US TV
Warning: This article contains spoilers that some readers may prefer to avoid.
Click here for the first part of this interview.
What would you say the theme for the second half of the series is versus the first?
"The theme for the second half - I think it's definitely about the list... I think the first half was definitely about the discovery, and the second half is more about the realisation of it, and then the growth with the powers."
Do you sense from the scripts so far that there has been any shift in focus on some of the characters?
"The writers are always taking care of each character, trying to give everyone storylines as their focus. There's definitely... you're starting to see a lot of the crossover, and because of that the stunts get combined here and there. There's some wonderful, wonderful twists coming up."
We enjoyed the love interest story that Hiro had with the waitress character. Do you see any more love interest in his future?
"Thank you very much. I really, really enjoyed doing that - she's an amazing actress to play with. Yes, I heard from someone that somewhere down the line, I'm not going to say when, there will definitely be another love interest for Hiro. From what I understand, it's going to be a new character, but who knows, you never know what's going to happen."
Could you describe Hiro's relationship with his father?
"He's being played by George Takei and I believe we will see him in Episodes 14 and 16, I think. The relationship is kind of complex, but simple. There you go for a paradox. Without trying to reveal too much, I don't want to spoil it, you'll find that father...he has a lot of expectations of his son, and Hiro is his only male son to be his heir to his company. Because of that, he views Hiro's journey as childish and foolish, and wants him to grow up. Hiro's always seen his father as an intimidating figure, someone he has to live up to, and sometimes limits who Hiro is as a person, because of the expectations his father has always had on him. We'll see a little bit of that conflict in the reason why his dad came to find Hiro in America."
Could you explain a little bit about the relationship between Hiro and Ando. Were they childhood friends or just coworkers?
"We don't know. He's just a coworker, as far as I understand. They go back 12 years or 15...we might see a young Hiro and Dad, but as far as I understand it they're just coworkers."
In terms of the character of Hiro, it seems that particularly in the episodes with him in Texas, he didn't have much of a handle on his power.
"Hiro's power, from the way it's described - attack leads to no escape. We'll learn later on what that means. You see him lose his powers - the second half of the season, the next part ... his quest for his core, which will let him focus his power and get back the control over his powers. He becomes very interesting. His powers and his emotions, he doesn't control them.. He definitely comes to the realisation that he can't change the past, and he believes... in destiny... and he realises that's something not to be messed with. He's going through a lot of tragedies and obstacles, so it's hard for him to balance that."
As you've been developing Hiro, what's been the most challenging aspect for you?
"One of my main challenges in terms of acting is that he had already spent some time with Charlene for an undisclosed amount of time, it could have been three weeks, but he could have been lost for three years, we don't know. Maintaining a level of American accent, and Japanese accent... a Japanese accent in English, I had to scale down the level a little bit, because Hiro's started to learn English. I had to make sure for Hiro not to lose the ethnic edge, with that when he starts being in-depth, he's quite sensitive, he can't be all geeky and jokey the whole time. There is a sense that Hiro's looking for a kind of release. That's the hard thing to maintain that aspect of realism and comedy grounded in truth and find opportune moments where it would be real for Hiro to come out and be kind of funny without pushing the funny, keeping it real. There's a lot more naivety that you get away with [because of] him being enthusiastic, but now you have learn from the lessons he's learnt to show glimpses of both sides. That's a challenge."
With your ensemble, your characters are still encountering each other. Is there anyone on the set you're anxious to have a scene with?
"God, I would say all of them. I haven't gotten to Case yet...I think I've had two scenes with Adrian, and that's the most in terms of other series regulars...it's kind of cool because every time you get to work with another member of the cast it's magic, because you'll be like: 'This might be the last time, so let's make the most out of it'. So we'll rehearse and rehearse and rehearse and discover new moments and say 'this is so cool, we would have never thought about that'. I think we're actually doing something from that tonight on the Tonight Show, I know we're showing a new clip and that's going to be fun. I have thought, it's quite exciting. I think it comes in doses, because I definitely cherish and make the most of it. So every time you see a new parent, it's kind of refreshing to the audience to see a heightened performance, because you're bringing, everyone's bringing their A+ game in."
Is there any one particular power or part of your character that you would like to see grow and change?
"Another love interest is always great, I have so much fun playing that. With Charlene, I had a great chemistry with her. There is something about not seeing many romantic stories with an Asian American couple on screen. It will help that, to make that a realisation will make it a lot of fun. I'd love to see more of the sword fighting scenes, as they talk more about the quest, I think they're going to utilise that a little bit more. I'm hoping I'm going to be able to use a lot of my Kendo skills to retrain a lot of stuff, get used to that on the show."
