Crave Online: I was worried you might spend this whole season in a cage?
Jack Coleman: No, that ends in episode two. So season premiere night, you'll see that change. The big breakout happens in episode two.
Crave Online: I couldn't imagine HRG being passive for too long.
Jack Coleman: No, HRG passive kind of ends in the first scene in episode two.
Crave Online: Doesn't he know all the secret escape route from the company though?
Jack Coleman: Well, there are no escape routes from the cell but there are certainly things that can go wrong which can bring down the entire unit.
Crave Online: Did you miss Hayden while you were locked up?
Jack Coleman: Yeah, but she's everywhere. She's in every magazine so when I'm there, I'm thumbing through all the fan magazines. I can't get away from her.
Crave Online: This season introduces the possibility that anyone can get super powers. How do you like your chances?
Jack Coleman: I don't like my chances. I don't think I want powers. I kind of like being mortal and unpowered. I like having to deal with the old fashioned sort of gumshoe stuff with a gun and sneaking around. My favorite part about this character is that he doesn't have super powers and he has to get by in this world on his wits and his resourcefulness and his training and his ruthlessness. He's one of the most ruthless characters on the show and you're going to see a lot more of that in season three.
Crave Online: Is your character is going to be in a totally different type of storyline this year, rather than being with the family?
Jack Coleman: You’re going to see sort of more of a company man. You’re going to see a guy on a mission that’s called Villains. The volume is called Villains and there are some people who I want to settle scores with, and people who want to settle scores with me. So there’s going to be a certain amount of bagging and tagging, hunting and gathering. There’s a lot of action.
Crave Online: Do you still have scenes with the family and Hayden?
Jack Coleman: Yes. Her character is very much on a quest of who am I? How do I reconcile who I am with this ability? She's much more proactive this year. She's much more taking her destiny in her own hands and saying, "I'm not just going to try to hide and pretend I'm not different. I'm going to embrace this." And that brings the two of us into at times conflict, at times concert depending on what's happening. She gets to see her father doing what he does in a way she never has before. In some ways, she understands him better and in other ways, it freaks her out.
Crave Online: Like Take Your Daughter to Work Day?
Jack Coleman: Doesn't happen quite that way but it has almost the same effect.
Crave Online: How does a sometimes overprotective father react to his daughter's empowerment?
Jack Coleman: He still in a perfect world would want to keep her away from it but I think he knows he can't. HRG being the Machiavellian soul that he is may even at some point resort to, I wouldn't necessarily say using her, but taking advantage of something that she brings to the table.
Crave Online: Will we see future HRG again?
Jack Coleman: So far this season we have not seen future HRG. We did back in season one with Five Years Gone, but I don't think as of yet in season three you'll see future HRG.
Crave Online: HRG has always had a healthy dark side. How much darker a side can be explored?
Jack Coleman: There are different elements of the dark side. You've seen the dark side of HRG in that episode where Elya Baskin who played Ivan, my mentor, and I basically take his memories away and then I kill him. That was in season two. That's pretty dark. So I don't know that it gets darker than that but there are different kinds of dark which you will see, some of which involve as I was saying being willing to take advantage of those close to him.
Crave Online: Will his new actions be for more good purposes or less?
Jack Coleman: I will say that in his mind, it's always for good purposes. That's what they do I think so well on the show. You very clearly see what he's trying to do, what his motivation is but you're just kind of horrified at the means by which he does it or how far he's willing to go to do it.
Crave Online: That's the best stuff.
Jack Coleman: That's why he's such a great character.
Crave Online: Are you working with any new actors?
Jack Coleman: Yeah, I'm working some with Jessalyn. She's not new, but she's new to me on the show. I'm just about to shoot a scene with Adrian. In two and a half seasons, we've only done one scene together. There's a scene with Adrian, a scene with Ali so I'm getting to work with people I haven't worked with.
Crave Online: So a lot of the regulars.
Jack Coleman: Yeah, people I haven't really worked with. I've barely worked with Adrian, barely worked with Ali, barely worked with Milo. I've barely worked with Masi so there's a lot of people I haven't had a lot of stuff to do with yet.
Crave Online: Now that you have Claire’s blood in you, is that going to change how you are?
Jack Coleman: That was a onetime fix. Yeah, that was sort of like a flu shot. You have to get it all the time. No, that’s not going to stick. I don't have it in my DNA to recreate that. That was just one time.
Crave Online: Is this next season going to reinvigorate the franchise? Will it take it back to where it was before last season?
Jack Coleman: Where it was and beyond. The adrenaline factor in Season Three is way up there. You’re not waiting for answers. The stories are going to evolve with such a speed and with so much pace that I think the audience is going to be really swept along. Yeah, the scripts are pretty thrilling and what we’ve done so far is pretty great.
Crave Online: Are you worried it's been so long that people will have to catch up again?
Jack Coleman: That’s the bad news but also the good news. When it comes back people will be ready for it. I think people will also get right back into it and "this is what I loved about it" as opposed to going, "well they’re not doing this and they’re not doing that."
Crave Online: Have you seen the Season Two Blu Ray?
Jack Coleman: No. I'll tell you one thing I think is going to be cool about it is there's going to be a lot of behind the scenes, because there's only 11 episodes. There'll be a lot of behind the scenes. There'll be a lot of scenes that were cut. For people who are fans of the show or just fans of filmmaking, I think they'll get a big kick out of it.
Crave Online: What are your feelings on Season Two?
Jack Coleman: I think Season Two in retrospect will be remembered a lot more fondly than it was reviewed at the time. I think there were mistakes made. I think there was a slowness of pace which was frustrating. That has been corrected. Put it this way, fans will not be bored this year.
Crave Online: So there's more action?
Jack Coleman: There's a tremendous amount of action. What I like, what I think the show does best is adrenaline and mystery. This show has it in spades and great plot twists. Things that the show really does well, you will see a lot of in season three.
Crave Online: Does HRG kick some ass?
Jack Coleman: Oh yeah.
Crave Online: Do you like to do stunt work?
Jack Coleman: Yeah, I don't do anything too outrageous but I like physical stuff.
Crave Online: How did you like interviewing the fans on the red carpet special?
Jack Coleman: I love interviewing the fans. It's kind of easier doing the interview I think in some ways. They're all very nice and they just sort of sat there and waited and got enthusiastic on cue and we love that.
Crave Online: Did you learn anything from them?
Jack Coleman: I learned that a lot of them think I shot Nathan and they may be right and they may be wrong. That is resolved in the first I think two minutes, as you know.
