The hype is building. After an eight-week hiatus, Fringe is (finally) returning to FOX on Thursday April 1, and its stars have been busy making the requisite rounds.
John Noble (Walter Bishop) took the time to chat with us about the upcoming eight episodes of Fringe which will close season two. It’s obvious that many of those participating in the conference call had done their homework quite thoroughly during the hiatus, as many of the questions built on one another.
Warning: spoilers coming up!
In the upcoming episode, "Peter," many pieces of the show's puzzle come together. We will finally know exactly what happened back in 1985 and the circumstances in which Peter 2.0 made it into our universe. There is going to be character development and the plot takes interesting turns, turns that even took John Noble by surprise, "The ultimate reveal I think, which is so critical to this episode of 'Peter,' (is) that Walter really did intend to take the child back; that he only went over because the Walternate had missed the cure. That was a surprise, and a wonderful surprise to me."
Playing 1985 Walter was relatively simple according to John Noble, as Walter is far more complex now than he was then. As he explains it, today’s Walter "is a man that is capable of incredible laser-like thought processes, and yet is incredibly childish and random. Sometimes Walter will hide behind his childishness, sometimes he will substitute rage for a childish episode. He is an incredibly complex character." As for the 1985 Walter, he is "quite a likable man. He's married to a lovely woman, and he seems to enjoy his work. He's driven. He's a driven man. He's very smart, and he's very driven to succeed."
The preparations for playing 1985 Walter included Noble getting into a more youthful and energetic mind frame, which was all the easier with the help he got from the production team, "in my preparation to find the Walter that we all know now, I had to go back to him right at the beginning to see where he came from. That process was started before the pilot really — what was this man like before he deteriorated? Physically of course what I had to do was capture the energy, to capture physicality of the man, the vocal physicality. This is my task. I was aided enormously by my hair and makeup and special effects people here in terms of getting the overall look, and indeed wardrobe helped a lot too. The DP shot it through these beautiful lenses to give... a different feel to the episode than we have now. All of those elements worked together to create this version that you see in the episode.
Article comments
1 - Nancy
If Mark Valley, aka John Scott, was still on the show, I believe he sings as well. Considering he's Anna's husband, who knows?
2 - Sahar
Maybe Olivia will have a dream about John Scott and he will sing to her? Hey, it's a Walter brain trip, ANYTHING can happen! :P