‘The Librarians: The Next Chapter’ Boss Says Dominic Monaghan’s Merlin Is a ‘Bit of a Mystery’

Is Merlin (Dominic Monaghan, Lost) a friend or a foe? That question about the legendary wizard looms over Season 2 of the fantasy-adventure series The Librarians: The Next Chapter, which stars Jessica Green as Guardian Charlie, protector of Librarians Lysa (Olivia Morris), Vikram (Callum McGowan), and Connor (Bluey Robinson).

Season 1 saw Merlin awakened, and in the August 2 premiere, he and the team cross paths investigating a rage outbreak at a boarding school.

Below, TV Insider chatted with executive producer Dean Devlin about what to expect in Season 2. Plus, watch an exclusive clip above.

Dominic as Merlin is so good.

Dean Devlin: I have to tell you this little story. His first day of shooting in the character, the sound guy walks over to me and goes, “You got the perfect man.” I said, “Why is that? ” He goes, “Face look like boy. Voice sound like old man.” [Laughs]

Talk about casting him in the role because that was before you heard that.

I’m just a big fan, and when I heard that he was available, I didn’t know he’d do it, but we said, “Oh my God, if we can get Dominic, that’d be so amazing.” And could not be a nicer guy; easiest guy to direct in the world. And he just came in, he was such a champ. He rolled with all the punches. It was an absolute delight to get to work with him.

TNT

You introduced Merlin at the very end of last season, but we don’t really know anything about him from that bit. But now, in the premiere, you really get to show who he is on your show. So, who is The Librarians’ Merlin, and what can you preview about how the team meets him?

Well, he’s a bit of a mystery. He’s a bit of a conundrum. When he appears, he is presenting himself as a man who wants to redeem himself from the sins of his past. There are those in our team who believe him, and there are those who do not, and over the course of the season, he begins to show which one of those he really is.

Yeah, because as the trailer shows, Elaine (Caroline Loncq) is not happy and says he’s an enemy of the library. So, what does that mean for the team dynamics when it comes to Merlin if some people are saying he could be a good guy and others like, “No, no, don’t trust him”?

It puts a lot of stress on the team because remember, as we found out in Season 1, Mrs. Astolat was actually Elaine of Astolat from Camelot. She knows Merlin from back in those days, and they have problems with each other, so she doesn’t trust him at all. Some of the others on our team, they worry, is she just living in the past and not seeing who he is today. So, our team dynamic gets some stress with him being around.

This season, Lysa and Connor are Librarians. How are they handling that? Because it’s one thing to be doing this the way that they were in Season 1, but now it’s official.

Well, the theme of the entire season is be careful what you wish for because it’s always more complicated than you imagine. And so, yeah, they wanted to be Librarians in Season 1, but now they are, and they’re starting to realize that there’s a lot of downside to being a Librarian. There’s a lot of consequences for the life of being a Librarian, and they have to come to terms with it. So, it really affects all the team members, except, of course, Vikram, because he knew what he was getting into.

Vikram did say goodbye to Anya. They had that moment in the finale. So, who is he now going forward after that?

In a weird way, he’s kind of a parental figure to Lysa now, and it’s very awkward and weird, especially because his parental philosophy comes from almost 200 years ago. So, they have to really figure out their relationship this year because they both make a bunch of assumptions, but they’re also the only family either of them have.

And then you have Charlie being Guardian to three Librarians. How is she balancing that?

That’s the thing that she kind of didn’t account for. She really wanted to be a Guardian. She got to be one, but she kind of assumed that she would ultimately be assigned to one of the Librarians and that other guardians would show up. This season, she starts to realize that she is the only Guardian for this group of people, and that’s going to put her into a pretty Sophie’s choice kind of moment of, well, what if I can’t protect them all and I have to choose? How do I choose? That’s literally her greatest fear.

Yeah, because there were moments of her growing close to each of them in Season 1, so now that’s really being tested.

That’s right.

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'The Librarians: The Next Chapter' Season 2 Trailer: Dominic Monaghan's Merlin & Original Series Reunion (VIDEO)

So, the premiere sees the team investigating this mysterious outbreak of inexplicable rage. What can you preview about how it affects them and how that challenges them?

We opened the season with the rage demon because through rage, you not only discover the thing that makes everybody angry, but it also reveals the things that frightens them. And those fears are literally the season arc. So, we started off by letting everybody know what these fears are and what the season is, are they going to succumb to those fears over the course of this season, or are they going to overcome them?

