PERSON OF INTEREST: Jonathan Nolan and Greg Plageman Tease the Team’s Struggles Post-Shaw, the Return of the Brotherhood, and More

It’s been a long couple of weeks since the last episode of PERSON OF INTEREST, but finally, the CBS drama — arguably the best show on network television — returns with a brand new episode tonight.

With the traumatizing “trilogy” behind us (which saw the team, seemingly, lose Shaw, a little over a year after Carter died), Reese and Root are off on a trip in tonight’s hour, “M.I.A.,” to find out what the heck had happened to Shaw.

How did Sarah Shahi’s real-life pregnancy — and the need to write her/Shaw off — change the shape of the season arc you had originally mapped out?
Jonathan Nolan: [Joking] We were originally going to kill off Jim Caviezel’s character [Reese]. So that changes upsetting phone calls on that front, bought Jim a few more episodes on the show.

[Seriously] We always love to build towards mayhem in the midseason; it’s a way to warm everyone up in the cold winter months — with agita [thinking,] “What have those terrible showrunners done this year?” But it was actually kind of great. It was a happy thing for Sarah [with her pregnancy], and it was a happy thing for Jim to do the show a little longer…For the record, no one’s making it out of this alive, except for the dog.

After the loss of Shaw, how does the team handle the next number that comes up?
Greg Plageman: In episode 13, there is an actual number that comes up, that Fusco has to deal with it — because our guys are off with bigger business in mind. We thought it was a great opportunity to bring back an actor [Adria Arjona (Dani Silva)] who we were really interested in, who first appeared in episode 8 [as a cadet/undercover Internal Affairs officer].

How does her return play into how Fusco is handling the number?
GP: What Fusco is struggling with is how do you deal with the facts that the numbers keep coming [even with] Shaw’s departure? How do they sustain this [system they’ve come to use]? How do you care about this mission?

As the team is struggling with those questions, how does the Brotherhood loop back into the story?
GP: Dominic and Elias have some unfinished business. That’ll definitely rear its head more towards the latter part of the season. That really rocks in magnificent fashion…there are going to be some bodies. [To Nolan] I don’t know who’s going to be left on this show by the end of the year, Jonah!
JN: I don’t either!

That’s only a little alarming. With “If-Then-Else” and “Control-Alt-Delete,” you guys have had some fun this year with making episodes that don’t fit into the “traditional” PERSON OF INTEREST box. Is there any kind of episode format you’ve yet to do that you’re really hoping to tackle?
GP: [Quickly] We still have to do the musical.
JN: I said when we did the musical, that would be my last episode. [Plageman laughs] I would quit if we did the musical episode.
GP: Hm, what other formats? Joss [Whedon] did a silent episode of BUFFY [“Hush”], which was great…we did [the] Rashomon [effect].
JN: We’ve got lots of ideas left. We’ve barely scratched the surface of what the machine can do. We’ve got a TV show being told to you by an omniscient AI. There’s lots of fun shenanigans left to get up to.

Speaking of the Machine, how will the war between it and Samaritan be heating up in this next batch of episodes?
GP: That’s the fun thing about two AIs — they can battle [and] their terrain is our entire planet: all of the information systems. And they’re pretty good about manipulating human beings. We’re really excited about where the narrative is taking us. And one of the outstanding questions of the show is where is the Machine? And I think that’s a question that Samaritan would like to know as well.

Absolutely. Is there anything else you can tease about what’s in store for the second half of the season?
JN: We’re pretty damn excited about how many fan-favorite characters we have returning in the second half of the season.
GP: Yeah, you’re going to see some old friends come back you didn’t think were possible.

Oh, really? Any specific people you can tease?
JN: Nope!
GP: You’re going to meet some new friends, and see some old ones, too.

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Aside from Zoe, any theories about the familiar faces who might be popping up in the near future on POI?!

PERSON OF INTEREST airs Tuesdays at 10 PM on CBS.

Related:

PERSON OF INTEREST: ‘Guilty’ Photos – Blair Brown Guests and Paige Turco Returns
PERSON OF INTEREST: ‘M.I.A.’ Photos
PERSON OF INTEREST Post-Mortem: Greg Plageman and Jonathan Nolan on the Shaw Mystery, Control’s ‘Awakening,’ and What Comes Next

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