HAVEN: A Chat with Emily Rose & Lucas Bryant

The Syfy original series Haven has started off the Fall TV Season and if you aren’t watching, well shame on you. You’re only one episode behind though, so there is plenty of time to catch up on one of the most interesting shows on TV.

Thanks to the good folks over at Syfy we had a chance to speak with Emily Rose and Lucas Bryant.

Read that below and be sure to tune into a new episode of Haven Thursday 8/7c on Syfy

The Fun in Playing Mara and Nathan compared to Audrey and Nathan:
Lucas Bryant: Yes, let me just jump in here. First of all Emily Rose, who is sitting next to me…
Emily Rose: Don’t embarrass me, Lucas.
Lucas Bryant: …is edible this season as always but exceptionally so in the role of Mara. It’s a total treat to watch her and get to play with her except for the fact that she kicked my ass all over the town. So that’s a new development.
Emily Rose: That’s a new development. I didn’t ever do that as Audrey? I think I did that as Audrey, too.
Lucas Bryant: In less physical ways…
Emily Rose: All right, I kicked your butt mentally.
Lucas Bryant: My mental bottom.
Emily Rose: Your mental bottom.
Lucas Bryant: But yes, so I mean, yes, I mean for Nathan this is a nightmare, you know. I don’t want to – I can’t really tell you all the things that Mara is capable of but she is a force.
Emily Rose: She is easily. She was a lot of fun to play. You know, Audrey always had been in a very kind of, well, up to the recent season in this kind of melancholy, dire life-sucks-for-her state which it did, does all the time. So she plays someone that was and is on top of things, so to speak, and has sheer joy and delight in how she relates to everyone around her. Was a real, real pleasure and really fun to see.
You know, it’s always fun when you take these normal relationships and then you mix them up. It just creates a really, really fun environment on set. So it was a lot – it’s a blast.

Playing Mara:
Emily Rose: Mara is a lot of fun and I definitely, you know, something I never expected would be the case with Haven but it has definitely turned out to be true. It’s just the ability to play so many different characters. And so her personality is a blast even though there are definitely moments in this season that I really – she made me really uncomfortable and I didn’t like playing her at some point. For the most part I do really enjoy being that evil and bad – so I don’t know what that says about me. But yes, no, it really was fun and I do hope to get to play her for a long time and we don’t know if Audrey comes back, do we? We don’t know how and when and if she does come back…

Shooting 26 episodes compared to 13:
Lucas Bryant: …I mean there’s a larger idea for this – for this double season that we’re shooting right now, of course. But I think some specifics were changed along the way because of what was happening in the shooting and what people were reacting to on the screen. So personally I guess what I knew coming into this season was that we’d be doing shooting double episodes, blocks and so that was exciting in that it promised a sort of – instead of having to deal with the ‘Troubles’ so – quickly and succinctly every week since we had more time to explore really the effect that those ‘Troubles’ have on our characters and see…
Emily Rose: Yes, it was nice to take a breather and not necessarily have to have everything wrapped up so quickly, you know. But it did get very confusing in the preparation of it because you have two episodes in your head that you’re currently shooting while you’re prepping for the next two coming up. So in that way too, while confusing, it was nice because you did know big chunks of the season, you know. At any given point you knew what was happening in four episodes so you could really, you know, kind of longer gauge what, you know – make a longer arc or kind of know more fully where you were and where you were going, which we Haven’t had that advantage as much in past seasons.
Lucas Bryant: I mean sometimes there are multiple ‘Troubles’ or situations that are spun out over those that – two weeks. I mean double – two episode timeslot but it seems like in order to shoot 26 episodes to this season that was the smartest way to get it done and I think a happy accident or not necessarily an accident but a nice product of having to do it that way has been what we’ve gotten to do story telling light, you know. It has been much – there’s a lot more character interaction and time to really see how these things affect these characters and the part that we enjoy as — that I enjoy and I’m sure I can speak for Emily too in these instances — is getting the time to not just have to run from one fire to another but to get the rest of it and see and learn more about where we came from, where we’re going and why.
Emily Rose: Yes, I think the cool thing that it offers also is it’s really like it’s a big reason for viewers to come back each week and watch what’s going to be happening. You know, it links two episodes together, you know, where you’re used to this kind of well – you know, there was the underlying mythology but now you add that the trouble is the cliffhanger as well to the mix. It really, you know, ups the stakes of being like I want to make sure that I come and watch it live so the ratings are awesome every Thursday night.

How Many Seasons Left:
Lucas Bryant: Ah, when I first – when we were first up here and I got – I was introduced to the bronco, got in it and I remember saying, ‘You know, I’m going to, after season 8 I’m buying this thing.’ And everybody sort of laughed and shook their heads like that was a completely ridiculous thought. So I – and now here we are by the end of this we’ll have, you know, the equivalent of 6 seasons worth of material out there. And, yes, so it’s – I mean statistically we are – it’s outrageous. We’re very lucky and blessed to have been supported this long. And, yes, I would be honored to be able to go for double digits.
Emily Rose: Yes, it’s interesting, you know. I think to be honest and frank with everyone it’s really the fans that determine that for us 100%. We’re not – you know, we’re on – we’re a cable show and we have all of our, you know, contracts or what not have expiration dates on them.
So, you know, as much as we love the characters and, to be honest on one facet of your question, the way you phrased it, you said, ‘Do the characters have the chemistry to continue on?’ I actually think that is something that our show does have, really great chemistry like the friendships and the ability to work together in long, crazy conditions all the time for this long. I have no doubt that if it relied on chemistry and relationship like, you know, Adam Copeland has been a great addition to our cast and all the guest stars, I mean Richard and John and everybody, it’s just like we really know how to operate as a family up here, and if it was based on chemistry and how that, you know, everybody getting along, it wouldn’t be an issue. But because it’s based on numbers and ratings and all of that stuff, you know, it will be interesting to see how the fans, you know, turn out for these next couple of seasons and then to see how the networks respond to those numbers and things. And obviously if we don’t continue on on Syfy for whichever reason or what not, I mean I don’t put it past anybody. You know, we live in a day and age where shows get canceled and picked up again all the time. So we all are kind of holding our breath to see, you know, is this the end? We don’t know, you know, or is it the beginning to just a different chapter of it. But honestly, like every show, it just depends on the audience and on their dedication to showing up for it regularly. And we have great fans. No doubt that would happen but, you know, in days of DVR and everything it’s hard for those numbers to translate.

