Quantico Rookie Hunter Parrish Talks Top-Secret Season 2 Role (Seriously, We Don't Even Know His Name)
When Quantico returns tonight (10/9c, ABC), it does so with a new character, played by Weeds’ Hunter Parrish.
But we can’t divulge his name.
Or anything about his past.
And we’re not really allowed to reveal his name or how he fits into the spy drama as it moves forward — in just one timeline — but we’re happy to let him take a crack at it.
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So read on as Parrish, whose TV gigs also include The Following and Hand of God, gives us a few select pieces of intel about what his character is up to on the series. (We’d love to let you in on the big stuff coming up, but sorry: You don’t have the appropriate clearance.)
TAKING CHARGE | You’ll recall that, at the end of the last episode, Alex was summoned to the White House… as were Ryan, Shelby, Nimah and Dayana: They’re all part of a covert, hybrid CIA/FBI task force assembled to combat the security threat posed by Lydia’s unauthorized intelligence upload. Parrish’s character is also involved with the group. “President Haas has put together this group of people who can figure out how we can beat this enemy that we don’t know much about,” Parrish says. “That’s our first goal: How do we take them down?”
TAILOR-MADE | The part was written for Parrish, who says he’d been wanting to work with showrunner Joshua Safran for years. “I was completely honored, obviously, when he called and said, ‘Dude, I have this idea, and I want to create this role. If you don’t say yes, I’m not going to create this role. We’ll do something different,’” the actor recalls. “One thing I’ve loved about working with Josh and this group is that they are a family, and they have welcome me into that family in an awesome way, from cast to writers’ room.”
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EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES | Alex & Co. work hard, play hard and flirt even harder; expect Parrish’s character to fit right in. “Initially, the conversation revolved around coming in as a new Shelby love interest,” he says. Plans changed a bit, and now Parrish’s alter ego is engaged to another new character named Maxine “Max” Griffin, played by Krysta Rodriguez (Smash). But the beguiling Agent Wyatt isn’t completely gone from Parrish’s character’s orbit. “There’s a little catfighting,” he previews, chuckling. “We explore the Shelby of it all, with his engagement and the position that puts him in.”
UNDER (NOT MUCH) COVER | Given that Quantico is a series that loves a good locker-room scene or a scantily clad group yoga lesson, expect to be seeing quite a bit of Parrish’s character in the coming weeks. “I actually made a comment to Josh that I’ve done a lot of [taking off my shirt] on my jobs in the past, and I was really interested in the parts of this show that are really sophisticated, really clever and really heartfelt. I said to him, ‘I don’t know if I want to take my shirt off.’” Parrish laughs. “And he came back and said, ‘Dude, [we] have to take your shirt off.” That said, “I hope the focus is on how awesome the writing is and how awesome these characters are, reacting toward what’s going on in front of them,” the actor adds. “That’s my main wish.”
Launch Gallery: <I>Quantico</I> Season 2 Photos
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