An Evening with the Cast and Crew of REVOLUTION at PaleyFest 2013

Last weekend the cast and creative team behind the new NBC drama Revolution that – until it went on hiatus back in November became the top new drama for the network for the 2012-2013 TV season, earning an overall average of 8.5 million viewers – was saluted on the second night of this year’s 30th Annual Paley Fest.

In attendance at the big night were cast members Tracy Spiridakos, Billy Burke, Giancarlo Esposito, David Lyons, Daniella Alonzo and JD Pardo as well as executive producers Eric Kripke and JJ Abrams and director Jon Favreau.

Before the panel got started, though, a recap reel of the first 10 episodes of the show were screened along with a sneak peek at the first 8 minutes of the March 25 spring return as well as a clip reel of “coming soon” scenes were also shown, giving the audience a great look at what is assuredly going to be an exciting second half of the debut season.

The panel was moderated by Mike Schneider, the LA Bureau Chief for TV Guide Magazine, who joked with the cast and creative team about the Revolution-like experience that took place during the Super Bowl, which received plenty of laughs.

But on a more serious note, Eric was asked about whether he appreciated having the four-month hiatus, sharing that it was a “very useful break” and that he believes the second half of the season will be “better than the first” because they were able to figure out “what didn’t work” and what “didn’t move the story fast enough” – and it was clear by the coming soon clip that they have definitely amped up the show. In fact, the big reveal on what caused the power to go out will be revealed in episode 13, and Eric joked that the reveal will “blow your mind”. He shared that the fights will be bigger, the stakes will be bigger and there will be even more action now that Munroe has power for his fleet of helicopters.

Each of the actors talked about their characters, including Tracy sharing that it has been fun “to play Charlie”, watching her grow during this journey and seeing if “she can keep her humanity” and whether she will be able to trust Jason (aka Nate). JD sees his character and Charlie as the Romeo and Juliet of the story while Billy and Daniella talked vaguely about learning more about the backstory between Miles and Nora – and how Rachel (Elizabeth Mitchell) will play into that story as well. David briefly shared that Munroe is obviously broken – especially given the “put-down” Miles made to him in the fall finale (in which Miles said that they aren’t family) – and commenting on whether Munroe can be mended because he obviously has a lot of deep-seeded problems.

While spoilers were few and far between Eric did share that – in addition to revealing what caused the blackout – there will be more reveals on where Miles and Munroe “came from” – in terms of how they meet and how their friendship developed – as well as a thorough look at Leslie Hope’s role as President Foster, the leader of the Georgian Republic that was briefly discussed in the latter episodes of the first part of the season; and seeing Aaron (Zak Orth) deal with running into the wife he abandoned after the black-out, as he has an unexpected run-in with her in an upcoming episode.

As the panel came to a close, the audience had its chance to ask some questions of the cast and crew before the more avarice fans stormed the stage to get autographs and pictures with their favorite cast members. All in all it was a great panel and a good way to start off the second night of the 30th Annual Paley Fest.

Make sure to tune into NBC on March 25 at 10 PM to see the spring return of Revolution and find out what will happen next in that post-apocalyptic world.

NOTE: All pictures are copyrighted to The Paley Center for Media and photographer Kevin Parry.