Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on New Girl, Grey's Anatomy, Big Little Lies, Flash, Walking Dead, Will & Grace and More
Got a scoop request? An anonymous tip you’re dying to share? Send any/all of the above to askausiello@tvline.com
Question: I’m still perplexed as to why Grey’s Anatomy gave Martin Henderson the heave-ho. Any intel on what’s next for Meredith now that Nathan is no longer in the picture? —Tammy
Ausiello: For the record, I’m a bit perplexed, too. “Merthan” was growing on me. The good news: Grey’s
remains committed to finding a new love for Mer. Sources confirm to me exclusively that the show is quietly searching for a fortysomething actor to play a major new love interest opposite Ellen Pompeo. Character details are sketchy, but I’m told the guy in question will be a doctor from a foreign country who is sexy, fiery, impulsive and passionate about medicine. He also shares something major in common with Mer in that one of his parents (in his case his pa) was/is a renowned surgeon.
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Question: Any update on more Big Little Lies? —Geoff
Ausiello: Yes! According to EP/writer David E. Kelley, a second season of the Emmy-winning limited series is rapidly becoming less a question of if and more a question of when. “We’re kicking around ideas and trying to lasso the talent [and] get the band back together,” he shared with us last week at the TV Game Changers panel hosted by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. “It’s just a lot of logistical things. But I’m optimistic because everyone wants to do it. We feel we still have storytelling to do. No decision has been made yet, but we’re hopeful. Where we left it, I felt like it did open the opportunity for a lot more storytelling.”
Question: I’m really enjoying the second season of The Exorcist. Can you offer us some info about the rest of the season? I hope we can expect more devilish twists like we saw in Episode 4! —Nic
Ausiello: First, make sure you watch all the way through to the end of tonight’s episode, which offers another creepily big surprise. Second, John Cho tells us that “there is something coming up that I have to shoot that is so terrible….” Though he couldn’t say exactly what the scenes entail, he did say that they’re part of Episode 9 and “the idea of shooting them freak me out to the extent that [the producers] and I are having email discussions about it and what my comfort is with this stuff…. It’s really bad.”
Question: The X-Files still owes us an explanation as to why Mulder — who like Scully had previously been abducted — wasn’t protected from the Spartan virus. Will Season 11 answer that question? —Dave
Ausiello: I believe it will. And I believe Cigarette Smoking Man holds the key to that particular mystery.
Question: Is Gabriel dead on The Walking Dead? —Jeremy
Ausiello: Although, when last we saw the preacherman, Negan was instructing him to slip into his “s—tin’ pants,” whether he’s actually used the garment for the final time remains a question mark, even after this Sunday’s “Monsters” outing. Decidedly less up in the air following the action-packed episode is the fate of at least one other character. The hour also makes clearer the battle lines that are being drawn not between the Saviors and the allied forces but between the allied forces and each other.
Question: Any scoop on American Gods Season 2? When does filming start? —Sandra
Ausiello: Slow your holy horses there, Sandra: Series co-creator Michael Green recently told TVLine that he and Bryan Fuller — as well as the rest of the show’s scribes — were in the process of writing the Season 2 scripts. And even though we’re as eager to get to House on the Rock as you are, we hear that production won’t get underway until early 2018.
Question: Any scoop about Caitlin Snow/Killer Frost’s journey on The Flash? —Dani
Ausiello: That very stern message carved into Caitlin’s apartment door was left by Amunet, setting the stage for Katee Sackhoff’s debut in next week’s episode. “Katee is so amazing in the show,” raves co-showrunner Andrew Kreisberg. “The performance that she has brought to the character is so beyond anything you’d expect from her…. She is most definitely not playing [Battlestar’s] Starbuck.” As for the lighter part of the “Girls’ Night Out” outing, “I think it’s the first episode we’ve ever done where Barry doesn’t wear the suit,” Kreisberg ventures. “We started with the concept of, ‘Wouldn’t it be really funny if Barry goes for the bachelor party with the guys and Candice goes for a bachelorette party with the girls, and the guys end up having the worst night ever and the girls wind up saving the city?’ That was where we started from, and that’s where it ended up.”
