'As I Was Doing It, I Realized How Iconic That World Is': Morena Baccarin On CBS All Access's 'The Twilight Zone'

(CBS Local)-- You are traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind.

These famous words defined a generation during the run of Rod Serling's show "The Twilight Zone" in the late 1950s and early 1960s and they are relevant once again as season two of executive producer Jordan Peele's iteration of the series drops on CBS All Access Thursday.

Morena Baccarin is one of the many talented actors joining the fold this year and her episode "Downtime" deals with the concept of working your whole life for a dream and then suddenly reality becomes a dream.

"I grew up watching some episodes here or there and it was really fun," said Baccarin in an interview with CBS Local's DJ Sixsmith. "As I was doing it, I realized how iconic that world is and how confusing it is to be in a Twilight Zone episode. It's one episode of television, but there's so much in it. It's so dense. Every day I would go to work and feel exhausted emotionally. My character Michelle discovers she's a part of this game and not actually a real person, that's a devastating thing. That's a death of the person and she has to come to terms with that while realizing she's also another person."

While Baccarin has worked with a ton of talented people in her career, she learned a tremendous amount in her collaboration with Peele for this episode.

"The subject matters that he hits are often very interesting to what's going on and happening in the world" said Baccarin. "I was excited to dive in and then we didn't realize how relevant it was going to be. until all of this unrest and the pandemic. It was timely by accident and that's the beauty of working with Jordan Peele and the writers he comes with. He is interested in the human condition and that is always relevant.

Baccarin returns to the ViacomCBS world after a successful stint on Showtime's "Homeland," where she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy in 2013 for her portrayal of Jessica Brody. The series recently came to a conclusion after its eighth season and Baccarin's time on the show was one of the best experiences of her career.

"The quality of the people in general around you was stellar. From actors, to writers, to producers, to directors," said Baccarin. "It was a really incredible experience and the material was really difficult in a good way. It was really heartfelt and emotionally connective and it's always a privilege to be able to work that way. I really enjoyed representing a voice that is hardly ever heard in the wife of a Marine and the experiences she had in this bizarre world the show created."

"The Twilight Zone" is streaming now on CBS All Access.