An Interview with Bret Harrison (Sam, 'Reaper')

March 2009

During the 2008-09 television season, the CW's Reaper was one of my absolute favorite new series of the year. After having the opportunity to chat with Ray Wise (the Devil) and Tyler Labine (Sock) last season, I fell deeply in love with the dramedy, so you can imagine my delight when I had the chance to speak with series star Bret Harrison, who portrays Sam on the hit show.

Bret's character, Sam, learned on his 21st birthday that his soul had been sold to the devil, forcing him to become a bounty hunter for the rest of his existence. With the help of his wacky friends, Sam has had to capture escaped souls and send them back to hell. Is Bret anything like his character?

Like Ray and Tyler, I found myself completely charmed by this sweet and very much down-to-earth actor. The enthusiasm he expresses for this role could turn even the most skeptical viewer into a fan. If you've never watched Reaper, you have no idea how empty your television experience has been up to this point!

Q: What can viewers expect this season (two) on Reaper?

Bret: "We left off the last season with Sam's father maybe being dead, and we found out that his real father is the devil. Sam comes back in this first episode and has gone on vacation with the guys -- he took off to get his head clear. He comes back and has lost his apartment, the guys have lost their jobs and Andi doesn't know what the hell is going on. They've got to figure out how to get their jobs back.

I think what sets it aside from last season is that it's much more about their relationships, as opposed to the procedural stuff. Sock winds up falling in love with his stepsister. The guys end up moving into Sock's mom's house because for whatever reason, Sam's mom doesn't want them to stay there (which we'll find out why later). Ben starts dating a demon who tries to attack and kill Sam, so he's got a conflict for a couple of episodes. Sam also has his ongoing love for Andi. So, now you get to see these guys on their own and they get to evolve a little bit more.

There are also some recurring characters -- Sam gets a half brother; Sean Patrick Harris guest stars as someone who has been in Sam's position before and has gotten out of his contract; Andi becomes manager of the Work Bench for a while."

Q: Is Sam going to rebel against the devil?

Bret: "I think from the beginning, Sam has always wanted to rebel because he just doesn't want this job. There's a demon rebellion after him, so now instead of having this lousy job, he has people coming after him because he's the son of the devil and they want to overthrow him."

Q: Will Tyler finally be in a scene with Ray?

Bret: [laughs] "I feel like he's in a scene with Ray, but he doesn't know who Ray is. He's not in a scene with Ray where he has dialogue."

Q: What has been your favorite episode to date?

Bret: "I haven't actually seen the whole thing, but I think my favorite is this boxing episode we shot called 'Dirty Sexy Mongol.' Eric Palladino guest stars as Red, this soul that is kind of like a Pete Rose, where he has a gambling problem and throws fights. I had to do all this training, I had so much fun. There were choreographers on the set and we had these full-on training montages. Sock and Ben think my problem is that if I can't box, I need to learn how to dodge, so they set up a pitching machine to pitch baseballs at me. It's our cool Rocky episode."

Q: Favorite vessel?

Bret: "From season one, probably either the remote control car just because it was fun to run that thing into Tyler and the director, or a Nerf gun -- anything that can projectile."

Q: Do you all have trouble getting through scenes without cracking up?

Bret: "Oh, absolutely! In this second season, the guys have a plan to send [character omitted due to spoiling the plot] back to hell, and we had to shoot him with this Nerf gun from season one. Every time I had to shoot this gun, no matter which way I aimed it, the Nerf bullet would shoot him in the head. What's funny about it is, it was this really serious scene and the whole crew is laughing, the guys are laughing, it was just awesome."