Interview with Beth Riesgraf and Christian Kane

TV Interview!

 

 

Christian Kane and Beth Riesgraf of "Leverage: Redemption" on IMDb TV

Interview with Christian Kane and Beth Riesgraf of “Leverage: Redemption” on IMDb TV by Suzanne 9/30/21

These are two of my favorite actors, so it was great to speak with them again. I love the new series, and these second 8 episodes were ever better than the first two, in my opinion. This was a really fun chat, so I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Suzanne:   How you guys doing?

Christian:   Hi, how you doing?

Beth:   Hi, Suzanne.

Suzanne:   I love your show. I watched it since the beginning, and it’s great to see you guys back.

Beth:   Thank you.

Suzanne:   Your characters grew closer this season; you’re like brother and sister Do you think this is partly because of Hardison being out of the picture?

Christian:   That’s very good. We were talking about this earlier. I think, well, you have to remember that during the time that we were away, they were still working together. So, that’s kind of a fun dynamic that we had to come up with, you know, how close are we? How much do we know? All that kind of stuff. But you’re absolutely 100% correct. Hardison being away with the other teams, it leaves two totally different voids in our life. It’s the love of her life, and so he’s gone, and she’s worried about it. Then for me, that was my best friend. That’s my brother, but I like to punch him, and he punches me, and I have nobody to punch, you know what I mean? So, it’s like there’s a hole that he left there. So, I think they do. I think they look for him in each other. I think it’s brought them closer together, because he’s not there as much as he needs to be or wants to be.

Beth:   I think when we’re on the go, you know, we’ve been working together, like he said, and running these international teams. When we find them again, Parker has learned to throw a pretty good punch, and she obviously has been getting some training from Eliot. Those sorts of moments were really fun.

I think that one of the fun parts about this dynamic, for me, is our ability as characters to compartmentalize. So, when we’re in a moment together that’s super intense, we are laser focused, and there’s no gaggy stuff, but when it’s more of that familial moment, at HQ or over comms or something like that, there’s room for this other stuff to come in. I do really love that about our dynamic. Like I always say, Eliot has a shield up around all of us, and that’s like him protecting us, but there’re still moments where we’re gonna make jokes and make fun of each other, because we can, but when push comes to shove, it’s almost like boom again when we’re right back there.

Suzanne:   I love your guitars.

Christian:   Oh, thank you.

Suzanne:   You know who else has like a zillion guitars behind them on Zoom? Oh, Jeff Daniels.

Beth:   Oh, amazing!

Suzanne:   Yeah, I saw him at the TCA panel, and he had, I don’t know, like fifty guitars or something on the wall behind him.

Christian:   [unintelligible]

Suzanne:   Yeah. I don’t know if he’s in a band like you. I think he just plays for fun. I’m not really sure.

Christian:   [unintelligible] I’m sure there’s a picture of that.

Suzanne:   Yeah. So, with a normal brother and sister relationship, Eliot would probably be protective of Parker. I know you guys have each other’s backs, but is it fair to say that even though they love each other, he’s probably a little afraid of her?

Christian:   Well, I think he’s afraid to be inside her head. I think he just doesn’t understand anything that’s going on in there. When Eliott’s had everything set on fire, the world is burning, and in her head, there’s a bunch of balls bouncing around, and it’s dangerous, and you got to keep ducking. I think he’s very scared to be in her head.

Beth:   Stay out of this realm completely, Christian. Do not enter! [laughs]

Christian:   Which is pretty fun for me, because we didn’t play it right off the bat, and I noticed that we weren’t playing that, how he got so annoyed with her. And I noticed that it was because Hardison was there. You know what I mean? So, this whole thing, and he wasn’t as annoyed with her, but when Hardison left, then I started playing it more annoyed, because I’m like, “Look, I gotta be upset about something,” and so she gives me so much ammunition it’s ridiculous. So, that’s fun to play off of.

Suzanne:   Yeah, and Beth, both of your characters do a lot of physical things on the show. Do either of you do your own stunts, or is there some people taking your place?

Beth:   I mean, Christian doesn’t do his stunts. I do all of mine. [laughs] Oh my god, no, Christian does everything, I will I have to say that, but I just try to glean any bits of his genius on stunts and try to incorporate that, and he’s very, very capable and able. I know when to step back and let my stunt people come in and do the real hard work on that stuff. Christian has been a really great mentor to me on all of that and said, “You don’t need to do this part. Have somebody else do it,” because he also knows, especially when I was directing or when I have a heavy day of some other stuff, he’s like, “You save yourself, and you don’t need to do this part. You let the professionals come in to do it.” But, you know, trying to stand next to him, we’re always all like, “Whoa, this is incredible,” because even from a director’s standpoint in “The Bucket Job,” I know I can trust that his intuition on these fights and everything is going to be so much better than anything I could probably come up with to tell him, because he’s got all this experience, and it’s amazing.

Christian:   Yeah, and you know, the thing is that my stuff is a dance. People don’t understand that, because it looks violent on screen, but really what I’m doing is a dance. It’s a salsa dance, you know, it’s literally I’m just dancing with the other person. Her stuff is a lot harder than mine. People don’t get that she’s hanging office stuff, and she has to hang there sometimes for a long time, and then, she has to jump to the other one, or she has to hang there for a while until they get it all done, and then, you’re tired. Then, you got to jump down and jump up and do a flip. Her stuff is way harder than my stuff. Most of my stuff is literally a choreographed dance. Hers is actually really physical, and the problem that we run into, as we’re in the middle of a pandemic, is in New Orleans, [there are] no gyms and nothing but good food that’s usually fried. So, it’s very tough. This this season was very tough.

Beth:   A lot of salt.

Christian:   Yeah, a lot of salt.

Suzanne:   Sugar, too, right?

Beth:   Yeah.

Christian:   [unintelligible] and not get hurt. Luckily, just just bumps and bruises for both of us, but it was tough. You had to be very disciplined and, you know, do your push ups in your home, because you couldn’t go to the gym, and it takes takes a toll on your body, for both of us.

