FOX’s Alcatraz has been a welcome scripted addition to their weekly line-up, performing well on Monday nights and building a mystery as it has gone along. The series sees inmates and others from the famed prison island resurfacing in the 21st century, and at the heart of the mystery is Rebecca Madsen, a police detective recruited by Emerson Hauser (Sam Neill) to help recover and apprehend the “missing ’63s.”
Rebecca is also a key puzzle piece in that her grandfather, Tommy Madsen, was a prisoner on Alcatraz who, as she eventually finds out, was one of those who disappeared in 1963 and has resurfaced 50 years later. Everyone wants to get a hold of Tommy, and recently, she’s even learned that she was the second Madsen that Hauser tried to recruit for his cause.
This morning, we had the opportunity to talk with the actress who plays Rebecca — Sarah Jones. Jones told us a bit more about what to expect, and promises a “huge payoff” for those watching every episode. A new installment of Alcatraz, titled “Johnny McKee,” airs tonight at 9PM on FOX!
We’re going to present this interview Q-and-A style. Our questions to Sarah Jones are posted in bold; her answers are not. Please do not reproduce this interview onto other websites; instead, just send a link to KSiteTV!
Will Rebecca be coming face-to-face with her grandfather, Tommy Madsen, again any time soon?
Yes! Absolutely. She will, and I think that the audience will be very pleased in the kind of way that they’re going to face off.
How has Rebecca’s relationship with Ray changed, now that she knows that he’s really her uncle?
I think right now, they have different motives, and they’re trying to come to an understanding with each other, but at the same time, since they have different intentions, they just can’t come together.
Rebecca wants to get to the bottom of the case. She wants to find her grandfather and deal with her partner’s murderer, and Ray doesn’t want her to get hurt. He loves her, and he wants to protect her. He knows that there’s not really much he can do about it. So he makes it very hard for her to get those answers that she wants, to get to her grandfather.
So you’re suggesting that both Rebecca and Ray are very stubborn characters?
Absolutely.
How do you think she will react when she learns that Ray has met with Tommy a couple of times?
In the “Guy Hastings” episode, she figures it out. She figures out that he has seen him, and he knows what’s going on, because when she goes to confront Hauser to tell him that he needs her more than she needs him, she tells him how she put that all together. If Ray hadn’t known about any of this going on, it would have been a much different kind of reaction to Guy Hastings showing up.
I think she’s putting it together, and I don’t think he needs to tell her, for her to figure that out.
At this point, what is Rebecca’s feeling about Emerson Hauser?
I don’t think she trusts him as far as she can throw him, but at the same time, she doesn’t have much of a choice. He’s her boss, and he has more information than she does, as far as she knows. She has no choice, really, but to trust him to a certain extent. I don’t think she knows whether he’s one of the good guys or the bad guys, yet. I think she has an idea, and I think she would lean more on the side that he’s probably one of the good guys, and he’s just completely hardened by it all. But she doesn’t trust him. No way.
Does Rebecca have any kind of idea how much Hauser is hiding? Every episode we seem to learn about something new that he seems to have hidden away.
Sure. I think Rebecca doesn’t know the full extent of how much he’s hiding, but she knows that he is hiding things. That’s why she’s always pestering him. That’s why she’s always giving him those snide remarks whenever she gets the chance, because she knows that he’s hiding things from her, which is frustrating, because it also keeps her from doing her job.
Are we going to see Santiago Cabrera’s character again?
That’s a question you should ask the writers and producers, because I don’t know. We get our scripts the day before we start shooting and go. That is definitely something you’d want to ask the producers.
How far into Season 1 shooting are you?
We are in the middle of [episode] 12, and then we’ll be doing 13.
What are you allowed to tease about what is coming up?
I can’t really tell you anything, but I will say that for the people that have watched the show from the beginning, and for the fans of J.J. Abrams and the mythology that he’s so well known for bringing to his TV shows, 12 and 13, particularly the last episode, is such a payoff to every week of getting little answers here and there. 12 and 13 really are a huge payoff, and I think the fans and viewers will be very pleased with how the season ends. It ends in a big way.
What do you hope to see for Rebecca in Season 2, assuming there is one?
I haven’t thought about it much, because I’m just so focused on the “now” and what’s going on now. Even now, I’ve been working on this character for about a year, but I’m still trying to figure out more things about her to bring to the story. So to be honest with you, I’ve been completely focused on this season, but I’m really excited to do the last episodes. Really, I can’t stress enough. It’s a great script, and it’s a great episode.
Why do you think Tommy Madsen is so important to the story?
I think he’s important to the story because, as you know in the episodes, he’s been giving a lot of blood, and I think that that’s important. I think that’s something that shouldn’t go unnoticed. That even keeps Rebecca’s interest at one point, as well. Actually, I think you get a little glimpse into that tonight. I think that there’s something about him that is unique, and why he’s the most important to the people that are looking for him, and the people that have sent him out into the world.
Again, don’t miss an all-new episode of Alcatraz tonight at 9PM (ET) on FOX! Here are some images from the episode. You’re also all invited to come visit our Alcatraz forum!
Alcatraz - "Johnny McKee"
