I think we all remember the craze that was True Blood when it came out back in 2008, Charlaine Harris brought to life the fictional town of Bon Temps, Louisiana, where vampires had come out of the proverbial coffin. No stranger to the world of the supernatural, her Sookie Stackhouse series was succeeded by the Midnight, Texas series.
Set in another supernatural world, Midnight, Texas is a town for outsiders. There are angels, witches, psychics, and everything in between. We sat down with the cast and creator at Wondercon to talk a little bit about the upcoming series!
Coming from fan favorite genre shows like Charmed, Alias, Lost, Fringe, and Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD, Monica Owusu-Breen is no stranger to the world of the supernatural. As the executive producer and showrunner, Owusu-Breen brought Midnight, Texas to life after reading Harris’ series and finding a personal connection to her own personal life. Despite the dark subject that the series often touches on, Owusu-Breen talked about writing a story that could balance both the darkness and the humor that Harris reflected in her series. For
For her, it was about keeping the heart of the books alive, but not necessarily worrying about changing some of the things to fit the TV media. After working on several creative teams, she talked about her work on Agents of SHIELD and working with creators like Maurissa Tancharoen and Jed Whedon as well as writing for darker characters. In regards to the characters of Midnight, Texas a lot of thought went into the casting of the show, and ultimately each episode will feature one of the main characters’ as the subject.
Coming from The Borgias fame, François Arnaud (“Manfred”) is getting a taste of Texas with his character. He and co-star Sarah Ramos (“Creek”) of American Dreams and Parenthood talked about the transformation of the show from page to screen. Arnaud highlighted the fact that the TV series would be more action packed and thrilling than the pace of the books.
The two drew inspiration for the series from some different places, outside of the source material, with Arnaud finding it in The Babadook and Ramos finding it in the small town tropes of Friday Night Lights and Gilmore Girls. Indeed, although Ramos said that Creek and Manfred’s romantic journey wouldn’t be a smooth ride, Arnaud elaborated that through the challenges they face they will be brought closer together. We are looking forward to Midnight’s own Tami and Coach Taylor!
No strangers to the nerdy world of television, Parisa Fitz-Henley (“Fiji”) of Luke Cage and Dylan Bruce (“Bobo”) of Orphan Black talked animately about their experience shooting Midnight, Texas. Fitz-Henley talked about finding a real connection to her character through the research as well as about the relationship that Fiji and Bobo have together and what is ultimately keeping them apart. Bruce also spoke about doing the research for Bobo and going beyond the Midnight, Texas series and into some of Harris’ other books that also feature Bobo. And it sounds like they sure had a fun time filming with the talking cat on set!
At no shortage of action, Arielle Kebbel (“Olivia”) talked all about her stunt work routine for playing an assassin character on the series. In addition to the physical work, she detailed her connection to the character and relating to Olivia’s struggle and understanding why the character does what she does. For Kebbel, Olivia’s fighting the good fight and only doing what she needs to do, she talks about discussing the character with Owusu-Breen and about the importance of not glamorizing the violence. On the other end, Jason Lewis (“Joe”) teased a little on writing his own extensive backstory for his character. Lewis admitted that the show would be different from the books, but it embodies the same world and honors the characters despite all of that.
With no lack of enthusiasm and hype, we’re just excited now to finally get to watch Midnight, Texas on our screens this summer! The series airs on NBC this July 24th!
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