RINGER: Sarah Michelle Gellar Returns in Twisty New Series

At last month’s Comic Con in San Diego, the creative minds behind the new CW drama Ringer (Nicole Snyder, Eric Charmelo and Pam Veasey), which debuts on September 13 at 9 PM, joined its beautiful cast – Kristoffer Polaha, Nestor Carbonell, Ioan Gruffudd and the one and only Sarah Michelle Gellar – to discuss the twists and turns that this new series has in store for viewers this fall.

But first, let’s get into the intriguing premise of this new series: Sarah Michelle Gellar stars as identical twin sisters – Bridget and Siobhan. Bridget, a recently sober exotic dancer, witnesses a murder, but then goes on the run, hiding out by assuming the life of her wealthy sister Siobhan, who disappears while the sisters are out on a reunion-pleasure cruise. Bridget thinks she’s scored the perfect hiding place, only to learn that her sister’s seemingly idyllic life is just as complicated and dangerous as the one she’s trying to leave behind.

The men in her life include Victor Machado (Carbonell), the agent in charge of protecting Bridget’s life until she can testify; Andrew Martin (Gruffudd), Siobhan’s husband, who doesn’t know the truth about Bridget switching places with Siobhan and Henry (Polaha), the married man with whom Siobhan is having an affair.

Sarah Michelle Gellar (Photo Credit: Rueben)

Sarah recently told Entertainment Weekly that Ringer encompasses everything she wanted professionally and personally. The moderator at the panel asked her to elaborate on what it was about the series that brought her back to TV.

“It’s really hard when you have a show like Buffy; (it’s something) that you love so much and it was just so perfect. I wanted to do a show that the fans would (love) and that I would love to watch. (I wanted something) that would be different, yet exciting and for me Ringer encompasses all those things.”

Then Nestor shared what drew him to the role: “For me, it’s all about the writing, the words on the page. I love the serialized nature of the show, the thriller element. It’s sort of a film noir type of show and naturally (it’s great that) Sarah is a part of it.”

As for Ioan, he is typically cast in the good guy role, but Andrew seems to be the villain (based on the trailer that was shown) so he was asked if Andrew is a villain, just misunderstood or somewhere in the middle. He explained, “I think he’s misunderstood. His (rocky relationship) with Siobhan has devastated him. He is a guy who (is) obsessed with the importance of family and I think that’s given him the springboard to great success with his business, so I think at the moment he is very misunderstood.”

The producers then shared that they do have a master plan for the series, with ideas for at least three seasons with the plan to focus heavily on Bridget’s story of redemption for the first season. They continued by sharing that some questions will be answered throughout the first season, but more questions will arise. Nicole further shared that, “we’ll lead you on a path and (just) when you think you know what’s going to happen, we’re going to throw a wrench in there.”

Eric further stated, “We live and die by twists, turns and secrets. At its core (the show is) a tale of two sisters; one is driven by redemption and the other is driven by revenge. We’re also playing with themes of identity and duplicity so playing within the conceits of noir you don’t know who is the femme fatale and who is the martyr. Everybody has two faces and every single one of our characters has a duplicitous nature and we love delving into that realm of moral ambiguity instead of who’s right and who’s wrong, who’s the hero and who’s the villain. (There are great) shades of gray.

Before the panel broke into audience questions, Sarah and Kristoffer shared an ironic piece of history from their past. It turns out that Kristoffer’s first professional audition for TV was a role on Buffy. Sarah said “It was for Riley and it was between him and Marc Blucas.” Added Kristoffer, “We’ve kind of come full circle.”

Ringer premieres Tuesday, September 10 at 9/8c on the CW.