Comic-Con@Home: ‘The Stars And Executive Producers Of Stumptown’ Start To Tease Season 2
by Rachel Bellwoar
Based on the comic series by Greg Rucka and Matthew Southworth, Stumptown was arguably the best new network show to air on TV last year. In this panel, TV Guide’s Jim Halterman brings the cast and executive producers together with Rucka, to talk about season one and what fans can expect when the show returns for season two.
The first piece of news actually comes when Halterman introduces everyone. Along with executive producers David Bernad, Ruben Fleischer, and Jason Richman (who created the series), Stumptown has a new executive producer and co-showrunner going into season two: Monica Owusu-Breen (whose previous credits include co-executive producing Fringe and Marvel’s Agents of Shield).
On the cast side of things, Cobie Smulders (Dex), Jake Johnson (Grey), and Michael Ealy (Hoffman) are all in attendance. Halterman opens the questions up by asking Rucka what it was like watching season one and seeing his series get adapted for TV. “I think, honestly, you know, Dex is well-served in the original source material,” Rucka says, “but characters like Grey and Hoffman and, you know, Hoffman is a completely different character in the series, so watching Jake, watching… Michael, watching – watching the whole cast breathe and inflate these people, make them real. It’s, there’s nothing like it.”
On what it was like adapting the series for TV, Richman says:
You take a character like Sue Lynn, I think, Greg, right? She was only in book one, but that was something that was so specific to the world, and she just felt like a character that would, you know, help tonally, visually, thematically, you know, set this show apart from other shows that were out there and would allow us to go into worlds that other shows wouldn’t… be able to….
Breen brings up the music and the action set pieces as two of the things that attracted her to the show in season one. “There was no will they, won’t they,” Breen points out. “They did, now what?”
On Dex’s vet background, Smulders says that was, “…one of my favorite parts about this character…,” while Richman mentions Dex’s PTSD as, “…the thing that will follow this character through the life of this character.”
As for Dex’s bisexuality, “Obviously, it’s big to be on network television, and for her to be acting in that way,” Smulders acknowledges, “but, to me, it just felt like this is who this person is…”
Johnson claims he, “never really felt like they were in a love triangle,” while Ealy theorizes, “Maybe this is how Dex starts true friendships…” Another thing both characters have in common: daddy issues, and Johnson says he loved working with Matt Craven, who plays his father.
Another actor who gets a lot of praise is Cole Sibus, who plays Dex’s brother, Ansel. It sounds like he had a lot of input on his storylines, too, which is really cool, like Ansel learning to drive.
Season two, of course, is going to introduce Dex’s mom, while Ealy wants Hoffman’s new career path to involve male stripping. Halterman closes the panel with some fan questions from Twitter.
To rewatch the panel in its entirety, here it is below:
