Warehouse 13, Syfy’s highest rated original series, is concluding its third season tonight and according to Eddie McClintock, “They’ve really raised the stakes for the last two episodes.” W13‘s affable male lead answered questions last week about tonight’s two-hour finale and TV Over Mind joined the fun. Already renewed for a fourth season and with its first spinoff in the works, Eddie assures fans that this year’s finale will be very different than last season’s controversial ender. “Last year’s cliffhanger to me wasn’t really a cliffhanger. To me a cliffhanger is like, the damsel is tied to the railroad tracks, the train’s coming, the guy’s racing to get there, ‘What’s going to happen next,’ not, ‘Oh no, one of the characters left.’ It kind of ticked a lot of people off. I remember getting a lot of twitters about, ‘I’m not going to watch the show if Myka‘s not going to be on there. No way, that’s uncool. You guys are [expletive deleted],’ and so… I get it. It’s like, ‘What? That’s the cliffhanger? One of the most loved characters is just walking away?’ I understand it as a plot, as a storyline for the plot sure, but to leave that as the cliffhanger, especially when the fans have to wait a year to see what happened,… it’s just rough man. So I would say this year they definitely upped the stakes. It’s a straight up dramatic cliffhanger. And I think people may be shedding a few tears on this one. I don’t think it’ll leave people going, ‘Hey, I’m not going to watch anymore,’ it’s going to make people go, ‘I can’t wait till next year to see the show.'”
Controversy’s been no stranger to Eddie’s character either. Regarding the less-than-hardboiled attitude of Agent Pete Lattimer Eddie reveals, “I’ve read that some fans think Pete is juvenile, stupid and/or a goof, and that’s always kind of hit me the wrong way, because I just think Pete is putting on. He’s just having fun. I love the fact that Pete can be insanely childish and silly sometimes. And he loves that about himself. He likes to pull Myka’s strings. He likes to pull Artie‘s strings. He likes to get everybody going and everybody kind of riled up. Apparently, it’s worked with the fans too. He is also incredibly brave and strong and loyal and loving. I mean, I get to play all those things. I get to play comedy, I get to play drama, I get to play action, I get to play romance. And to me that’s the perfect combination. I think Pete is just awesome. I love playing Pete. He’s the funnest character I’ve ever had the privilege of playing.” If Eddie could ask the writers to do anything at all with his character what would it be? “Please continue to make Pete all the things that you’ve made him so far.”
In addition to being a family man, actor, (former) athlete and drummer, Eddie’s also a talented photographer and seriously impressive artist (re: drawings, paintings, and graphic renderings). Influenced by the art of M.C. Escher, Salvador Dali, and H.R. Giger among others, McClintock also draws inspiration from artists such as Mad Magazine’s legendary Don Martin and confesses, “Herb Trimpe was probably the greatest influence for me, he drew the Hulk back in the 70s.” Continuing, “I think I’m pretty good and I have, like, a niche thing that I do. But in my mind, I look at guys that do comics and think, ‘Man, those are the artists. Those are the guys that can do it.'” See for yourself whether Eddie can do it or not by visiting his artist website ETM 369 where you can view and/or purchase reproductions of his work.
Star Trek fans have grown accustomed to seeing former Trek stars on the series and Trek gets referenced by W13 characters nearly every episode, at least. The love of Trek behind the scenes at Warehouse 13 encompasses not only the writers room, showrunners and casting department, but even Eddie’s first ad lib on the show (early in season one) was him ending a scene with the line, “Kirk out.” As luck would have it, two of Trekdoms most treasured women, Kate Mulgrew & Jeri Ryan (both former stars of ST:VOY) have guested on W13 directly tied to McClintock’s character. “When I found out that a Star Fleet Captain (Mulgrew) was my mom I just thought that that was so awesome! If you went to Dragon*Con or the Las Vegas Star Trek convention you’d have seen that Kate and I get along better than I could’ve ever even dreamed of. So to have her play my mom seems completely natural. Although she’d of had to’ve been, like, four when she had me,… which you know, we’re going to have to overlook. Suspension of disbelief, we’ll call it. Then when I found out that a sci-fi icon (Jeri Ryan) was going to be my wife, my ex-wife, I told her “Do you realize that my stud cred just increased 10-fold?” Happily adding, “It just turned out that both ladies were really cool and good to have around.”
