grimm-wu-1The final series of David Greenwalt and Jim Kouf’s “occult detective series” Grimm starts on Valentine’s Day in the UK on W, with the last 13 episodes promising to maintain the series’ mix of police procedural and supernatural elements through to the closing frame. Shortly after production wrapped mid-January Reggie Lee, who plays Sergeant Drew Wu, chatted with Paul Simpson…

 

How close are you to finishing completely?

I’m doing ADR [Additional Dialogue Recording] on Monday [January 26] for episodes 10 and 11.

It’s going by quickly. I feel like we just started the sixth season and now we’re finished and done for the entire series. It’s been quite a emotional ride this past year.

Did you get a chance to ask the producers for anything particular to happen during this last year?

Jim Kouf and David Greenwalt have been around for many years, and they know what they want. My character has been through so much – not that every character has not been through so much – and because I’ve [already] experienced finding out [about the Wesen], suddenly becoming this creature, getting a virus and going through all that stuff, Season 6 was the icing on the cake for me – it was like the gravy on top.

So I was like, “Whatever you want to do with me, go for it”. I have been so fulfilled with everything that they’ve done with my character.

The one thing that I did want, and the one thing that people were pining for, was a love story – a “Wu-mance” if you will. I too wanted a “Wu-mance” and I think you’ll get a little bit of that in season 6 – just a little, just a hint.

grimm-wu-2Can you drop some other hints about what we can expect from this year?

We start off exactly where we left off in season 5, but I think the most important thing in this sixth season is the divisiveness that is created between the Captain and the rest of us. With him putting almost all of us in danger at different points through the entire season, it really is like having kids going out to play: suddenly they never come back and you’re worried all the time. Everyone is worried about everybody else all the time because something is happening all the time.

However, there is one episode – it’s usually our holiday episode that they do it – which is kind of a A Midsummer Night’s Dream-ish. It’s farcical, out there, one of the funniest episodes that they’ve ever done. It is such a great departure from all the dire things that happen in season 6; it gives you a bit of levity in the middle of the season.

I think the fans are going to be so amazingly happy with the way that it all wraps up.

What’s been the biggest challenge for you in playing him for six years?

Keeping the motivation for six years is a huge thing. You do very similar things, although they’ve kept it fresh, and kept us on our toes.

It’s almost a double-edged sword, because what you love about doing a TV series for six years is that you get to sit in one character for six years, but on the other side, you have to find the motivation – so you go deeper, then you go deeper, then you go deeper. That has been the challenge for everybody: to keep the excitement, to keep the motivation, to keep it alive, to keep it fresh.

I remember doing Miss Saigon. It was the first show that I ever did, my first professional job, and I did that for a year and a half. Doing that day after day, I had to keep it fresh and new. With Sergeant Wu it’s been great in terms of, I’m not a cop so to assimilate the qualities of someone who’s been a cop for 15 to 20 years, you can’t go deep enough. With all these other things they’ve given me on top of it, it’s remained very fresh.

grimm-wu-3With a live show, you’ve got the constant feedback from the audience. Have you had the equivalent from the fans?

What comes to mind for me is we have such a supportive and knowledgeable crew in Portland, such an appreciative crew, that it is always like doing it for an audience there. There are 200 people around you. They’re so knowledgeable and appreciate good work that they help us keep focus on that.

With the exception of David and Bitsie who are a little younger than the rest of us, we’ve all been through the gamut as actors. We’re what you call in the UK “jobbing actors”. We’re working actors. In that sense, we enjoy the work – even after 6 years, we enjoy digging in and finding out how deep we can go. To know that these crewmembers come up to us after a take and say “that was amazing”, is great because they’re so supportive. That kind of is what has made us a family and made us love each other all the more, which has made the ending so bittersweet.

Beyond that with the fans? My goodness! When Wu was trying to find out and the others were not telling him about the Wesen world, the compassion I got on social media was overwhelming.

I had no idea the impact that you have on the fan base. When we went to Dragon Con in Atlanta, we did a panel and had so much fun because it’s fully fan based, that con. There were people weeping because it was the last season. It was nuts the amount of love we got.

I love going to a con before we start filming or while we’re filming – it’s like having an audience. It fires you to do your best work. I know you don’t want to rely on an audience. As an actor you want there to be a fourth wall, you want to be in this world, but for all intents and purposes you can’t shut that out. It’s part of life, it’s part of who you are as an actor, and it drives you.

It’s wonderful to have these amazing fans who have stayed with us; the only reason we have been here for six seasons are these fans. I knew it before but now I have viscerally experienced how loyal fans are in the sci-fi world. Completely the most loyal fan base ever.

grimm-wu-4Can you see Grimm doing a Prison Break and coming back after a few years?

They always say six seasons and a movie, don’t they! How about a movie? It’s funny – someone has just said that it’s rumoured that I’m doing the Prison Break reunion and I said, it’s a complete rumour because I’m not doing the reunion!

This show, absolutely – a two-hour event. And it’s interesting because I think as you’ll see with the way that it all wraps up, I can totally see it coming back.

They’re not going to close the doors completely.

They are very very smart in the regard that they realise that while we certainly term ourselves a procedural, unlike most procedurals, fans aren’t interested in what’s going to happen with the crime. They’re more interested in what’s going to happen with these people’s lives.

People have really caught onto each of our characters. In whatever way, shape or form they are engaged with one character or another; they find part of themselves in one character or another. The producers have completely seen that and are not going to take that away.

But I will say, with regard to ending it and bringing it back, I feel like they’re really smart: it’s very exciting the point where it ends, it’s very suspenseful. They leave a door open a tiny crack but a lot of doors are closed.

It has to be an appropriate ending.

Exactly – and appropriate it is. The way they end it, they come up with stuff that I just go wow! The stuff they’ve come up with is amazing.

I can definitely see it coming back but I can tell you that it would be a very different version of all of us if it happens…

 

Grimm’s final season begins on W on February 14 at 9 p.m.

Thanks to Gem Pinkney for help with arranging this interview