Jeri Ryan Has Leverage

by Michael Robinson
BeansTalk Contributing Writer


BeansTalk participated in a recent conference call with Dean Devlin, producer and director of Leverage, a day after Part 1 of Leverage's two-part season finale.

Among questions answered, Devlin said that he, along with the cast and crew, hope Jeri Ryan will stay a part of the hit series as Tara Cole, even with the return of British actress' Gina Bellman’s character, Sophie Devereaux.

Ryan was a late addition to the second season of the TNT series after Bellman showed up pregnant.

“As Gina’s pregnancy came out, we didn’t want to just move her off the show; we really wanted to keep her there as much as possible,” said Devlin. “But we had made the decision that it wasn’t good for the character, for her to have a child.”

So Devlin and the rest of the writing staff had to scrape together a new plot. He admitted that the entire plot of the show changed for this season. For the new plot, the series needed a new grifter, also known as a confidence man or woman, and in came Ryan.

If nothing else, Devlin hopes that Ryan will be back on the show for a couple of episodes.

“Hopefully by the end of the season, her character will be so etched into the lure of our show that the fans will want to see that character reoccur,” said Devlin.

It all will come down to Ryan’s schedule, but Devlin seems more than willing to have her back for awhile longer.