Time Periods:
Emily Rose: Yes, I’ve always wanted to do 1800. I’ve always wanted to do like a Western or really like petticoats and horses and that. That has been my dream before anything. I’m been trying to weave it in this one.
Lucas Bryant: Emily just wants horses.
Emily Rose: I don’t want horses.
Lucas Bryant: Yes, I think I don’t have a specific time that I’d like to visit but any of those – I think any time that we’ve done, you know, we did the 1955 episode and then that episode with last year with the Haven in an alternate reality. And I think any time that we travel outside of this normal — well, not that it’s normal in any sense — but what we’ve come to know as Haven those episodes have been my favorites to perform and to watch. So I’m up for any time travel really.

The Troubles:
Lucas Bryant: Oh, they’re running out of ideas. This new season we have weird bottom-of-the-barrel ‘Troubles’ like that guy whose eyes cross when he gets upset and I’m about that. No, that’s not true. Yes, somehow, somehow they keep coming up with totally off-the-wall great stuff.
Emily Rose: One of my – well, yes, no, actually this season I think has a few of my favorite ones I think we’ve ever had. I think one of them affects our dear friend, Eric Balfour who plays Duke Crocker…
Lucas Bryant: Yes.
Emily Rose: ...and that was really, really – it’s earlier on and it’s funny, in my opinion. And then another one affects everyone in the town and I can’t really be specific about that but it’s pretty, pretty funny. So it’s as dramatic and freaky as a season is. What I do like about the ‘Troubles’ is they don’t always take themselves too seriously and provide a lot of levity for the show…and so, yes, there’s a couple of those that I really like. I can’t obviously state what those are, right.
Lucas Bryant: I think we can say that one that’s probably – well, it’s one of – it’s my favorite…to play definitely from this year but I won’t tell you specifically what happens but there is a sort of a kind of freaky Friday-style ‘Trouble.’
Lucas Bryant: And if you know anything about freaky Friday that’s a reference…
Emily Rose: Google it.
Lucas Bryant: …to a movie where some people got trapped in each other’s bodies.
Emily Rose: That’s really, really well-done and really funny.

For the Fans:
Emily Rose: Totally. Yes, no, here’s the deal. When I go back and I re-watch all of the episodes I start to buy into it around Season 2 where I’m like really hooked into it. So for everybody that’s stuck in through like Season 1 and like really you know what I mean?
Lucas Bryant: Through that who knew what we were doing…
Emily Rose: We were just a baby back then. I love it. I hope that it – you know, I hope that it’s paying off and that the stories are exciting and enjoyable. And we’re just really thankful and humbled by, you know, your dedication to our show and the fact that we know we wouldn’t be coming back if you guys, you know, weren’t watching and tweeting and, you know, getting online and making like, you know, what was it on Get Glue making our show one of the top 10 watched shows and, you know, just talking – like get all on Netflix and everything. All of that stuff is a result of our fans and so we’re really, really thankful for it not only just, you know, here in North America but Canada and the states watching but our global audiences. It’s so impressive. I mean I was staying in a bed in (Rockfest) and there was an Italian family there and they were like, ‘Oh my god,’ you know, ‘you’re on Haven. We love that show.’ And I was like, ‘In Italy, really?’ Like it just – it boggled my mind. It’s so impressive. So thank you so much. And then also know that I mean we, personally, I think as the characters are always fighting for the little things that made Haven original in the very beginning and trying to keep it true to some of its original forms. So we not only do that for ourselves but we’re always like, ‘We think the fans will really like it.’ You guys are always in our minds in that way.
Lucas Bryant: Yes.
Emily Rose: Again I’ve steamrolled Lucas.
Lucas Bryant: You nailed it. No, I mean it’s absolutely true like we said earlier. Especially that year I think more than any year we’ve been up here there have been people showing up in town from all over the world because they were inspired to come here not just necessarily to try and track us down but because they wanted to see, you know, we’re introduced to Nova Scotia through seeing it on their TVs and it’s not a place that is normally shown on television. And, you know, like there was a family here this year who had been saving to travel from France who decided two years ago, you know, that they were going to make the trip and they started saving so that they can do it. And they came and they spent a week here. And that sort of dedication, like Emily said, it is totally humbling and we are honored that people love the show as much as we do. And really I know that, you know, we all know we would be – it is reason number 1 that we’re still here and still able to do this every day is the fans. So thank you for all of that.
Emily Rose: And tell your friends and tell them that they can catch up and binge-watch and watch it on Netflix to get caught up for the next two seasons which are going to be really incredible. Because the more the merrier and possibly the longer.