After you finish your Oscars viewing party drinking game, get ready for another shot of whiskey.
Whiskey Cavalier, the new espionage series starringScott FoleyandLauren Cohan, is getting a prime post-Oscars slot.
Viewers expecting another standard action drama or procedural fromWhiskey Cavaliershould think again.
Credit: Larry D. Horricks/ABC
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: With a show of this nature, of courseMission: Impossibleis going to get name-checked.
So thats how I frame the show in my mind.
I loveMoonlighting, but I also love all of the Daniel Craig Bond series.
Im a huge fan of the Bourne series.
Ive always been a fan of the espionage genre, but also a tremendous fan of romantic comedy.
I just thought to myself, wouldnt it be great if we had a woke James Bond?
A sensitive James Bond as opposed to the dude who is constantly a coldhearted Lothario?
What if we flipped it and made him an emotionally intelligent super-spy?
Its almost a little incestuous among these folks.
They want what we all want in life, which is love and connection.
But their business, which is the business of suspicion, makes it almost impossible.
The location shooting in the pilot, which takes us all over Europe, is amazing.
The great thing about Prague is its the Swiss Army knife of cities.
Its this gorgeous, magical gingerbread city, but it also doubles for eight different cities.
Plus we can stage out of Prague all over Europe.
Were maximizing all of it, from the castles to the cathedrals to the gorgeous restaurants to the vistas.
Its going to be like that every week.
Our pyrotechnics are fantastic.
You have tremendous gunfights and explosions, but also a lot of a romance.
Edgar Standish [played by Tyler James Williams] is reminiscent ofEdward Snowden.
How often are your cases and criminals going to have a ripped-from-the-headlines feel?
[Laughs] Its a stakes-y show.
We are trying to traffic in real-world issues as much as we can.
The worlds in a really interesting and challenging place.
The game is on again in Europe in a way that it hasnt been probably since World War II.
Espionage has now entered the headlines for a reason.
Its in the zeitgeist because its all around us.
I do believe in American heroes, and I think these people are American heroes.
Theyre doing the right thing for the right reasons.
Thats what were trying to embrace in the show.
What I want to do is basically establish a family.
My whole goal with the show is these are people who are saving the world and each other.
She comes from a very shadowy past, a very tortured past; she was an assassin.
Theres all this stuff were going to learn about her over the course of season 1.
Were going to gradually peel back the layers of Frankie and of Will.
Frankies had a very, very compelling and harrowing past.
Will trusting her, thats the journey of season 1.
Is she a mystery wrapped in a riddle wrapped in an enigma?
But I think if she has one [weak] spot, were going to learn that its Will.
Youre setting up a will they, wont they?
dichotomy from the get-go.
Is that something youre already feeling the pressure of?
What are your thoughts on that dynamic and avoiding the Moonlightingcurse?Not really.
Things will evolve and mature the way they have to and the way they should organically.
Im reveling in it.
Im not at all worried about it.
The sense of humor is a real highlight of the show.
Is that element of comedy something essential to the shows DNA?Oh, hugely important.
Oh my God, what happens next?
But also comedy is hugely important.
Let me just give a shoutout to Tyler James Williams and Ana Ortiz and Vir Das.
These are great dramatic and comedic actors.
There is a very keen comedic sense that runs through everything we do.
When were being serious, were being serious, but Im really looking to build a family.
Part of that is them razzing each other and hassling each other and pranking each other.
Its kind of organic to the genre.
Absolutely, comedy is a huge part of the show and will continue to be.
TheWhiskey Cavaliersneak preview will air Feb. 24 at 11:35 p.m.
ET and 10 p.m. PT on ABC.
Its regular time slot will be Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
