'The Whispers' Cast on 'Creepy Children' and Filming in Chuck E. Cheese
If children are the future, the future is looking grim for the fictional folks inhabiting the world of ABC’s new politics-meets-procedural-meets-paranormal activity program, The Whispers.
Someone, or something, is infiltrating the bedrooms, playgrounds, schoolyards, and parks of Washington, D.C., and “influencing” the offspring of top government/defense power players to take down their parents. The kids claim they are playing secret games with their new imaginary friend named Drill, right up until mom winds up in the hospital — or worse.
It will take a village led by FBI agent Claire (Lily Rabe), whose own son might be hanging with the hidden homicidal homeboy, to get to the bottom of the moppets mystery. “The responsibility is quite great trying to figure out what is going on with a child, playing scenes where there is something so unknown,” Rabe tells Yahoo TV. “You really have to be vigilant [as] a mother and an FBI agent. You don’t want to overstep, but you want to protect them while still allowing them to have a their beautiful and exciting imaginations. You want to nourish that and to keep them safe [but] not feel like you are trying to contain them. I found that very compelling and harrowing when I read it and when I read the [1951 Ray Bradbury] short story that the show was based on.”
Related: ‘The Whispers’ Review: Creepy Kids Causing Danger (and in Danger)
Complicating Claire’s investigation is the fact that she’s been on leave after a rather public affair with defense department operative Wes (Barry Sloane), and the return of her missing-in-action and presumed dead fighter pilot husband (Milo Ventimiglia) — who is now able to speak Arabic, and unable to remember what happened after his plane crash. “He’s a very different man than when he was last seen, long hair, bearded, covered in tattoos,” Ventimiglia explains. “By Episode 2, John Doe and Claire cross paths, a little bit of action, and [we will explore] where he’s been, what he’s been up to, and how he is now a part of this greater mystery.”
The Whispers premieres on June 1 at 10 p.m. on ABC.