Matt's Inside Line: Scoop on HIMYM, Revolution, Revenge, Once, Beast, Justified, Hostages & More

Is How I Met Your Mother trotting the globe? Will Patrick return for (shirtless) Revenge? Are more Scandal sexytimes ahead? Who is Once Upon a Time‘s new hero? Is Beauty’s Beast in heat? Read on for answers to those questions plus teases from other shows.

RELATED | 2014 Renewal Scorecard: What’s Coming Back? What’s Cancelled?

Do you have any spoilers for How I Met Your Mother? –Shari
Did somebody order Chinese? Because one of the final season’s episodes will travel abroad as well as through time. “There’s an episode coming up that’s … mostly in flashback and mostly set in China,” EP Craig Thomas shares. And if you’re all “Huh?” — and I reckon you are — he adds, “It will make sense once you see it.” And there’ll be other episodes like it, including the “rhyming” half-hour airing Monday. “There’s a lot of crazy time machine, structural jumpiness coming up that I think people will enjoy,” Thomas says.

When is Patrick getting back to Revenge? – Hugo
There’s a strong chance he’ll be back by this season’s 13th episode (if not much sooner), because that when the ABC soap will be introducing (drumroll, please) Patrick’s ruggedly handsome biological father, Jimmy. In that same episode, we’ll also meet two other pivotal characters — Conrad’s mysterious first wife, Stevie, and Sara’s blue-collar mom Loretta (who is not pleased her daughter has re-started a romance with Daniel).

Do you have news to share about the upcoming season of Dallas on TNT? — @pattydrake2
Judith’s back, meaning “Judith” will be back. I chatted up Judith Light at this week’s Artios Awards, where she confirmed that Harris Ryland’s ruthless-creepy momma will continue to be ruthless and creepy in Season 3. Hailing her character as “divine,” Light – when she wasn’t telling me I didn’t look old enough to remember her as Karen Wolek, god bless her – shared this about what’s ahead: “I can tell you that she has a job, one that she’s had before, and it deals with things that are not necessarily on the up-and-up.”

What can you hint about the upcoming episodes of Scandal? –Lindsey
Here’s a tiny something to get you through the next two weeks: Already I have teased the “wow” of Episode 9, airing Dec. 5. But the actual midseason finale teeing up the winter break? It’s even wow-ier. “Episode 10, which sort of frames this first chapter of this third season, is bananas. Banananananas,” Bellamy Young told me. “I mean, the writers blow my mind every time I sit down, they raise their own game. I don’t know how they do it.” And while unable to spill details, Young said that the gasp-worthy moments on hand for that pre-hiatus hour come in the following flavors: “Sad, sexy, happy and horrifying.”

I think the Inside Line is due for some Walking Dead scoop – got one? –Craig
What I’ve got… is this exclusive photo from Sunday’s episode – and it has to make a person wonder: Now that the Governor and Martinez are reunited, is Woodbury about to rise from the ashes?

Is CBS’ Hostages going to reveal all before they end the season, or will it just end? –Carol
In the two-hour finale airing Jan. 6, “We will resolve the storylines for all major characters,” executive producer Rick Eid assures the Inside Line. As such, “We hope that the last episode will feel like the final chapter of a 15-chapter novel.”

I’m confused — I watched the Person of Interest episode where Carter was shot and looked to be dead! Now I’m reading in the entertainment section and they are talking as if she’s alive?! Alive or dead? –Robert
Um, I’d seriously reconsider your bookmark of said “entertainment section.” As if my Q&As with the EPs and Taraji P. Henson didn’t make it clear, Carter is truly and sincerely dead – though she could live on in “new” flashbacks, as POI is known to do. And Henson is all for it. “I love Carter, so I’m interested to see what they could come up with. I would love to return for a flashback. Absolutely.”

Why is Fusco gone? He deserved better! The mug had it in him to do good! –Bill
[This, class, is why you should never send in Qs based off of promos.]

So, this Haley/Andy-the-nanny romance on Modern Family is happening, right? –Andy
Adam Devine did recently shoot another episode, including a scene that involves the entire Dunphy family, and that means Haley will be there….

I know Revolution just had its midseason finale, but I’m hoping you’ll have some scoop on the rest of the season. In fact, I have to ask: What is going on with Monroe and Charlie? Please tell me that is happening. It’s so wrong, but so intriguing! –Katie
That “wrong” bit of chemistry “is something that we’ve seen, as well,” exec producer Rockne S. O’Bannon admits, “and we really think is really quite interesting. So there’s a potential for that.” But as of right now, just potential. “I’d hate to say that it couldn’t happen, but obviously there’s a lot of things stacked against it,” O’Bannon notes. “There’s a creepiness factor to it that

is on the one hand creepy, and on the other hand is maybe worth exploring. But the sparks between them, that low-level spark, is definitely something we’re very cognizant of.”

Will Constable Bob be returning on Justified? –Jennifer
As a matter of fact, yes, Patton Oswalt is confirmed for a Season 5 encore!

On Beauty and the Beast, what the heck is in Vincent and Tori’s DNA that make them attract each other like that? Is this, like, a primal desire of a beast to “mate”? Oh please say no! –Madge
I brought your Q to EP Brad Kern, and he explained, “Tori and Vincent amplify each other’s powers and emotions — and that’s an attraction we’re going to continue to play.”

Please keep it coming with the Beauty and the Beast scoop! With the winter hiatus coming around, I need a little something –Larissa
The CW drama is casting the recurring role of Sam, a brilliant and charming archeologist who has been mysteriously affected by something that happened to him over the past six years.

I’m just getting into The Tomorrow People – is there early word if it is going to be renewed for another season? –Donald
The CW freshman is a keeper for now, which is the most anyone can ask for at this very early date. On the scoopy front, later this season you’ll be meeting an assassin-for-hire who is half-badass, half-vulnerable – and for a very good, probably extremely spoilery reason.

Considering Bonnie’s new condition as the anchor to the Other Side on The Vampire Diaries, is she going to be visited by any familiar, ghostly faces? —Audrey
Qualifying her response as a “trick answer,” Kat Graham teased, “Yes, Bonnie is going to see a lot of familiar faces. You are going to see a lot of familiar faces.” With a laugh, she added: “I like the way I answered that question, so I’m just going to pat myself on the back.”

Do you have anything on Once Upon a Time that isn’t related to one ‘ship or another? –Lauren
Wrap your magic bean around this one: For Episode 14, the show is casting the possibly recurring role of a teenage African-American female who comes across as skittish and timid, having had her naturally curious and determined spirit tempered by years of crippling fear. That said, when put to the test, this lass can reach within and summon the strength to be a hero. Ready, set, speculate!

If there’s a show you’d like the Inside Line on, email InsideLine@tvline.com! (With additional reporting by Vlada Gelman)

Related stories

Jayma Mays Talks The Millers' Sibling Rivalry, How She Wishes She Were HIMYM's Mother

Once Upon a Time Exclusive: Find Out Who Will Let Down Her Hair as Rapunzel

TVLine Items: Veronica Mars Movie Launch Date, Shield Vet Joins Fox's Gang Related and More!

Get more from TVLine.com: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Newsletter