By Jamie Ruby

Tonight, NBC will air the third episode of it's new series, Awake. The series follows Detective Michael Britten, played by Jason Isaacs, who was recently in a car crash where someone he loved was killed. The thing is, Britten doesn't know whether his wife, Hannah, played by Laura Allen, or his son, Rex, played by Dylan Minnette, is the one who survived. In one reality, Britten mourns the loss of his son with Hannah. Then, when he goes to sleep, he awakens in a reality where his son is alive and his wife is gone.

In tonight's episode, entitled "Guilty," Rex is kidnapped in one reality, while Hannah wants Michael to attend a speech she is giving in their son's honor, in the other.

Allen and Minnette recently talked to the digital media about the new series.

NBC Conference Call
Awake
Laura Allen and Dylan Minnette

March 13, 2012
1:00 pm CT


SCIFI VISION: Can you both just kind of talk about how you started working on the show like if you auditioned or you were asked to do it? Just kind of how that all happened?

LAURA ALLEN: Dylan, you want to go ahead?

DYLAN MINNETTE: Laura?

LAURA ALLEN: You know what? It was actually about a year ago almost exactly that I first read the script and was really taken by the premise now that the public has seen the first episode as well. So all we had was the pilot episode and I knew Kyle from Lonestar - just his name and his blog. If you ever read it, it's hilarious and then Howard Gordon from 24. So I was excited to go in and in the audition process Jason was very involved and so we all met about a year ago.

DYLAN MINNETTE: Yes it was the same thing for me. At the time I was auditioning, you know, for pilots and I got the breakdown for that on this - for Awake and as soon as I read the synopsis for the pilot I thought to myself if this show doesn't get picked up I don't what will because it sounded so cool.

I read the script and I thought it was teally, really cool and then when I went to the audition just like Laura said, Jason was there and so was Kyle and everyone was in there. And it actually was a pretty quick process to get to the end result, but we all met about a year ago and exactly of course that I had the same experience pretty much.

QUESTION: Can you both talk a bit about how your character and relationship with Britten evolve as his realities change?

LAURA ALLEN: That's a great question. I think if I could speak for Hannah, he and I are really not adapting to the situation obviously at the same rate. And the question that I'm constantly asking in portraying Hannah is he on board with me, are we grieving together, are we moving forward together, can we connect over this loss of Rex.

And in the grieving process there's so many times things that Hannah learns about herself, learns about Rex when he was alive that almost keeps him alive for her. So in that sense, I think she and Michael because Michael experiences him very much alive can connect over that. But she evolves in a different way because she's sort of bittersweet and has the memory of Rex where he's very actively involved in Rex's life. So we're becoming very more divergent and still yet trying to move forward together so it's very interesting.

DYLAN MINNETTE: Right. I think for Rex it's a little different because he's in a different situation than Hannah where Michael is his dad and he's always telling him, you know, what to do and he's adamant about things. So I don't think he really thinks about his dad missing his mom as much as he does. But Rex really keeps it to himself because he doesn't want his dad to see what he really feels about it. And he opens up to him sometimes, but it's really hard for him to do that because he was really close with his mom.

But Rex kind of evolves with Michael. You'll see because Michael's doing his best to feel close to Rex, and you'll see things throughout the season where Rex gets closer to him or just farther away. And it's a cool little ride that you can follow with each character and the entire cast. I think it's really cool.

QUESTION: What kind of reaction have you gotten from people that come up to both of you about the show and on Twitter?

LAURA ALLEN: I had a friend at lunch yesterday who was like okay now that we're alone can you tell me are you alive or are you dead. Of course, I don't know. And if I did know - no I'm glad not to know. Are you Dylan?

DYLAN MINNETTE: Yes I'm glad not to know.

LAURA ALLEN: I'm glad not to know.

DYLAN MINNETTE: I'm just as much of a fan as everybody is of watching it. I like when I - I'm excited to get a new script and if I knew the end result of the entire show I'd think...

