If you haven't seen Quantico yet, now is the time! It returned for its third season on Thursday, April 26th and I got an exclusive look at the show thanks to Showrunner and Executive Producer Michael Seitzman and Academy Award Winner Marlee Matlin. If you want a little inside scoop about Quantico Season 3, be sure to check out the 7 fun facts below!
If you're looking for a new drama or thriller to watch, Quantico will fit the bill perfectly. This ABC Television Network series (which airs on Thursdays from 10 to 11 PM EST and is available for streaming and On-Demand) is back for its third season and if the premiere episode is any indication, it looks like it's only getting better.
Quantico Season 3
Priyanka Chopra stars as Alex Parrish, a bright FBI recruit who joins the agency after graduating from the FBI Academy and becomes a prime suspect of a terrorist attack on Grand Central Terminal while training at the Quantico base in Virginia. Quantico has been praised for its diverse cast and has received positive praise from critics over the past two seasons. The series has been nominated for four People's Choice Awards, with Chopra winning two: Favorite Actress in a New TV Series in 2016 and Favorite Dramatic TV Actress in 2017.
In addition to Chopra, the Quantico cast consists of Jake McLaughlin as Ryan Booth, Johanna Braddy as Shelby Wyatt, Russell Tovey as Harry Doyle, Alan Powell as Mike McQuigg, with Marlee Matlin as Jocelyn Turner and Blair Underwood as Owen Hall.
Quantico Cast. Photo credit: ABC
Back for its third season, the premise of the show is that It’s been three years since American hero Alex Parrish has had to navigate the dangerous waters of the Central Intelligence Agency and put her life on the line for her country. She has been living a peaceful, anonymous life somewhere in Italy. However, Alex is forced to abandon this idyllic existence when duty called.
Tonight's episode is titled “Fear and Flesh.” In tracking down the origin of a deadly strain of tuberculosis threatening Americans, Agent Ryan Booth must go undercover and infiltrate a white supremacist organization – an assignment that threatens the life of another member of the team, on ABC’s “Quantico,” airing Thursday, May 3rd from 10:00–11:00 p.m. EDT, on The ABC Television Network, streaming and on demand.
I got to sit down with Showrunner and Executive Producer Michael Seitzman and Academy Award Winner Marlee Matlin to talk about Quantico and what we could expect this season.
Here are 5 fun facts about Quantico Season 3:
1.) You don't have to have seen seasons 1 and 2 to tune in and enjoy season 3 of Quantico.
This season (which consists of 13 episodes) is a reboot. The show picks up 3 years after season 2, but the writers have designed the season so that you can easily pick up the story even if you have seen the first two seasons.
Seitzman told us, "You want to invite new audiences into the show as well as serve the loyal audience. So, we are giving the new audience and the loyal audience an unknown backstory that they can both share, as opposed to the new audience not being able to share the two years prior. Now, they can share the three years in between."
He mentioned that at the end of season 2, Ryan and Alex flew off into the sunset together. He thought, "Well, what's left? They did it." So they needed to figure out what was next for season 3. He added, "So, are they gonna have marital disputes for the next season? Is that what's going to happen? Is that the show right now? Or, did something go wrong? And maybe if something went wrong, and I could buy that by giving us three years. I could buy a lot by giving us three years." I have to say, it seems like a brilliant plan and I was totally drawn into the show despite not having seen seasons 1 or 2. I never felt lost or in the dark. I think I'm hooked.
2.) Instead of figuring out how to please the audience, the Quantico writers spend their time figuring out how to frustrate the audience.
Seitzman said, "I think people that watch television or movie don't realize that the primary job of the writer and the filmmaker is to frustrate the audience, not to give the audience what they want. To put it another way, the audience always wants their favorite couple to get together. And we sit in a room. The bulk of our time is spent trying to figure out ways to keep them apart. That's the biggest job is how do you keep them apart?"
3.) Quantico writers and producers want the audience to feel like they're participants in the show, not mere witnesses to what's happening on the screen.
