Peter Krause and Hope Davis are speaking out after the premiere of Line of Fire concluded with a shocking plot twist.
The NBC series debuted on Monday, September 21, introducing Mike (Krause) and Jane’s (Davis) family, including Clare (Kat Cunning), Micah (Tommy O’Brien) and Russ (Taylor Bloom). Jack (Charlie Barnett) — Mike’s son from his first marriage — was mentioned as having died years prior.
In the last scene of the premiere, the audience learned that Jack was alive and well — and hiding in plain sight without his family knowing. His intentions remained unclear after he killed someone who was spying on his family.
“That is the overarching mystery of the season. Is it him? Is he alive? What is he doing? Who is murdering federal agents? And is he involved?” Davis, 62, teased exclusively to Us. “That’s something that is going to play out through the entire season — and we don’t know the answers to all those questions yet.”
Davis and Krause, 61, confirmed they were still in the midst of filming the show’s first season.
“We know some things that we’re not going to talk about yet, but we don’t know the whole story,” Davis said. “And we didn’t want to know the whole story. We want to see it unfold. We want to understand it as the audience does.”
Krause noted there were still many unanswered questions, adding, “We also don’t know if Jack is OK. Even if he’s alive or if he’s mentally and emotionally OK.”
He continued: “It’s funny sometimes making the show because I want to carry it with me all the time, but you can’t and perform in these other scenes. So there’s an odd letting go of Jack in a way that feels wrong sometimes when I’m doing these other scenes.”
The actor is just as invested in getting answers.
“He’s out there and it’s part of the show. We just have to let go of him when he’s not there,” he continued. “But it’s weird. … That’s a very different element in the show.”
Davis offered insight into Jack’s motivation, adding, “The underlying pain of [why] he chose to leave our family. He went undercover and he didn’t come back. It ripped the family apart. It is a source of incredible pain for the parents, certainly.”
Line of Fire centers around a family of agents from various branches of law enforcement who find themselves tangled in a deadly conspiracy.
“[Creator] Joshua [Safran] is masterful at story architecture. I asked him not to tell us things that our characters did not know,” Krause recalled. “It’s helpful for us to move forward. Everybody has blind spots in life and I think that it’s important in terms of storytelling that these characters — like anybody — have blind spots too.”
Line of Fire airs on NBC Mondays at 10 p.m. ET. New episodes stream the next day on Peacock.
