Charlie Tahan describes his character ‘Ben Burke’ in Fox’s event series Wayward Pines as a pretty normal kid who’s not the most sociable and who gets annoyed with his parents. “He’s just a normal 15, 16 kid who’s put in a pretty weird situation,” explained Tahan during the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con press interviews for the much-anticipated Fox series.
Tahan said he loved switching up directors on the series and that it didn’t get stale on the set. He also liked not really knowing what was going on with his character in advance and instead learning as filming went on. “I think that was the most fun part about filming this I think was that most of us didn’t know. We didn’t have all the scripts; they came out a couple days before we would start shooting. I think every Friday we would get the next episode and then start filming on Monday. It was almost like we were all fans of our own show,” explained Tahan.
Tahan also talked about his character’s family dynamic, life on the set, and what audiences can expect when they tune in in 2015 to this Fox series produced by M. Night Shyamalan and starring Matt Dillon, Carla Gugino, Melissa Leo, Toby Jones, Shannyn Sossamon, and Tim Griffin:
The Plot:
Imagine the perfect American town… beautiful homes, manicured lawns, children playing safely in the streets. Now imagine never being able to leave. You have no communication with the outside world. You think you’re going insane. You must be in Wayward Pines. Based on the best-selling novel Pines by Blake Crouch and brought to life by suspenseful storyteller M. Night Shyamalan, Wayward Pines is the intense new mind-bending 10-episode event thriller evocative of the classic hit Twin Peaks.
Secret Service Agent ETHAN BURKE (Academy Award nominee Matt Dillon) drives to the bucolic town of Wayward Pines, ID, searching for two missing federal agents. One of the best Secret Service agents in the Seattle office, he’s the man who knew missing agent KATE HEWSON (Carla Gugino) better than anyone. They were more than partners; their relationship nearly destroyed Ethan’s marriage. Everything changes when a truck slams into his car…and he wakes up in the Wayward Pines Hospital, with the intense and unpredictable NURSE PAM (Academy Award and Emmy Award winner Melissa Leo) at his bedside.
It soon appears that Pam is more interested in harming than healing. She and Ethan grow into deadly rivals, and her role in the town proves much deeper than anyone realizes. As the mysteries within the town pile up, Ethan starts to question his own sanity. He is confronted by the mysterious and charismatic DR. JENKINS (Emmy Award nominee Toby Jones), the psychiatrist who treats him at Wayward Pines Hospital. As he begins to meet some of the local residents, including toymaker HAROLD BALLINGER (Reed Diamond), Ethan forms a bond with BEVERLY (Academy Award and Emmy Award nominee Juliette Lewis), a bartender who is as wary of Wayward Pines as he is.
Back home in Seattle, Ethan’s wife, THERESA BURKE (Shannyn Sossamon), a former Secret Service Agent trainee, is informed by Ethan’s boss, ADAM HASSLER (Tim Griffin), that early testing shows Ethan was never in the car which was recovered on the side of the road outside of Wayward Pines. They’re still investigating. But this isn’t enough for Theresa. So she sets out on her own search for her husband, along with their teenage son, BEN (Charlie Tahan). Meanwhile, Ethan is challenged at every turn by the town’s die-hard residents, especially SHERIFF ARNOLD POPE (Academy Award nominee Terrence Howard), who takes offense at a Secret Service agent showing up on his turf.
Ethan’s continuing investigation only turns up more and more questions, and each one leads him to the most important question of all: What’s wrong with Wayward Pines?
