Secrets Revealed About Fringe's Final Three Eps

Get scoop about Fringe from the cast and exec producers

By Jennifer Godwin Apr 28, 2009 7:03 PMTags
Fringe, Josh Jackson, Anna TorvBarbara Nitke/FOX

One of the nicest TV gangs in town—the cast and producers of Fox's Fringe—gathered at Paley Fest last week to discuss season one, including what we can expect from the three remaining episodes (the first of which airs tonight).

Read on to find out what they revealed to us exclusively about who got the coveted scene with Leonard Nimoy's William Bell, about which villains return for an encore and which shocking secret about Peter is revealed way ahead of schedule...

Countdown to Finale: Expect the final three episodes to blow out the show as you've known it so far. Says executive producer Roberto Orci: "We were saving so many juicy secrets for years and years, and we're actually going to stick a bunch of them in the finale. That may be the worst idea ever, but we're doing it." According to Anna Torv, all sorts of nooks and crannies of the show's mythology will be explored: "The last couple of episodes are very exciting. You get to the bottom of Harris (Michael Gaston)—there are a couple of surprises—and Jones (Jared Harris) comes back, and you find out something that I didn't expect. And we meet William Bell!" But according to Josh Jackson, the final eps are really all about Ms. Olivia: "The episodes that we're in right now are about clarifying why it is that Olivia is so important to the FBI and understanding why Olivia specifically—not any other cop—got chosen for that job."

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The Best and the Brightest: Leonard Nimoy appears as William Bell in just one scene this season, and that scene is with Anna Torv's Olivia. She tells us: "It was a tiny, tiny, tiny little scene, but I think we'll pick on it when we come back. He was lovely. How exciting that he's a part of our show, and that he's William Bell, no less! How exciting that we get to meet William Bell and not just talk about him for another season!" For those of you who are worried that hard-to-come-by Nimoy wouldn't be able to do as many episodes as originally imagined for Bell, Orci has some reassurance for you: "William Bell will be a bigger part of the story than you can even imagine," regardless of Nimoy's episode count. BTW, William Bell and Walter Bishop might be better buds that you'd think. John Noble tells us, "When Walter refers to William Bell, he doesn't do it nastily, he always says 'Belly and I did this or did that.' He hasn't got a grudge against him."

Clone Wars? Also up for examination is Peter's much-discussed medical condition. Says exec producer Alex Kurtzman, "Yes, that's one of those things we were going to save for a long time. You're going to find out about a big part of Peter's life." And Josh Jackson says that the reveals about his character are worth the wait: "It is actually, if I may say so, shocking. It radically changes the understanding of the character. I don't play it...It happens somewhere else with other characters, but information is revealed."

Altered Ego? So does the lightbox trick combined with the Cortextiphan reveal mean that Olivia Dunham has been gifted with powers far beyond those of mortal women? According to Anna, "I don't know, but since I get to play Olivia, that's the kind of stuff I want to see more of." (Us too, girl!) Meanwhile, Orci says, "Does she have superpowers? It depends on what you mean by super. She could have powers that we could all discover within ourselves. Or she may be going crazy." Don't rush to any conclusions though, guys, because according to Kurtzman, "That's not a denial, and that's not a confirmation."

In a Family Way: Everybody in the cast is still trying to figure out where they fit into the group dynamic of the show. According to Jackson, "We are this screwed-up family unit that [all the characters] want to be a part of although no one wants to admit it." Whereas Anna says, "I don't know what her place is yet. I don't know if Walter is like a little father figure or if Olivia is gonna have to be a mom to these two little boys, Walter and Peter. I just don't know." John Noble has a firm stand on the character-relationship situation. He just votes no on a Peter-Olivia hookup because he thinks it would kill what semblance of familiar order they have established, "I hope it doesn't happen. It would ruin the family dynamic—really, really screw it up, if we play it true to life. When people in work situations have relationships, it's disastrous."

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What secrets do you want the answers to before the end of Fringe's first season? Post in the comments!

Get full episodes of Fringe at Fancast.

Fringe airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on Fox.