How was it having George Takei playing your father?
"Oh, he's so funny. When we weren't shooting, taking breaks, he would tell these wonderful stories - 'back in those days, the ways we did things, we had camels walking'. And when action's called, he turns into this menacing, mean guy. It was quite intimidating to see him work. He was a wonderful person to work with. Hopefully, he'll come back, we'd like to collaborate with him more."
Will Hiro ever discover where his superpowers came from?
"I believe that will be the case. At the time, they're just asking everyone to take a leap of faith. Questions will be answered as to where they come from at some time in the future, but that's not what the show is about right now, where they came from, but rather what people are going to do with their powers, use them to save the world. Questions will definitely be answered - the show's been very good at that. Sometimes the writers have to be held back in terms of answering a lot of questions because they want to move a lot faster than they wanted."
The fans are really impressed with your scene as Hiro from the future. Was it a challenge to play a different version of the character and will we be seeing him again?
"It definitely was a challenge, but it was a lot of fun. Any time as an actor you get to be challenged, to play a completely different role in the same series is wonderful. Even when I got to act more of the dramatic love scenes, that was also fun. It's always fun to do something different, and yes, we will. From what I understand, we will see future Hiro again in that form. I think sometime in the season - that's the plan but there's nothing concrete. That's the rumour that's going around that could change at the drop of an hat. But I have to say, the biggest compliment is when people come up to you and say 'who's that guy who played future Hiro, he kind of looks like you but he's not'. That's a big compliment."
Is Hiro on a quest to find powers that will help him, or is just the sword? Will his time-travelling go further?
"There is interest in that, and unfortunately that part of the plotline I can't talk about, but it will be answered."
Does the sword have a higher purpose?
"I would say the answer will be solved somewhere between Episode 12 and 18."
Hiro is the only son. Will we see other family members?
"You will be seeing other family members, yes. He has a father."
The new tagline is 'are you on the list'. Is the 'save the world' tagline completely over?
"Um, pretty much, I don't think it'll be printed any more. We still have to save the world. We have saved a cheerleader, now we have to save the world. 'Are you on the list' is definitely the new tagline, and it kind of sounds like an exclusive bar, but it's definitely no more 'save the world'. I would say to everyone, if you bought your T-shirts from NBC.com store, save your 'save the cheerleader, save the world' T-shirts."
Can you tease anything about the dinosaur and how it fits into the plotline?
"I'll tell you straight up. The answer will be in Episode 12. The first episode after we come back, you'll see the dinosaur. Our show has always been like a painting. We know it's come to fruition in one form or another. I did work for Industrial Light and Magic when we were working on films like Jurassic Park, so..."
What does that mean?
"I don't know..."
Can you tell us about Christopher Eccleston's guest starring on the show?
"I haven't got a chance to work with him. He's going to be Peter's mentor. He's going to be Peter's yoda and we'll see traces of that, the beginnings of that. "
Did you get to see him in Dr Who?
"I didn't, and I didn't even get to meet him in person!"
Since Star Trek exists in Hiro's universe, how do you deal with George Takei's appearance? Are you in danger of breaking the fourth wall here?
"It's kind of interesting. Obviously, one of the things I was trying to take to the writers was saying 'can I say something Star Trekkie?' You're not my father figure, Sulu is, but I thought it would be funny. The writers shied away from that, but they have put in something clever later on, to fulfil that."
The structure of the show is very complex. Did Tim Kring and the writers show you the whole story?
"Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. In their mind they definitely have everything planned out. I don't like to find things out too much ahead of time, because I love discovering things with Hiro. But sometimes the writeres will out of pure excitement tell me what's going to happen. They're usually pretty good, they won't come up and be like 'oh my god, we've got this great thing for you', and usually I just walk away. But on Tuesday they came up to me and were like 'oh my god, you've got to listen to this' and were like 'it's a great idea, blah blah blah.' In their own minds they've definitely got everything written out. I only find out things I need to know. So, for me to know, with Hiro's scenes, I need to know what happened and where he came from, so I know what emotional state I was meant to be in, what emotional and visual state I was meant to be in. So that's the only bit I really try to get out from them that I need. Especially another time travel thing... when he met Charlie, getting lost, not being able to control his powers, and having to use a bus to come back. During that unspecified time being lost in his travels, I need to know what his life was like... Sometimes they'll say 'we don't know yet', and we'll kind of be collaborating and come up with an idea, 'let's play it like this', and then later we'll be changing, and then we just tell everyone 'that's the way we planned it all along'. Then we'll be genii."
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