LAURA ALLEN: Right.

DYLAN MINNETTE: ...I'd just be disappointed. It wouldn't be a special.

LAURA ALLEN: I agree.

DYLAN MINNETTE: Yes. But I - nobody's ever stopped me on the street yet or anything and I think the funny thing that I see on Twitter is those people that just kind of at first don't understand what they're watching like they just tuned in for a few minutes or something. They'll be like wait, wait, wait. So I'm confused. Which one is supposed to be dead and alive. And I just never answer. I just say, "I can't."

LAURA ALLEN: And yet I feel like it's the kind of show that you can catch an episode and you don't need to have seen the pilot, you don't need to have seen the second one. You can skip to four or eight and it's a self-contained story in itself. I mean once you get past the premise which is very understandable. I think now that people are actually watching it on television they do get it. They get that, you know, he goes to sleep and he wakes up to somebody else and...

DYLAN MINNETTE: Yes.

LAURA ALLEN: ...so each episode has its own crime solving and the therapy I think is really narrative in helping describe what he's going through. And then he's got us on both sides too. So yes people can catch on even now.

DYLAN MINNETTE: Yes.

QUESTION: Last week's episode gave us some insight regarding the accident and who was behind it. Can you both talk about the accident and what it was like filming that brutal scene?

LAURA ALLEN: Go ahead Dylan.

DYLAN MINNETTE: Filming the car accident scene itself was fun. I mean we don't - Laura and I know just as much about behind the accident as everyone does as though watching. But filming the car accident scene itself was a lot of fun because we actually got to do it. It was like a really cool thing we got to when the car spun upside down and it was a lot of fun. It was really fast and exhilarating. Laura, you have any other thoughts on that or...

LAURA ALLEN: Yes. It's called a gimbal and a lot of...

DYLAN MINNETTE: Yes.

LAURA ALLEN: ...actors are familiar with it. But it's a rotating device so you're in the body of a car and it spins on itself over and over and over again, and there's debris flying, and your hair is flying, and you're screaming and...

DYLAN MINNETTE: Yes.

LAURA ALLEN: ...you know, there's not a lot of acting because it really is kind of off putting at first but...

DYLAN MINNETTE: Yes.

LAURA ALLEN: ...nobody got sick. I think there was some bits of plastic glass flying and stuff, but otherwise. Yes?

DYLAN MINNETTE: I think we all had fun. I remember I was watching the first time like you and Jason did it and Jason was just like (whoo) let's do it again, you know.

LAURA ALLEN: Kind of like a ride. Yes if it weren't' for the blood, I would have brought my son to work that day. I think he would...

DYLAN MINNETTE: Yes, yes.

LAURA ALLEN: ...have liked that.

QUESTION: Last week I thought it was really fascinating that we actually got to see your perspectives outside of Michael's - having your own moments. And just a little odd in terms of the format of the show. Do we see more of that as the season goes along? How have the producers told you that kind of works with the constraints of him being in both universes?

LAURA ALLEN: Right. I know when I first read those scenes - any scene without Michael Britten, I thought does this validate the red world. Does this mean that it really is existing outside of his dreaming and all that. But I think what Kyle our writer, creator, producer is saying is that it's what he calls disappearing narrative theory which I think he can talk far more than I can about. But that we're all part of - Michael's only dreaming - how do I say this. We dream more than we can remember about dreaming and know that there are pieces, you know, that we only remember the parts that we're involved in or he's only remembering parts that he's involved. But that we do exist in part of a larger world if that makes sense. Dylan?

DYLAN MINNETTE: Right and I felt the same way. Like after we did the pilot and before we got the next script that actually got picked up and everything, I thought to myself well every single one of my scenes is going to be with Jason. So there's no other way that they can do that. And then I got the next script I just says like I was proven wrong. I don't know what's going on here. But actually we found out about the theory and I've learned more. And like you asked yes, you will see some more of that this season and I guess it's Kyle Killeen. He's brilliant so there's always a reason behind something, you know. So that's what I (think).

