Question: How do you feel going into the second season?

Dylan McDermott: I feel good. I think we look back on season one and decided what worked and what didn't work and wanted to make this show lighter and a little bit more humorous. And we brought in Tricia Helfer as the romantic interest for Carter Shaw and that opened up the show a great deal.

Looking at the show for season two, it's much more dynamic than it was in season one. And also just selfishly for my character, I think it's so much more interesting to do police work and be in a relationship at the same time.

Question: What is it about DARK BLUE that continues to challenge you?

Dylan McDermott: Well anytime you do this -- acting in a police role or undercover role -- it's fascinating. I love that world. You know I've always been fascinated by Baretta and Donny Brasco and other undercover cops in movies. It's just always been something that's interested me.

So I think this is a show -- if we gather an audience this year -- that can be on for many years. And with the addition of Tricia, I think we have the whole package now. So I just love this character. I love playing him and I love the cases and the danger that the show brings to television.

Question: You've played both sides of law and order in a TV series -- both as a police officer in DARK BLUE and a lawyer in THE PRACTICE. Which career do you think you'd be better at in real life?

Dylan McDermott: Oh, man. I don't know if I could be any of these guys really. To be a lawyer, it's such difficult work and taking on cases. And to be a cop, to do the hours they do and deal with the criminal aspect. I'm so happy I'm an actor to tell you the truth because I don't know if I would want to climb inside their shoes for 20, 30 years and do this type of work. It must be so harrowing after a while.

So I'm grateful that I'm an actor and I can just step into shoes and get out after a while.

Question: To research your role for DARK BLUE, you did ride-alongs with the LAPD. Did some of them recognize you as Bobby Donnell from THE PRACTICE?

Dylan McDermott: Yeah, they did. Some of them wanted me to represent them, which was strange of course.

Going into South Central Los Angeles or Compton, these are worlds that you don't normally go into, so I love this type of work.  I love this where I can do research, and interview people, and get inside peoples' heads, and look at their behavior and what they don't tell me. Those things are all fascinating to me.

So when I get to do that and have a bird's eye view into different worlds, that's the most exciting thing for me as an actor. But you know when you are doing that, I never think that anybody is going to recognize me and they did. And that's when my cover as a person is blown. And so that's not always fun because I want to be anonymous when I'm doing research. I don't want anybody to recognize me. I want to be the character.

So going into these worlds -- pulling over gangbangers, going into the projects, or them showing me photos of murder scenes. All of that stuff is just gold for an actor. It's horrible for life, but for an actor, especially for me, when I get to see stuff like that, I get to use it for my character and dive deeper into this world.

Question: What is the biggest difference between network television and cable?

Dylan McDermott: Well you know what? Network television has changed so radically. I think with the rise of cable, network is clearly floundering because the characters on cable are far more fascinating than they are on network. And network television is trying to figure it out, but network television really relies on story rather than character and I think that cable relies on character. I think that's the biggest difference. You don't have to have a huge number on cable to stay on. I think DAMAGES had like 600,000 people watching it and it was a great show.

So you know I think character is key and character is king on cable and on network it's really more about franchise and story.

On cable [for DARK BLUE], we're only doing ten episodes a year. On THE PRACTICE, we used to do like 22, 24 episodes, which would take up ten months of the year where doing ten episodes is like three, four months at the most. So I get to do other things and it frees me up. And I like that aspect because you know when you're doing 22, 24 episodes, it is grueling. You are there for 16 hours a day, sometimes for ten months of the year and it really takes a big toll on you.

Question: Do you get to work with Jerry Bruckheimer on DARK BLUE?

Dylan McDermott: Well, Jerry thought of me initially for the role, so I thank him dearly for that. I had known Jerry over the years and it was his idea to bring me in for the show. Jerry is obviously a very busy man and he's got 1000 projects going at once. I'm always surprised how interested he is.

He watches the dailies and he reads the scripts and he's completely involved in the show. That's why he is the mega success that he is because he really pays attention still when he doesn't really have to. So I'm really impressed by firstly his work ethic and that he really thought of me for this. I'm forever grateful for that.

Question: How would you describe DARK BLUE to someone that has never seen it?

