Thursday, February 26, 2015

AGENT CARTER Interview Round-Up Post.


We still don't know if AGENT CARTER will be getting a second season, and given that ABC doesn't do renewals until May, that won't change for a couple of months yet. (Keep in mind: the ratings haven't been great, so it's still a toss-up as of right now.) This hasn't stopped the showrunners from talking about where they'd take the show in season two, including the possibility of touching on the Winter Soldier.

While talking with Zap2it, Tara Butters, one of the showrunners, talked about what she was most proud of from season one, the Zola cameo, and more!
 Zap2it: What do you think your biggest success from Season 1 was?
Tara Butters: I'm very proud of the overall arc we told. I feel like we were able to explore Peggy's character and really see a forward progression, from where she starts in the pilot as someone who is still having difficulty finding her place in the world and to where she ended in [the finale] "Valediction." I feel like you can see the character growth over the eight episodes.  

Can you share the status of Season 2?
You know, the fact of the matter is ABC is kind of notoriously late in their pickups. We'll sweat it out probably for the next at least month, if not a little bit longer, till they decide what they're going to do. I wish it wasn't the case, because the fact of the matter is any time you're building these large, serialized arcs, the more time you have in the beginning makes it so much better in the end because we can really plan things out.

Would you want to see a change in the episode order, or did eight episodes feel right to you?
I think this is a show that lives in the short order. I don't think it's a 22-episode show. I would love to see around 13 episodes. That would be my ideal because I feel like we could absolutely have done more episodes. The storytelling is there.
 
At the end of this season we see Toby Jones' Zola as a hint at what's to come with HYDRA and the Winter Soldier project. Is that just a tease, or is that something you plan to explore more in Season 2?
All of that stemmed out of an early conversation we had with Marvel Studios where we pitched out the season, and we obviously used Dr. Fenhoff, who is a villain from the Captain America universe. They were like, "Oh, his hypnosis could lay the groundwork for the mind control for Winter Soldier." It was like, "Oh, well, that would be great. Wouldn't it be great if we had him meet up with Zola?" It was sort of one of those things where you kind of say, "That would be really cool." And then you go, "Well could we really do that?" 

What I love about it is it really does place us into the history of the MCU in a really interesting way that continues to play out because of the "Captain America" movies. It gave a value to the series that I really love. Moving forward, absolutely there is that opportunity to explore that more, but at the same time I don't know that I would want it to be the thrust of the season either. We should be open to exploring another villain, another situation and it would be nice to touch on it here or there.
Variety was able to sit down with both Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters and discuss the final scene with Peggy in season one, how much they have laid out for a second season, and more:
 I love that you chose to end the episode — not counting the stinger — with Peggy saying goodbye to Steve. It was such a poignant place to end Peggy’s arc when we’ve been conditioned to expect big twists and high drama in an episode’s final moments. Did you always know you wanted to go out on a more grounded, emotional note when you were breaking the season?
Fazekas: I think that was a very early idea, that that would be the conclusion of her personal arc for the season — that in order to move on with her life, she had to let Cap go. So when she’s talking Howard down out of the plane, she’s talking to him, but she’s also talking to herself. And I think even [executive producers Christopher] Markus and [Stephen] McFeely had always said, “she destroys the last bottle of blood,” which makes perfect sense to me, because she could keep it, hole it up, hide it in another wall somewhere — and I think part of her wants to — but it’s more important for her to protect him than hold on to him.

Does that farewell scene represent a true sense of closure for Peggy, as far as Cap’s concerned? Would we see less of an emphasis on him in a potential season two, despite how much she’s clearly always going to love him?
Butters: I think he’s there to complicate her life when we need him.
Fazekas: But yeah, it does naturally follow that if she’s letting him go, she does have to let him go. But it also opens up all these other avenues — we even see it when Sousa asks her out.
Butters: Did you notice what he did with the crutch?
Fazekas: It wasn’t even written this way — he leans the crutch against his desk and takes a couple of steps away from it so he’s just standing in front of her without the crutch before he asks her out. It’s such a little thing but it speaks volumes. So he asks her out, she’s clearly touched by it — Hayley was lovely in that scene — but she says “I have other plans,” which she does. But she gives him — and he doesn’t see it; he’s heartbroken — but she gives him that little smile at the end of the scene, which to me says she’s open to this; either with Sousa or with someone else. For the first time, she’s open to considering, “maybe I need to have that part of my life happen also.”

Angie now knows the truth about Peggy — would you foresee her trying to get more involved in Peggy’s world going forward, or would you hope for her to remain the more grounded point in Peggy’s life? Despite Lyndsy Fonseca’s ass-kicking credentials, I kind of love seeing Angie as this tether for Peggy, to keep her connected to the real world and a few more mundane problems.
Butters: I agree, I don’t think Angie’s ever going to become a super-spy. I’d rather her be the person who’s encouraging Peggy to go on a date.
Fazekas: The person that Peggy can confide in. And now on a much more authentic level. Which isn’t to say that there isn’t fun to be had in Angie using her acting skills on the job… But no, I don’t see her ever getting heavily involved in the SSR; that’s not what I like about that character.
I don't know about all of you, but I'm hoping that the Live+7 numbers and sales numbers (season one is currently #18 on iTunes!) are enough to get us a second season. I love what they managed to accomplish within eight episodes, and I feel like it really is the perfect show to fill in the gap while S.H.I.E.L.D. is on hiatus.

Source: Zap2it & Variety.

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