SCIFI VISION: Laura, I think it was in the pilot, Hannah told Michael, at one point, she said something like to tell Rex that she loves him.

LAURA ALLEN: Yes.

SCIFI VISION: But through most of the show she's kind of against this and doesn't want to hear it, because obviously it hurts her. Is there going to be anymore mention of that or is Michael just kind of going to keep it from her so he doesn't upset her?

LAURA ALLEN: I think it's a really sensitive topic between the two of them and, you know, earlier on also in the pilot we talked about his dreaming and it's really upsetting because he's got these dreams going that I feel are really preventing him from coping with the loss of Rex. And so, you know, I'm glad he's in therapy. He's back at work. Really I just want him to be with me, you know, to choose me. To be in my world and not [his dreams] but just be with...be actively grieving with me, and yet he kind of is in this delusion, as I see it, of living with Rex or knowing new information about Rex. So it causes such a rift in our relationship that I think he no longer opens up to me about it. And that brief moment where I say, "Tell him I love him," I think Hannah is really willing to momentarily feel like all right if you do experience him in your dreams let him know what I can't tell him, you know.

But we kind of avoid it from this point forward. I mean I feel like the other shoe will drop again, but from this point forward, you know, he tries to keep - just like he's doing at work. I mean he wants to appear to be a sane person.

DYLAN MINNETTE: And Rex has no idea about the dreams.

LAURA ALLEN: Right.

SCIFI VISION: Well that's interesting. I hadn't thought about that.

DYLAN MINNETTE: Yes Rex - I think Rex is so - I think Michael feels a little comfortable with Hannah, a little closer to her and I think that Rex he's having - they're not having issues, but they're just having some troubles of communicating with each other after the loss that they - after losing Hannah, I think that him telling Rex about the dreams would be the wrong thing to do. So that will probably get brought up in the future too, but Rex just - he doesn't know and I think Michael - he thinks that that's not the right thing to tell Rex just yet.

QUESTION: I was wondering just about the extra challenge for you both as actors, feeling like you're supposed to feel something that you see being contradicted in another reality, and do you only read the script for your own story on set?

DYLAN MINNETTE: Well the scenes in a script are labeled with a G or an R for green or red so you know where you are at all times. But I should have something that like, you know, there's an awesome really like what's the word - what's the word thinking - I can't think of it, but what a great serious actor would do, you know, just read their (world). But I'm such a big fan of the show and the story that I wait by the door for the next script to get there so there's no way I'm not going to read the whole thing. That's just for me but no, I read the whole thing.

LAURA ALLEN: When you say contradictory, you mean feel things that are contradiction, in other words grieving for Rex when Rex is actually alive in his world?

QUESTION: Yes.

LAURA ALLEN: You know, it's true I do kind of deny that reality in my own acting. I mean I feel like I have to completely believe in what Hannah believes in and so I don't take into account that he's in school, and taking tennis lessons, and the whole bit. I really just play it like he was upside down in that car and he's dead, you know, and Michael and I have to move forward from here.

QUESTION: I was wondering if you had the opportunity to work on any scenes and if in the future we're going to see other flashback or maybe [both of you] together?

LAURA ALLEN: Yes.

DYLAN MINNETTE: What do we say Laura?

LAURA ALLEN: I know. Well it was always throughout the shooting of these first episodes like are they going to do it, are they going to do it because you're getting older and we can't really flashback if you're...

DYLAN MINNETTE: I know.

LAURA ALLEN: ...looking like you're...

DYLAN MINNETTE: If they flashback to the accident, they better do it in season 1...

LAURA ALLEN: Yes.

DYLAN MINNETTE: ...or else I'm going to be like 20 by the time the story go back or something, you know.

