THE AFTER at TCA: Live-Blog

Amazon is bring THE AFTER to the Television Critics Association press tour, and I’ll be live-blogging the panel which includes series creator Chris Carter (The X-Files), and stars Aldis Hodge (Leverage), Andrew Howard (NCIS: Los Angeles), Arielle Kebbel (Vampire Diaries), Sharon Lawrence (Rizzoli & Isles), Louise Monot (The Avignon Prophecy), Jania Lee Ortiz (The Shop), and Adrian Pasdar (The Lying Game)…

12:22 PM: “I have a goal of 99 episodes for this,” Carter says. (He’s totally serious.) He mentions Dante’s Inferno had 99 cantos.

12:24 PM: Monot says this is her first American TV role. She’s excited.

12:25 PM: “There’s a secret to that and a reason to that,” Carter says of Lawrence playing older than her age. Lawrence says she is “delighted to do something so physically different.”

12:27 PM: “There’s a good mix,” Carter says of where the drama comes from. Some of it is due to the group’s tension and some is due to the external/supernatural forces.

12:28 PM: Carter says it was very rough for them to actually secure Monot for the role — visa issues, etc. And the character was always intended to be French, because he was inspired by some of her fellow French actresses.

12:29 PM: “Something is happening, and we’re playing that it’s happening in real time, so we don’t have to build a post-apocalyptic world,” Carter says.

12:30 PM: Carter says part of the inspiration for this was that when he worked  at Disney, a highway was shut down due to a dropped box of nails, and he realized how fast a big city can shut down.

12:31 PM: “March 7th has as big of a significance for me as anything,” Carter says when asked why they’re doing that day for the mutual birthday versus 10/13. (Carter’s birthday.)

12:32 PM: Carter says that after so many years on X-FILES, he needed an equal break of downtime.

12:33 PM: Do the actors have a sense about whether they’ll survive the season? “All I know is I better not die first,” Hodge semi-jokes.

12:34 PM: Howard says he doesn’t know he’s going to die, but for now, he’s focused on learning his character’s backstory.

12:35 PM: “I think it’s really interesting to think that even if we do die, we won’t be around in some capacity,” Hodge says. “This is Chris [Carter].”

12:36 PM: What did Carter do on his break? He watched television, he took trips, he reassessed his life, etc.

12:37 PM: Why Amazon? Carter says because they liked the script and they wanted to do it. He says Amazon has a really great team, and he likes working with people who are smart and supportive.

12:38 PM: “The first two seasons of THE X-FILES, we did 49 episodes; it was trial by fire,” Carter says. With this show, they’ll get to approach things on a slower pace.

12:39 PM: “I don’t think I’ll be writhing in pain,” Pasdar says of his character’s leg, which was brutally broken by the end of the first episode. “I think Chris has more dastardly plans for my leg.”

12:40 PM: No, the entire season won’t be released at once — by doing it in smaller doses, it’ll give time for the show to build buzz.

12:43 PM: Now the cast is being asked whether  they believe in aliens. Nearly everyone says it would be really small to think we’re the only life in the universe. The best answer is Carter’s, who says, “I think if there are aliens, I think they owe me a visit.”

12:45 PM: Carter confirms the creature at the end of THE AFTER is NOT an alien. He’s a creature inspired by Dante’s Inferno.

12:48 PM: “I’ve worked it out with a group of very smart people,” Carter says of mapping out the story. He says where they began was a good start for the four, two-hour episodes that will make up the first of season 1. Carter likens it to Lewis and Clark: he knows the destination, but where they go along the way is still a bit up in the air.

And that’s the end of the panel!

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