I don't want to jinx anything, but HitFix's video studio is becoming like the West Coast Campus for “Sleepy Hollow.”
In June, Tom Mison and Nicole Beharie stopped by our offices for a look back at the first season of their FOX hit and a tease of the early start for production on Season 2.
This past week, we hosted Orlando Jones, who plays Captain Frank Irving on the history-tweaking, supernatural-fueled action-dramedy.
It was great that Jones was able to visit, because when I was on the North Carolina set of “Sleepy Hollow” last month, he was the only cast regular I wasn't able to chat with. Those interviews — Mison, Beharie, John Noble, Katia Winter, Lyndie Greenwood, plus new addition Matt Barr — will be coming over the next couple weeks, so it's great to get Jones' voice into our “Sleepy Hollow” pre-season coverage, especially since we left Frank in some jeopardy, having taken responsibility for a series of murders we know he didn't commit.
“He's in a tough situation, being the guy who puts you in jail to the guy in jail, so it's an interesting ride. It's going to start slow, but it gets really interesting,” Jones promises.
In its 13-episode first season, “Sleepy Hollow” developed a passionate online fanbase and Jones was out-front in mobilizing, teasing and, as he puts it, trolling the fanbase. But as he proved with his ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, which tied the charitable trend in with awareness-raising about the recent events in Ferguson, Jones isn't afraid to engage his fanbase with more than 'shipping or the racial makeup of supposedly related main characters.
Check out the full interview above, in which the lively Jones discusses Frank's growing awareness last season, his new position this season and the value of honest social media engagement. He also has a very funny response to the extended 18-episode “Sleepy Hollow” second season.
“Sleepy Hollow” returns to FOX on Monday, September 22. Stay tuned for more interviews in the days to come.