Suzanne:   Well, you guys both look great on the screen, so it doesn’t show if you put on a few extra pounds with that great New Orleans gumbo. So, I was going to ask you if you work out a lot to keep in good shape. So, obviously, you do Christian; you were talking about it. What about you, Beth?

Beth:   Yeah, absolutely. I mean, with all the wire work and the harness work, you have to keep your core super strong to protect your back and your neck and everything else. So, I work out as much as I possibly can. I think stamina-wise, the show moves really fast. It’s a really, really tough show, because it’s big, and emotionally and physically you have to be rested and in shape to kind of hang with these hours and keep it fresh and and stay for stamina purposes.

Then, we have the humidity and the heat in New Orleans, which is its own character, and so electrolytes became very important for me. And I had to cut back on some caffeine, and I’m used to drinking a lot of coffee, and I had to kind of tweak. That’s kind of the fun about going on location is you get a new set of rules, and you’re like, “Okay, how do I do this here?” but it was absolutely challenging. I mean, I would agree with Christian, it’s a very physical show for us, and it’s really fun, but it is challenging at times.

Suzanne:   I was talking to Aleyse earlier, and she’s definitely enjoying doing some of your kind of thing, hanging from the wires.

Beth:   Oh, yeah.

Suzanne:   Falling and all that stuff.

Beth:   Yeah.

Christian:   It’s a lot of fun.

Suzanne:   Going back, you were talked about directing; I read that you directed two episodes. What can you tell us about that?

Beth:   Yeah, absolutely. I had the time of my life working with the whole team and LeVar Burton in “The Bucket Job.” I think it’s a classic Leverage episode. I loved it so much. [There’s] a lot of emotional growth for Eliot and kind of windows into the things that he’s been going through emotionally, psychologically that we haven’t seen before. So, that was a lot of fun.

Then, logistically, “The Great Train [Job]” episode was one of the toughest, I think, to sort of plan, because we had an episode written that takes place on a moving train, but we didn’t actually have that as a location. So, we were finding two trains, but the trains couldn’t move, and we had to build some on the stage, and it was while shooting the finale as Parker, so it was a lot to juggle. I’m really really proud of how they both came out. Everybody brought their A game. They always do, but it was really an incredible process for me, because I got to work with so many people that I – as an actor, I don’t get to work with the production designer in the same way you do as a director, so all of those decisions and collaborations were so exciting and really, really fun.

Suzanne:   All right, and they tell me I have just a little bit of time left. Christian, your character goes through the wringer emotionally this part of the season with maybe meeting some of your family, and I don’t want to give spoilers away and what happens with a relationship, but you have all the usual hitting and kicking and punching and all that kind of stuff. What was it like for you?

Christian:   It was an emotional time for me, to be honest with you. I lost my father in December to COVID right in the middle of shooting and then had to come back and do the last walk off scene for Beth’s episode, because we’d already shot the episode, but then we still needed that pickup, that beautiful shot down Bourbon Street. Couldn’t have asked for a better situation. So, there’s a lot of things I was going through too at the same time, and I really loved that. I’d like to dedicate her episode to my dad, and just that walkway is such a beautiful shot. And I needed my friends around me at the time, and I couldn’t have asked for [better] ones in my life, which were the people that I was working with. So, it’s so good.

Then, to have Eliot in a relationship, it’s like it was something new, because he’s never done that. I mean, he’s lied to people; he’s hit on people, but he’s never really had let’s say, a quote unquote girlfriend type thing. And I’ve talked to Beth about about this. I needed him to be broken at the end of the season, because I’ve got to go somewhere with my character, and I don’t like him to be all fixed up.

So, with Beth directing, the emotion that came out with me and the beautiful LeVar Burton, and then the relationship troubles that he has, I feel like at the end of the season, it really pays off for me.

So, I’m excited. I’m excited people to watch it. We all play better characters when we’re a little bit broken. She doesn’t have Hardison, and I’m broken, so we end up broken, almost always end up broken, at the end of the season, which is fun. We’ve got somewhere to go now.

Suzanne:   Yes. Well, I hope there’s another season; I really enjoyed the episodes, and I would stay. I would love to stay and talk another ten minutes with you, but they tell me I have to go. So, thanks so much again.

Beth:   Yeah, until meet again.

Suzanne:   Thank you. I’ll see you on Instagram. Bye

Here’s the video!

Interview Transcribed by Jamie of http://www.scifivision.com

MORE INFO:

Please visit our Leverage Page!

Preview

In this new iteration, and new world, the Leverage crew have watched as the rich and powerful continue to take what they want without consequence. Grifter Sophie Devereaux (Gina Bellman), thief Parker (Beth Riesgraf), hitter Eliot Spencer (Christian Kane), and hacker Alec Hardison (Aldis Hodge) have watched the world change over the last eight years. Since their last job, it’s become easier–and sometimes legal–for the rich to become richer and the powerful to squash anyone who gets in their way.  To address the changes in the world around them, the team finds new blood in Harry Wilson (Noah Wyle), a corporate lawyer who is looking for redemption after realizing he’d been sitting on the wrong side of the table for his entire career, and Breanna Casey (Aleyse Shannon), Hardison’s foster sister who has a knack for computers, robotics, and getting into trouble.

Executive Produced By

Dean Devlin, Marc Roskin, Rachel Olschan-Wilson and Kate Rorick. John Rogers and Chris Downey serve as consulting producers.

Directed By

Dean Devlin, Marc Roskin, Noah Wyle, Francis Dela Torre, Jonathan Frakes

Produced By

Electric Entertainment for IMDb TV

Cast

Gina Bellman, Christian Kane, Beth Riesgraf, Aleyse Shannon, and Noah Wyle, Special Guest Star Aldis Hodge

Beth Jean Riesgraf (born August 24, 1978) is an American actress. She is known for her portrayal of Parker on the TNT television series Leverage (2008–2012) and the revival Leverage: Redemption which streams on IMDb TV.

