REVERIE: Sarah Shahi on the Personal Connection She Has to the New NBC Drama

After more than a decade and a half working in television, Sarah Shahi had a bit of freedom in trying to find her next project. Enter NBC’s REVERIE, a new drama about Mara, a former hostage negotiator (played by Shahi), who is recruited by her former boss, Charlie (Dennis Haysbert), to try and coax civilians out of a high-tech virtual-reality program where one can relive important moments from their past.

The drama came at the right time for Shahi (whose recent work includes PERSON OF INTEREST and CHICAGO FIRE). “My father had just died; I didn’t have a good relationship with him when he was alive,” Shahi told reporters in the video below. “I found a relationship with him once he had died. I felt like I had gotten really close to him. And I had lots of dreams with him. I could just feel him in a way I hadn’t felt him before.”

Shahi’s fascination with the science-fiction genre also played into her desire to tackle a show like this. “I was obsessed with the show THE OA,” she admitted. “[So I thought] the next project that I get, I want to sort of tap into the idea of alternate realities or the astral world. Or something that makes you feel like there’s more to us than just our bodies…when REVERIE came to me, that’s kind of what I saw. I saw this opportunity to rescue people from the dangers of their own minds. The whole idea of the alternate universes really attracted me.”

“REVERIE was an opportunity for me to possibly make someone else feel good,” she continued. “[Mara] was a character who was trying to overcome the loss of her family members, and I thought to be able to play something like that would ring really true to not only what I was going through, but it would help, possibly, make other people feel good.”

Check out the video for more from Shahi!

REVERIE, Series Premiere, Wednesday, May 30, 10/9c, NBC

RELATED:

• PERSON OF INTEREST: Sarah Shahi and Greg Plageman Preview Shaw’s Season 5 Return
• PERSON OF INTEREST: Amy Acker and Sarah Shahi on New Identities, Their Characters’ Relationship, Season 4’s Tone, and More

Follow @GiveMeMyRemote and @marisaroffman on Twitter for the latest TV news. Connect with other TV fans on GIVE ME MY REMOTE’s official Facebook page.

And be the first to see our exclusive videos by subscribing to our YouTube channel at youtube.com/givememyremotetv