From executive producer Dean Devlin, who has also directed episodes of the series, the Leverage crew is back for Leverage: Redemption, now in a world where it’s become even easier for the rich to become richer and the powerful to continue to build their power. The familiar team is back, as grifter Sophie Deveraux (Gina Bellman), thief Parker (Beth Riesgraf), hitter Eliot Spencer (Christian Kane) and hacker Alec Hardison (Aldis Hodge) are joined by new blood — corporate lawyer Harry Wilson (Noah Wyle) and Hardison’s foster sister Breanna (Aleyse Shannon), who’s got some tricks of her own. Together, they take on a series of new jobs that are sure to get them into all sorts of mischief.
During a press junket for this new iteration of the series, co-stars Kane, Riesgraf and Shannon talked about how this return would not have happened without the incredible fan support they’ve gotten, the fun of getting to return to these characters, bringing in new blood, directing your co-stars, the Halloween episode, and that Eliot Spencer is the one constant that never changes.
Collider: It’s one thing to have Dean Devlin say that he has this dream or wish to bring the show back, but it’s a very different thing to actually get financing and get something into production. Christian and Beth, was returning to this show something you ever thought you’d do? Was it something you’d genuinely talked about?
BETH RIESGRAF: Yeah, absolutely right when it ended, we wanted it to keep going, so for us, the drive to have that happen and the passion for that never went away. But watching the fan base grow over time and not dwindle was really phenomenal. There were so many people still talking about this show and asking for it to come back, every single day. So, the fact that we one day got a call and were told it was coming back, we were like, “You’ve gotta be kidding me. Oh, my gosh, it’s actually happening. It worked. These guys were so loud for so long that somebody listened.” It was just the greatest feeling to know that we could get back with our fans.
CHRISTIAN KANE: Yeah, absolutely. I had a different experience than Beth because I was fortunate enough where I was working with Dean for a few years afterwards and he kept bringing it up. He wanted to do it, and I love him, but at one point, I was almost like, “Stop talking about it, man.” I was getting so excited, and then it wouldn’t happen. So, when he told me, that’s one thing about our boss that I’ve found to be so true – Dean Devlin doesn’t lie. He never said it was coming back. He said he was trying. And so, when you finally hear that it’s coming back, I knew for a fact that it was. We’re really, really fortunate that IMDbTV, along with Amazon, sees the potential with the fans that brought it back. We make a good TV show. I honestly believe that. I think we act our asses off. The point is that this would not have happened without the fans out there that have really, really been on board, since the day we started. This really is all for them. They don’t understand how much this is their hard work.
What was it like to actually return to these characters and this world, and step back onto the set that first day and look at each other as these characters again?
KANE: These were such easy shoes to put on. The one thing about it is that we’ve always been a family. We’ve been a really tight knit group. We’ve always been a family. We’d all gone off and done some other stuff, so there were different levels of what we were doing. This is a drama, this is a comedy, and it’s everything wrapped into one. That’s probably why there’s no category for us to win an award. What category are you gonna put us in? You can’t. But we were five minutes into the table read and it just felt right. There was no learning curve, or nothing. We just all high-fived and went right at it, and it felt so comfortable. IT was more comfortable than anything I’ve ever done.
RIESGRAF: At the table, the moment we all started reading the words, everybody was there. Everybody was present. Aleyse’s energy infusing with ours was amazing. The energy was amazing with Noah as well. Their comedic timing and the ability to land a joke, all of us looked at each other like, “This is working. We’re back. This is amazing.” It was palpable. You could feel it in the room. The moment we started, we just were so excited that we were buzzing.
Aleyse, is there an element of nerves, when you join something like this, or is it just cool and fun to play such a bad-ass character?
ALEYSE SHANNON: Breanna probably wasn’t terrified. Aleyse was terrified. My first scene up, I was looking down some of the best actors on television, with Noah, Gina [Bellman], Beth Christian, and Aldis Hodge. I had a lot of things to say and I was trying to hold it together, but literally moments into it, I just knew I was in the best hands, ever. They’re so gracious and so kind. It’s been a wonderful experience.
This show really is all about the rhythm and the characters. Aleyse, Is that something you felt you found pretty quickly? Did you find like where you fit into that rhythm?
SHANNON: I think some of the work was done for me. I’m a millennial, and I’m playing a millennial character. There was this huge space to play and at least try some things and try to fill it in. If I failed, then it didn’t work and you turn around and try something new. Eventually, it starts to create itself. I had to learn not to be afraid to fail or try. It finds itself, if you’re just present and there and ready play and be generous.