Christian Kane is an American actor and singer-songwriter. He is known for his roles in the television shows Angel, Leverage, The Librarians, and Into the West, and the movies Just Married, Taxi, and Secondhand Lions.

Kane is the lead singer of the countrysouthern rock band Kane. On December 7, 2010, they released The House Rules, their third album and their debut for record label Bigger Picture Music Group. The album reached no. 25 on the Billboard Country Albums chart. The first single from the album, also titled “The House Rules”, debuted at no. 54 on the Billboard Country Songs chart. The second single, “Let Me Go”, was released on July 11, 2011.

Catch Eight New Episodes of the IMDb TV Original Series Leverage: Redemption on October 8

Aug 26, 2021

CATCH EIGHT NEW EPISODES OF THE IMDb TV ORIGINAL SERIES LEVERAGE: REDEMPTION 
ON OCTOBER 8

 

WATCH NEW TEASER HERE
SCREENERS OF NEW EPISODES AVAILABLE NOW ON
SCREENERS.COM

REVIEWS EMBARGOED UNTIL MONDAY, OCTOBER 4 AT 6:00AM PT/9:00AM ET

“Let’s go steal…eight new episodes of Leverage: Redemption.” In an all-new con, the Leverage crew surprised and delighted their fans by teasing the fall premiere of Leverage: Redemption in an exclusive video that dropped on IMDb TV socials today. The teaser video confirms that the IMDb TV Original series Leverage: Redemption will return this fall with eight additional season one episodes premiering October 8. In the brand-new episodes, the Leverage team finds itself up against a rival organization that embodies the system the team works so hard to take down.

Joining the cast in these additional episodes are guest stars Drew Powell (reprising his role as Jack Hurley from the original Leverage series), Ben Thompson, Joanna Cassidy, Jon Fletcher, and Brianna Brown, in addition to the previously announced guest stars James Marsters, LeVar Burton, and Andrea Navedo (continuing her role as Maria Shipp), as the Leverage team must aid a small town librarian, discredit a lifestyle and wellness guru, explore the failing memory of a legendary grifter, and more. Screeners for the new episodes are available now on Screeners.com. The remaining episodes of season one of Leverage: Redemption will premiere on October 8 on IMDb TV, Amazon’s free streaming service.

The first eight episodes of season one of Leverage: Redemption and all seasons of the original Leverage series are available to stream now on IMDb TV.

The rich and powerful take what they want, and the Leverage team is back to take them down. Sophie Devereaux (The Grifter), Parker (The Thief), Eliot Spencer (The Hitter), and Alec Hardison (The Hacker) have watched the world change over the last eight years. It’s become easier, and sometimes legal, for the rich to become richer and the powerful to squash anyone who gets in their way. The Leverage team finds new blood in Harry Wilson, a corporate lawyer who is looking for redemption after realizing he’s been sitting on the wrong side of the table for his entire career, and Breanna Casey, Hardison’s foster sister who has a knack for computers, robotics, and getting into trouble. In this new world, the team will use their collective skills to defeat a new kind of villain – from the man who created an opioid crisis from the comfort of his boardroom, to the couple who prefers to deport workers instead of paying them, to the shadowy security firm that helps hide dangerous secrets for a price. When someone needs help, they provide…Leverage.

Leverage: Redemption stars Gina Bellman as Sophie Devereaux, Beth Riesgraf as Parker, Christian Kane as Eliot Spencer, Aldis Hodge as Alec Hardison, Noah Wyle as Harry Wilson, and Aleyse Shannon as Breanna Casey. Kate Rorick is the co-showrunner and an executive producer alongside Dean Devlin, and executive producers Marc Roskin and Rachel Olschan-Wilson of Electric Entertainment. John Rogers and Chris Downey are consulting producers.

IMDb TV uniquely offers premium Originals on a free streaming service including the upcoming dramedy Pretty Hard Cases, premiering September 10. Spanning drama and comedy, scripted and unscripted, additional IMDb TV Originals include the Untitled Judge Judy Sheindlin Project, a Bosch spinoff; the comedy series Sprung; the Untitled Jeff Lewis Project – a new home design series; On Call from executive producer Dick Wolf; and second seasons of Alex Rider and Top Class: The Life and Times of the Sierra Canyon Trailblazers.

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Christian Kane and Beth Riesgraf of "Leverage: Redemption" on IMDb TV

Interview with Gina Bellman and Aleyse Shannon

TV Interview!

 

Gina Bellman and Aleyse Shannon of "Leverage: Redemption" on IMDb TV.

Interview with Gina Bellman (Sophie) and Aleyse Shannon (Brenna) of “Leverage: Redemption” on IMDb TV by Suzanne 9/30/21

It was nice to chat with these two women because I had never chatted with Gina before, when she was on the older version of the show, and Aleyse is brand new to the show.  Gina’s character, Sophie, is the new leader of the group, and has a lot to deal with this year, since her husband’s death. Breanna (Aleyse’s character) is a breath of fresh air that the show needs. It’s great to have some “young blood,” and to fill in for Hardison, since his portrayer, Aldis Hodge, couldn’t be in the whole show due to other commitments.

Suzanne:   How are you guys doing today?

Gina:   Oh, good. Thank you. I wish I was [unintelligible] right now.

Suzanne:   You wish you were where?

Gina:   With that palm tree and the ocean.

Suzanne:   I wish I was too. I’m in Arkansas.

Aleyse:   Close very close.

Suzanne:   So, we heard today about the UK picking up your show in late October. So, how do you guys feel about that?

Gina:   I’m so excited. I feel like I’ve been waiting ages. It’s been so frustrating sitting here in London and hearing these little plaintive messages like, “When are we getting the show? When are we getting the show?” and not being able to give an answer. So, to be able to say it’s coming on October 22nd, all sixteen episodes, is just really, really thrilling for all of us.

Suzanne:   So, they didn’t get the first eight episodes either.

Gina:   No, [not] here in the UK.

