I honestly knew nothing about The Passage when I saw it on the New York Comic Con panel schedule, but it was in the TV category and it starred Mark-Paul Gosselaar and was executive-produced and written by Liz Heldens, who has worked on Friday Night Lights and The Orville so I was immediately interested. And let me just say, the panel and the show did not disappoint. I certainly cannot wait to see more.
At the panel we were treated to the pilot episode plus a Q&A with Liz Heldens and actors Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Vincent Piazza, and Brianne Howey. Plus Justin Cronin, the author of the book series that the show is based on, was in attendance too. So what’s the show about? Well it’s most broadly about a science experiment gone wrong, but there’s so much more to it, so instead of me trying and failing to sum it up in few sentences, just watch the trailer:
Okay, now that you’ve got the jist of it, here’s what I can share from the panel:
- As mentioned above, the show is based on the book series of the same name. When Justin Cronin was asked about his involvement in this project he said the book is his, the show is Liz’s. He felt it was best to let the TV people do their thing.
- Liz Heldens and co all expressed how it was their goal to make an entertaining TV show, and you know what, that sounds awesome! Not all TV has to be prestigious.
- When asked how they planned on balancing tone since the show is serious but does feature moments of levity, Liz Heldens said real people say funny things in dark times.
- There’s a couple good examples of this tonal harmony in the pilot, so here’s hoping it’s maintained throughout the rest of the episodes.
- The series dances around the word vampire, instead the “creatures” are called “virals”. If you read the books, you probably already know this.
- Whatever you want to call them, the makeup looks damn cool. Liz Heldens explained that it was important that the makeup was terrifying but also that the core person was still visible.
- Brianne Howey, who plays one of the twelve death row inmates, chimed in that her makeup process takes 3-hours, but it was a good way to get into character.
- In the first episode, Brianne Howey has a scene where she drinks blood, and she shared that the only thing she wished she’d done differently in that scene was taste testing it first. Turns out the fake blood concoction was super sweet.
- The Amy and Brad scenes were filmed in a linear fashion for the pilot which really helped Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Saniyya Sidney develop their relationship on screen. He joked that it went from “stranger danger” to a good rapport.
- The pilot was shot over a year ago.
The Passage will premiere in January 2019 on FOX.
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Panel: Saturday October 6, 2018 – “The Passage”
Screening: Season 1, Episode 1 “Pilot”
Panelists: Liz Heldens, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Vincent Piazza, Brianne Howey, and Justin Cronin