Beth, you also directed for this show. What was that like? How scary is that, when you’re coming in, in a very different capacity, with your co-stars that you’ve known for so long?
RIESGRAF: Oh, man, it was absolutely incredible. I started out with photography before I was an actor, so for me, it was such a big moment of things clicking. With a cast that I had complete trust and support from, it was a dream. Going in, I knew who I was gonna be able to work with, and that they love me and support me no matter what. I knew that if I failed in some moments, it was gonna be okay because they were gonna have my back. With being in the show, prepping, and COVID, there were a lot of obstacles, but because we are so close, I think I just felt so incredibly fortunate to have this be my first experience. A lot of the crew members are some of our original crew members, and they’re still with the show. From top to bottom, this whole experience was such a gift. And to be embraced by these guys, who are so incredibly talented, and to not have to worry, I knew that these guys perform. They know what to do and they change it up, every single take. Their ability to play and just be on it is incredible. I knew that I had all of the support and all of the love, from people who really knew me and were rooting for me, genuinely. It was the greatest. It was so fun.
Thank you for also doing a Halloween episode because it’s my favorite holiday. What was your favorite aspect of the Halloween episode and getting to do a job that’s really the three women working together?
SHANNON: My favorite part of that episode was getting to wear a sweatsuit, the whole time. Literally, I just got free range to go off the deep end. I didn’t even have buttons and a zipper to hold me back. I just had a drawstring. I could literally just play it, and Gina and Beth are just hilarious. They have as much energy as anybody I could ever try to go up against, and I have a lot of energy. It was beautiful.
RIESGRAF: I loved it too. Aleyse has the infectious energy. It’s a big show, and to establish two new voices, there’s a lot going on that they happen to do this season. So, to get a contained bottle episode where the three female energies come together and are like, “Wait a second, hold on. We’re gonna do some stuff here that we haven’t had a chance to do yet.” And it was that way with each other, as actors. We just haven’t had that time together in scenes, so we had a lot of fun. We tried some stuff and we bounced off each other really well. It made me personally want more. Aleyse and I were able to find some really great stuff. It was a lot of fun.
Christian, how would you say Eliot has most changed since we’ve last seen him, and how would you say he’s exactly the same as he was?
KANE: The only thing that’s really changed about Eliot is I think he understands Parker and Hardison more. They used to just annoy him so much, but now, they’ve really become his family. They’re his only family, and he knows that. He’s become more tolerant of what’s going on. Hardison has evolved as well. I think he and Hardison finish each other’s sentences now. Parker still annoys him with little stuff, but he’s so used to it. Aleyse comes in and she’s a little bit more of the mechanism now that makes him mad. He still gets mad at them, but it’s probably because Eliot’s alone and they’ve got this great relationship. Nadine Haders is our costumer. She’s an unbelievable wardrobe person. She had all of these unbelievable new looks for every character and she pitched it. For me, she took old pictures of me and just put them on a board, and she said, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” So, I was still wearing the same clothes I wore. The first scene, I literally put on the same boots I wore on Leverage. It was fun. I enjoyed that. I enjoyed being the staple. He doesn’t need to change. And quite honestly, Eliot Spencer doesn’t want to and is not going to change. I might be the one constant in the show, and I enjoy it. I love that character, so it’s fine with me.
Beth, was it strange for you to play Parker without Hardison around all the time? Is it weird to have them apart?
RIESGRAF: To be completely honest, yes, it was strange. It felt strange for me because he so shaped her journey and who she is and has become. But at the same time, we all started out as lone wolves and when we got together, we didn’t have to be that way anymore. It’s really beautiful because this season, you see her lean in to Eliot and you see that she can actually be support for Breanna and Sophie. There are moments for fans where it will be nice to see that she still has this amazing support. There’s also an ease and a comfort because she knows she’s with hardest. She knows that they still have what they have. My hope is that will reassure the audience when he’s not around, to know that they’re okay and doing really amazing things. It’s not an ending of anything. They’re still together and doing very well.
Aleyse, do you feel that, by the end of the season, your character really accepts her own talents in a way separate from just always trying to live up to what she thinks Hardison would want?
SHANNON: Yeah, sure. I think Breanna, coming in, knows that she can never fill those shoes, just by experience. She struggles to find where she can fit in, but she definitely finds moments. A lot of the funniest moments come out of the moments where Breanna is having a breakthrough and she realizes that she can lean on people a little bit more, and she can show herself a little bit more, and trust them and have them trust her a little bit more. Because of those things, I think she evens out. She at least knows the direction she’s going in, even if she’s not there yet.
Leverage: Redemption is available to stream at IMDbTV.