Elyes Gabel leads Team Scorpion

MANILA, Philippines - After a successful first season, the American high-octane series Scorpion is back with more complicated and high-tech threats for eccentric computer genius Walter O’Brien (played by British actor Elyes Gabel) and his team of whiz kids to deal with.

Described as Homeland Security’s new “think tank,” this band of super brains but social outcasts — all recruited by federal agent Cabe Gallo (Robert Patrick) — is made up of Toby Curtis (Eddie Kaye Thomas), “the world-class shrink and behaviorist”; Happy Quinn (Jadyn Wong), “the mechanical prodigy”; and Sylvester Dodd (Ari Stidham), the “human calculator.” Their combined tech expertise and exceptional gifts resolve staggering, national crisis-inducing problems in the Internet age.

Meanwhile, the quirky, socially-awkward Team Scorpion gets help in relating to the real world and the “emotional side of things” from Paige Dineen (Katharine McPhee), a single mother who happens to be raising a child prodigy. Tagged as the “heart of the team,” Paige is also Walter’s potential love interest. (Incidentally, Elyes and Katharine are reportedly dating in real life.)

In the Philippines, Scorpion Season 2 airs on RTL CBS Entertainment HD every Tuesday night at 9.

The STAR recently joined a group interview over the phone with Elyes wherein he teased the media as to what awaits his character in the brand-new season. He also talked about working with the real-life Walter O’Brien who inspired Scorpion. Previously, he portrayed Dr. Gupreet “Guppy” Sandhu in the BBC medical drama Casualty, Dothraki Rakharo in Seasons 1 and 2 of the HBO series Game of Thrones, and the P.E. teacher Rob Cleaver in the BBC drama Waterloo Road. He also appeared in the ITV drama Identity and as Detective Adam Lucas in Season 3 of Body of Proof.

How do you feel about the success of the first season? Why do you think Scorpion connected with the audience right away?

“I was at first thrilled. I think there’s really great interest in the show. It makes me want to do the job over, a little appreciation for what we show to you. I think one of the most important (things about it) is it’s the story about a bunch of heroes really. Heroes have huge vulnerability as well as being really able to save, you know, sometimes the world. I think the family part is an interesting aspect, with a lot of comedy. There are moments of high danger that people really enjoy. The show has a lot of ways to connect but I think how we were able to connect is through the people and the characters.”

Can you give us an idea as to what happens to Walter in Season 2 and where do you think your character going?

“We really can’t tell… I can’t say quite. We really have no idea or knowledge where they are going, and that is why it is interesting to think, where could this bunch of characters go you ask, I think there is for Walter a desire to understand the human part of himself, a deeper connection with somebody who would understand him more than he thinks, and especially the human side of him, which is pain. So, I think he’s becoming a more rounded, emotional character, but also I think there is more anticipation on how he discovers what he feels about his own emotions, and it’s gonna have more ripples in Scorpion.”

How would you compare your Scorpion character to your other (previous) characters?

“There’s always a little bit of a, not pressure, but I feel the weight more, like there’s a certain weight to be achieved because I never really played a real-life person before (Scorpion is inspired by a true story about the real-life genius hacker Walter O’Brien). You know, at the end of the day, we are just trying to do what we can for the show in a dynamic way that we can do. I want to do it not just as another job, I want to play it as the reason why I’m a specially qualified actor. My guide is constantly thinking about the duality of trying to be a real person.”

What can we look forward to in this season?

“We really can’t tell what’s gonna happen in the future, but I can tell you now that there’s a lot of things that have already happened, we are definitely hyping up the agency. Every episode is gonna be some kind of stand-alone, nail-biting. We got nearly to space, we got these trainings as well, jumping on the train in one of the episodes. One of the characters goes to jail and asks what has happened to the list of these Japanese people about to be killed. There really are a lot of stand-alone fun bits. There is a lot of comedy as well. The show is funnier, I think, than it was.”

Any scenes or episodes in Season 2 that you found particularly challenging to do?

“When I get to do a dialogue or a scene one-on-one with another character, ‘cause those are acting scenes, and those were a little bit more about the character. There are challenging scenes like jumping on water, trying to find our ways into a jail, or jumping off a plane, jumping out the building, they’re also fun but the reason why I like acting is because I get to really work on a scene between one or another person, and yet billions get to see that journey, that small story, what happens to them, and those are the episodes that are worth the wait, we get to put it around with the other characters in the show.”

Did you undergo any training prior to playing Walter in Season 1 and 2?

“It’s not a physical training that I underwent, it’s really more of the character training that I went through. While there are jumping in and out of trains and boats and cars, it’s really the character training like I said… I would say that I’m very different, I don’t have similarities with Walter but that’s what makes great interpretation. I’m trying to use my brain a lot more, I’m trying to be creative. Walter is a lover of information.”

How good are you with computers in real life?

“I’m pretty, pretty damn decent at using the Mac, but at the moment I am computer-less.”

Regarding the romantic angle in Scorpion, how will Walter and Paige’s relationship further develop (being that Walter is more logic than emotion)?

“I think, what we should always say about relationships (is that) they are not always simple. There will be setbacks but I think, she should be learning more, learning about the different directions they have to take, what makes you more human? And she mentioned that being human means being able to express emotions or feelings, so if I just acknowledge that, I am human because of the feelings that I’m experiencing...”

What have you learned during the filming of the second season?

“I do have some key take-aways. I think it’s about making the show snap. It takes a longer process, it takes a little more time. In getting information, you get what’s written on the page and you deliver short, fast, snappy and they make a really nice output out of it, the editing is great. And when you get a nice scene to work on, then you bring what you can to the table which is like a nuance of character, an acting. I’m learning more about the direction that Scorpion as a company is going into, becoming more successful, more well-known, and it’s a parallel because our show is becoming more successful and more well-known.”

Can you tell us more about working with the real-life Walter?

“Every time I speak to him, he’s working on a particular project, he’s always very busy, he’s a very interesting character, very interesting person, he has made big connections in the technological world, he’s provided or he’s accelerated companies to associate with, governments, armaments, intelligence. And you know after the Sony hacking business, his business became involved with protection. It is the manifestation of something that is an exposure to the problem.

“His actual employment office has increased as a consequence, so it’s not so much as something in search of a very feeble area as protecting information, you could have somebody you could hack, for protecting that information, and Walter who acted on the attacks is now heavily invested in providing a service chip to protect, and he has an ability that should be perceived in the right way.”