USARead only if you've seen all of Mr. Robot season one!
Christian Slater is smarter than you. Or sorry, we can't say that for sure, but he's definitely smarter than 99.9 percent of the viewing public!
How else can you explain that Slater suspected his character's exact mind-blowing twist after reading just the first episode?
"I read the pilot and I had questions about it," Slater just told reporters at the TCA Press Tour. "I thought this is really interesting and I thought the Mr. Robot character was really mysterious. I said to my agent, ‘Do you think that's guy's really there?' And my agent said, ‘Oh, come on, they never do that!'"
But spoiler alert and don't you dare keep reading if you haven't seen all of Mr. Robot: They of course totally did that. And no one (or very few people?) saw it coming.
Pulling off that twist was far more complicated than you might think, since no other actor was able to interact with or look at Mr. Robot (Slater) during filming.
"It's difficult when you're on set and you're telling actors, just don't look at him," star Rami Malek explained. "Trying to convince them there's some other reason they can't look at him, they get suspicious."
"But no one spilled the beans," Slater added. "I would test the other actors and talk to them, and when they answered me, I would yell at them…There was one scene where I didn't have any lines and that was too suspicious, so we added some in."
Other thought-provoking revelations:
There's a reason why Darlene (Elliot's sister) wasn't pictured in the family photo in Times Square, but Esmail isn't saying what it is.
When Rami asked if there was anything else that wasn't real in season one that we don't yet know about, Esmail yes, but wouldn't give any further info.
As for what's ahead in season two, which Esmail has nearly finished writing, "I think the whole show has been about Elliot's emotional journey and I really wanted to focus on that and make it less about the plot. And so for me, the headline for season two is, ‘How does Elliot reconcile the fact that he's been seeing these fantasies?' So that's the struggle that takes over in season two."
White Rose (BD Wong) will be back. "I mean, he was so amazing in the first season," Esmail said. "I would be stupid not to use him more this season. I do have to use him sparingly because I think the great thing about his character is he's got such a mystery about him."
And how will the show continue to surprise viewers now that the Mr. Robot reveal is out? Esmail explained "I'm not interested in gotcha moments or trying to shock or surprise the audience. It happens because Rami brilliantly plays Elliot. As long as that's organic and plays real,….It's not my agenda to shock you."
Particularly if you are fancy-smarty-pants Christian Slater.
Oh, and by the way, Slater's tips on how not to get hacked are pretty solid: "Updating passwords is vitally important. Pet names is a killer. And my new password is Golden Globe," he cracked.
Mr. Robot won the award for Best Drama Series and Slater won for Best Actor in a Drama Series. He revealed he got smooched by Harrison Ford afterward to celebrate, and Sam Smith smooched Carly Chaikin (Darlene). "Yeah, he said he adores me," she deadpanned.
Esmail's final season two tease: "There will be a lot more backstory that will be shown. The timeline will get a little clearer. Not 100 percent clearer but a little clearer."
Can. Not. Wait.