Dylan McDermott: I think that DARK BLUE is a gritty crime drama at it's core. I don't think that's ever going to change. It's an undercover cop show with fascinating characters. Especially in this particular season, there is a lot of humor and there's a lot of care between the characters. I think these characters really care for each other and are worried about each and have each other's backs.

And I think DARK BLUE looks like a movie. Every episode that I've seen looks like a little mini movie, and again I go back to character. It has fascinating characters. And in season two, you're going to see every character have their shining moment.

Question: How does Tricia Helfer's character challenge Carter this season?

Dylan McDermott: This is exactly what I thought this show should have -- a love interest for Carter. I think it's just much more dynamic to have him in a relationship. I think Tricia is a beautiful woman, and she's really talented, and she can stand toe to toe with Carter, which is not an easy thing because he is brooding at times. He is difficult and you need someone who can come in and go toe to toe with him.

So I think that she's going to challenge him in ways that I don't think he was actually prepared for. In season one, he was sort of closed down and not willing, and we find him in season two in a garden, which is really a metaphor for him that he is attempting to change, and he is attempting grow, and she is a big part of that. You know she is going to open him up.  I think that something had died in him long ago and he had given up on himself somewhere, and I think that she brings all of that back to life.

Question: How much input do you have about your character and storylines?

Dylan McDermott: In the first season, I trusted the writers to take me on this little journey, and then luckily we had the luxury to look back on season one and say, "Well okay, what worked and what didn't work," and I sat down with them and told them what I thought.  And certainly the number one thing was to have a love interest because you forgive a character a lot more when he can go home and talk to someone.

And in terms of a storyline, I think that season two accomplishes a lot of what I dreamt for the character. We're going to see him go through everything he can possibly go through and he's going to be a character within a character at times. He's going to be undercover in really dangerous situations. He's going to fall in love. And there's going to be a cliffhanger at the end in the finale, so it's everything I thought that the show should be. It finds its voice in this season. So I was really pleased that the show just graduated to a whole different level this year, and I was more pleased by that than anything else.

Question: What drives you to succeed?

Dylan McDermott: I don't know. I suppose that I still love acting. I loved it when I began when I was 15 years old (in HDC) in New York and when I first walked on that stage, and there was something about it that I felt like I needed to do. I always felt like I needed to act. Not that I wanted to act, but I needed to and I kind of feel that same way too. It has always defined me and it always will.

Question: How did you get your role in DARK BLUE?

Tricia Helfer: I got involved through the normal audition process. It was pilot season in Los Angeles and I auditioned for the show and was offered it after auditioning. So I didn’t have a script to work off of. There was just four pages written for the audition. So after I was offered the role, then I spoke with the producers and writers about what they saw for the character for the season and I liked what they had to say and they held up their end of the bargain.

They definitely said she was going to be involved with the team and be a smart, fun, strong character and not just the FBI finger-pointer or that kind of thing.

Question: What drew you to this particular character?

Tricia Helfer: I’ve always had a desire to play a cop or FBI agent. I'm a bit of a tomboy so it’s fun and I think there’s a lot of challenges -- emotionally and mentally -- playing a role like that and trying to get into the character. This role is fun because there’s also going to be some undercover roles -- so roles within the roles so to speak -- which as an actor are a lot of fun to play. And then of course just the team that’s behind it -- the Bruckheimer camp and Warner Horizon and TNT it’s a great group of people and companies to work with.

Question: Did you know from the beginning that you'd have good on-screen chemistry with Dylan?

Tricia Helfer: I think you never know. Chemistry is a hard thing. I don’t think you can force it and it doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to have great chemistry outside or whatever. It’s just something that kind of sparks on screen or doesn’t. And so when you’re kind of playing it you don’t really see what other people are seeing obviously behind the monitors.

But Dylan’s a great actor. During the scenes and working with him, it was great to work off of him and he gives you a lot as an actor and hopefully it was reciprocated.

It’s always hard stepping into the second season of a show because everybody else is already a team and working together and they know each other already so it takes a little bit of time to kind of settle in and get to know everybody personally. But it kind of worked for the first episode anyway because Alex was sort of just thrown in there, they meet undercover and the characters have chemistry but don’t really know each other.

