Question: Sarah…this two-parter here creates some real complications because it seems to get thicker with your father being involved in the thing. Were you surprised by that development when you started the series?    Did you know how intimately your character’s father was going to be involved in the whole thing?
Sarah Shahi: I didn’t know. I didn’t have an idea. I knew that, you know, ultimately Reese does have a choice to make but I wasn’t really sure what that choice would be. And, you know, every week as the scripts came out, more information was being divulged to us and we were just as excited as maybe the audience members sitting at home watching it for the first time. So I didn’t have any clue when we started, and it’s been quite nice. And I hope, if anything, that shit hits the fan.

Question: I wonder if you could talk -- both of you -- a little bit more about the whole conspiracy storyline in your show? Any hints you can give us about how much will be resolved when and also what’s going on with the ex-wife?
Shahi: I’m not Rachel, I’ll tell you that.
Lewis: You’re not who?
Shahi: I’m not Rachel.
Lewis: Okay, who is Rachel? I heard someone thought it was Dani Reese. Maybe it will be…
Shahi:    A few people have told me - they’ve come up to me and they’ve said you’re Rachel aren’t you? And I said no, I’m not Rachel. So there’s your first clue.
Lewis: It’s a spooky thing. You know, a lot of the conspiracy story is explored in the upcoming two episodes. And I think what’s becoming apparent about the conspiracy is that it’s a multi-layered onion and we will need to keep peeling away that onion in order to get to the powerhouse - the people driving the conspiracy at the center of the story. By the end of Episode 11, we make a big, big discovery and it’s very exciting. But it will only take us on to a new level, I think, after that.

Question: And can I ask how much about the conspiracy both of you were told, at what point? I mean, do you already know all the answers?
Lewis: I don’t. I don’t think Sarah does. She’s terrible at keeping a secret, so she definitely would have told me. I - you know, the writers themselves don’t know too far in advance. I mean, I think, you know, they have general outlines. But, you know, they’re putting in the detail weekly and so, you know, we’re not too far behind the writers.... I don’t want to know everything up front. I’m enjoying discovering it. It’s like reading a novel. I’m enjoying discovering…
Shahi: Yeah, it’s more fun to play like that and then it also feels more - I mean, for me also it’s just not my technique to try to know everything and then play the discovery once I’m there. It’s like I really do not want to know.

Question: After working, you know, rigorous hours on this really serious show, when you get home do you ever want to just relax in front of the TV with something, you know, not so serious, something a little more…
Shahi: You mean like a bottle of vodka? ... I know for me, when I get home from work, it’s so exhausting and I’m so past it and just out of my mind that - I mean, literally all I can do is jump in the shower and then hit the sack. And then wake up eight hours later and do the grind again, you know. You try to unwind. You try to think that a nice, unwinding evening at home with a bottle of wine and your significant other would be a - you can share time with each other. But somehow it just doesn’t happen like that.
Lewis: You know, pretty similar to that I’m afraid. You know, I do a lot of tip-toeing around, I mean when everybody is asleep, two young children asleep. I’m getting through the first season of "The Wire," which I never saw which I love. I’m watching "Mad Men" and then I TiVo pretty much anything on Turner Classic Movies.

Question: I’m curious what it’s like to be in sort of this limbo now? You’re - you know you’re going back to work whenever the strike ends, but you’re not back to work yet. And just kind of what you’re doing with your time and then just any other thoughts you have on the situation?
Lewis: Well I mean, I was starting to say it earlier. I mean, I was - I’ve been very thankful for the break. It’s been - couldn’t have come at a better time in terms of just getting a break from all the hard work. But I’m very glad that the strike seems to be resolving itself. Those are the rumors anyways, that there are (bills) that have been proposed and the, you know, the sounds are encouraging. So hopefully we’ll be back at work in the middle of January. And then it’s - all we’ve done is lost a month, so we got a two month break in the middle. I can’t think that it could have been any more perfect than that really.

Question: Sort of on that same question, Sarah, can you talk about I guess the emotions of finding out you’re on a show that’s getting picked up for more episodes and then also dealing with the fact that you can’t do those episodes right now?
Shahi: Yeah. I mean, the answer is pretty much the same. It’s incredibly exciting and it’s wonderful, and my whole family is excited. And it’s nice to know that I have a job during the strike. And at the same time, because the hours have been so grueling in the past, and we’ve been hitting it hard for so long, that it does feel nice. It feels nice to have a couple months off just to rejuvenate and reconnect with the real world, and try to feel normal again. And then hopefully by the time we’re tired of that and ready to go back to work, then the writer’s strike will end and we’ll get what we want at that end too.

Question: And you both talked a little bit about the story line - the back story going on with how Crews was set up. How long do you think that can go on?
Lewis: Well I think you can eke it out as - I mean, I think that’s the cleverness of the concept is that I think you can eke it out as long as you choose to. I think how high up do you want the corruption to go? Does it just stop at the LAPD? Already had an intimation from one of the episodes that there are four or five high ranking officials involved, you know. That could just - you could just go to one of them in the first season. You could go to the next one - each one of them in the following four seasons. You could go to the White House. You could - you know, you could take it on to the moon. You know, how high up does the corruption go? You know, and how multi-stranded is the web of corruption because I think you can take it laterally as well? And it really can go anywhere in the same way that "24" was a brilliantly conceived concept. They can do pretty much whatever they want with that, too.