Suzanne:   Great. They probably are big fan of yours, being in the UK, and that’s probably why, one of the reasons they liked the show. What do you think, Aleyse?

Aleyse:   Oh, I mean, it’s great. This show is is a labor of just love, and as many people as possible that can get wrapped up in that love, the better. I hope it’s received the same way; I hope it just brings joy the same way that it seems to have brought joy here domestically.

Suzanne:   Right. And Aleyse, you’re new to the show. Can you tell me about getting this job and the process you went through?

Aleyse:   Yeah, I worked at Starbucks and was messing up people’s Frappuccino’s. I got an audition. I quit Starbucks saying that I already booked it, and then I booked it, but I did my audition with Beth over Zoom in my mom’s house and kind of didn’t know what I was in for. I got here, and it’s the best thing that’s happened to me, artistically speaking. It’s a dream show that we’re working on.

Suzanne:   What was your first day like?

Aleyse:   My first day I get an email saying there’s a hurricane coming, actually, now there’re two. So, there’s all this anticipation and build up. I’m like, “Do I know these lines, or do I think I know these lines?” Hurricane comes, you sit down for another seven days, you’re like, “Oh my gosh, all my adrenaline’s gone,” and it kicks back in. But it was good first day. A lot of the players were in, [I’m] sitting there rattling off a monologue going, “Oh my gosh, that is Aldis Hodge, Beth Riesgraf, Christian Kane, Noah Wyle, and Gina Bellman, wow.” It was intimidating, but I got through it and was met with so much love, so great first day.

Suzanne:   I never thought of that… filming in New Orleans, of course you’d have to contend with things like hurricanes.

Gina, how was it welcoming new characters into the show?

Gina:   It was great. I think one of the things about continuing with an existing show is it’s got to have new elements. It’s got to feel fresh; it’s got to have like new dynamics. You don’t want to ever feel that you’re standing still or looking over your shoulder. You need to be looking to the future. And when I watch a show, I love to discover the characters through the other characters’ eyes, so having their lens on us makes our characters – you know, it sort of informs the audience of who we are, so it’s also really helpful as a device.

Then, we get to meet these lovely new members of our family and develop friendship over nine months, and we’ve all become close.

It’s an interesting thing acting with people, because you’re in a vacuum; you become very, very close, but you’ve become very close in a vacuum. I’ve known so many of these people for many, many years, but they don’t know my friends. I don’t know their friends. So, you have this very intense kind of love for one another, but it’s quite unique. It’s hard, I think, for other people to understand how you can feel that strongly for people that you work [with] in this bubble. Yeah, it was lovely, welcoming both of these [unintelligible].

Suzanne:   And even more of a bubble now.

Gina:   Yeah.

Suzanne:   Well, one thing that’s nice about Dean is he seems to repurpose his actors in the different shows that he’s [done]. I think Christian’s been in all of his shows.

Gina:   Yeah, I mean, Dean’s best friend is our cameraman and has been from the pilot episode. So, that’s just like one example of how these are real collaborations and personal friendships, which is the dream really, I think, for everyone, isn’t it?

Suzanne:   Yeah, it shows his loyalty to his friends as well.

So, with Nathan gone from the show, is it fair to say that he has been replaced by Sophie with the main team and by Hardison, globally, now that there’s a global aspect?

Gina:   Yeah, we don’t go into too much detail about the kind of international operations, but yeah, that’s the device. I mean, obviously, we all know that Aldis is an incredible actor who’s very much in demand. You know, we take what we can get, but we didn’t really focus on so much what the other international teams were doing. I think it’s totally fair to say that Sophie’s put into a leadership role, but what I loved about the way it was written and the way it was developed was that she doesn’t just arrive and take that role. She’s waiting for it to be given. Everybody gives it to her; everybody gives her permission, a little bit more permission. That’s part of her journey of recovering from her loss and her grief. They know her so well that they know that they have to give her a purpose; they have to help her on on her way. Then, I think, as the season develops, and going into these final eight, she kind of sees light at the end of the tunnel, and she’s on her path, and she sees her destiny.

Suzanne:   I think that the great thing about this show is the you all get to play multiple characters. So, it’s more than just like playing one show. You’re on multiple shows in a way.

Aleyse:   Oh, yeah, I mean, you get a script, and there’s just so much opportunity all over it to sort of do something that’s just on your mind, or maybe you’ve seen a show, and you’re like, “Oh, wow, that must be a really cool set to be on,” [and] all of a sudden you have a medieval moment that you’re stepping into; it’s great. I mean, imagination, there’re no bounds bringing ideas; you’re never really shut down. Everybody’s like, “We’ll try it. Let’s see.” Yeah, it’s like 100 different show.

Suzanne:   Well, that segues into my other question, which is do they give you any leeway into changing the dialogue at all? Are they open to suggestions and changes about your character? Sounds like they are.

Gina:   Yeah, I mean, we riff in like little, tiny ways, and Aldis and Aleyse are the prince and princess of that, of just doing spontaneous little riffs. But I like to kind of really – I’m a very kind of text focused actor. So, I like to rework scenes and try and make them better and reorder things. Also, we like to bring in little physical like improv that will just elevate a scene, make it feel more, you know, present sometimes. You just bring in a little bit of business, and then you’ve got a reason why you’re all sitting around that table. You’ve got a reason why you’re all in that room, and we’re all really good at that, and they’re very open to it.

Suzanne:   And Aleyse, your character learns a lot. This half of the season she ends up being more than just the the girl at the keyboard. What was the most challenging physical thing that you did this half of the season?

Aleyse:   Oh, I want to say maybe being on ropes dropping through a ceiling. That was kind of hard; it’s because we’re like [at] a dead hang, and it’s through a hole in the ceiling. So, you have to climb on a ladder. But honestly, I think the thing that was most taxing on me is falling like that, but it’s always my choice to fall. I don’t think that the falls were really written in there for me, maybe one, but, yeah, that just becomes challenging, because you’re trying to keep it fresh, and you’re trying to sell the fall, and that would be my thing.

