Ryan Cartwright is known best for his role of Gary Bell on Syfy’s “Alphas”. The show just wrapped up its second season, with a very shocking ending. The show has not been picked up for a third season as of yet, so if you want more “Alphas”, make yourself heard! Ryan took out sometime to chat with Media Mikes again, read our season 1 wrap-up here, to chat about this season and his upcoming guest starring role on “The Big Bang Theory” and what he is currently playing on his XBOX 360.
Mike Gencarelli: Now having played the role of Gary for two seasons in “Alphas”, how does season two for you compare to the first?
Ryan Cartwright: I have found that he has become a lot more isolated and on his own. He is a kindred spirit with now dead Anna and her message. He doesn’t really trust Dr. Rosen or anyone anymore. He probably loves them in his heart but doesn’t trust them. He sees that everyone has their own motives. They are going against what he believes is the purest belief of the Alphas from Dr. Rosen’s original message. So it is just a lot more isolated but also a bit more confident as well. He seems to have come in his own this past season.
MG: The finale left us all in shock with Gary being the last man standing, any insight into what happened?
RC: I don’t know. They always end them on these cliffhangers and I don’t know what they are planning…if and when we come back. I was just glad to be the only one standing [laughs]. You can’t kill the autistic kid. You just can’t.
MG: Have there been any talks at all if a third season is in the cards?
RC: It is down to the viewing figures, which I think we’re pretty solid throughout. It was difficult going up again Monday Night Football every week. I think we did pretty well. They are going to sit down now and go some market research and see what people think. So it is up to the money guys.
MG: Your character definitely dealt with a lot more issues like the death of Anna, your mother’s hospitalization etc; how did you prepare for this emotional aspects?
RC: I think with Gary it is more of a technical approach. He doesn’t show emotions the same as everyone else. I think the most emotional he has gotten was when Anna died. It was more tearing up from frustration. With his mum being ill, he understands it but it doesn’t affect him emotionally. He is just dealing with the circumstances. Just the technicalities of what that means and he can’t help but kind of think about himself and stay in the first person with it. It is hard for him to see others point-of-view. I think it just harbors back to the research I have done and just filtering it through that.
MG: You mentioned last time we spoke about the research you did for the role, did you find you had to do anymore research for this season?
RC: I really did enough to begin with. I felt that the character was then about to speak for himself. I think he successfully did that the first season and now has come into his own. I just went with what I had already created and all of the writers and producers were on the same page. It was just keeping that character’s continuity in these situations.
MG: Do you have a favorite experience or episode from season two?
RC: There was one were we all went out to the forest called “Alphaville”. That was pretty fun. It was a nice change from being at the studio. It was like a big camping trip for the cast. That is the one that I remember the most but it was also the biggest change for us not being in the studio.
MG: We recently spoke Summer Glau and we need to get a campaign going to get her as series regular.
RC: Yeah! She was in this season for a fair amount of episodes. It is up to the producers and where they want to take it. I think it is that line between what people what and what they want and then what they want. It will come down to creativity rubbing up against monetary things.
MG: Tell us about your guest starring role on “The Big Bang Theory” this November?
RC: What it was is that the creators Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady really like “Alphas”. They are big fans of the show. I wasn’t sure if I would like it but it was great. I am not sure if they are going to call me back and continue the storyline. To be honest though, I don’t do much in it. They got me in for the role of Cole and I am suppose to play this British intimidating person that Johnny Galecki’s character Leonard is jealous that he is going to steals Penny’s intentions. I haven’t done live studio since I was back in England, which I did a fair bit there. “Alphas” is hard work but this was fun and easy. It was also right around the corner from me, so I just hoped on the bus.
MG: Hopefully you can come back. We need to get a twitter campaign going for that as well.
RC: I would love to. I only got to do a little bit but I really wanted to do more. Once you experience the audience clapping live, you get just want to do it again. Yes, those Twitter campaigns always succeed [laughs].
MG: Last time we spoke you said you are fans of video games, what are you currently playing?
RC: I just got “Dishonored”, which is amazing. “Assassins Creed III” is about to come out. As well as “Halo 4”, so boys and I are going to go crazy for that. Zack Pen, the creator of “Alphas”, is taking us down to Microsoft for a big gaming party there. It will probably just be us getting our asses handed to us by the Microsoft employees.
