Last Resort Scoop: Don't Tell Scott Speedman, but Andre Braugher Is (Gasp!) Team Noel!

Exclusive! ABC's big-buzz drama premieres tonight, and we are on the show's set in Hawaii to get the inside story

Red alert! Red alert! ABC's Last Resort premieres tonight, which means Scott Speedman is back on your TV, people!

If you don't think that statement warrants such fanfare, well, you clearly missed the best TV college dramedy of all time: the WB's Felicity, which ended in 2002 and marked the last time we saw Ben Covington (Speedman) in our living rooms.

Not to mention, Last Resort—from The Shield creator Shawn Ryan—also happens to be one of the biggest buzz dramas of the fall (and in our Top Five!), and for good reason: It rocks.

But what you really need to know first is why, when I hit the Last Resort set in Hawaii, Scott Speedman had a good belly laugh while discussing whether his new costar Andre Braugher was Team Ben or Team Noel (a debate Felicity fans still do not take lightly).

After Braugher told me jokingly (or was he?) that he was a diehard Felicity fan, he gave pause when asked whether he was Team Ben (Speedman) or Team Noel (Scott Foley) when it came to the show's cornerstone love triangle: "That is a big question," he deadpanned. "They both had a leg to stand on and…Keri Russell was quite the prize. I understand they were both passionate about her." When I encouraged him to just say Team Ben given that he is now working with Scott Speedman, Andre refused and said laughingly, "I'm not going any further!"

I think we can all read between the lines there, right, Noel fans? He is totally Team Noel.

Still, Speedman just laughed it off in disbelief: "There is no way Andre Braugher was Team Noel! I don't think that's possible!"

All that good-natured fun aside, Last Resort is one of the strongest new contenders this fall, and definitely worth checking out tonight after Grey's Anatomy and Scandal. The new drama, about a submarine crew that becomes a target after its captain (Braugher) disobeys an order to annihilate Pakistan, is expertly written, full of exciting twists, and feels epic in scope.

Last Resort also shoots on the North Shore of Oahu, in the exact spot where ABC's Lost used to shoot, and a lot of the former Lost crew members and extras can be spotted on set (now wearing full uniforms instead of tattered "meat sock" garb.) Given the show's setting and its epic feel, some have been calling Last Resort "the new Lost," but Speedman and Braugher beg to differ.

"I think we're dealing with something unique," Braugher says. "It feels fresh and it feels new to me."

"There is no Matthew Fox," Speedman points out lightheartedly. "There's no smoke monster. Well, not yet anyway...not until sweeps!"

Braugher admits he wanted to do Last Resort not only because the script was so solid, but because he's really "just a boy fascinated with submarines." And Speedman, who had been offered a slew of TV projects since his Felicity run ended, said this project just felt right. "I just was ready to come back and do something; I think it was good timing. I always wanted to work with Shawn Ryan, it was a great script, and I couldn't say no."

Assuming Last Resort takes off, Speedman could be hearing fewer Felicity references from pesky (how dare you?) fans. But for the record, he doesn't mind it one bit. "Mostly when people come up to me, that's what they refer to, Felicity, and that's always been fine with me. I was so proud of that show and so happy to be a part of it. I think when you do something like that that resonates with an audience, it lasts, so that's always good for me."

Last Resort premieres tonight on ABC.