Last Resort is ABC’s very good new series that airs Thursday nights at 8PM (ET) with a new episode scheduled for tonight. The series is about the crew of a submarine that is fired upon by their own government, and now they have decided to all create new lives of their own on an island, independent from the country that seemingly betrayed them.
The action on the series takes place both on the island and “back home” in Washington DC. While the military folks boast such cast members as Andre Braugher and Scott Speedman, the DC/government-based cast includes folks like Autumn Reeser (No Ordinary Family), Bruce Davison (X-Men), and Jessy Schram (Once Upon A Time).
We spoke with Reeser earlier this week in a conference call, where she spoke a bit more about Kylie, her character who is described as a “notorious rich girl” who also happens to be the child of a leading defense contractor. At first glance, Kylie seems selfish; as we get to know her and she gets to know more, she will get more involved in the storyline involving the government’s conspiracy and cover-up surrounding the US Colorado.
“I read the script and I fell in love with it,” Reeser says about what drew her to the project. “It was nonstop and bold, and ballsy, and exciting. And I couldn’t put it down. I loved the description of Kylie. I immediately wanted to play Kylie, you know, described as having a personality of a price prizefighter. She is ambitious and self-serving. And she’s not a good guy or a bad guy. And I like that, because I think that’s true of most human beings.”
The “gray” nature of the characters is something that Autumn Reeser really likes in creator Shawn Ryan’s work. “They’re a little good; they’re a little bad. And they walk the line in between those two things. And I really like playing in that world. Yes. And Kylie is – she’s a lot of fun to play,” she says.
Reeser also praises the collaborative process that goes between the Last Resort cast and the writing staff. “The lines of communication are really open between the writers and the actors on the show. We all had the opportunity to sit down in the writing room with everyone for a couple of hours before we started shooting, just for them to get to know us and know what makes us kick and for us to get an idea of where they were going to take the characters this season,” she says.
“I’ve never had that happen before on a show,” she continues. “So I love that idea of it being – of the writers being open to that, and us having the opportunity to get to know them and, you know, it not being the sort of faceless exchange. It was really cool.”
“I think the writers understand Kylie,” Autumn enthuses. “We all have a mutual understanding of Kylie and who she is. And from what I’ve heard, the writers really enjoy writing her. She’s a fun character for people to write. Episode 4, that I just got some really fun lines in particular. You can tell the writers really just enjoy playing with Kylie’s character,” she says.
Autumn is kind of known in past roles for being able to throw out expository dialogue at a steady pace; in the pilot, she does all of this… in lingerie. What was it like doing a scene like that? “It’s much more fun, to be honest, because there’s two things going on within that scene. It’s a seduction scene. It’s getting the information across to the other character in – while seducing him or to seduce him in the case of that scene. I think it’s reminiscent of the scene from Network where, you know, Faye Dunaway is getting – part of her fashion comes from talking about television numbers. Part of Kylie’s passion comes from selling her family’s weapons, like that’s part of – it’s all tied in – very tightly together. And that’s so fun to play because there’s more to do there,” she says.
Might we ever see Kylie on the island with the military characters? “I wonder the same thing, actually,” she says. “Based on where the storyline is right now, there’s definitely a possibility that she could go out there. I can see a couple of different ways of that working.” For now, though, Reeser feels that Kylie is best served uncovering the conspiracy in Washington. “That’s the central mystery to our show, and Kylie is really the only person in the position to be able to do so. So I think she should stay in Washington, DC right now and get to the bottom of something rotten in Denmark. And after that, perhaps, maybe she’ll go to the island to check everyone out,” she speculates.
Last Resort is new again tonight on ABC. Here are some images from the October 4 episode, which is called “Blue on Blue.” Our thanks to Autumn Reeser for taking the time to talk to us, and, hey, Joss Whedon – if you’re casting The Wasp for the Avengers sequel, the perfect actress is right here and her name is Autumn Reeser.
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LAST RESORT - "Blue on Blue" - More than 20 warships are closing on the 200-mile perimeter that Marcus Chaplin declared as a no man's land around the island. And as XO Sam Kendal is drawn into a battle on the ground to keep them alive, Prosser confronts Marcus about something personal to him that could be impacting his judgment as Captain of the Colorado, on "Last Resort," THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4 (8:00-9:00 p.m. ET) on the ABC Television Network. (ABC/MARIO PEREZ) DANIEL LISSING, DAISY BETTS
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Yea, she (Reeser) should go for the role Marvel The Wasp.