Photo by Wil Wheaton
I was able to chat with fan favorite Wil Wheaton and Aldis Hodge, who plays the fantastically quirky, hacker Hardison, during a conference call last week to discuss the upcoming Christmas-themed episode of Leverage! The episode features returning guest star Wil Wheaton and Dave Foley on Sunday, December 12th at 9pm on TNT. The two-part Season 3 Finale airs on Sunday, December 19th at 9pm EST.
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You both play hackers, but in real life who has the most computer knowledge?
Wil Wheaton: Well, in my late teens and early 20’s I subscribed to the Phrack Newsletter and I’ve read 2600 since I was in ninth grade.
Aldis Hodge: Yeah. You’re – yeah, Will has that one. He’s got me beat on that. I’m new to the hacking world. I’m still in my 20’s trying to figure out this hacking thing, but I did hack into my mother’s computer; got past her password one time. Yay. Actually, no, that’s not right.
How do you feel about Hardison’s development throughout the course of the show, and what do we have to look forward to from him in the upcoming episodes?
Aldis Hodge: I think the hardest is taking a more authoritative stance. I – as far as his role in the team and his responsibility to the team, he understands now more of what he’s capable of and his value. And I think because, as it was stated earlier in the season, that he wants to run his own crew someday.
Now, he’s more in – he’s very playful, very, you know, very much a kid and having fun and is loving his job and enjoying his job, but he’s grown up in the sense of just being a bit more focused on the world that he’s now become a part of. Because he, you know, he needs to learn a few things to start learning – running his own camp one day.
Oh, and as far as upcoming episodes, I don’t know if I can tell you too much about that, but he has some exciting things going on for those of you who pay attention.
How is this Christmas episode special?
Aldis Hodge: Well, we get to steal stuff and blow stuff up on our Christmas episode, so I think that makes it a little special.
Wil Wheaton: Yeah, this is – this particular episode is – it’s a classic Leverage heist put within the context of a mall at Christmas time. It’s not – it completely avoids the trap of taking a Christmas theme and forcing a show to work within it. In this particular case, the story and the characters are as important to what happens as the setting.
Wil, you guest star in a lot of things, what is it like working on Leverage, and how do you approach it differently than guest starring on a webseries like The Guild?
Wil Wheaton: It’s very – they’re very different practically. The filming experience is very different. You know, on The Guild we have a very small budget and we’re – we never have enough time, and we’re all working as hard and as fast as we can to get the story done. Leverage is different because Leverage has the backing of an enormous network and a studio and you know, we have a bit more time to go and bring the whole show together.
Where they’re very similar is they are both shows that have tremendous writing and an extremely talented cast, and I do just my very best not to mess up. I want to honor what I’ve been given, I want to rise to the occasion, and I don’t want to be the guy that everybody has to keep slowing down to, you know, pick up. So, I work just as hard on everything. You know, all – every job I work on, I work as hard as I can and as professionally as I can to make sure that I rise to the occasion.
How do you learn to interact with guest stars quickly since they might only be for an episode or two, compared with the cast being there day-in and day-out for a 13 episode season?
