It can be tough to do press for a show like NBC’s Blindspot. One of the major draws to the series is the mystery that is at the center of it, which would mean plenty of things the cast is not allowed to talk about. This holds especially true now that the show has already premiered, and just about everyone at New York Comic Con promoting the drama had to remain quite tight-lipped. There were even moments when actors Rob Brown and Audrey Esparza retreated into a huddle to discuss what they could and could not reveal. Some might wonder why everyone seemed so unsure of themselves while talking about their own show, but luckily Sullivan Stapleton was able to shed some light on the confusion. “We are currently filming the back-nine of the season, and we are filming on such a tight schedule that no one can really remember what happened in what episode. No one wants to accidentally give something important away and not realize it.”
Thankfully a few helpful reminders from everyone else let the Blindspot crew know what was okay to talk about. One of those things that was free to speak on was the actual identity of Jaimie Alexander’s tattooed main character. Alexander herself sadly had to miss the press event, but there was plenty everyone else had to say about it. Just about everyone in the cast was as shocked as their viewers to learn who Jane Doe really is. However, in puzzling shows like Blindspot, sometimes major plot points could end up being red herrings. Creator and showrunner Martin Gero, however, says that is not the case here.
“When NBC and I were talking about the show early on, they told me that we were really going to need to be turning cards over along the way to keep the viewers interested and invested. I totally agreed, and when I told them we would reveal [Jaimie’s] identity that early, they felt it was really quick, and worried we’d run out of story. We really won’t. The reveal is important to the story and I wanted it out there that quick because it has so much to do with the relationships between Jane and Weller. It’s fairly straight forward. It’s a DNA test. To draw that out would have been frustrating for viewers.”
Gero went on to explain that keeping a show like Blindspot fresh and exciting would be a difficult task without giving up answers along the way, and didn’t want to create a show that felt like it was “all middle” and stagnated quickly. Even with revealing the true identity of their mysterious leading lady, Gero was quite certain that they have enough built into their dense backstory and twisting plot to keep the show going for a while. “The magic number for a show is to hit 100 episodes, which is about five season. I think we can definitely do that. There are plenty of tattoos to decipher, and just because one has been solved doesn’t mean it doesn’t hold more than one meaning or clue to it.”
Blindspot only needed a few moments to have audiences engrossed, and is now shaping up to be NBC’s most successful premiere this year. Even the cast agreed that every episode had them hooked from script to screen, especially Stapleton who admitted he likes to be surprised by the scripts. “I won’t read ahead. I only read a script each week as we are about to shoot so I don’t go ruining anything for myself or for the character. There are a lot of things Weller is learning for the first time and I don’t want it to ever seem like he knows more than he should. Plus, it’s fun for me to be surprised and have to wait for the next script.”
Blindspot airs on NBC on Monday nights at 10pm EST. Check back throughout the week for more stories covered at New York Comic Con.
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Featured Image: NBC Universal