LAURA ALLEN: But I think we were pleasantly surprised by the end of the season that we do get to work together a little bit.

DYLAN MINNETTE: Yes.

LAURA ALLEN: That's all I can say.

QUESTION: Laura I loved you in Terriers.

LAURA ALLEN: Oh thank you.

QUESTION: So how would compare Hannah to Katie? You're welcome.

LAURA ALLEN: Well it's a really different show, isn't it?

QUESTION: Yes.

LAURA ALLEN: I mean Katie was a bit trying to get her boyfriend to grow up, and get married, and move forward. And actually maybe that's what they have in common is like just wanting to get on board with this relationship and be together, you know.

But Terriers, there's a lightness and a humor to it and Awake I think has so much resonance and, you know, I'm a mother of a teenager and I suddenly had to grow up a little bit in a year. But I'm loving the dual reality of Awake and working with Jason and we've got such an amazing cast on the show. It's also my first foray really into network television so it's exciting to be on NBC and, you know, reach a wider audience.

QUESTION: The first two episodes have been intense so what can you both tell us about the upcoming episodes?

DYLAN MINNETTE: They're just as intense.

LAURA ALLEN: This is Dylan's episode. I'm real excited for it.

DYLAN MINNETTE: (Oh), for the next one?

LAURA ALLEN: Yes, "Guilty."

DYLAN MINNETTE: Yes, I've gotten a chance - did you see it, Laura? Have you seen it?

LAURA ALLEN: I have not. I have not seen it yet.

DYLAN MINNETTE: It's actually really intense. It's very exciting. The next episode "Guilty" where I guess I can sort of say now, because they've shown it in the previews, you know, there's clips online and stuff where a - an escaped convict from Michael's past kind of is trying to get back at Michael to prove to him that he's innocent, and he finds Rex and takes him, and Michael is on this race to find him in one reality. And then he finds - goes to the other reality to try find clues, and it's just really cool, exhilarating episode, the third one.

And I think that people continue to be like, "Wow, this show is not losing momentum yet." Or it won't. It won't. But yet it was just - I have no idea why I said that. But this show - you know, you know how skeptical viewers are, you know, they watch and that's the way they think. That's why I said that.

LAURA ALLEN: Yes. Yes, it really is an action-packed episode, I think, and (unintelligible) full, and we already, I think, are sympathetic to Michael's schizophrenia, but this is - he could possibly be losing his son twice now. And I think that any sense of guilt he has over the accident is just compounded by, you know, perhaps losing him again, devastating.

And Hannah in the meantime is dealing with - she has to speak in front of a group at the memorial for Rex, and so she has to give a speech, and I think that that's a bit uncomfortable for her, because really her momentum, it has kicked in and she's repainting the house and wanting to move forward and move on. And she slows down in this episode to take a moment to remember Rex. And she doesn't usually take that time, and I think it - a lot catches her by surprise.

DYLAN MINNETTE: And I have to say, Laura, that theme with your speech turned out great.

LAURA ALLEN: Oh, thank you. It was like giving a - it really was like giving a speech in front of a bunch of people, because I was.

DYLAN MINNETTE: Wow.

QUESTION: In the pilot we kind of see you almost asking whether or not it's time to move on and maybe try for another child...Is that something that we're going to continue to explore?

LAURA ALLEN: The desire for a child, I think, is something Hannah has not let go of, and yet, Michael says, you know, "Let's hold off for a minute. We - you know, let's make sure that we are dealing with all of our issues first."

And so the pursuit of law school in Oregon and moving forward is really Hannah's focus from - at this point, but losing a child I think - and she's somewhat young enough still to, you know, really do it now, you know, and trying to get him, you know, I think - I don't know. Losing a child it just biologically probably kicks in to want to not replace it, but, you know, continue on with your mothering instinct. So it's very much alive in her, I'd say.

QUESTION: Dylan, we saw this little acknowledgment that Laura's character made that her husband still sees you in his dreams, but are we going to see that in reverse where he kind of he acknowledges that his mother's on the other side of his dad's dreams.

