The cast of NBC’s Timeless (which last aired in 2018) reunited Saturday night to perform a live table read of a popular episode and discuss the show’s impact with fans as part of a $30,000 fundraiser for Feeding America.
The online event featured show regulars Malcolm Barrett (Rufus), Matt Lanter (Wyatt), Abigail Spencer (Lucy), Goran Višnjić (Flynn), Claudia Doumit (Jia), Paterson Joseph (Mason), Sakina Jaffrey (Mason), and Annie Wersching (Emma), along with several guest actors who originally appeared in the episode entitled “Hollywoodland,” a fan favorite from the show’s second season.
Afterward, the cast answered questions in an event moderated by Alex Zalben, managing editor of Decider.
Show co-creators Eric Kripke and Shawn Ryan discussed the impact of the show before the table read began.
Ryan talked about why Timeless has had such an impact on its fans. “I think people love the characters…the historical moments. I feel like they have friends in Lucy, Wyatt, Rufus, Agent Christopher.. And even Flynn,” Ryan said.
Kripke said the interaction with fans has created an added benefit to the show’s creators and actors. “The fans…are committed to the characters. It’s been a joy to have this group. Not every group sends airplanes…and cupcakes.”
While there has been little interest at NBC to bring the show back any time soon, Timeless fans and even the creators remain optimistic. Ryan said he still doesn’t like to think the show is cancelled, preferring to think the show is hibernating. He says he still has a folder on his computer called “Season 3.”
“The show is in hibernation and at some point I’d love to see the show come back out of hibernation,” Ryan said.
Most of the event focused on the table read itself. Ryan said because Wersching wasn’t in the episode, she was invited to be narrator. She also was allowed to break character to add her own thoughts throughout the table read.
But why not the pilot or the finale? How did they pick “Hollywoodland?”
“I was trying to think of something with good dialogue but something fun. For this event we wanted something a little more optimistic,” Ryan said.
“There’s some romance, some twists. I went back and forth but this all happened very fast. So this is the one we picked,” Ryan said.
Ryan added “Hollywoodland” also was originally very long and they had to cut scenes, so the new “table read” of the episode could add “five or ten percent” more that fans hadn’t seen before. He added, “Also, who doesn’t want to hear Abigail sing?”
Spencer said there wasn’t much doubt about the song. She said co-writer of the episode Matt Whitney briefly thought about “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” but she and Whitney both just loved “You Made Me Love You.”
“We thought of singing ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ but ‘You Made Me Love You’ made much more sense (to the plot),” Spencer said. She said it was also historical because Garland once used it as an audition song.
When asked if he did a lot of research to play his role as Rufus in the show, Barrett said too much knowledge for his character might actually be detrimental.
“I thought it best not to look anything up. The thing is the other characters (besides Lucy) don’t know much. Abigail’s character Lucy Preseton knows everything but… as a Black man I wanted to find out did we hang out? What are the looks? Can (Black people) go there?” He did say he kept a book about time travel to help him remember the lingo needed throughout the season..
Lanter said, “Wyatt was a little oblivious to the history of the time period unless it had to do with military or some type of strategy like Nazi Germany or World War I, so I did know events happening around the wars,” he said.
Visnjic, an avid horse rider, said he kept pressing the creators to give him an episode where he could show off his horse riding skills. He also said fans often misinterpreted the fact he would purposely bring modern items into the past like the wrong weapons or horses. He said that was an intentional aspect of his character. “First season Flynn didn’t have Lucy so he had to do his research. Flynn didn’t give a damn so he brought newer items back to the past.”
He added one of the best moments for the actors was getting a new script so the cast could excitedly see where they’d be going. “It would be always nice to get an episode, see what time you’re going back, and read about history,” Visnjic added.
Asked if the actors had any input in the historical places the characters traveled to in time, Wersching said, “I left it all to the writers. She (antagonist Emma Whitmore) could wreak havoc wherever they sent me.”
For the writers themselves, it was less about choosing location than how the location fit with the show’s plot and character development.
Kripke said, “It’s both. We had a couple historical periods we really wanted to go to…but in general the move (back in time) is starting with emotional arcs. Where are they emotionally? Where are they going? Then we looked for a time period that best fit that.”
Ryan did say at times there were specific moments in history they thought about exploring.
“When we found out Ian Fleming had been a spy in Germany during World War II we thought we have to do a story around that,” he said.
Kripke said they became more conscious of choosing types of historical moments, however, as the show progressed.
“In season two we really got around to historical stories of women and people of color, stories that aren’t taught as much–so we got really better at that.”
And what about all of those historical costumes? Did the actors get to keep them?
Spencer said she wishes she had the beautiful gown in “Hollywoodland” but sadly she was only given the extra outfits from the Bonnie & Clyde episode. However, it didn’t keep her from trying to obtain some of the others.
“I bid in an auction to win Lucy’s skirt in the Abraham Lincoln episodes. It’s the only one I could get (win). But that’s it.”
Lanter joked, “I actually have all of Abby’s clothes. I outbid her.”
Ryan also spoke to how the show might unfold if it were brought back for a third season. He said it would depend on the timeline of the renewal. “Is it renewed next year? Or in 10 years?” he said. “It would be decided in the writer’s room. I don’t think we’d do anything to cancel things out like the Christmas finale. But with Time Travel things are always a little bit fudgeable.”
“We haven’t talked to NBC or Sony but there’s the idea of continuing these as TV movies. But nothing substantial but that to me makes sense,” Kripke added.
Spencer agreed. “I keep joking we are going to do reunions until I’m in a walker and can’t get into the time machine.”
I asked Ryan how fans successfully brought the show back to the screen and how important it is to continue this in the future. He said like other shows that age over time and build an audience, Timeless may still have a chance at a comeback:
“I keep looking at the Star Trek model (which failed after a few years) but in syndication people realized the value of the show and it became more popular over time. What I can say is the best thing to do is get friends to watch it online. Get people to discover the show. We live in a data-driven universe where people look to see what people watch and how they are watching it…There could be an appetite to do more with it,” Ryan said.
But even if the Timeless “Mothership” has flown its last trip back in history, the cast and creators are happy with the legacy it left behind.
Lanter said, “Thank you everyone for sticking with us and being fans and watching. It’s yours now. Dream it up. Come up with your own stories.”
“Fandoms have a way of reflecting the show you’re making,” Ryan added. “This is a show about diversity and inclusivity and friendship in a time we needed it and I’m really proud of the show for putting positivity in what was at the time a negative world.”
The Timeless cast’s performance of Hollywoodland is available at play-perview.com until January 27, with proceeds benefiting Feeding America.
