Season Three begins with Joe Carroll (James Purefoy) awaiting execution, and Ryan (Kevin Bacon) having moved on. But Ryan’s happiness is shattered when a new threat arises – one that will tear open old wounds and expose the sins of the past – forcing him and his team to unravel a twisted web of violence before it destroys them all.
The Following airs Mondays at 9/8c on FOX.
Interviews with the cast
UGuide talked with the cast and crew at Comic-Con 2014 about the new big bads, the aftermath of Joe, and what you can expect from the new season. Check it out:
Kevin Williamson & Jennifer Johnson Executive producers
Q: Where are you picking up this season?
Kevin: We're jumping ahead a year, same as we did last season. I think the fundamental difference is last year we wanted the audience to think Ryan was in a new place and he was doing well. We see that he's sober, he's going to AA. But then when he opens the secret room, he's wearing a mask, it's a facade. And that was a big theme for last year. He was still obsessed and he couldn't let go of Joe. This year …
Jennifer: This year we've evolved him. We always want to keep his character evolving and evolving. This year he has let go. This year he is in a really good place. This year he has met potentially the love of his life. He almost has kind of an instant family. And then the question is, can he maintain that? But we are going to do the year jump again, because we like that. It gives you an opportunity to catapult your character into a slightly different place to really establish some off-camera time for that to take hold and then to say, alright, now what happens.
Q: Can you talk a little bit about Max and Mike? Where are those characters going in the new season, and what's their connection to each other?
Jennifer: I love the kiss at the end of Season 2. I think a lot of people did. It had so much hope and so much effervescence, and it had been so well earned and set up the entire season. It just felt right. It felt really organic. We're going to make good on that. We are going to reset that at the beginning of the season. So we're going to see them together. We're going to see what's happened over the past year. But they'll be together and they'll be in love. The stakes are going to be high for them.
Kevin: But Mike still has all of that, and emotionally he's there with her. And I think the audience will be satisfied because we earned it and I think they're going to want to see that. But then he still has his father's killer out there. And he still has that blood lust and I don't think that's gone away.
KEVIN BACON Ryan Hardy
Q: Where do we catch up with you in this upcoming season?
Kevin: I think that I, at the end of last year, had a little bit of closure, even though it came out of the blue, with my relationship with Claire sort of ended. She put an end to it, and I think that while it was painful, I understood where she was coming from in terms of our relationship not being one that was going to really have a chance to pan out too much. And I say to Joe, I'm going to have a life that doesn't involve you. You're in jail now and I am really ready to move past. And I'm making good on that. I'm also still not drinking and I'm back with the FBI and having some level of domesticity with a new partner, and hopefully in a happier place. I mean, obviously, that's not going to last for too long.
Q: With James Purefoy (Joe Carroll) out of the picture, is there another big bad we're going to meet?
Kevin: There is another big bad, for sure. At least one. Joe Carroll was just the beginning. So the size and scope of this big bad or the evil that came from this … Joe is just the tip of the iceberg. Which is kind of exciting. In terms of playing those scenes, I think there are a lot of fantastic actors on the show. Certainly my scenes with Joe were always fun because [James] is a fantastic actor, and also I think that Kevin Williamson really loved writing to that tennis match that we would play.
SHAWN ASHMORE Mike Weston
Q: You've been through some dark places in the show. Are you going to be able to come back to the right side instead of the dark side?
Shawn:I think that Mike's journey is not complete yet and I'm sure that he'll descend down a little further, maybe before it gets better. And I think that's going to be an interesting thing. I've been talking about this relationship with Max being sort of that light that could potentially pull him out of it. But there is something underneath Mike. And I think we saw it even in the first season. There is an anger, and now certainly revenge, that is bubbling underneath the surface with him that I really think will still be around.
Q: How will Ryan help you?
Shawn: As far as Ryan being able to help Mike, I think Ryan was trying to help Mike the entire last season, but it's one of those things that you can't tell somebody. I think I understand that Ryan has gone through these things and has experienced these things and is probably trying to help him but how do you … It's just one of those things that you have to experience.
JESSICA STROUP Max Hardy
Q: Max has a really strong moral center. In Season 3, will she get drawn to the dark side?
Jessica: I would almost say that maybe she's slightly naive. Obviously Mike's father died and she saw the absolute horror that he was going through in killing Lily, but there is something that connects her to him. Maybe it's the trauma of going through all of that, that she's connected to him. I think this year she is going to find out a lot more how badly this has affected him. Meaning, she's going to see a lot more into his personal life. I think if anything, she is smart enough to see it happening and pull herself away, or try to pull her counterpart Mike or Ryan away as well before the bad goes down. But will she do that? I don't know.
SAM UNDERWOOD Mark
Q: How much more can your character maintain and still hold it together to get his revenge?
Sam: I think that's a wonderful thing about this season, again they've reset a year later. He's had time to go through what is needed to go through. Losing one of those brothers … There is no bigger impact it could have had on either one of them. And particularly for Mark, who was always more in tune with his emotions in a healthier way than Luke was. It's definitely going to shake him up. And that's wonderful about where we start with Mark in this season. He has already gone through a transformation of some kind to get through the grief, whatever he is going through. And then we see what led up to that point. So I think he's going to be in a very different place than where you saw him last.
Q: Is Mark going to be a leader or a follower?
Sam: I don't know. I haven't had my writers room meeting yet, so I have no idea. But I think it says a lot about the show. I think the [biggest] metaphor I've always taken from the show is that everyone doesn't have it in them to be a leader. What do people want from leaders? Who needs to be a leader? Is Joe Carroll a great leader? Not really. In Season 2 he wasn’t a great leader. So what does that mean in society? And I think for Mark, who is always seen as a subordinate to Luke, when you get rid of Luke, how can Mark survive? Does he need to become a leader? It's interesting. It's a deep show.