Freeform’s Stitchers brought the main cast members to the 2016 WonderCon in downtown Los Angeles to provide some clues as to the sci-fi series’ second season. Among the cast members on hand at the fan convention were Salli Richardson-Whitfield and Damon Dayoub who play Maggie Baptiste and Detective Quincy Fisher on the popular series. Season two is airing on Tuesday nights at 10pm ET/PT and during roundtable interviews at WonderCon, Richardson-Whitfield and Dayoub talked about changes from season one to season two and how they feel about the technology in the series ever becoming a reality.
Salli Richardson-Whitfield and Damon Dayoub Interview:
What can fans expect from this second season?
Salli Richardson-Whitfield: “I think we have a good…I don’t know if we want to call him a bad guy or a new kind of head guy comes in and shakes things up a little bit. I think it really changes the dynamic of the show because just in general from how great an actor he is – and it gives me a lot to play off of – to it really brings this darkness to the show. I think that’s what’s exciting this season. Also the new look of the show. It’s darker and edgier, and definitely more expensive looking. And, better writing, not that the writing wasn’t good before but we have some new blood in there and it’s changed things up a little. I think there’s a lot to look forward to this season.”
Damon Dayoub: “Yeah, and a lot of the characters aren’t what you think they were from season one. We learn a lot about our characters this season.”
Did you already know these things about your character in season one but it’s just now coming into play in season two, or have they evolved?
Damon Dayoub: “Small things. Small things, but I think it evolved from season one to see what people reacted to, to see what audience members reacted to. And then the writers went into the writers room and really nailed out a great idea for this second season. I think we executed it pretty well.”
Salli Richardson-Whitfield: “Yeah, and they have their long-term story idea of what they want it to be. I think in the beginning I knew a little more than some of the other people because there were secrets that my character knew that they weren’t supposed to know but I was let in on. There’s things that I have no idea about, but they may know.”
Damon Dayoub: “I think the writers keep us within arm’s reach. They give us a little bit of information but not too much.”
Salli Richardson-Whitfield: “And sometimes we have input in little things that we would like to happen with our characters, and they added it in there.”
Damon Dayoub: “Like, she would love to get together with Detective Fisher and they just haven’t…”
Salli Richardson-Whitfield: “I told them I want a younger man on the show. Everyone else has these love interests. I’m like, ‘What’s going on? When did I get so old that I don’t get a love interest?'”
Damon Dayoub: “They didn’t ask my opinion of it.”
Salli Richardson-Whitfield: “So, I can have a young guy!”
Damon Dayoub: “And, I’m young so that’s fine.”
Isn’t it bizarre that there may be a time years down the road that this technology could happen?
Salli Richardson-Whitfield: “Yeah. I think that whenever you’re doing these sci-fi shows that you see this technology and in my mind I’m going, “Hmmm, that seems like it’s probably cooking somewhere that we don’t know about,’ because it doesn’t seem ridiculous. It doesn’t seem like that couldn’t happen.”
Damon Dayoub: [Laughing] “Whenever they want our opinions on that technology, NSA can call me any time.”
Salli Richardson-Whitfield: “But I do think it’s kind of cool and creepy. That means they’ll start reading your mind while you’re alive, too.”
For people who haven’t yet caught on to Stitchers, why should they tune in?
Damon Dayoub: “Because it has everything you want in a show. It has the weekly procedural part where it has a different case every week so you don’t know what’s going to happen. And then you have a serial arc for the characters where you – like I’ve said many times – you see a piece of yourself in every character. When you do that, you start to love every character and then it becomes addictive.”
Salli Richardson-Whitfield: “I think that the sci-fi world has opened up and it’s not just certain people who like it. You can see it on every single network now there is some sort of sci-fi show. So I think we have comedy, we have youth – hot young guys and girls running around – we have crime. We have a mixture of everything you want in a show.”
Watch the full interview with Salli Richardson-Whitfield and Damon Dayoub on Stitchers season 2:
