Okay, I know, I totally jumped the gun earlier by posting James Woods’ obscenely witty comments during the informal “Shark” panel, but, dammit, it was funny, and I really wanted to share them with you. So now let’s get back to the series itself and mention a few more highlights of the panel…
* In Season 2, James Woods and Jeri Ryan will be working far more closely together than ever before. Says creator Ian Biederman, “In the construct of their world, she was a district attorney and, as opposed to that, she was ostensively his boss. So he was able to bring her in on cases every once in a while, but this year she lost the election for assistant district attorney at the end of the last season. She will be coming into the team at the beginning of this year, so she will be a partner on the team.”
Yeah, yeah, whatever. When are they gonna sleep together?
“Jimmy and I are negotiating on the amount of money it will take for that to happen,” says Biederman. “If the check clears, yes, there will be a torrid love affair.” More seriously, he adds, “I think the potential is there. It will always linger there. There’s an attraction between these characters on a number of different levels. So we will just have to see how it goes. I would think it’s something that’s interesting. We’ll see how it goes. As much as Jeri is begging me, I’m going to try to be patient.” (Says Woods, “I’m working for scale this year, just on the hope.”)
* The cast is being adjusted a little bit. Actor Samuel Page, who played Casey Woodland, “had a movie he wanted to do,” said Woods, “and he had the option to stay. And Sam, he’s phenomenal. This very morning, I called Oliver Stone to ask him to see Sam for the ‘My Lai’ movie because I think he’d be great in it. It’s one of those things where he could have not taken the movie or he could have gone with us, and I said, “Sam, do what you have to do.” We can bring him back. It was written in the first episode that he’s running his father’s campaign for governor, and so on, and so on. So we have the option to have him come back as much as we want, which I’m sure we will do. And he can still pursue his movie career. Honestly we are such a tightknit family, that it was one of those things, it just worked out perfectly for him. He’s got a big career, a big career shot, and, hey, let him take it, but also will you come back to us, and he can come back and forth.
“And,” adds Woods, “we have a new addition on a regular basis, which is more of a challenge for me, like we need a new character who can come in and kind of stir me up. This young man named Kevin Alejandro, who’s terrific. We’ve had a couple scenes together so far and he’s terrific.”
* Billy Campbell, who played Wayne Callison in two episodes during the first season (including the gripping season finale), will be almost certainly be back, says Woods. “we want to keep Billy around as much as we can because — it’s just one of
those characters that’s not just a thorn in Sebastian’s side, but there’s so many issues that you bring up — miscarriage of justice, how, you know — I’m sure the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will find a way to let the guy off, but, hey, he only murdered about 15 women. But he does have his rights, so, you know, I’m sure that will be an issue that will come up. Just get that Thelton Henderson in there and I’m sure he’ll get out and get elected president.”
“Just a little joke, guys,” clarified Woods. “Come on…!”
