After a six-month winter hiatus,
Lie to Me returns to FOX tonight, kicking off the second half of season 2 with a thrill: Jason Dohring (Veronica Mars) guest stars as a brilliant, psychopathic graduate student whom Lightman suspects is also a killer.
The episode, which airs tonight at 8pm on FOX, boasts some of the most intense, best-acted scenes of
Lie to Me to date, which is also going through changes behind the scenes: showrunner
Shawn Ryan recently left the program, leaving British writer Alexander Cary in charge.
Lie to Me star Tim Roth is energized by the change, calling Cary his "favorite writer" from last season, and saying that the writing in the show "has gotten progressively smoother, which makes the job of acting a lot easier."
Roth spoke to the media last Thursday about
Lie to Me, his lie-detecting character, Dr. Cal Lightman, and the new territory and "wild" storylines we'll see in the rest of season 2 and looking forward to season 3.
Read on to find out, and don't forget to watch the spring premiere of Lie to Me tonight, June 7, at 8pm on FOX.
What can we expect for the second half of Lie to Me season 2?
Well, it kind of unravels a bit more character stuff: the Foster and Lightman relationship [and] how they met, which is a fun thing that we do. My relationship with my ex-wife (Jennifer Beals), and also with my daughter (Hayley McFarland). The daughter stuff gets featured more and more heavily. The cases are strange, and there's kind of a little bit more adrenaline floating around this season.
Will we see more of the Foster (Kelli Williams) and Lightman "Will they, won't they?" storyline?
In the second season, you do. But there's a boyfriend that rolls up for her, and flings for me.
What did you think when you met the real Dr. Ekman, on whom the character Cal Lightman is based?
He's the sweetest fellow. A very cool guy. Very different from my character, but the science is the same. I was nervous being around him because I thought he was reading me all the time. One of the best things he's said to me -- I asked if he was ever aware of his own body language -- and he said "I'm not on stage, they are. Everybody else is on stage." He doesn't care how he behaves as long as he gets the reaction he's looking for.
How involved are you in the production of Lie to Me?
Not officially, but I mean, I talk to the writers all the time. They run ideas by me. I'm very kind of heavily involved in the making of the show. I think you should be if you're central to it.
Would you ever consider going back to directing?
Very much indeed. I loved it.
How is working in television different from your previous work in film?
I like it because I like being busy, and this keeps you incredibly busy. But its a very, very different world from films. I treat it like a play, as if I was in a long run of a play. Every time we come to a new episode, I tweak him. I play around with him a bit and change him. You'll see a difference even within the second season with this guy.
What do you enjoy most about playing Lightman?
He operates in a gray area of what's possibly legal and possibly illegal, and he's a character in which we developed a healthy distrust for authority. I like that about him. We're looking at developing that kind of rogue element about him in the third season. I think it would be tricky if I didn't like him. I like him. I like what he's turning into. He's an interesting guy. And he's trouble, which I like.
What new developments will we see with Lightman's abilities?
We have an interesting episode where he is wrong. And I think we should do that more, by the way. If someone's lying, you can be right about that. But why they're lying? You can be completely wrong about that.
