and how we all develop and grow and where everybody ends up. I seriously cannot wait. I’m so excited for it to be back on because I can’t wait for everybody to watch it. We’ve had a blast doing it. I can’t wait to read what’s coming up. We’re filming the last episode now, and then I have to go back to real life. That’s not cool!
Are there any fun behind-the-scenes moments you can share with us?
SPIRIDAKOS: Lots! What can I tell you about? We make fun of each other a lot. On Thursday, we were filming and the crew just couldn’t wait to get out. It was a long weekend. Me, Zak [Orth], Elizabeth [Mitchell] and Daniella [Alonso] could not stop laughing. You know when you’re a little kid and people tell you to be quiet and it makes you laugh more, people were like, “We want to go home,” and we [couldn’t stop laughing]. I can’t think of any pranks that we’ve done to each other. It’s just ongoing teasing. I’d tell you and you’d be like, “That’s not funny,” but it’s funny to us. Me and Elizabeth do this cat noise thing while the camera is on our backs. We’ll make a weird cat sound to screw up the other person.
Is there anyone you’d like to be able to work with more?
SPIRIDAKOS: I haven’t seen Grace or Randall. Maria [Howell] and Colm [Feore] would be fun to work with, for sure. We always pass each other, and I’m like, “Hey!” They’re pretty rad. I would like to work with them. But, I feel like we’ve all played. I can’t answer anything else because I don’t know if we’ve played and you just don’t know yet.
Can Charlie trust Nate (JD Pardo)? Will he become an ally?
SPIRIDAKOS: He’s got to prove himself, that young man. He’s pretty determined. That’s something that will be fun for the audience to see, so I don’t want to give anything away. There is definitely a trust problem, in that relationship. We’ll see what ends up happening with it. I don’t want to tell you anything.
When you’re playing in a world like this with such high stakes, how difficult is it to make those romantic moments feel organic and not just slow down the momentum?
SPIRIDAKOS: That’s your job. You just kind of do. The high stakes of it all is what makes it so that everything is life and death, and everything is intense and passionate with everybody. Even if it’s not a romantic relationship, everything is life and death, at all points in time. That always elevates the stakes for us, which is really cool.
What’s your personal level of tech addiction, and has this show made you think about how much you rely on technology?
SPIRIDAKOS: Absolutely! Even for work, I flew in yesterday and I’m flying out tonight. That’s gone without electricity. I think about it a lot. When I read the pilot, I thought, “That’s something to really consider and think about.” When I was young, I grew up in a little village and my brothers and I used to play soccer. We’d play outside, all the time. We got into the gaming thing more when we went to Canada. I have very fond memories of growing up in Greece, of my brothers and I causing chaos and climbing up trees, which is really cool. Back then, we didn’t have all the video games and all that stuff. We just had each other and we played on the street. I like the whole no technology concept. It brings you back together.
Revolution airs on Monday nights on NBC. Click here for all our Revolution coverage.
