Michael Gibson / AandEBy the looks of our DVR DOA post, a lot of you could use some new TV shows to become addicted to. Enter A&E's Breakout Kings. Airing on Sundays, Breakout Kings has garnered critical favor for its mix of procedural crime-solving capers and cast chemistry among the task force.
Brook Nevin, who plays the neurotic but brilliant Julianne, answered our questions about why she loves her character's craziness and how Breakout Kings is different from other series about using criminals to catch criminals. Plus, what kind of "mad skills" will her character show off later on in the season...
What drew you to Breakout Kings in the first place?
Brooke Nevin: I loved this show from the getgo because the writers seemed like they were delineating these really interesting characters even though it was set in a procedural cops and cons sort of show. And when I read for Julianne, the character that I play, I kind of got her right away. Not that I am a tech wizard myself in any way, but there was a really interesting back story for her character and she deals with some social anxiety and is trying her best to prove that she is good at what she does. I think there were all these really subtle parts that they added to the script and I really enjoyed auditioning for the part. It's something that just sort of happened, I would like to say seamlessly, but I guess I just connected to the character that they wrote.
What makes Breakout Kings different from all the other shows out there?
The most obvious difference is that we follow fugitives who are placed in the special task force to help catch other cons, so it's almost like getting an inside and an outsider view at the same time. And because you have these people from both sides all working together, it makes for a lot of comedic moments as well as some really high-tension moments, so each episode is almost a struggle for this team to find its rhythm so they can get the job done.
What can we expect as the season continues?
Well, we can expect some more dangerous and exciting cons. As each episode rolls on, we get glimpses of more of the back stories of each character and I think that it will help the audience connect more to the main cast members, even though the main focus of each of the episodes is this high-octane chase. We still have some really great character moments that are still going to roll out. And we get to know more of Kelly's family and more of Erica Reid's family and even some interpersonal relationships between the task force members, which will get interesting.
Is Julianne ever going to mellow out?
I think for the first season we will see that Julianne gets more comfortable with the people she is working with and she is obviously really good at her job. We're going to see some lighter moments and her personality is going to creep out in ways that might be a little bit surprising or fun to see, so that's kind of where the first season is headed, in terms of Julianne's anxiety anyways.
Anything you're really excited for viewers to see?
She's got mad skills on the keyboard! The producers have explained it to me as this: Julianne has had some amazing training with the US Marshalls Academy and so she is far more capable than we may see this season. But if fans wanted to see a gun-toting Julianne, maybe they should blog or tweet about it.