PERSON OF INTEREST at Comic-Con: Live-Blog

The cast of PERSON OF INTEREST is at Comic-Con to promote the new season of the series, and I’ll be live-blogging what they have to say starting at 6:15 PM PT.

Check out the official panel description, and come back when the panel starts for live updates!

“The smash hit Person of Interest returns to San Diego for the fourth year. Executive producer Greg Plageman and series offer a special video presentation and Q&A. Join the discussion, as the science “fiction” of Person of Interest stays one step ahead of real-world events. The thrilling finale left us with a second machine-Samaritan-now online, making the elusive team targets themselves, hiding in plain sight. The only thing more frightening than the ruthless Decima organization calling the shots is leaving those decisions up to an untested Machine. Facing a dangerous tomorrow, the POI team must find a way to outsmart Samaritan, an all-seeing, all-powerful artificial intelligence that’s self-governing, continually evolving, and growing stronger every day. From Bonanza Productions Inc. in association with Bad Robot Productions and Warner Bros. Television, Person of Interest returns for its fourth season in the fall on Tuesdays at 10/9c on CBS. Person of Interest: The Complete Third Season will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on September 2.”

6:23 PM: We’re getting a sizzle reel and a few glimpses of the new season. Shaw is NOT happy with her new job.

6:25 PM: Panelists introductions! Jonah Nolan, Greg Plageman, Jim Caviezel, Michael Emerson, Kevin Chapman, Sarah Shahi, and Amy Acker are here!

6:26 PM: “It’s very sad to be up here without Taraji Henson at this year’s Comic-Con, but we had a really good run leading up [to hear death],” Nolan says.

6:28 PM: “This season is about war,” Plageman says. “It’s about the battle between two artificial intelligences.” And the guys are asked whether Samaritan will get a voice and the panelists squirm…looks like a yes!

6:29 PM: “I kind of look at it in athletic terms,” Caviezel says about playing Reese’s grief. “Survive and advance…I take it one shot at a time.”

6:30 PM: The moderator says Caviezel should play Batman. The crowd cheers.

6:31 PM: “I like working with my spouse on the show, even though it’s strange,” Emerson says. “It’s an added layer of difficulty..it’s the only role I’ve played where I’ve had a romantic life…in a way, it’s a shame the only woman I’ve kissed on camera is my [real] wife.”

6:33 PM: A shout out to the writers! “These are the men and women who make us look good, so thanks!” Chapman says.

6:34 PM: “If I can’t kill somebody, I might as well save them,” Shahi jokes.

“We got to see a little bit inside Shaw…I thought it was an interesting thing the writers had for me to do,” she adds. “I like playing a character that’s part of a group, but at any moment she could walk off giving them the bird.”

6:37 PM: “I feel like I’ve been pretty consistent in that I’m only looking out for the Machine,” Acker says. She points out that right now, the Machine looks like the better of the two AI programs.

6:38 PM: “I was able to fire my therapist…it was very validating,” Nolan cracks about being proven right about the NSA leaks.

6:39 PM: Shahi says before the show, she lived in a “pink bubble with frozen yogurt and babies…now I’m all screwy in the head.”

6:39 PM: Will Zoey be back? “We’ll definitely be looking for more chances to get her back,” Nolan says.

6:40 PM: “What its endgame is something we hope to explore next season,” Nolan says of Decima.

6:42 PM: “Fusco is the only one still on the grid, so it’ll be interesting to see how it all plays out,” Chapman says.

6:42 PM: When a fan says she’s “too short,” Shahi quickly corrects her that she’s “fun-size.”

6:43 PM: Could the team survive if Reese or Finch died? “I never want to have that conversation,” Emerson cracks. “Have you come here to spoil my day?” He points out that they have to proceed as if they are expendable in order for drama to be there.

6:44 PM: Shahi says she’s been pitching Shaw getting her head shaved on camera. She also jokes she wants a robotic arm.

6:46 PM: All technology is open to play with, but they want to keep it grounded.

6:47 PM: “I think it all goes back to having great writers, and we have great female writers on the staff,” Acker says when being asked about playing a strong female on the show. “We get to do everything the boys get to do, and sometimes more. And we get to flirt with each other.”

On the Shaw/Root flirting, Shahi says in the script, it basically says, “They’re inches away from each other’s faces and they basically say the lines into each other’s mouths.”

6:49 PM: “One of the things we enjoy talking about the most is writing for an intelligence that is more intelligent than we are,” Nolan says. And as the two AIs ramp up this year: “We’re turning up the heat this season.”

6:51 PM: “Is PERSON OF INTEREST the story of the Machine told from the future?” a fan asks. The showrunners seems a bit flabbergasted and toss it off to Emerson. He says that’s an excellent idea.

6:53 PM: “It’s like two old veterans going at it with hammers and tongs.”

6:54 PM: A wee child asks Caviezel which was more fun for him: this or PASSION OF THE CHRIST: “This one is a little more funner by this much, because we get to shoot guns a lot,” he says.

6:57 PM: Caviezel says in some ways, Reese is a “Sin eater” for Finch, trying to amend for his past.

6:58 PM: “So far, we still have some flirtation going on as the season is going on…I think Root likes to push Shaw’s buttons,” Acker notes.

6:59 PM: Nolan praises their “absolutely brilliant” composer.

7:00 PM: Plageman says they’re all technical writers, and one of their current writers was a former interrogator and pilot.

7:02 PM: Fave moments?

Chapman: “The model thing didn’t suck.”

Emerson: “I like the mathematical stuff…it gets to educate me.” He also notes you have to invest something different to get excited about math.

7:04 PM: “These are both really good roles, and I don’t think of them separately as you do,” Emerson says when asked if he prefers Ben or Finch. “Both are smart men on a mission. It was fun to be running around in a jungle…all of the supernatural stuff was good. But I’m happy to be a good guy, too.”

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And we’re done!

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