DYLAN MINNETTE: I'll have to say no. I think that Michael - it's - he just - like I said earlier, I think that Michael just thinks that that's not the right thing to tell Rex, especially when Rex is kind of standoffish of him, because Rex was really close with his mom, and he's actually deeply affected by the loss, whether he shows it or not. He just doesn't show it to his dad.

Really he shows it to his tennis coach in Terra, but he - Michael knows that they're having struggles with really feeling close to one another, so I think that - that's just - Michael just feels like that's not the right thing to tell Rex if he wants to become closer to him, because that would just push Rex away even more.

Rex thinks his dad is crazy, and the fact that Michael - because Rex opens up to Michael sometimes and Michael knows that he's really grieving deep down over losing his mom, that that would just probably mess up things more. But he doesn't know. I think it's a risk that he could take in the future, but just not any time in the beginning, no.

LAURA ALLEN: ...It's a fascinating premise though, isn't it? Because even though - I mean it - if you think about just anybody who might actually be grieving the loss of a wife or a mother, and you experience your son and he's growing up and you ask yourself, "Oh, man, what would his mother say if she knew," you know?

And he has the benefit that he gets to go to sleep and wake up and kind of indirectly ask her or, you know, and find out about the fabric softener. And then borrow from that world and go back to Rex and then wake up and make it right. You know, so it's kind of ideal in that way.

DYLAN MINNETTE: Right. So there's like certain things in there that he uses from you where you're still kind of taking care of me a little bit, because he's just getting tips from you.

LAURA ALLEN: Yes, exactly.

DYLAN MINNETTE: I know.

LAURA ALLEN: And he tries to be that bridge. He tries to, you know, I think that's the best he can do.

DYLAN MINNETTE: Yes.

SCIFI VISION: Dylan, you've now played two different roles of a son that we're not sure if he exists or not. Can you compare your role on Awake with your role on Lost and kind of the different challenges you've faced?

DYLAN MINNETTE: Well, my role - okay, what's different for me was my role on lost, I don't - with that show, I didn't get every episode of the season because I was only in a few episodes. But on this, I know everything that's going on. I know exactly what the - that there's one world that's real, one world that's not, but in that one I - especially when I did my first episode of Lost, I hadn't watched it yet, and I didn't know what was going on. I thought - I seriously was convinced that this - that what I was doing was a flashback.

So as far as I knew, I was alive, and then once I - after I did my first episode of that, I bought the first season while I was in Hawaii filming it, and I - when I went back for the like later episode of that season, I'd already watched three seasons, and started meeting everyone and I was like dying on the inside when I met everyone.

But in the end, I didn't know that I didn't exist - once I started watching the sixth season, I knew that I did or did not exist, but in the finale, I didn't get that entire script, because it was so secretive. So when I was watching it on TV, I was like, "Oh, I'm not real. Wow." And then I didn't know till I watched it, and then - but whereas with Awake, I know that there's a possibility of me being dead or alive. I mean obviously to have to play it like you're alive. And you have to play it like you have no idea, but that was the difference. With that I had idea, but with this I knew that there was something fishy going on. So they're a little different ways you can think about it while you're acting.

LAURA ALLEN: What's it going to be like for you or for me to find out that all this time, we've been dead, and then - or for Cherry or for BD? I mean how do they justify -

DYLAN MINNETTE: It's going to be so cool.

LAURA ALLEN: It's going to be bizarre, isn't it?

DYLAN MINNETTE: I like it - really cool. I've been through it once like with Lost, when I found out I was just like dead. I was just - I was like that's actually really cool. You know. So whenever we find out the result, I don't know, I think I'll just be like, "Wow, that's so awesome."

LAURA ALLEN: Well, it speaks to Michael Britten's vivid imagination, doesn't it, that he could keep this going...