Question: I am dying for some Will & Grace scoop. The entire show is how revivals should be — updated and with the times, but like they never left our living rooms. —Katie
Ausiello: With Rosario now feather-dustering in the hereafter, we’ll be getting to know more of Karen’s servants when the hitcom returns for Season 9B. In fact, we’ll be getting to know at least a couple of them extremely well. An upcoming episode not only introduces us to her hot-and-hotter cook and pastry chef, it reveals that the guys are unwittingly starring in their boss’ favorite telenovela, as she and Will become obsessed with watching their sexually ambiguous flare-ups over her kitchen-cam.
Question: What’s next in Once Upon a Time‘s Ivy/Henry relationship? I loved seeing these two interact in the last episode. —Zara
Ausiello: As you may have surmised by the way Ivy smoldered at Henry over drinks, “She has her sights set on him,” says co-creator Eddy Kitsis. “How he feels about it, we’ll have to wait and see. But she definitely seems like she is interested.” And given the Jacinda/Cinderella of it all, “There is some conflict to come!”
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Question: Is there any chance Naveen from The Princess and the Frog could pop up in Once Upon a Time Season 7? —Lady Tremaine
Ausiello: Indeed, the ABC series is currently seeking a thirtysomething African-American to fill the role of Naveen, a fun-loving adventurer who hides a tragic past. Series co-creator Adam Horowitz told Matt Mitovich we’ll meet Tiana’s would-be prince in the second half of the season.
Question: Any chance of Sarah Weller coming back to Blindspot? — Iara
Ausiello: Though executive producer Martin Gero “would love to have her back,” there are currently no plans for Jordana Spiro to reprise her role as Kurt’s sis. “Jordana’s an incredibly busy actress,” Gero adds, “and it hasn’t worked out, schedule-wise, for us.”
Question: Will we know a little more about Rich Dotcom in the new season of Blindspot? — Iara
Ausiello: Iara, you know the rules: Only one question per customer! I’ll make an exception just this once because I just so happen to have the answer you seek you seem nice . Rich Dotcom might be working for the FBI now, but the task force members shouldn’t put too much trust. “A good amount of suspicion is good for anybody,” Ennis Esmer said of the criminal-turned-government employee, when asked if viewers should be wary of his character’s motives. “We’re talking about somebody who really did whatever he wanted. Now he’s on the right side of the law. But if people were really reformed, would they have to say it? He can’t help himself, and he has to be reminded that it’s actually advantageous to live a better life and think about people more.”
Question: Any scoop about Hailey Upton on Chicago P.D.? —Darice
Ausiello: Next Wednesday’s episode introduces Wil Traval (Arrow, Jessica Jones) as a sergeant from Narcotics who has “a bad past” with Detective Upton, star Tracy Spiridakos tells TVLine. “They do not get along. When that sergeant ends up dead during the investigation, there’s a big twist that comes up. People aren’t seeing what Upton is seeing, and so she has to do some of her own investigating and bring forward what she’s learned.”
Question: Do you guys have any inside on the final eight episodes of New Girl? —Lauren
Ausiello: Your timing is impeccable: I just dropped by the show’s set for a little Season 7 set visit and procured a generous helping of farewell-season scoop. The big news? When we reunite with the gang in the premiere (following a four-year time jump) Jess and Nick remain very much a couple (phew), Schmidt is loving his new life as a stay-at-home dad to his and Cece’s daughter Ruth (any guesses who she’s named after?) and Winston and Aly’s relationship is on the precipice of a major change. And because I know you’re wondering, I don’t have any info on when the show will be back but if I had a gambling problem I’d wager about $10K that it returns sometime this spring.
This AAnd That…
Blind Item: A popular drama on one of the Big 5 broadcast nets will stage a significant time jump at midseason.
Forgive me if I sound like a broken record, but NBC’s Will & Grace revival is doing everything right and
it feels a little bit like a miracle. Perhaps it’s the nostalgia speaking, but I don’t recall ever enjoying the show and these four characters as much as I am right now.
Winona Ryder doesn’t get enough credit for her Stranger Things performance, and that is especially true of the show’s second season.
Mindhunter has not been formally renewed for a second season yet by Netflix but that isn’t stopping David Fincher & Co. from putting feelers out to actors re: the recurring role of ******s *****n.
That’s a wrap! Please send questions, comments and anonymous tips to askausiello@tvline.com. (Additional reporting by Kim Roots, Dave Nemetz, Vlada Gelman and Jean Bentley)
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