Suzanne:   Okay, well, they told me that’s my last question. I really appreciate talk me guys. I’ve talked to all of you now except for Noah, [but] the original Leverage, I got to interview everyone except for Gina. So, I collect them all.

Gina:   Thank you. Thanks, Suzanne.

Suzanne:   Thank you so much. I hope you enjoy the rest of the day and don’t have too much stress sitting there for hours.

Gina:   Not at all, it’s fun.

Aleyse:   Bye.

Suzanne:   Thank you. Bye bye.

Here’s the video!

Interview Transcribed by Jamie of http://www.scifivision.com

MORE INFO:

Please visit our Leverage Page!

Preview

In this new iteration, and new world, the Leverage crew have watched as the rich and powerful continue to take what they want without consequence. Grifter Sophie Devereaux (Gina Bellman), thief Parker (Beth Riesgraf), hitter Eliot Spencer (Christian Kane), and hacker Alec Hardison (Aldis Hodge) have watched the world change over the last eight years. Since their last job, it’s become easier–and sometimes legal–for the rich to become richer and the powerful to squash anyone who gets in their way.  To address the changes in the world around them, the team finds new blood in Harry Wilson (Noah Wyle), a corporate lawyer who is looking for redemption after realizing he’d been sitting on the wrong side of the table for his entire career, and Breanna Casey (Aleyse Shannon), Hardison’s foster sister who has a knack for computers, robotics, and getting into trouble.

Executive Produced By

Dean Devlin, Marc Roskin, Rachel Olschan-Wilson and Kate Rorick. John Rogers and Chris Downey serve as consulting producers.

Directed By

Dean Devlin, Marc Roskin, Noah Wyle, Francis Dela Torre, Jonathan Frakes

Produced By

Electric Entertainment for IMDb TV

Cast

Gina Bellman, Christian Kane, Beth Riesgraf, Aleyse Shannon, and Noah Wyle, Special Guest Star Aldis Hodge

Gina Bellman was born on July 10, 1966 in Auckland, New Zealand. She is an actress, known for Coupling (2000), Leverage (2008) and Jekyll (2007). She has been married to Zaab Sethna since September 2013. They have one child. She was previously married to Lucho Brieva.

Family

Spouse Zaab Sethna (September 2013 – present)  (1 child)
Lucho Brieva (July 2005 – 2007)  (divorced)
Children Brieva, Romy

Trivia

She was born in New Zealand and moved to England when she was 11 years old.
Daughter, Romy, born on November 20, 2009 in London.

Aleyse Shannon was born on May 16, 1996. She is an actress, known for Black Christmas (2019), Leverage: Redemption (2021) and Beauty (2021).

Trivia

Graduated from Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama.

Catch Eight New Episodes of the IMDb TV Original Series Leverage: Redemption on October 8

Aug 26, 2021

CATCH EIGHT NEW EPISODES OF THE IMDb TV ORIGINAL SERIES LEVERAGE: REDEMPTION 
ON OCTOBER 8

Leverage: Redemption poster

WATCH NEW TEASER HERE
SCREENERS OF NEW EPISODES AVAILABLE NOW ON
SCREENERS.COM

REVIEWS EMBARGOED UNTIL MONDAY, OCTOBER 4 AT 6:00AM PT/9:00AM ET

“Let’s go steal…eight new episodes of Leverage: Redemption.” In an all-new con, the Leverage crew surprised and delighted their fans by teasing the fall premiere of Leverage: Redemption in an exclusive video that dropped on IMDb TV socials today. The teaser video confirms that the IMDb TV Original series Leverage: Redemption will return this fall with eight additional season one episodes premiering October 8. In the brand-new episodes, the Leverage team finds itself up against a rival organization that embodies the system the team works so hard to take down.

Joining the cast in these additional episodes are guest stars Drew Powell (reprising his role as Jack Hurley from the original Leverage series), Ben Thompson, Joanna Cassidy, Jon Fletcher, and Brianna Brown, in addition to the previously announced guest stars James Marsters, LeVar Burton, and Andrea Navedo (continuing her role as Maria Shipp), as the Leverage team must aid a small town librarian, discredit a lifestyle and wellness guru, explore the failing memory of a legendary grifter, and more. Screeners for the new episodes are available now on Screeners.com. The remaining episodes of season one of Leverage: Redemption will premiere on October 8 on IMDb TV, Amazon’s free streaming service.

The first eight episodes of season one of Leverage: Redemption and all seasons of the original Leverage series are available to stream now on IMDb TV.

The rich and powerful take what they want, and the Leverage team is back to take them down. Sophie Devereaux (The Grifter), Parker (The Thief), Eliot Spencer (The Hitter), and Alec Hardison (The Hacker) have watched the world change over the last eight years. It’s become easier, and sometimes legal, for the rich to become richer and the powerful to squash anyone who gets in their way. The Leverage team finds new blood in Harry Wilson, a corporate lawyer who is looking for redemption after realizing he’s been sitting on the wrong side of the table for his entire career, and Breanna Casey, Hardison’s foster sister who has a knack for computers, robotics, and getting into trouble. In this new world, the team will use their collective skills to defeat a new kind of villain – from the man who created an opioid crisis from the comfort of his boardroom, to the couple who prefers to deport workers instead of paying them, to the shadowy security firm that helps hide dangerous secrets for a price. When someone needs help, they provide…Leverage.

Leverage: Redemption stars Gina Bellman as Sophie Devereaux, Beth Riesgraf as Parker, Christian Kane as Eliot Spencer, Aldis Hodge as Alec Hardison, Noah Wyle as Harry Wilson, and Aleyse Shannon as Breanna Casey. Kate Rorick is the co-showrunner and an executive producer alongside Dean Devlin, and executive producers Marc Roskin and Rachel Olschan-Wilson of Electric Entertainment. John Rogers and Chris Downey are consulting producers.

