You didn’t think our string of Dallas interviews was over yet, did you?
Today we present another interview from our recent visit to the show’s set in Texas, and this one is one of our favorites: Emma Bell, who has been devilishly naughty as Emma Ryland, daughter to Ann with ties to two of the show’s major families, the Ewings and the Rylands. Emma’s role got even more involved in the latter half of Season 2 as the character began sleeping with John Ross — her participation in jailing her father also scored her some manipulation points.
Before talking about her role as part of the Rylands, Emma spoke of what it’s like to join the world of the Ewing family. “I think that the Ewing world is so dysfunctional and vast that there’s always more space for trouble,” she said. “When I booked the role, I was really excited to be a part of the whole history of the show. My mother had watched it as I was growing up. I don’t know that I ever did; I think maybe she thought it was a bit much for her child to watch, but now, being a part of it, it’s very cool. To work alongside icons like Patrick and Linda, and of course Larry before he passed. The cool thing about my character is that she’s not a Ewing, so she kind of doesn’t have to contend with the Ewing family in terms of how does she separate herself and become a different personality, because she’s the rival family.”
“The Rylands now are the new Barneses, in a sense,” she continued. “They get to be these evil, kind of twisted, dysfunctional people, and Emma was really cool because she didn’t really know which side she fit on. She kind of still doesn’t, but she plays both sides.” The Ryland drama is only going to heat up, beginning with the new episode that airs this Monday night (March 3). “If you think the Ewings are dysfunctional, you’ve not seen anything with the Rylands. Every script I get… it gets worse in the best possible way, more and more and more. Especially when they’ve brought in Judith Light to play Judith, the matriarch of the Ryland family. She’s so delicious in how she does everything, and they write her so well.”
Finally, presumably due to the fact that they’re both young, blonde, and provocative, there have been a lot of comparisons made between Emma and Charlene Tilton’s character of Lucy Ewing in the early seasons of the original Dallas. Might we see an Emma/Lucy scene in Dallas Season 3 – and have the characters even met? “Emma and Lucy have been in the same vicinity,” Bell confirmed. “There’s not been an actual Lucy-Emma scene, no. Maybe that’s coming; I don’t know! The thing is, there are some similarities between Lucy and Emma, but I do think that Emma is very different than Lucy in a lot of other ways. But there are absolutely some similarities. I’m sure people would love to see us have a scene together.”
A new episode of Dallas airs this Monday, March 3 at 9PM (ET) on TNT. Take a look at video of our interview, including some extra quotes not posted above, below:
Disclaimer: Travel arrangements for our Dallas set visit were provided by Warner Bros. Television.
