In Jericho, Skeet Ulrich plays Jake Green, an unlikely hero with a secret past, attempting to cope with the aftermath of nuclear war in his small hometown. That secret past has kept a lot of fans wondering: Just where has Jake been for the last five years? In this group interview, conducted at the TCA press tour, we attempt to find out.
Will we learn where Jake's been for the past five years this season?
It becomes clear where he had been, certainly for a portion of that five years. But not unlike Hawkins's backstory, it’s sort of one layer of what’s been going on. You learn in Episode 14 quite a bit more than you do in [Episode] 12. The thing I love about the characters is that you never know what’s true and what’s not.
Were you surprised by the secrets in Jake's backstory?
No, that I [sort of] knew. I think the deeper stuff that we developed over the past few months is yet to be seen, why these [events] happen. There’s an interim between [Jake's] leaving Jericho, and the last five years.
Because you know certain things about your character before the audience does, do you drop clues for yourself as an actor?
There are certain physical things that nobody ought to pick up on. I told Jon [Turteltaub, Executive Producer] very early on that I want it in the pilot for people to watch it two years later and go, "Holy shit! I get it!"
I think you have to know in advance. Certainly the obvious question is: Is he a soldier, or was he not a soldier? That plays into a lot of different scenes, and a lot of different ways of handling other characters. So you definitely want to know. Obviously, things get altered here and there.
So, what's the answer? Was Jake a soldier?
I don’t know. [Jon] refuses to tell me what the deal is. So I kind of learn it, not as he learns it, but as the rest of us learn it in reading [the script], but I don’t know beyond what I read. It’s not my choice. I’d love to know. We learn things as we learn them. We don’t see episodes until you guys see them. It’s always a surprise as we read them — how [the writers are] developing other storylines, in terms of the backstory.
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