Eriq La Salle and Lori Loughlin Discuss Joining Prime Video’s ON CALL

After years of working behind-the-scenes on Wolf Entertainment shows (directing episodes of FBI, LAW & ORDER, LAW & ORDER: ORGANIZED CRIME, CHICAGO MED, CHICAGO JUSTICE, and LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT, plus serving as the directing producer of CHICAGO P.D.), Eriq La Salle is stepping in front of the camera with the upcoming Prime Video series ON CALL.

In the streaming series—which drops all eight half-hour episodes on Thursday, January 9—police officers Traci Harmon (Troian Bellisario) and Alex Diaz (Brandon Larracuente) patrol Long Beach, California, under the watchful eye of Lieutenant Bishop (Lori Loughlin) and Sergeant Lasman (La Salle).

“I got to my role last,” La Salle notes to Give Me My Remote in the video below. “I started off [when] they asked me to direct it, which I jumped at. And then with that came [the] executive producing title. So I didn’t come to the acting role until deep into the process.”

Originally, La Salle’s best friend Michael Beach was in line to play Lasman, but “something didn’t work out, and he was unavailable,” La Salle notes. “We started scrambling…at that point, I was like [raises hand], ‘I’ll do it.’ I was falling so in love with this thing that I [wanted] more.”

Though La Salle still sporadically acts, he’s primarily been behind the camera in the past decade. Combining the two—with the additional pressures of an executive producer title—isn’t the easiest of tasks, the multi-hyphenate acknowledges, but, “I love challenges. I’m a big fan of what Jason Bateman did with OZARK and pulling off the trifecta in such a beautiful way…I’ve done it with little independent films that I directed and produced. But this is [the] big time. This…is [a show executive produced by] Dick Wolf. This is Amazon. This is Prime. So being afforded the luxury of putting the trifecta together made me more attracted to the concept of acting in it…[I] love it and feel blessed to be able to do all of it.”

The series also marks the first time in the Wolf Entertainment world for Loughlin. Though viewers only get a brief introduction to Bishop in the premiere, the show’s pedigree was a selling point for her from the jump.

“Honestly, just the words Dick Wolf [was enough]—I was like, ‘Yeah, where do I sign?” she recalls with a laugh. (The series was co-created by Tim Walsh and Elliot Wolf.) “You just know what you’re getting into [with Wolf Entertainment] and it’s going to be good. I’m still pinching myself that I landed the role of Bishop because it’s such a different role than anything I’ve ever played before. So I’m very grateful; I have a tremendous gratitude to Eriq and everyone at the Dick Wolf company for giving me the opportunity.”

ON CALL, Series Premiere, January 9, Prime Video

RELATED:

• ON CALL’s Troian Bellisario and Brandon Larracuente Preview Their On-Screen Partnership: ‘It’s Going to Change a Million Different Ways’
• ON CALL: Prime Video Releases New Trailer, Key Art
• ON CALL: Prime Video Sets January Launch for Troian Bellisario-Led Wolf Entertainment Series

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