Along with Mulgrew and Ryan, Eddie names WWE wrestler Cody Rhodes, Aaron Ashmore (former recruit Steve Jinks), Anthony Michael Hall (Walter Sykes) and Jaime Murray (H.G. Wells) as some of his favorite guest stars to’ve graced the show. “In regards to Anthony Michael Hall, I mean I grew up with all of those great movies that he did when he was younger. And he really kind of grew into himself, because he’s like 6′ 2″ now and probably weighs about 200 pounds and none of it’s fat, he’s just a big dude. He looks – actually he looks like Steve McQueen I think. He’s amazing and great fun to work with and just, for me, it’s like getting to meet some of your childhood heroes and the people that you admired and the people whose work you admired. And to have him come on the show and play such a strong character is pretty thrilling for me.” On Rhodes, “Cody Rhodes is a great young kid and a good guy. He played Myka’s love interest last year. I’d like to do an episode of the WWE. You know, I’d put on some tights and a cod piece and put some clothespins on my nipples and a latex mask. I wrestled in grade school and then in high school and in college, collegiate wrestling, not WWE style. But still, it would be fun to get in there, and scream and have people throw stuff at you.” As to Jaime Murray? “I love Jaime. She’s fantastic. I know there’s been talk about spinning her off and doing her own series but whatever the end result may be, I sure hope we can continue to work together. She and I did some stuff last year when we were on hiatus and we really got to know each other well. She’s a great actress and whatever she ends up doing I wish her well.”
The proposed W13 spinoff prequel, requested by the network, will be a period production set in the 1890s focused on Jaime Murray as H.G. Wells. Rumor is that Anthony Michael Hall (as Sykes) and possibly even Aaron Ashmore will join the cast. Whether the spinoff ultimately materializes or not, there’s no doubt that the world of Warehouse 13‘s been expanding. Recent crossovers by W13 characters have linked fellow series Eureka & Alphas into a shared universe, prompting the obvious question, which would Eddie most like to share an arc with? “I would like to do any of those shows – just because I think they’re all so much fun. I would like to go do Sanctuary because I’ve gotten to know Robin Dunne pretty well and I think the way they shoot their show, I guess it’s a lot of green screen stuff, must be pretty challenging. I know when we do a lot of green screen it’s hard because not only do you have to act, but you have to imagine your surroundings as well.”
When it comes to children having safe playgrounds in which to play, Eddie’s moved beyond imagination and has helped raise funds for the national non-profit charity KaBoom! Hollywood Treasure viewers will remember McClintock donated a screen-used Tesla prop gun (from W13) to be auctioned on behalf of KaBoom! “I think it’s important that kids have a place to get their ya-yas out and have some exercise and have a good time.” If you share KaBoom!’s vision of a place to play within walking distance of every child, consider joining the effort by taking their pledge.
Speaking of the spirit-of-giving, Warehouse 13 will again be showcasing a Christmas episode (shot in July). Eddie offered a few non-spoilery insights, “It’s edgier than last year’s. Even though it’s a standalone episode there’s a lot of drama and a lot of heart and a lot of action — just like every good Warehouse 13 episode.” Executive producer Jack Kenny recently revealed at Comic-Con that the holiday special will center on Eddie’s character and focus on an artifact connected to the short story that was the basis for the original It’s a Wonderful Life story. “Jack directed that episode. I don’t know if he wrote that episode too? He came to me the week before and just said, ‘Hey man, I need you to bring it. Because there’s a lot of stuff in it for you and there’s a lot of dramatic stuff in it for you and I want it to be great.’ I don’t think I disappointed him. I mean I worked really hard and I think that, as I said earlier, ‘It’s not a fluff piece.’ It’s not a fluffy Christmas story. There’s still some Warehouse 13 fluff, don’t get me wrong, but it’s a little more dramatic this year. It’s Warehouse 13‘s version of It’s a Wonderful Life.”
Augmenting warehouse duty, McClintock has two films in the post-production pipeline: a scary Syfy original shot in Bulgaria last year titled, The Boogey Man, scheduled to premiere early next year, and, a drama Eddie just finished in Canada titled, A Fish Story. W13 stunt coordinator Matt Birman (X-Men) directed A Fish Story, a drama McClintock promises has “a lot of heart.” Elaborating, “there are nice family moments but there aren’t many if any comedic moments. It’s just not that type of a movie.”
Lest fans worry that filmdom will pull him away from Syfy’s most successful series, Eddie assures us he feels Warehouse 13 is just getting started. “They always say it takes a show a season to find its legs. And, I’ve said wholeheartedly that I think this season has been the best season of the series so far. If you go back and watch an episode from the first season of Cheers or the first seasons of Friends or Seinfeld they barely resemble the show(s) that people know, love and really remember. And that’s based on a 22 episode season. Since we only get 13 episodes per season, really it’s 12 because the Christmas episodes don’t count, we’re really just starting our second season. So I think the show has really just found itself. The writers have really zeroed in on what makes the show work and I think the show just keeps getting better and better.”
Investigate the tense sneak peek (below) then say hello to the season ending action tonight at 9/8c, guest starring Jaime Murray, Aaron Ashmore, Anthony Michael Hall, Sasha Roiz and Kate Mulgrew, only on Syfy!
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