DYLAN MINNETTE: I know.

LAURA ALLEN: ...for maybe a six-year season- six seasons.

DYLAN MINNETTE: I know. It'll be cool.

SCIFI VISION: We hope so.

SCIFI VISION: Yes, we hope.

QUESTION: What do you guys take away as far as both of you carrying some of the emotional part of the show? So much of it is the two cases that he works on, but your two characters are really kind of the emotional pulse?

LAURA ALLEN: Mm hmm. Oh, it's my favorite. It's my - I feel so privileged to get to tell this story. I mean I feel like it's the kind of - that's the kind of television I like to watch, I mean, is the emotional part. So to - it's a big responsibility and yet, it - I feel connected to mothers and people who've suffered any kind of loss in this role. And so it's an honor, I feel. Although there are days I wish I could be the police precinct just shuffling paperwork.

DYLAN MINNETTE: Yes.

LAURA ALLEN: But you don't.

DYLAN MINNETTE: I - and I've, you know what's funny? I literally have the exact same answer, so if I were to answer, I'd just be wasting time...

LAURA ALLEN: Yes.

DYLAN MINNETTE: ...and end up saying the same thing as you. So I'd say the same thing.

LAURA ALLEN: You know, and what is also so interesting too about grief is that there are really light moments and beautiful like life-affirming moments in acknowledging suffering and sharing it with other people. I mean I've experienced that this season playing Hannah, and so, yes, like I said, it's just - it's an honor as an artist to get to tell that story.

DYLAN MINNETTE: Definitely, definitely. That's exactly -

QUESTION: Do we ever get to see either of your characters meeting the respected psychologists?

LAURA ALLEN: Oh.

DYLAN MINNETTE: Meet the psychologists?

LAURA ALLEN: Do you? Yes, do you meet BD or Cherry? No, obviously.

DYLAN MINNETTE: I don't like - I don't want to give it away by saying yes or no, but...

LAURA ALLEN: We might have to pass on that question.

DYLAN MINNETTE: I don't know. I guess I'll just have to pass.

SCIFI VISION: Out of something that hasn't happened yet on the show, is there anything that the both of you would really like to see your character experience on the show, like if you could write it?

DYLAN MINNETTE: I'd like to see what - how Rex would react to finding out about the dreams. That - that's just for me, that's what I can think of off the top of my head. I don't know about Laura, but...

LAURA ALLEN: I look forward to - because I hope that there's a day that we have - that he has full disclosure with me about his dreams, like full, you know, and so I - but I like that they kind of tease us with it, you know, and don't. We've got a ways still to go with this story.

DYLAN MINNETTE: Yes. For now - I mean throughout the long run, I'm going to end up coming up with - as other things are brought up, I'll think of a lot more things of, "Man, I'd like to see this happen." And I do have a lot of those, but the - most of the things that I could say are things that would give stuff away, because I - when I spark up things that I'd like to see happen, it's after other twists are brought up.

So right now all I can really say is what I'd like to see is for Rex to find out about the dreams.

LAURA ALLEN: Yes.

DYLAN MINNETTE: That's all I can say.

LAURA ALLEN: I will say I hope there's more tennis. I took all these tennis lessons. Did you, Dylan? Did you take tennis lessons?

DYLAN MINNETTE: I took like eight tennis lessons before the pilot.

LAURA ALLEN: Okay. I've taken a bunch.

DYLAN MINNETTE: Yes.

LAURA ALLEN: Come on guys.

SCIFI VISION: Then hopefully we will see it at some point.

LAURA ALLEN: Yes.

DYLAN MINNETTE: Yes.

SCIFI VISION: Are there any specific guest stars you'd like to see on the show?

LAURA ALLEN: Oh, I can't wait. I hope we get a bunch of...

DYLAN MINNETTE: I mean, Laura Innes is really cool. She's great and she also directed an episode and she was awesome to direct an episode with her, have her direct one of the episodes I was in.