IMDb TV uniquely offers premium Originals on a free streaming service including the upcoming dramedy Pretty Hard Cases, premiering September 10. Spanning drama and comedy, scripted and unscripted, additional IMDb TV Originals include the Untitled Judge Judy Sheindlin Project, a Bosch spinoff; the comedy series Sprung; the Untitled Jeff Lewis Project – a new home design series; On Call from executive producer Dick Wolf; and second seasons of Alex Rider and Top Class: The Life and Times of the Sierra Canyon Trailblazers.

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IMDb TV Social TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | FACEBOOK

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Gina Bellman (Sophie) and Aleyse Shannon (Brenna) of "Leverage: Redemption" on IMDb TV

Interview with Dean Devlin and Kate Rorick

TV Interview!

 

 

Dean Devlin and Kate Rorick of "Leverage: Redemption" on IMDb TV

Interview with Executive Producers Dean Devlin and Kate Rorick of “Leverage: Redemption” on IMDb TV by Suzanne 9/29/21

This was a wonderful interview with the showrunner/producer/writer of the show, Dean, and the main writer, producer Kate. I’ve interviewed Dean before, but Kate was a pleasant addition. They were both fun to have on Zoom and gave great answers. I just love this show, and I was very happy to watch the series last 8 episodes of the first season. I hope it gets a second season. I was a huge fan of the original series that ran on TNT as well.

Suzanne:   How are you guys doing?

Kate:   Good. How are you?

Suzanne:   I’m pretty good. Can’t complain. I’m on the beach, as you see.

Dean:   Nice.

Suzanne:   So Dean, it’s nice to see you again, and it’s nice to meet you, Kate.

Kate:   Nice to meet you too.

Suzanne:   So, I finished watching all the Leverage episodes last night from the new season. I would have watched them sooner, but TCA happened… but I really love the show. I liked the first one, too. So, I’m a big, long-time fan.

So, why was the season broken up into two parts?

Dean:   I think that was just a decision by IMDb TV to give us two jolts, so that it wasn’t just one shot in the arm.

Suzanne:   Okay, and another question just occurred to me. I know that back when you were doing Almost Paradise, you kept trying to shop it to other networks. Were you trying to get a Leverage reboot done all this time, or was it a more recent thing?

Dean:   Oh, no, no. I originally started talking to IMDb about doing Leverage almost two and a half years ago. So, yeah, it was a long time in the in the making. They’ve been spectacular partners and incredible support. Not only did they step up to bring the show back but then held our hands during a global pandemic and eight hurricanes that knocked us out. I mean, you can’t get a more supportive, better partner than than IMDb TV. And, of course, now they’re running Almost Paradise.

Suzanne:   Oh, any chance for more episodes of those in the future?

Dean:   Well, I think that the reality is that if these back eight of Leverage do as well as the first eight, or hopefully better, and people continue to keep watching Almost Paradise on IMDB TV, I think we have a really good shot of second seasons on both of them. So, my fingers are crossed. Hopefully they go up in big numbers.

Suzanne:   Oh, good. When I interviewed you and Christian Kane in March 2020, that was my first Zoom interview

Dean:  

Oh, my gosh.

Suzanne:   Because I had done only phone interviews up until then.

Kate:   It’s weird how quickly it became normal.

Suzanne:   I know, right? Weird. So, can you tell me, if it’s not going back too far, why was Nathan killed off rather than just went missing or recast?

Dean:   Well, I think the thing is, the first Leverage series was really centered around a story of vengeance, you know, a man who lost his son, and it destroyed his life and his marriage, and he was set out for revenge. Over the course of 77 episodes, he found peace, and he found love again, and it really was a completion of an arc, and rather than just get him pissed off about something else again and launch the next show, I think what really made this work was by having a brand new engine and a new tone instead of a story that was about vengeance. This was a story about redemption. That really gave us an energy to put the show back together and to give it relevancy of why you should watch the new version.

Suzanne:   And is there any remote chance that he would come back in the future, figure out that he’s not really dead or whatever?

Dean:   You know, I never say never to anything.

Suzanne:   I love the Easter eggs in the show like having LeVar Burton playing a librarian, and the episode when Noah Wyle goes in the hospital and pretends to be a doctor, and I’m not gonna put any spoilers here, but I heard and saw a few. That was great. Are there more that I didn’t notice?

Kate:   Well, we try to feed in easter eggs whenever we can, because we know that we have a very passionate fan base who likes those things, but also, we as writers like those things. They tickle us when they make it through. As for the Noah Wyle in the doctor’s coat thing, we hadn’t originally planned on it, but the opportunity presented itself, and we said to ourselves, “Alright, we get we can do this once. We can do this once. So, let’s just do it now.”

Dean:   Also, I think so much now within the streaming world you have shows that are serialized, and sometimes multiple shows that are serialized and interconnected, and it really demands a lot of the viewer that the viewer has to watch every single episode and remember everything from every show. Our show is episodic; you can you can jump in at any point. You don’t have to have seen previous episodes, and you can enjoy the show. But for us, the Easter eggs are a present for those who have stuck with us. You don’t need to have watched every episode, but if you have, you’re going to get a couple extra treats that everyone else won’t get

Suzanne:   I watched them all, but I have a terrible memory, and I’m not all that observant, so if it’s obvious, I could see it, but I know I always have to find a video or something where somebody says, “Okay, here’s all the Easter eggs in that movie” or whatever.

Dean:   You can always watch the official Leverage After Show on Electric Now, and we break down the Easter eggs of every episode.

Suzanne:   I’ll definitely have to do that, then.

Can you tell us about the guest stars this half of the season? I didn’t have a list, but I recognized faces.

Kate:   We have so many amazing guest stars in this season. LeVar Burton, you mentioned, is one of them. Joanna Cassidy shows up in a role that I absolutely adored, and she knocked it out of the park. James Marsters shows up to come play with his former Angel costar Christian Kane, and I love watching them go head to head against each other. Drew Powell in the same episode showed up. So, it was an embarrassment of riches the back half.

Suzanne:   Cool. There was a woman, I think it was in the second episode that I recognized. She ended up working in like a drugstore somewhere. They put in witness protection at the end. I didn’t recognize her name.

