THE FOLLOWING Cast Teases the ‘Epic’ Two-Parter

Think THE FOLLOWING has been addictively good so far? Things are about to get even crazier.

Tonight’s episode, “The Siege,” kicks off the first of a two-episode arc, and based on what the show’s stars had to say about what’s going down, the show will never be the same…

The twisted threesome is bonded…for now

After finally reaching a place of harmony in last week’s episode, things may be (temporarily) better for the show’s most dysfunction group.

“[The shower]’s something we had to do because we got very dirty,” Adan Canto (Paul) joked. “It’s very intimate and it’s beautiful for us. It’s not about sex or anything like that. It’s about coming together and really bonding.”

“This is the first time I’ve seen the two of them with smiles on for each other,” Nico Tortorella (Jacob) said in character. “And, you know, them accepting each other, I feel like I’ve been trying to mediate these two people and their relationship for so long, and finally, it becomes this accumulation of not only have I f—ed up and let the two of them down, before I walk into there, I’m walking in to apologize to them. And then it reveals [they’re thinking], ‘It’s okay, we love you, we’ll give you a second chance. Don’t worry about it; we’re a family.’ That’s why it’s just overwhelming amounts of love.”

“He’s had such intense relationships with both of them on a one-on-one level, that when it finally does collide to be a single unit, it shocks the hell out of him,” Tortorella continued. “Jacob is very emotional. He tends to put his heart into things when they’re good and when he gets down on himself, it’s just emotional.”

Of course, just because Emma and Paul are getting along now, that doesn’t mean it’ll be smooth sailing for the duo from now on.

“Like any relationship, we have ups and downs,” Canto teased. “You’ll get a little glimpse of everything — those ups and those downs.”

For THE FOLLOWING creator Kevin Williamson, putting these characters away in the farmhouse together is allowing them to explore the real dynamic that’s simmering beneath the surface.

“It’s not about their sexuality — it’s about their disconnection from reality,” Williamson noted. “[Paul and Jacob] role-played for two years that they were gay boyfriends and now they can’t separate truth from fiction. And they can’t separate [things]. So whether they’re gay or straight, it doesn’t matter. What matters is these are three empty people who need human contact, so maybe if they all come together, they can save each other. Or maybe it’s an explosion. That storyline, for me, I love it, and it’s very tragic. I’m writing towards the tears. If you like this stuff, it’s not going to end well…Stuff happens. And it’s sad…it’s sad, what happens.”

The two-parter is…pretty freaking big.

“One of the troubles of having a cult — for lack of a better word — of serial killers or people who fantasize about violence or people who love serial killers…is that they’re not the most dependable of coworkers,” James Purefoy (Joe) pointed out. “They are generally sociopathic killers. And that doesn’t make them very easy to work with. But he’s built-in [disobedience] into his plan. It’s not linear. It’s a flow chart, an epic flow chart. He’s sat in his bunk for ten years working it out precisely; that if A41 kicks off and it doesn’t quite go, we’ll through in D96 and that and that and that will happen. He knows exactly what will happen and he’s not averse for throwing people under the bus. He is a psychopath. He knows that things could go wrong, but he’s got plans that could put that right.”

And it seems like things are about to get massively hectic for Joe and his followers.

“When the crap hits the fan, it’s interesting to see this guy’s style of cleaning it up,” Canto teased of his character. “It’s going to get a little tricky. We’re hiding out, they’re trying to find us, they’re hunting us down. So, it’s going to get interesting. It’s really exciting and you’re going to be on the edge of your seat. These guys are willing to do anything and everything to carry on with this plan.”

Tortorella — who described the two-parter as “epic” — agreed.

“I mean, it’s party at the farmhouse,” he said. “We have the top detectives in the world searching for us and Joe Carroll’s son. We can only go so far…There’s a new dynamic because not only is that [Emma/Jacob/Paul triangle] going on, but we also have huge other things we’re dealing with on an immediate basis: we have the girl in the basement, and everything going on with Joey and Joe. The dynamic is constantly evolving and changing.”

“It sort of takes the show to the next level,” Shawn Ashmore (Mike) teased of the arc. “We’re in this investigative stage where we’re stuck and trying to find them and then there’s a big discovery. And in addition to the discovery of where these people are, there’s a huge change of the scope of the show; it opens up again, and you’re like, ‘whoa.’ To me, those episodes really deliver and it’s a shift to the show, which is really cool.”