LAURA ALLEN: Yes towards the end.

DYLAN MINNETTE: But there was - I think Laura that's really cool that she was on the show especially when I found out about it. That was really, really cool.

QUESTION: As fans of the show, since you are both kind of watching it as it airs, what're your takes on the individual psychologists and their different methods in terms of as it respects to your characters and how Michael will be able to get through this?

DYLAN MINNETTE: I feel like with Dr. Lee in Hannah's world he is very adamant and he knows that Hannah's alive and that there's no chance of living in another world and Rex being alive. And Dr. Evans who's in the reality that I'm alive in I think that she also feels the same way. Like deep down she knows -- no deep down -- she obviously knows that reality is real and that Hannah's not alive but she's more open to the idea of what Michael is experiencing. So that's the two different things about them that how adamant Dr. Lee is and how Dr. Evans is just more open to the idea. That's my take on them.

LAURA ALLEN: I feel like even though their approaches are so different they are equally convincing and I love seeing brief moments where they affect him and they persuade him and he goes into his world a bit more panicky at thinking he really has lost Rex or he really has lost Hannah. And so whether it's Dr. Lee being logical and forceful or if it's Dr. Evans who's being nurturing and encouraging, I think they're both threatening too.

DYLAN MINNETTE: Yes and I think honestly one of my favorite themes in the pilot was when Dr. Lee made a good point about why reality is real and Dr. Evans had him read a page from the Constitution, why would you do that? He's so scared to go to bed and wake up thinking up you're going to be gone. And then he wakes up without the rubber band and he freaks out. That was one of - every time I watch that I just like get the chills because I think that's so cool how much a little thing one of them says will affect him.

LAURA ALLEN: Yes and Dr. Lee - in the original script Dr. Lee had a retort to that also. He said, "Look there is so much that your mind can contain that you don't even realize that you might have the whole Constitution memorized but you don't know it, it's all in your subconscious. So how do you know that you don't have it word for word verbatim?" I love that.

DYLAN MINNETTE: Right if they can just throw things back at each other that makes one seem real the other - it's just like this giant game that they play.

QUESTION: Between the two of you just as pure actors and friends on the set, are either of you kind of rooting for one or the other as far as being the one that's alive?

DYLAN MINNETTE: I'm not. I just kind of go - because I think the purpose of the show it's not for Michael to find out who's alive, who's dead, it's Michael like struggling and trying his best to keep both of them alive because he is so scared to lose one that I think throughout the show the viewers and as the actors ourselves are just going along for the ride with Michael and that's the purpose of the show is to go along for the ride and hope that both are alive. And I think I'm not...

I like the two alternate realities and I know that in the end we'll have the end result and I know we'll get there and I'm just going to kind of - I just kind of like not knowing, it's going along and I'm not rooting for one or the other really. I don't know about you Laura but I'm not.

LAURA ALLEN: Yes no, I think it's like the anti rooting, you know, it's like we are on Michael's journey and if anything we're rooting against the therapists who are disproving one reality over the other. I mean, I think he's just trying to keep it together and be good at his job and have a fulfilling meaningful relationship with both his wife and his son.

DYLAN MINNETTE: Thank you so much.

Laura?

LAURA ALLEN: Yes.

DYLAN MINNETTE: I just realized there are so many things coming that nobody expects.

LAURA ALLEN: I know. There's stuff that I'm almost saying and I'm kind of like oops, don't talk about that.

DYLAN MINNETTE: Yes I know.

SCIFI VISION: Can you just talk a bit about acting alongside Jason Isaacs on the show?

DYLAN MINNETTE: Jason is he's amazing. He's an incredible actor and especially as a young guy, right, I'm a male, just learning from such a great older male actor like that every day is really amazing and Jason can give me some great tips and I learned so much from him.