… I think all of them are in big denial. Even though they confess their fears in the first episode, they’re all in denial to the depth of which it affects them, and they’re going to get challenged in their new roles to face these fears in ways that they didn’t anticipate. And the way that they behave in those fears is going to surprise them.

Christian’s coming back as Jacob, and then you have Lindy reprising her role as Cassandra. 

It’s so interesting because it’s been a long time since we made the original Librarians, but as soon as we had Lindy on set, within a minute, she was right back; it was as though we had never missed a day of shooting. I think that our long-term fans are going to be absolutely thrilled to see her back as Cassandra, but I think our new fans who didn’t watch the old show are going to fall in love with her character because it’s one of the best characters we ever created on The Librarians.

And then what can you say about what we’ll see from Jacob and from Cassandra this season?

So, in my mind, it’s not that one story ended, and another one began. In my mind, The Librarians has continued. We just haven’t filmed them. The original team is still doing their stuff. And so when they show up here, it’s really like we’re doing a crossover episode of two shows as opposed to their role in this show, and it’s fun to watch those worlds collide.

What does The Next Chapter team think of seeing these people who are further along in being Librarians and how they work together?

The new Librarians react to the original Librarians… like they fangirl over them. They’re so excited when they meet them. They want to hear all the adventures. It’s kind of like the rookies on a basketball team getting to go up to LeBron James. They idolize the original team more so than they do Vikram. And Vikram has some jealousy over that as well.

Cassandra was mentioned in the first season as was Jenkins (John Larroquette). What can you say about the possibility of seeing anyone else from the original series this season?

We won’t see them this season, but get us a third season and everybody has told me they want to come back. So, with that kind of energy, it would be great if we had another season and I could bring more characters back.

Will we be hearing updates on the other characters from the original series this season from Jacob and Cassandra?

Oh, yeah. There’s a lot of mentions of the other characters over the course of the season.

James White/TNT

The trailer shows there’s going to be an episode where Jacob and Vikram are stuck together and I just imagine plenty of hijinks.

Well, the thing is both of them are such gifted physical comedians. So, this idea that they’re tethered together is so much fun. And when you see what both of them do with it, it’s just hilarious. I mean, Christian Kane is known as a guy who does these great fight scenes, but his physical comedy is actually my favorite thing about him, and he has it in spades in this episode.

What can you tease about how each of the characters handles that situation?

They don’t like it. These are two very free-spirited characters who have now had their wings clipped and they’re not happy about it, and so they’re doing everything they can to rectify that situation.

You also have some other fun guest stars coming. Is there anything you can tease about those guest stars and their characters?

There’s so many great ones. I don’t want to talk about his character because I want to be surprised, but I don’t know if you know, but I once directed David Tennant in a movie and —

Yeah, Bad Samaritan.

His son, Ty Tennant, guest stars. He’s amazing in the show. And then of course Josh Gates is on the show this year, playing Josh Gates, which is really fun.

We have amazing guest stars this season. I mean, really just amazing people. And I think people are going to get a real kick out of who they see. … TNT really opened up the ability to go after some really interesting actors. And so we were super grateful about that. I think you’re going to see that Season 2 is a big step up from Season 1.

Is there anything else that you can preview about the season? Is it going to be ending on a cliffhanger? What’s it building towards?

Oh, I don’t want to give too much away, but I will say that the first half of the season is really a lot of fun and the second half of the season gets really emotional. And if you hang in there with us, I promise you it’s really worth the payoff. Some of my favorite work that we’ve ever done on the show in the history of Librarians was done this season, and I can’t wait for people to see it.

The trailer makes it seem like we’re going to see the team versus Merlin at some points. What can you say about that?

Again, I don’t want to do any spoilers, but Merlin is the most famous magician in the history of the world, the history of literature, and he’s living in a world where magic is trying to be controlled by Librarians. So, this is going to run into a clash; whether it’s a clash with each other or side by side, you’re going to have to wait and see.

Which member of the team intrigues Merlin the most?

Well, he knows that Mrs. Astolat is a formidable foe and he knows that she’s against him. I think of all of them, she’s the trickiest one because she knows all his tricks. She can see right through him. So, he’s trying to convince her that he’s a changed man, and she’s probably the hardest person to convince.

The Librarians: The Next Chapter, Season 2 Premiere, Sunday, August 2, 9/8c, TNT