Today we had a chance to talk with Noah Wyle and discuss season 3 and how Toms role has changed not only for the 2nd mass but for his children. At the end of season 2, a new race of aliens arrived shortly after the destruction of the Espheni weapon. Known as the Volm, they are currently helping the 2nd mass and Charleston fight against the Espheni. However, not everyone is as trusting as Tom.
Why is Tom so trusting of the Volm (the new alien race that arrived at the end of season 2)?
He’s not a stupid man, and I know that he has the same questions and misgivings that everyone else does. There are a couple things he has great confidence about and the first is his gut feelings that the alien leader, Cochise, can be trusted. There is something about him and the rapport they have developed over the past 7 months that adds to that trust. The more important thing is that its working. They are winning and you can’t argue with the results.
In the public eye Tom has to show extreme confidence in what he is doing to avoid panic among everyone but behind closed doors he has all the same fears as everyone else.
What are you most proud of about the new season of Falling Skies?
I have never experienced a show that has gotten better and better as you move on, like Falling Skies. I have been on shows that start out great and then dip over time. As we moved through the seasons we learned what worked and what didn’t. We come into season 3 and now that we have established the characters and the story now we can have some fun. We can really peel away at the characters. As hard as this season was to shoot, and it was the hardest one yet, I am very happy with what we got to do.
What made this season so hard to shoot? For starters, Vancouver had a very wet fall (shocker!) and the series did not stay in 1 location during the season. In season 3, there were a lot of practical location shoots that resulted in a much more complex setup. Horses were also introduced into the story which adds another level of complexity to any scene.
Noah talked about his characters relationships with Anne and the Mason boys. Actress Moon Bloodgood arrived on set at the start of the season pregnant and that meant that Noah had to shoot many of the scenes with Moon out of context as she had to leave early to go back to LA to have her baby.
For Tom, having this baby was not only a symbol for Tom, it was needed for everyone around them to see that life must move on and things must continue to guarantee the survival of the human race. From the standpoint of the Mason boys, they are not as clingy to their father as they once were.
Tom being president results in him having much less time for his kids than he would normally have. Hal is having his own issues with the eye worm and Ben still acts isolated from the rest of the human population. Ben stays with the rebel skitters at night but does have a small group of de-harnessed spiked kids that he works with in the fight against the aliens, including one named Denny. In our recent interview with Connor Jessup (Ben), he described Denny and Ben as “good friends only”.
Matt is the one Mason boy who has changed the most. He is now an active part of the fight with Weaver and doesn’t cling to his father’s side like he once did.
We also asked Noah a little about the eye worm and what if any effects that might have on Tom.
No, there is something up with Tom but it doesn’t have anything to do with the eye worm. The eye worm was more of a tracking device for Tom, needed to keep an eye on where he was and where the 2nd mass was. In the case of Hal it creates a schizophrenic personality.
When discussing the idea of a season with more than 10 episodes, Noah commented that the complex structure of the show and its shooting schedule make it difficult to do long seasons. He could see a 12 episode season happening but season 3 is 10 episodes.
Noah’s favorite episode is Strange Brew, which shows up in the latter half of the season and this is the episode description for Strange Brew.
Things seem much too calm for Tom, making him suspicious of his surroundings. On his way back to Charleston, he makes a number of discoveries, some incredibly surprising and others utterly horrifying. Meanwhile, Weaver and Pope butt heads over how to handle the suspected mole. Gloria Reuben guest stars.
I think we can all agree, episode 8 is going to be really good.
