When In Plain Sight returns Sunday, May 1, you'll see some big changes: For starters, its star is pregnant. (Congratulations!)
We chatted with Mary McCormack about the USA Network's decision to build her pregnancy into her character's (acerbic WITSEC Marshal Mary Shannon) storyline, when the mysterious baby daddy will be revealed, Marshal Marshall's new girlfriend (hmph!) and more.
Get in here for more scoop on IPS's transformative fourth season from the hot mama-to-be...
The good news for fans is that we don't have to wait too long to find out who the father of Mary's child is. "I think you find out in episode six," Mary told us. "We don't drag it out, that part—the whodunit." But for now, her lips are sealed.
"I hate to be coy," she says. "I don't think I'm allowed to tell."
But it could be her partner Marshal Marshall, right? "Sure, there's always a chance." Will we be seeing Special Agent Mike Faber (Steven Weber) again? "Wouldn't that be—I hate to be coy," was all Mary would say on the matter.
Meanwhile Marshall does have a new girlfriend, a chirpy cop (Rachel Boston) who especially incurs Mary's wrath when she arrests her sister for car theft.
Mary predictably doesn't react well to her partner's new romance. "I think it's a little disarming for her," McCormack tells us, "because everything in her life is changing. Her mother and her sister aren't the mess-ups that she's used to knowing. I think that's an identity shakeup for her. If you're so used to being the caretaker, what do you do when there's no one to take care of? It goes with the whole theme of change this year. And obviously with me being pregnant it's even more change."
So what was the decision-making process behind mirroring the actress's real-life pregnancy on In Plain Sight? "We didn't write it in right away," McCormack revealed, "because I'm not young and pregnancies are fragile at any age, so I didn't want to write it in until I was through the really hard part. Then we got through the difficult stages and decided to write it in.
"Jeff Wachtel, the president of the network, said, 'It's season four—it's exactly when you want a show to have a big shakeup. It's when a show's character should be forced to change. Otherwise everyone gets bored.' I think he was right. It's a really nice opportunity to show what women go through. Women who are passionate about their work—how do you reconcile loving your work and loving your job and watching your body change and not knowing if it's something you're totally comfortable with? A lot of women I think can relate to that."
Mary's relationship with Marshall is also transforming this season—even before her pregnancy is revealed. "He's always been there and secretly she probably takes some comfort in knowing that," McCormack muses, "and now he's with someone else. I think it's confusing for her, but I think she doesn't think much of it. The girl's not much like Mary so I don't think she thinks of her as a real threat. She's supergirly, so [Mary's] not really into her."
But how "into her" is Marshall himself? "He certainly dated other people before and this one's going on a little longer," McCormack says. "I don't know how long it will go on for—so we'll see what happens."
Who do you think is Mary's baby daddy? Do you think Marshall and Mary are destined to be together, or should he find romance with someone else?