One thing that you probably won't notice (until I tell you) while you're watching Quantico is that you're actively participating in solving each mystery. This show is written so well that instead of just telling the audience the facts, the writers cleverly let the viewer help to discover and unravel the plot.
When you watch the first episode of season 3 (301) you'll see what I mean. No spoilers here, but part of the storyline is figuring out where one of their friends is located They go through video footage and you'll find yourself looking for clues and along with the Quantico cast.
4.) Rob Lowe and Marcia Gay Harden indirectly played an integral role in bringing Marlee Matlin onto the Quantico cast for season 3.
We asked how Academy Award Winner Marlee Matlin came to be part of the Quantico cast and we found out that Matlin had been introduced to Seitzman at Rob Lowe's Comedy Central roast by Marica Gay Harden. At the time, Seitzman was working on Code Black and she told him she loved the show and wanted to be on it. Seitzman was also a fan of Matlin and told her he'd love for her to be a part of the show and so he wrote a part for her. They enjoyed working together on Code Black, so Seitzman asked her to join Quantico. Matlin said, "Before I knew it, I was on the set in New York City."
5.) Marlee Matlin thinks that Michael Seitzman is one of the few people in Hollywood who understands how to utilize someone like her.
I've been watching Matlin in movies and on television for years and I agree that her talent is used in a very original and new way in Quantico. She remarked, "I have to give Michael credit because he's one of the few people in Hollywood who understands how to use someone like myself; who understands not to dwell on the “dis” in disability but to look at the ability. Like Aaron Sorkin, David E. Kelley, and Ilene Chaiken, these are people like Michael who understand where I can fit into a role without having to be a person who is deaf... And this one was extremely unusual because playing FBI agent and dealing with the people in situations, dealing in crises, being a sniper, being someone who uses my eyes as a means and surveillance, where a lot of people who aren't deaf don't use as someone who does have the ability with my eyes. So, that was great."
Seitzman added, "What was really wonderful about it for us in the writer’s room was to write a role for Marlee where we at times ignored the fact that she was deaf... And then at other times, we utilized her deafness to help us tell the story and to create a problem in the story and a solution in the story."
6.) There was a learning curve when it came to working with Marlee Matlin, but the Quantico cast caught on quickly.
Not just for the cast, but also the writers. Seitzman told us that they had Marlee come into the writers' room at the very beginning. She spent a lot of time teaching them about her and he said that everything that they do all stems from that.
Matlin said, "I felt that the writers needed to see me in person and to get a feel for who I am... just to be able to pick up the different situations that I might find myself in and the situations that I've been in in my life or what I envisioned could happen as a result of the character that I'm playing. And the writers are all brilliant."
Seitzman added, "It was a great session for us because we had to learn, and we also had a deaf writer in the room, which helped us. The session with Marlee was the most illuminating for us because we got to ask the questions head-on and ask how it feels to be in this situation, how it feels to be in that situation... and then we text constantly as she's shooting and when she gets scripts. We're constantly texting with each other so that we can make adjustments to make it work."
For example, Seitzman told us that somebody who's not deaf wouldn’t know that everybody has to look at Marlee when they're talking to her so that she can read their lips. It wouldn’t occur to them. On the first day of shooting, the cast didn't realize it either.
Matlin said, "It was interesting to watch the process of having them realize they had to learn a whole new way of looking at a situation with the deaf factor in it. And they picked it up like that [as she snapped her fingers]... they got it right away. And they had my back. For example, Priyanka, the first day, we were shooting one and some character looked away. And Priyanka said, 'Guys, you need to look at Marlee.' And she was always throwing it to every director to every scene we were shooting in every episode, make sure that you're aware that Marlee’s in this scene."
7.) Episode 6 will showcase Marlee Matlin's talents in a way that's never been done before.
I'm not going to spoil it for you, but Seitzman and Matlin told us a little bit about what's to come for season 3 and episode 6 sounds absolutely riveting. I honestly cannot wait to see it. The episode is very Jocelyn-centric (Matlin's character) and you'll find out a lot about her past and watch her really flex her acting muscles. Seitzman added, "It's a breathtaking performance."
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