Kate:   I’m so sorry. I’m blanking. I know exactly who you are talking about on who you’re talking about, but I’m blanking [on her name].

Suzanne:   Okay, I’ll ask IMDb. So, the series was primarily set in New Orleans, but where was it actually filmed?

Kate:   It was filmed in New Orleans.

Suzanne:   Oh, okay.

Kate:   Honestly, I don’t think New Orleans can be doubled anywhere else except for possibly that one little square in Disneyland, but it is such a vibrant city, and it becomes a vibrant character that when you go to New Orleans, you shoot New Orleans.

Suzanne:   Right, right. No, I understand. Actually, we were in Vicksburg not too long ago, and their their downtown area looks a lot like New Orleans, and they do the whole touristy thing there with the daiquiris and everything like they’re trying to imitate.

Dean:   I love it.

Suzanne:   Eliot went through a lot of personal stuff this season, more than Parker of Brianna. Can you tell us what went into that thinking of doing that for him?

Kate:   Well, I think we wanted to give Eliot a relationship and a grown up relationship that has him thinking ahead to the idea that maybe, “My job is incredibly important to me. Leverage is the most important thing I’m going to do, but I also want to share my life with somebody.” So, I think that when we get through these back eight episodes, that’s sort of where Eliot’s mind has has landed, and he needs to find a way to balance.

Suzanne:   And without giving away any spoilers, there was a possible meeting up with someone in his family, do you think that might continue in another season?

Dean:   Absolutely. It’s something that we had actually been planning on in the original Leverage had there been a season six then. We had it on the drawing board to really go farther in it. So, we decided to release it in season one, and if, knock wood, we get to season two, we will definitely go farther down that road.

Suzanne:   Okay, and was shooting the second half of the season easier for you, even though you had COVID restrictions during filming? I mean, did it get easier over time?

Kate:   From my perspective, it did get easier over time, just because we’d sort of you figured out what you were going to stumble over as you went along, but to that point, it still wasn’t easy.

Dean:   There was no break when we shot them. We shot all sixteen back to back, so we were still in the height of it.

Suzanne:   And was it fun to incorporate two newer characters this season, Harry and Brianna, into the show with the rest of the Leverage team

Kate:   It was honestly, and I’m so gratified and relieved at the reception that they’ve received from the fans, because it’s hard to join a very established show and to be somebody new on it, but they do. They bring new perspectives; they bring new new skills to the table, and I think that they breathe a lot of – they created a good engine for the show.

Suzanne:   And when you have these ideas for the show, each episode where there’s some character or person or entity that they have to help, are those ideas taken from the headlines, or where do they come from?

Kate:   We have like just files of the history of bad guys, things that have happened in the world. It’s like there is no dearth of bad guys for us to draw from. And in general, they are always worse than what we manage to put on screen.

Suzanne:   I believe it. I liked that episode where Harry was going through the the files in his old legal office. He said, “And they did that, and they did that.” Just always terrible things.

Dean:   There was one moment where we were looking at a line that one of our bad guys says in one of the episodes, and there were some question about whether it was too over the top, and then somebody showed the video of the guy we were kind of basing it on, and it was word for word what he said.

Suzanne:   Well, they say truth is stranger than fiction, worse than fiction, apparently.

There’s a lot of comedy in the show, which I enjoy, especially with Parker. Is there ever a time when you think, ”No, that’s too much comedy; this is a drama we’ve got to cut that that back.”

Kate:   I don’t know if we’ve ever actually gone too far. We try very hard to strike a balance between the comedy and the pathos of the story, but as Dean has said several times, if you stripped the comedy out of the show, Leverage is an incredibly dark show. Comedy is what makes it palatable, so chances are the worst thing that somebody has done, the funnier we’re going to try to be at some point, just to make it balanced.

Dean:   And I think we live in a world now with a lot of very dark and serialized shows, and I think one of the things that makes this stand out is for an hour you get to escape. You get to have a good time, you get to be hopeful, you get to be positive, and at the same time, you get to punch in the neck some really bad people.

Suzanne:   Yeah. I love that little sound; I don’t know if there’s a name for it, whenever Parker does something really fast, there’s a sound.

Dean:   We call it the whoosh.

Suzanne:   I’m surprised nobody’s made a video on YouTube of just all those little bits put together with the whoosh sound.

Kate:   Well, they will now.

Dean:   I’m sure somebody’s got a ringtone with it.

Suzanne:   I don’t have the time to put it together, or I would.

The end of the season doesn’t seem to be an ending for the team. Did you write it with the idea that the show will hopefully probably continue?

Kate:   We are cautiously optimistic that there will be a season two, knock on wood, all the wood you can find, but that said, we wanted to make sure that if there wasn’t going to be a season two that we ended season one on a satisfactory note. Everybody feels satisfied at the end of season one, so that was our goal as we went forward.

Dean:   Yeah, if you really if you look back on Leverage, it was really one of the style choices that we always ended the season with a [conclusion]. We never did a big cliffhanger at the end of the season. We always wanted it to be a complete meal. Instead of making you want to come back on a cliffhanger, we wanted to make you come back because you had such a good time.

Suzanne:   And I always wanted to ask this, and I never remembered before, but when you were younger, did you grow up watching things like It Takes a Thief and I Spy and Wild Wild West and Man from U.N.C.L.E.?

Dean:   All three of those shows you mentioned my mother guest starred on, so I have to include them, but I [would] say if you were really going to pull where we pulled from, it would really probably be more Rockford Files, A-Team, Mission Impossible. I think those were probably more the predecessors.

Suzanne:   Well, the coolness factor definitely reminds me of those old 60s shows.

And if Harry returns for the next season, would there be a possible romantic relationship between him and Sophie?

Kate:   Never say never; don’t want to rule anything out. Yeah, never say never.