And so what I was going through personally -- and them as well getting to know me -- kind of worked for the first episode because it was a bit what the characters were going through. Obviously without the one-night stand at the end -- or what they thought was going to be a one-night stand.

But Dylan’s just a great actor and is somebody that offers a lot to be able to work off of. And I think that’s the most important thing when playing characters with chemistry is being able to work off the other actor and be supported in that way.

Question: How has the rest of your experience with DARK BLUE been so far?

Tricia Helfer: I had a great experience on the show. I really like the character. I really like Alex. I really like playing her.

And it’s already done. We’re already done filming. We’ve been done for about a month now so it happens quickly. Ten episodes goes by really quickly, especially when you’ve got a really tough shooting schedule of seven-day episodes. For the three months you’re filming, you’re so immersed in it that you just eat, sleep and breathe it and then it’s done. So hopefully people enjoy what we did.

Question: How is your character going to challenge Carter?

Tricia Helfer: Alex is challenging Carter because he’s used to being the boss. I mean he’s headed the team in a joint task force between the FBI and LAPD that the FBI has the final say. And so Alex comes in and essentially is the boss but she’s smart enough to know that that’s not going to work with this team to just come in and say, “This is the way we’re doing things.” And so she knows and she wants to be part of the team and work with them, not just be their boss.

There’s definitely going to be moments of tension when they disagree on something or disagree how a case should be handled, and that’s a definite challenge for somebody as a strong character like Carter to be able to take an order to stand down or something like that.

But generally they have a pretty good working relationship. They respect each other and I think that’s the key to successfully working with each other is that they respect each other and their abilities.

Question: What did you find challenging about the role?

Tricia Helfer: What I find challenging is just trying to bring a truthfulness and a realism to it. Obviously not having been undercover FBI myself -- you obviously want to bring a truth to it -- it’s great to have a consultant on set. We have a consultant that was an undercover cop for many years. And aside from doing reading myself and reading on the role -- the type of job you really obviously haven’t done the job yourself. So you just want to bring a truth to it and you kind of always challenge yourself that way.

Physically, I guess it was fairly recent after I had gone through massive back surgery a couple of months before and so I was still in recovery. I had four discs replaced with artificial discs. So I could do some stunts, but luckily for me it just worked out that the ten episodes there wasn’t that much. I could pretty much do everything except for a fall down the stairs. I couldn’t do that but I wouldn’t have done that anyway even without back surgery. So physically I just had some challenges going in. But it’s been a fun character to play.

Question: How did you hurt your back?

Tricia Helfer: How I hurt my back is a mixture of things. I think being very tall and thin growing up and being very athletic and kind of abusing my body in some ways, crashing into walls, diving on floors to hit that volleyball and things like that. And then just a mixture of a car accident that got whiplash and doing all my own stunts on BATTLESTAR really helped kind of solidify needing surgery.

So, yeah, it was just a mixture of a few things. And then somebody dropped a suitcase on my head on an airplane and that didn’t really do my neck any good. So unfortunately just a series of things that resulted in four discs being replaced.

Question: Can you tell us about your future plans and whether they include another season of DARK BLUE?

Tricia Helfer: If DARK BLUE comes back, fingers crossed, yes, you’ll be seeing more of me. Unless something happens or stuff I don’t know about, I will be back and glad to be back.

What I have coming up next? I have a couple of independent movies coming out -- one with Brian Geraghty from the “Hurt Locker” and Stephen Moyer called “Open House.” It’s coming out on DVD in I think August. And I’ve got another film that we’re waiting to hear if it gets into Toronto with Harvey Keitel and J.K. Simmons and Scott Caan called “A Beginner’s Guide to Endings” that I shot last Fall and so I'm looking to shoot a few more independents this Fall.

Question: Did you get to wear any wigs in Season 2 of DARK BLUE?

Tricia Helfer: No, I didn’t have to wear any wigs. A couple of different hairstyles mostly in the first episode but no wigs, which I’m not too upset about it. It’s quite an ordeal putting a wig on.

Question: What drives you to succeed?

Tricia Helfer: I want to be challenged. I want to be proud of what I do and I want to learn. I want to learn new things and keep learning and growing. I kind of am a bit of a workaholic and I like to keep busy and active so I think that’s what drives me.