"Scorpion" stars step up action, comedy for season 2
There's hardly any rest for the cast members on the set of "Scorpion," the hit CBS drama about a team of genius misfits.
"'Scorpion' is basically an action film every episode," actor Eddie Kaye Thomas told CBS News during a recent visit to the Los Angeles set. "A normal action film, a 90-minute movie, they'll take three or four months to shoot. We shoot -- a one-hour episode in nine days. So from the moment we start, we're in a rush."
Thomas plays Toby Curtis, a behavioral psychiatrist who can easily read people. The "American Pie" star appears in the show, alongside Katharine McPhee (Paige Dineen), Elyes Gabel (Walter O'Brien), Robert Patrick (Cabe Gallo), Jadyn Wong (Happy Quinn) and Ari Stidham (Sylvester Dodd).
The cast members say the stunts and drama you saw in season 1 (and with it, the lack of rest for the actors) get more intense during season 2, which kicks off Monday, Sept. 21 at 9 p.m. ET.
"There's just a lot more action -- and -- more comedy," said McPhee, who plays the mom of a genius. "It's been really fun to work on the show with it being more just light-hearted. And I think everyone in the cast is enjoying the comedy side of the show ... We are a drama but we're kind of more of a dramedy meets action meets procedural."
The drama will intensify by episode 3 as the team members find themselves in a bit of a bind. Patrick, who plays federal agent Cabe Gallo, said, "There's a lot of challenges for us. We've got a big event. We've got one of our guys [Sylvester] in a prison. And we gotta get him out."
Loosely based on the life of self-proclaimed genius and computer expert Walter O'Brien, "Scorpion" follows what happens when a team is recruited by federal agent Cabe Gallo (Patrick) of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to form Scorpion, said to be the last line of defense against high-tech threats around the globe.
Elyes Gabel, who plays the TV version of Walter, says he'll sometimes hear from the real O'Brien.
"He's out saving the world or talking to, you know, princes of Lichtenstein. So every now and again, I get the chance to talk to him and he'll call me up. And sometimes we talk about the show. Sometimes we talk about characters. Sometimes he just tells me just reams of what he's doing that confuses my head," said Gabel.
During season 1, the cast members had just started to get to know one another. But now with one season behind them, things are a lot more familiar and exciting.
"You have the original cast coming back. You know you get along with them. You have -- returning directors," McPhee told CBS News while on set in Los Angeles. "And there's a rapport that you have with people and it just makes the experience so much more enjoyable. So I'm really enjoying myself."
"Once you relax into it and you realize that -- I think best work comes when you're relaxed and you have people to vibe with. And I think that kind of comes through on set ... It's all about how the characters interact ... You know, that's where comedy, that's where emotional sort of relativity comes from I think."
It's a good thing these cast members get along, because as Patrick says, "There's nothin' else to do but 'Scorpion' when you're on 'Scorpion.'"
He added, "We work really hard. It's a big cast. We're involved in all the scenes. And -- it's -- what is it, 60 hours, 70 hours a week, and it takes all your focus."
Check out the video above for our behind-the-scenes look at season 2 of "Scorpion."