And also he's just a really fun and funny guy. And no matter where he is he always has his iPod dock with him and he's always wearing his iPod and every day at work he can get the whole crew to just sing along to some 80s tunes and he just keeps the whole - there's like stressful days where people are scrambling to get things done, Jason always knows how to set the mood right. He's just really fun to have around.

LAURA ALLEN: He is and he's tireless. I mean, he goes from I don't know 5 am to at least 11 o'clock at night and he's rewriting with us along the way. I mean, he never gets stuck in, he never phones it in ever and he's got the full range. I mean, with me he has to do some really sensitive and with you I'm sure too and he's father and so there's a lot that I think he just taps into naturally. But then he's got all this stunt work that I never get to see but I'm sure he's like crashing over walls and driving the car, and then he gets to sit in the therapist's office and use existential conversations.

No, I delight in him and I too am learning a lot just watching him and his humor is so wonderful for all of us on set and the crew adores him too.

DYLAN MINNETTE: Yes. There's nothing wrong with - like there's something about Jason, it's just like he's the full package when it comes to acting and just working with him. It's great, it's really great.

LAURA ALLEN: And he's a friend, he's a good friend to all of us.

DYLAN MINNETTE: Yes.

SCIFI VISION: You two mentioned that there's a lot coming up you can't talk about it. Is there anything that you're waiting for the fans to see, that you can talk about without giving away specifically what it is, but just kind of in a general manner?

LAURA ALLEN: Yes.

DYLAN MINNETTE: You'll word it better than I do without - I'll give something away.

LAURA ALLEN: I'm excited for the penguin episode because...Yes you too?

DYLAN MINNETTE: Yes.

LAURA ALLEN: It's an episode called "That's not my Penguin." I can't remember is it next week or two weeks from now?

DYLAN MINNETTE: I think it will be episode six now.

LAURA ALLEN: Episode six yes. Because it introduces a whole new color to his dreaming. I don't mean literally red or green, I just mean there's a new dimension to what this man can dream about.

SCIFI VISION: Okay now you've got me really intrigued.

DYLAN MINNETTE: Yes that episode is one I'm really particularly excited for. There's multiple episodes that I'm really particularly excited for everybody to see but that's the first one that I'm like, "Oh my God, I just want people to see this one now." But that one's really cool.

And then towards the end of the season there's just things that get brought up left and right that just I can't wait for everyone to see. I wish they could do a marathon where they just aired it all now.

LAURA ALLEN: I know.

QUESTION: Good. So I've been listening to your whole interview and just trying to figure out what to ask that I could share with our demographic of South Pacific Islanders and Islanders. And what are three - I guess what it do features, and it's an urban term for hot or not, what are three what it do features that you can both think of why we need to tune in right away to Awake?

LAURA ALLEN: Do you understand the question? I don't really understand the question.

QUESTION: What are three points of why we should tune into Awake with the competitiveness of all the different shows going on?

LAURA ALLEN: Okay. I got two; let me think of a third. It will come to me. First of all I think it's a stellar cast, led by Jason Isaacs but the ensemble is phenomenal. I mean, to have Cherry Jones and BD Wong and Steve Harris and Wilmer and Dylan in this cast, it's a dream for someone like me. There are elements that are really going to satisfy most any audience. I mean there's a family drama at the core but then there's a police procedural that's self-contained in each episode. I mean he's solving two cases not just one.

And the writing. I mean I think as we go further into the season it just gets more and more daring. I mean that's all I can tease. But with such an unusual premise it doesn't stop there.

DYLAN MINNETTE: Right. I also think that one point is that it sounds - it is a family drama at the core about the loss of a family member but it also is you can tune in and it's like Laura said it's a police procedural and then it's also an action show. It really gets really action-packed at times. You're just like, "Oh my God." You can always tune in and be excited or intrigued. You're never going to be missing something or there's always something intriguing going on, something emotional going on, something happy going on or something action-packed going on. You're never going to be bored I feel like. I feel like it's just a show where you're never, ever bored. That's what I think.