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Page 2 March 9 - 15, 2015 A town deals with its 'Returned' in A&E series reboot By Jay Bobbin © Zap2it What if those you thought were gone weren't really gone? Several television projects have posed that notion lately, one being ABC's "Resurrection" ... and another being "The Returned," a French series based on the movie "Les Revenants" and shown in America by SundanceTV. That story gets its third screen iteration as A&E Network's Americanization of "The Returned" debuts Monday, March 9, explor - ing what happens to a town when the victims of a school-bus tragedy start reappearing several years later. Executive-produced by "Lost" alum Carlton Cuse — whose "Bates Motel" has its third-season premiere right before "The Returned" begins — and Raelle Tucker ("True Blood"), the new show's ensemble cast includes Jeremy Sisto ("Law & Order," "Suburgatory") as a psychologist who leads a support group for the victims' survivors. Mark Pellegrino ("Lost"), Mary Elizabeth Winstead, San - drine Holt ("Hostages"), Kevin Alejandro ("True Blood"), Agnes Bruckner, Tandi Wright, Carl Lumbly ("Cagney & Lacey") and Sophie Lowe ("Once Upon a Time in Wonderland") also are among the stars. "I love genre things where the characters are way out in front," Cuse says of giving "The Re- turned" a revision. "When Damon (Lindelof) and I were doing 'Lost,' people said a lot about the my- thology, but we spent far more time in the writers' room talking about the characters and their jour- neys. Had it just been a show about mythology, I don't think it would have been as big a success as it was." Along those lines, Cuse adds he appreciated the original "Returned" series for its "very high-pulp-con- cept idea that people inex- plicably come back from the dead, but the way it was handled was very nu- anced. To me, it was sort of the perfect format for doing a character-forward drama, but something that had an eeriness and a mystery that would really compel the audience to see what happens next." The premise also at- tracted Sisto, returning to dramatic TV work after three seasons on the ABC sitcom "Suburgatory." He allows his character has "hidden layers that will be revealed as the show progresses," which he deems a nice change from his norm of playing some- one basically spelled out from the start. "A lot of the shows I've been on made it much more clear — a.) what my job was as an ac- tor, and b.) who the char- acter was. This is a kind of experience I haven't had for a while, since 'Six Feet Under' or 'Kidnapped.' " If Sisto is kept guessing about what's coming next in "The Returned," Cuse hopes the effect will be the same on viewers — even those familiar with the ear- lier versions. "In a lot of the ways, it follows the trajectory of the French show for the first five or six episodes," the producer reports, "then it veers off into its own territory. The French show turns left at Episode 6, and we go right at that same juncture. We're in virgin territory, charting our own course, and that's exciting." Mingling is working well for the characters of "Chicago Fire" and "Chicago PD." Executive producer Dick Wolf 's Windy City-based NBC drama series feature actors from one show on the other regularly, and soon, a third "staff " may get in on the action. An upcoming "Fire" episode also will serve as the pilot for a proposed "Chicago Med" show that would star S. Epatha Merkerson (formerly of Wolf's "Law & Order"), Oliver Platt, Laurie Holden ("The Walking Dead") and Yaya DaCosta, seen recently as Whitney Houston in a Lifetime movie. DaCosta's nurse character is expected to become romantically involved with Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) of the Tuesday "Fire" series. Wolf recalls that many years ago, "Law & Order" did crossovers with NBC's "Homicide: Life on the Street," noting "they were the highest-rated episodes for each show that season, so it's always been in the back of my mind that whenever you can do this on a rational basis, it's synergistic. "Actually, strangely enough, there are people – just like there were, or have been, in the (fan base of the) 'Law & Orders' – that love 'Law & Order' or love 'SVU,' and there are people that love 'Fire' and others that love 'PD.' And when you bring them together, you get both sides exposed to new characters, so I just think it's a win-win. You can't do it too often." Sophia Bush, alias Detective Erin Lindsay on the Wednesday "PD," recently was part of a story that also involved Wolf 's (and NBC's) "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit." She maintains doing multiple shows simultaneously isn't that much extra work: "Every once in a while in that case, we work a Saturday. When our two shows are together, it's kind of like being in a fraternity house. We're having a pretty good time. I think it's worth a sixth day here and there." Jesse Spencer, who plays "Fire's" Matthew Casey, cites a real basis for the fictional Chicago firefighters and cops frequently sharing time. "There's a place called The Diversity Yacht Club, (at) which a lot of firemen hang out, and there's always cops there as well," he says. "The 100 Club in Chicago, which supports families of fallen firefighters and cops, they have gala events. NBC has supported them. They came to my birthday (party). We all support them, and it really is one community. And they do work side by side, so these shows coming together is absolutely part of reality." BY JAY BOBBIN A tale of two 'Chicagos': 'Fire' and 'PD' Sophia Bush Tandi Wright and Jeremy Sisto star in A&E Network's version of the suspense series "The Returned," premiering Monday.

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