Tag Archives: J. H. Wyman

Interview with Executive Producer J.H. Wyman from Fringe

Posted on September 28, 2012 by

Fringe returns to FOX tonight at 9/8c for the start of its fifth and final season. Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to participate in a press Q&A with Executive Producer J.H. Wyman. Joel talked about what this journey has been like and a little of what we can expect in the final 13 episodes.
 

On whether he knew the fifth season would take place in 2036 while working on last season’s “Letters of Transit”

J.H. Wyman: Well, we knew that traditionally in the 19th episode spot of each season, we always sort of went off the beaten path and we were kind of throwing around a whole bunch of very interesting ideas on what to do last season. When we didn’t really know the entire fate of what the program was going to be concretely, we thought, well, it would be terrible if we sort of ended without some form of an ending that I could either pick up by comic book or other sort of media that would finish the story for the dedicated fans.

That got us thinking; well, what if we sort of us the 19 spot as sort of like a backdoor pilot? We’ve always been interested in going back and forth in time and we thought it would be such an interesting idea to maybe tell the story in the future, but one way or the other, we were kind of like, “Hmm, let’s see how that goes.”

So, we used that slot 19 to be sort of like a test, sort of backdoor pilot to see, “Well, let’s see how that goes.” I think when the result of it came in, it was pretty clear and to be honest, me personally I feel in love with the possibilities of telling the story in the future and married that quickly.
 

On whether we’ll get a crazy 19th-episode-style episode during this shortened season

J.H. Wyman: The truth is I’ve got something that’s sort of really special planned, but I don’t want to talk about it. I think it will be memorable, but it’s not traditionally that, but it’s the same sport. Let’s just say that, but it’s definitely a breadth of a difference, a step in a different direction. Is that fair?
 
 
To see what the rest of the folks on the call asked, check out my write-up on NoReruns.net.

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Interview with Executive Producers J. H. Wyman & Jeff Pinkner from Fringe

Posted on September 23, 2011 by

Tonight is the exciting fourth season premiere of Fringe. Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to participate in a Q&A with Executive Producers and showrunners, J. H. Wyman and Jeff Pinkner. It was a very informative session, and you can tell these guys really have a master plan for the series. I’d like to thank them for taking the time to speak with us. Here are some of the highlights:

On reassuring Joshua Jackson fans

J. H. Wyman: Basically, look, Peter is part of the DNA of the show and we’ve done some pretty crazy things in the past that people were always like, “Well, wait a minute. Why are they doing that? What’s going on?” I mean hopefully in Season 4 people will trust us enough to realize that we are doing things for a reason. To sort of have Fringe without Peter in some way, shape or form is really not Fringe.

So, while we can’t really comment—for those of you who haven’t seen the opening or what’s going on, he’s part of the show. He’s part of the language of our show and a very big part of it. So, there are kind of two things that we want to get across without really ruining anything and that is, number one, yes, Peter is part of the DNA and he’ll always be that. Number two is that just because he doesn’t exist doesn’t mean that the three years that we’ve all invested in and watched does not exist; it didn’t happen. It really did happen and it’ll unfold itself for you to understand in what context I’m speaking of.

But, yes, people shouldn’t worry. We love Peter and we know how much everybody loves Peter. We both can’t imagine telling the series and the story without him.

J. Pinkner: What we would say is the show constantly tries to re-contextualize your perception of the story. We introduced Walter Bishop in Season 1 and by the time you get to Season 2 you realize that in many ways he’s the chief architect. Our most sympathetic character is the chief architect of all the trouble in two universes. There’s a version of the narrative where he’s the biggest villain of the entire piece.

So, the idea that Peter is gone, and ultimately he’s not permanently gone, we’ve made it very clear, is an opportunity to sort of re-contextualize the story of everything we’ve seen again, which is something that we love to play with.
 
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