Rookie Blue is back tonight, and we got to sit down with Peter Mooney and chat about what’s in store for Nick and the rest of 15 Division this season. Check out the interview below, and tune in to Global TV tonight at 9pm ET/PT!
Nick’s kind of been through the ringer up to this point. Will he catch a break this season?
It’s tough for Nick. I think there’s going to be more ups and downs this season, but there will be some good things happen for Nick.
With the introduction of Juliette (Erin Karpluk) — and there is definitely a spark between her and Nick — does this mean he’s closed the door on his feelings for Andy, or is this just a distraction?
Time heals all wounds, and Nick and Andy are getting to a place where it’s easier to have a friendship and easier to relate.
This may be just me, but I kind of saw your fight scene last season as having Andy beaten out of Nick.
That’s kind of a perfect interpretation.
For me, that story ended there, but there are still some fans that are invested in that relationship and their end game is Nick and Andy together.
And I love them for that. I love the camps. But for me, that episode was sort of where Nick, on that front, admitted defeat.
There’s a little nugget that’s tossed out in the season premiere, that Nick is planning to go out for the ETF, until a certain person shows up at the precinct.
Yes, and that may shift his plans. I think for this season, Nick’s sticking around at 15. ETF may still be a long-term plan, but I think that there’s definitely new incentive for him to stay.
The relationship that I’ve really started to love is Nick and Chloe. It’s like a big brother / little sister and he’s almost taken her under his wing.
Because of where Nick started on this show — he didn’t start with the five rookies, he came in later — and in some senses is a lone wolf. He gets along with everyone but he’s a bit on the outside, and she has a similar thing where she came in a little bit later and she’s not of that same generation, so I think they recognize that in each other. They have a unique friendship independent of the inner workings at the precinct.
A contrast to that is the relationship between Nick with Duncan. You guys do such an amazing job with it, and every time I see him on screen, I’m beyond frustrated!
It’s so funny because [Matt Murray] is such a great guy in real life, but the character, when you’re reading the scripts it’s like, “Ugh Duncan! I gotta ride with Duncan.” Duncan’s so great at 15 because he drives Nick nuts.
One of the scenes last season that had me breathless was Nick diffusing a bomb while Duncan was potentially going to be blown sky high. Can you tell us a bit about filming that scene, because it was so intense to watch.
That was one of my favourite days on the show so far. John Fawcett (Orphan Black) was directing that episode, and for the part that I was under the car, he kept resetting the timer, so when I didn’t make it, it was “Oh, you died.” So it was really amazing. It’s great when you can trick your body as an actor into really investing in the situation. I was full-tilt invested in that bomb and it was so much fun to do.
When that storyline was first presented to you, and before you knew the outcome, did you think that Nick may be a goner?
I think that what I love so much about that episode is that they put Nick and Duncan together in a room with a bomb, and you know there’s real danger there. I really worried, but it was great. We get the scripts a day or two before we start shooting the episode, so we’re reading them as the season goes along, so in a lot of ways, the way that I first read a script is the same way that the audience watches the show. I’m there for all of the twists and turns, so it was a real sweaty palm kind of script.
Have you had any interesting interactions with viewers and fans?
Greg [Smith] and Travis [Milne] and I were out one night at a bar near 51 Division, which is sort of where we’re set, a bunch of the cops were at the bar, and they were like, “You have to meet our Andy McNally!” It was cool to see their recent recruits, their recent grads, and that we’re at this stage in our career. It’s amazing to see people’s reaction to it on that front.
It’s also great that this show is so unabashedly Toronto. There’s no hiding the setting or playing it off as somewhere else.
I spend a good chunk of the year in the States, and to see Toronto as Toronto — you know there’s lots filming here right now as “City X” — but I love how the title card of every Rookie Blue episode is that helicopter shot of the city.
What more can you tease about Nick’s arc in the upcoming episodes besides what we’ve already touched on?
There’s Juliette to further complicate the relationship web for Nick. And there’s an episode coming up where the audience will get to know a lot about Nick’s past. There’s a lot about his backstory and where he came from revealed this season, which is really satisfying to play and to get into.
I’m guessing that the bomb at the precinct is going to continue to play out as well.
It’s really tough to figure that one out. That’s going to be a major story throughout this season, getting to the bottom of that. We have a dialogue with the writers, but we were all so invested, we were all trying to solve it. We were like junior detectives trying to figure out what had really happened. That’s a big element this season.
Were there any characters that you got to interact with more this season, or explore different dynamics with?
There is a scene where Nick ends up working with Andy and Gail and Juliette, which was a lot of fun and very funny. It’s a lot more of us working together and doing a scene with that dynamic. Last season left off with Nick and Gail and she’s asking him to be a reference for an adoption. They move into a very different place in their friendship. There’s a lot of growth and interest there, and it’s a lot of fun to play.
If anyone is going to relate to the child that Gail wants to adopt, it’s Nick. And we saw how he was with the kids that were being moved into a group home last season.
It’s a surprising side of Nick. That was a little insight into his backstory, and you get more of it this season. And the big thing is we just get to know more. We see these same characters together in more challenging and different situations. Everyone’s having to grow. We’re growing out of being rookies and now we’re becoming detectives and Nick’s entertaining the ETF thing, and we’re moving further into our careers. That brings all kinds of new challenges and surprises for everyone.
Photo Courtesy of Global TV
