After taking a week off, Found is back. As the promo teased, we’re heading back to where it began for Gabi and Sir in Gabi’s basement. Shanola Hampton and Mark-Paul Gosselaar discuss that and more in this exclusive interview.
When we first picked up with Found, Gabi had already held Sir captive for months. Just as we see her turn herself in, we’re heading back to the moment when Gabi tied him up in her basement. It’s time to get some answers to our questions about the beginning of the whole thing.
Shanola Hampton and Mark-Paul Gosselaar talk Found season 2
Precinct TV: What was it like going back to the beginning in the basement?
Shanola Hampton: For me, it was so good to even learn the story. We start and we don’t know where we’re going to go in season 1. I didn’t know really how it started. You could create things in your mind. So when you have a writer as great as Sonay Hoffman bring it to life exactly how he got in the basement and to have the nuances, it was a dream.
[That specific episode with Mark-Paul] was one of my favorite things of all time to shoot in my career.
PTV: Mark-Paul, what was it like for you?
Mark-Paul Gosselaar: It was okay. I mean, I spend a lot of time with Shanola. Almost too much time. It was bordering on a little too much connection between you and I. We’re gonna have to figure that out in the third season if we get picked up.
SH: And the fourth and the fifth even. For life.
PTV: You don’t get much time with the other cast members, do you?
MPG: That’s by design. I couldn’t have asked for a better job when I only have to deal with Shanola, which is a lot by the way. It’s a lot to deal with Shanola just on her own, and then to have to deal with the other actors. I don’t know that I could actually do that.
SH: He’s a stick in the mud. That’s why he’s so boring.
Don’t worry; all this was a joke. The two clearly have a great friendship, and you can tell in the video of the interview below.
PTV: Mark-Paul, what’s it like getting into the mind of Sir? He’s one twisty, dark character.
MPG: Well, I give all the credit to the writers. They created this character. Every dark moment you see on the screen is my interpretation of what they’ve written. So, the real weirdos are the ones behind the screen.
I’m just having such a blast telling the story and honestly, working alongside Shanola and the other actors. I really feel like we’re doing some great work on television, and people are noticing it. We were just nominated for a Critics Choice Award, and I think it’s a big deal. People always say especially for network television, but good television is good television and people will find it. We’ve been fortunate enough to be on this for the past two years.
PTV: Shanola, Gabi has now turned herself in. What’s it like developing this storyline for her in saying “I know I’ve done wrong. It is time for me to own this.”
SH: I think what’s really wonderful is that we got the whole first season where the audience got to debate the decision Gabby made and go back and forth. Some people were like “how could she be such a hypocrite?” and other people really identified with what it is to make these, I call them “over the edge moments”, these OEM moments.
To see the character be able to say “No, I want to pay for what I did. What I did was wrong. I didn’t it from a crazy place. I do want to pay.” I think it was important in the journey for Gabi Mosley and for the audience to go through with her as well. Not to justify anything; to say she wants to pay.
PTV: Did the two of you workshop the scenes together?
SH: We do not workshop. Mark-Paul said it best. In our contract, we have something specific. We time out from one another. We have a limit on how much we have to have face-to-face time with each other. He’s very hard to look at. Some people had posters of him on their walls. I was not one of those people, if you get my drift, so workshopping scenes would require more time together, which I’m just not interested in.
Again, you can tell that they like each other really. Shanola, I’m starting to think you were a Zach Morris fan.
MPG: I like to workshop things, but when you’re working with somebody who has limited capacity in many ways, the workshopping is just too much.
SH: Honestly, the truth is that I like the audience to feel what I feel when I work with someone like Mark-Paul. He is not a rehearse in the mirror actor. So to connect with him and just see him in a scene allows me to have an organic reaction, which I appreciate in my work. It’s refreshing and it’s fun. So no, we never rehearsed scenes.
He even asked, because if you see 212, it’s a lot of dialogue. He’s like “we’re gonna run this.” I’m like “no, we’re not. It’s gonna be fine.” And we did, and it was great. Every take had something different, I think, and I don’t know how Mark-Paul feels, but for me it was just really fulfilling to see what we found each take.
PTV: Can you tease what’s to come for Sir now that he’s lost control of Gabby?
MPG: I feel like he’s lost control in a specific way, but he’s still in her life. You can look at that as he’s still in control. The fact that she can’t block him out even though she has the opportunity says a lot, so he’s going to find ways to just stay in the conversation. He’ll start reaching out to some of her co-workers and people she adores in her life. He’ll stay a part of her DNA.
PTV: Shanola, I need to ask about Heather and Gabi. I’m looking at her going “Nope, she’s not to be trusted” and everyone else seems to be trusting her except Gabi. What is it about Gabi saying “No, there’s something fishy.”
SH: Gabi is always suspicious of new people that come in and enter the scene. It’s just because of what she’s been through. She’s always looking at folks with the side eye, and I think she wants to make sure that her not trusting Heather isn’t something that’s residual of what was going on with Gabi and Trent at one time and those feelings and making sure she’s checking herself there.
Ultimately, she wants Trent to be happy. He can’t be happy with her. With all of the baggage that Gabi carries, she knows she’s not the right person for Trent. So, she wants to have him be with the right person, because it’s not her. So, with that, she’s like “Let me side eye. Something seems weird.” But also Danielle [Savre] does such a great job of playing the nuances of Heather. She’s not only beautiful inside, she’s beautiful outside and a very fine actor. We are just completely honored to have her on our show.
PTV: Don’t say that about Gabi and Trent, though. I’m still shipping them hard!
SH: Even after Trent did all that with Gabi? The “I gotta put you in jail.” You still are?
PTV: Yeah!
SH: Okay!
Take a look at the full interview below:
This does cut abruptly. There was more to the interview that can’t be shared until later in the season. You’ll find out why when it comes to it!
Found season 2 continues on Thursdays at 10/9c on NBC. Catch up on the series on Peacock.
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