Dean:   I think the thing is, what’s really great about their relationship is that Harry is the only person on the team who exclusively knows Sophie as who she is today, when everyone else has the memories of who she used to be. So, he’s able to bring [a] perspective that no one else on the team can, and that respect and that friendship is so important that for us it’s more important than a romantic relationship. If we made the decision to go down that road, it would be interesting, but to us, what’s really more interesting is how these people are relating on a different level than any of the other teammates relate on.

Suzanne:   Okay, well, I’ll take your word for that, but I did notice that what she did after … at the last episode, and that seemed to indicate that there was some kind of … there, but I won’t spoil it.

Thanks so much. I really appreciate it.

Dean:   Thank you. So nice to talk to you.

Kate:   Thank you.

Suzanne:   I’ll talk to you again sometime.

Dean:   Bye.

Here’s the video!

Interview Transcribed by Jamie of http://www.scifivision.com

MORE INFO:

Please visit our Leverage Page!

Preview

In this new iteration, and new world, the Leverage crew have watched as the rich and powerful continue to take what they want without consequence. Grifter Sophie Devereaux (Gina Bellman), thief Parker (Beth Riesgraf), hitter Eliot Spencer (Christian Kane), and hacker Alec Hardison (Aldis Hodge) have watched the world change over the last eight years. Since their last job, it’s become easier–and sometimes legal–for the rich to become richer and the powerful to squash anyone who gets in their way.  To address the changes in the world around them, the team finds new blood in Harry Wilson (Noah Wyle), a corporate lawyer who is looking for redemption after realizing he’d been sitting on the wrong side of the table for his entire career, and Breanna Casey (Aleyse Shannon), Hardison’s foster sister who has a knack for computers, robotics, and getting into trouble.

Executive Produced By

Dean Devlin, Marc Roskin, Rachel Olschan-Wilson and Kate Rorick. John Rogers and Chris Downey serve as consulting producers.

Directed By

Dean Devlin, Marc Roskin, Noah Wyle, Francis Dela Torre, Jonathan Frakes

Produced By

Electric Entertainment for IMDb TV

Cast

Gina Bellman, Christian Kane, Beth Riesgraf, Aleyse Shannon, and Noah Wyle, Special Guest Star Aldis Hodge

Catch Eight New Episodes of the IMDb TV Original Series Leverage: Redemption on October 8

Aug 26, 2021

CATCH EIGHT NEW EPISODES OF THE IMDb TV ORIGINAL SERIES LEVERAGE: REDEMPTION 
ON OCTOBER 8

 

WATCH NEW TEASER HERE
SCREENERS OF NEW EPISODES AVAILABLE NOW ON
SCREENERS.COM

REVIEWS EMBARGOED UNTIL MONDAY, OCTOBER 4 AT 6:00AM PT/9:00AM ET

“Let’s go steal…eight new episodes of Leverage: Redemption.” In an all-new con, the Leverage crew surprised and delighted their fans by teasing the fall premiere of Leverage: Redemption in an exclusive video that dropped on IMDb TV socials today. The teaser video confirms that the IMDb TV Original series Leverage: Redemption will return this fall with eight additional season one episodes premiering October 8. In the brand-new episodes, the Leverage team finds itself up against a rival organization that embodies the system the team works so hard to take down.

Joining the cast in these additional episodes are guest stars Drew Powell (reprising his role as Jack Hurley from the original Leverage series), Ben Thompson, Joanna Cassidy, Jon Fletcher, and Brianna Brown, in addition to the previously announced guest stars James Marsters, LeVar Burton, and Andrea Navedo (continuing her role as Maria Shipp), as the Leverage team must aid a small town librarian, discredit a lifestyle and wellness guru, explore the failing memory of a legendary grifter, and more. Screeners for the new episodes are available now on Screeners.com. The remaining episodes of season one of Leverage: Redemption will premiere on October 8 on IMDb TV, Amazon’s free streaming service.

The first eight episodes of season one of Leverage: Redemption and all seasons of the original Leverage series are available to stream now on IMDb TV.

The rich and powerful take what they want, and the Leverage team is back to take them down. Sophie Devereaux (The Grifter), Parker (The Thief), Eliot Spencer (The Hitter), and Alec Hardison (The Hacker) have watched the world change over the last eight years. It’s become easier, and sometimes legal, for the rich to become richer and the powerful to squash anyone who gets in their way. The Leverage team finds new blood in Harry Wilson, a corporate lawyer who is looking for redemption after realizing he’s been sitting on the wrong side of the table for his entire career, and Breanna Casey, Hardison’s foster sister who has a knack for computers, robotics, and getting into trouble. In this new world, the team will use their collective skills to defeat a new kind of villain – from the man who created an opioid crisis from the comfort of his boardroom, to the couple who prefers to deport workers instead of paying them, to the shadowy security firm that helps hide dangerous secrets for a price. When someone needs help, they provide…Leverage.

Leverage: Redemption stars Gina Bellman as Sophie Devereaux, Beth Riesgraf as Parker, Christian Kane as Eliot Spencer, Aldis Hodge as Alec Hardison, Noah Wyle as Harry Wilson, and Aleyse Shannon as Breanna Casey. Kate Rorick is the co-showrunner and an executive producer alongside Dean Devlin, and executive producers Marc Roskin and Rachel Olschan-Wilson of Electric Entertainment. John Rogers and Chris Downey are consulting producers.

IMDb TV uniquely offers premium Originals on a free streaming service including the upcoming dramedy Pretty Hard Cases, premiering September 10. Spanning drama and comedy, scripted and unscripted, additional IMDb TV Originals include the Untitled Judge Judy Sheindlin Project, a Bosch spinoff; the comedy series Sprung; the Untitled Jeff Lewis Project – a new home design series; On Call from executive producer Dick Wolf; and second seasons of Alex Rider and Top Class: The Life and Times of the Sierra Canyon Trailblazers.

Follow IMDb TV:
IMDb TV Social TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | FACEBOOK

Proofread and Edited by Brenda

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Dean Devlin and Kate Rorick, Executive Producer and Writer of "Leverage: Redemption" on IMDbTV