Yep, it seems like we’re about to meet a bunch of new Joe devotees.

“This cult’s a lot bigger than you initially think it is,” Tortorella hinted. “There’s this whole group of people helping each other out, whether it’s Joe’s voice giving us commands, specifically, that’s up in the air. But there’s a whole army working for Joe.”

“You will understand how deep things go and what reasons there are behind all of this,” Canto added. “What kind of secrets tie these characters together and motivate them.”

As for one of the bigger secrets that was revealed so far (Jacob hasn’t actually killed anyone), Tortorella was a bit cryptic about what it would take to finally cross that line: “[It would take] a real need to…as a necessity.” But whether that necessity comes sooner or later is still TBD.

The Joey of it all.

As desperate as Claire is to get her son back — and Ryan is to find him — the farmhouse occupants are a little bit more split about what to do with the kid.

“He’s Joe’s son,” Tortorella noted. “He’s Joe Carroll’s son. He’s a little mini-version of Joe Carroll, the prodigy kid. We’re not going to hurt him…He’s the closest thing we have to Joe at this point. In terms of Jacob, there’s zero animosity towards the child.”

The same certainly couldn’t be said for Paul. “He definitely does not like kids and he does not like Joey at all,” Canto reiterated.

But Purefoy downplayed any real danger for his character’s child.

“Not much,” he said. “[Claire and Joe are] pretty special to him. And even though it seems like his child is in danger, he’s not. [Joe] wants them to think he is. It’s smokes and mirrors. Someone asked me that if he’s so focused on Ryan, does that leave him exposed elsewhere, and it’s like, or does he just want you to think he’s focused on Ryan? That’s the other thing. He’s really smart.”

The FBI is on the trail.

Joe and his followers may be tied up in their own issues, but the good guys have had some of their own problems: Mike Weston lied to his bosses last week in order to go with Ryan as he saved his sister from one of Joe’s followers.

“This has just come up recently, but I think Weston absolutely respects Parker, I don’t think he’s doing this [misleading] to f— the system,” Ashmore noted. “But I think the only thing he’s sure of is that Ryan Hardy caught Joe Carroll the first time, and he’s the only person who can do it, Joe has set this plan in motion — we have to trust Ryan’s instincts. I think Mike is willing to break the rules to follow Ryan’s instincts. Yeah, there ultimately is a bit of tension because I’m off doing things I shouldn’t be doing, but Annie [Parisse (Parker)] said something I hadn’t really thought of — Parker is constantly allowing Weston to do what he wants to do while still protecting him. She’s pulling in the reins a little bit — not quite telling me what to do, but being sensitive to that I feel I have to go do something, but also, take it easy.”

“I admire him, I can see he has a big future ahead of him,” Parisse added, speaking in character. “He’s really smart. But at the same time, I’m protective of that. ‘Don’t let this guy who may or may not be reliable and who may or may not take you in the right direction lead you astray and ruin a potentially spectacular career. Or just put you in harm’s way.’ There’s a real element of protectiveness of Weston by Parker.”

And while this two-parter does shift the scope of the series, Ashmore hinted another change is coming our way  a few episodes down the line, too.

“In my mind, it never becomes stagnant,” he said. “When it gets to the point of ‘How is it going to happen or where does this [go?]’ something changes.”

“I always say your expectations are subverted,” Parisse agreed. “Every time I read a script and I think I know where it’s going, that’s not where it’s going, it’s going somewhere else. I think the FBI people are in that boat, where we’re really running to catch up and figure out what’s going on, and at least half the time, our expectations of, ‘I think we got the answer, I think we see what the big picture is’ and we’re totally subverted. We’re just constantly having to reel back and rethink our whole thing. Which is really fun, and I hope it will help the audience relate to us as well, because we’re often in the same boat as the audience just going, ‘What is going on here?'”

As the FBI finds themselves more and more confused with what’s going on, the public will also become more aware of how far Joe’s influence reaches.

“It becomes something that can’t be completely quieted,” Ashmore teased. “It’s a known fact that this is happening…[which] adds pressure.”

“A lot for me of what’s going on is that there’s a huge weight on Parker that every day we fail to catch this guy is like monstrous,” echoed Parisse. “It’s a huge failure, it starts to feel personal.”

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THE FOLLOWING airs Mondays at 9 PM on Fox.

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