JD Pardo and Anna Diop Interview – ‘The Messengers’

JD Pardo and Anna Diop The Messengers Interview
JD Pardo and Anna Diop from ‘The Messengers’ at WonderCon (Photo © Richard Chavez)

The CW’s about to premiere the new sci-fi series The Messengers starring JD Pardo, Anna Diop, Shantel VanSanten, Sofia Black D’Elia, Joel Courtney, and Diogo Morgado on April 17, 2015 at 9pm ET/PT. And in support of the show’s upcoming debut, cast members made their way to the 2015 WonderCon in Anaheim to talk about what viewers can expect when they tune in. For those who haven’t yet heard of The Messengers, here’s the lengthy synopsis courtesy of The CW:

“In the white-hot sun of the New Mexico desert, scientist Vera Buckley watches in fascination as a mysterious object plummets to Earth and explodes in a blinding flash, sending out a shock wave that briefly stops Vera’s heart and panics her techie coworker, Alan Harris.

 

Vera is not the only one affected by the blast; she is instantly and mysteriously connected to four other strangers, who also collapse only to miraculously come back to life: Erin Calder, a young mother desperate to protect her 7-year-old daughter from an abusive ex-husband; Peter Moore, a troubled high school student who finally lashes out to end the constant bullying he can no longer endure; Raul Garcia, a federal agent looking to escape his undercover assignment in a violent Mexican drug cartel; and Joshua Silburn, Jr., a charismatic second-generation televangelist following in his father’s footsteps – all awaken after the blast with extraordinary gifts, from inexplicable strength to the ability to heal others.

  

Most mysterious of all is the figure known only The Man, who offers Vera the one thing she wants most in life – to be reunited with her kidnapped son – if she will help him with one morally complicated task.  That task puts Vera on a collision course with nurse Rose Arvale who, after a seemingly random act of violence left her in a coma for seven years, suddenly begins to stir.  As Joshua Jr. prophesied, the wheels of Revelation have begun to turn, and these five newly christened Angels of the Apocalypse may be the only hope for preventing the impending Rapture.”

Sitting down to chat about the show, JD Pardo explained what it was that first drew him to The Messengers.

“Honestly, I think that at that time I was really looking to just do something. You spend two years doing something like Revolution and that becomes your family, the crew, the cast. It can be like a break-up. You need to get right back out there. And this script was interesting because the pilot at the beginning it wasn’t so much about angels or the apocalypse. You knew that there was this event and there was this mysterious man who landed on Earth. Characters die and are brought back to life, but even within that you get to situations that are very real, that we all kind of face.

So just because he starts hearing things, it’s not like all of a sudden he has wings and he’s like fighting people, ‘I’m an angel!’ No, he’s a fugitive, he’s trying to get away. He’s bleeding and he can die. What interested me about the script was just how human they all were. It’s like different walks of life. There’s something there for everybody. You think, ‘How are they going to pull this together?'”

Diop said it was the fact that her character, Rose, is “extraordinarily empathetic” that made her so interesting to play. “That was something that I loved to play, something that I’d like to be more of. And, also she was thrown into this leader position so she has to deal with these five strangers,” explained Diop. “She’s just thrown into this position to have to guide them. I think that was something that surprised me was just the constant having to round them up. At one point I looked at them like my kids, just constantly trying to keep them in my sight.”

Diop also revealed how her character is different than the others who’ve been affected by this mysterious event. “She is a messenger. She just, unlike any other messenger, she has the gift to understand what it is that’s going on. Throughout the season you’ll kind of see more of that,” said Diop.

So, when can viewers expect to see all of the messengers actually get together? Although neither Pardo or Diop were sure they could reveal the details, they did say that it would happen fairly quickly. Speaking quietly, both Pardo and Diop confirmed it would happen in episode two, and then jokingly scanned the press room to make sure they weren’t overheard and in trouble for saying too much.

Circling back to what drew him in in the first place, Pardo said, “It’s a great show. I think there’s going to be something there for everybody to tune into. I think you can relate. Kids are going to relate to Peter and how he’s being bullied and has to run away.”

– More The Messengers interviews: Shantel VanSanten and Craig Frank / Jon Fletcher and Joel Courtney / Diogo Morgado / Sofia Black D’Elia

Watch the full interview: