‘Almost Paradise’: Christian Kane on Stealing from ‘Leverage’ — and What He Finally Got to Say
Spoiler Alert
[This interview was conducted prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike authorization.]
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers from all of Almost Paradise Season 2.]
“Let’s go steal…” Those are three words that every Leverage fan knows well but has never heard come out of Christian Kane‘s mouth — until his other Freevee series, Almost Paradise.
In Season 2 (all 10 episodes of which are now available to stream), there are a few things that will be very familiar to Leverage (and Redemption) fans, from flashbacks with the stars in different roles to a casino heist, especially considering the common threads of Kane and executive producer Dean Devlin.
“We didn’t really try to remind people of Leverage. We actually stole from Leverage,” Kane told TV Insider with a laugh. “Dean Devlin got his hands on that one, and he said, ‘Nope, this is Leverage, and we’re just going to make it Leverage.‘ And it was so much fun.”
The star then went on to note that iconic line he finally got to say. “Alex said, ‘Let’s go steal a casino.’ Eliot Spencer has never said, ‘Let’s go steal’ anything. It’s always been Nate (Timothy Hutton), it’s always been Noah (Wyle, who plays Harry), it’s always been Parker (Beth Riesgraf). I don’t even think it’s been Aldis (Hodge, who plays Hardison). But it’s always been Gina (Bellman, who plays Sophie). Anybody else on the Leverage crew said it, but Eliot Spencer has never. That’s not his job, that’s not his forte, that’s not what he does.”
Kane continued, “So to see Alex Walker or, I gotta be honest, to see Christian Kane use that line … And the director, God bless her, she wasn’t really familiar with that part of Leverage, so I walk out the door, [and] she was like, ‘Please don’t walk out.’ And I go, ‘I have to walk out.’ She’s like, ‘What do you mean?’ I go, ‘It’s Leverage. I have to leave. Once I say that, nobody sticks around. We all leave.'”
It’s not just the heist and costumes and whatnot of it, but even the music on Almost Paradise that is reminiscent of the other series. “[Music supervisor] Fred Coury did a little Leverage music in there when I said that line. It’s not Leverage, but it’s just enough where it actually reminds you of Leverage,” Kane shared. “That was my favorite thing because you know you just saw Leverage. And I thought that was fantastic. I didn’t know if it was going to work, and I watched it with Dean, and it completely worked.”
Meanwhile, the season nearly ends with both Alex and Kai (Samantha Richelle) leaving the island behind (him for his ranch in Texas, her for a new job in Manila), only for both of them to decide otherwise. He gets a great offer while she realizes what’s important to her, and she’s at peace with her decision. He tells her he has a reason to stay … only for Ernesto (Art Acuña) to interrupt for a toast. But how does Alex feel about Kai?
“It’s more of a Moonlighting thing. The thing with Alex is that Alex gets under her skin, and she shows it, and I think that’s the fun part of Kai’s character. She gets under Alex’s skin, and he turns away, and he’ll let the audience know, but he won’t let anybody else know. And to me, that’s pulling a girl’s hair on the playground,” according to Kane. “I think everybody knows that Alex flirts with Kai, he does this and that, and I think it’s going to be fun to throw people for a loop in the first [part] of the season with what Alex is going through, having to literally be prescribed going out on dates, and then to see the connection with them at the end, which is they both were going to leave and now to see that they’ve agreed that they really are part of each other’s family.”
While Almost Paradise hasn’t yet been picked up for a third season, that ending did leave what the future could hold for the two open-ended. “I don’t know where that’s going to go. I really, honestly don’t,” Kane said. “I wish I could tell you, but that’s something that was built and it was built in at the end, and I really liked the fact that we didn’t build it in the first part.”
Almost Paradise, Seasons 1-2, Streaming Now, Freevee
