The PRODIGAL SON Team Previews Catherine Zeta-Jones’ Debut, Lou Diamond Phillips’ Time Behind the Camera

After a brief hiatus—following one heck of a bloody cliffhanger—PRODIGAL SON returns on Tuesday, March 2 with a special episode, “Face Value,” directed by series star Lou Diamond Phillips.

“It was a dream,” Halston Sage (Ainsley) gushes. “Lou was a great director, and I think the whole cast and crew had a really amazing experience with him. I’m excited to see how it turns out.”

For Phillips—who had previously stepped behind the camera on his long-running series LONGMIRE, as well as installments of FEAR THE WALKING DEAD and AGENTS OF SHIELD—the unpredictability of the Fox drama made it a fun waiting game to see what kind of hour he’d have on his plate.

“I was looking forward to what the guys were going to hand me,” Phillips, who plays Gil, says. “To do [the episode] in the beauty sector, in the plastic surgery world, man—it’s like, okay, we’re going to do some fun stuff. And the first thing that [co-creator] Chris Fedak said to me was, ‘Let your freak flag fly.’ And I was like, ‘Be careful, buddy. Be careful what you ask for.'”

Naturally, the PRODIGAL SON crew went all out. “I have to say Ben [Bornstein], our special effects and makeup guy, he just went to town,” Phillips gushes. “There’s so much in this particular episode; the guy was working 24-7. The previews [show] that the first victim has been Botoxed to death, which has caused her skin and her face to basically melt. It’s just amazing stuff. So we [dive into] what is beauty and the horror underneath.”

Outside of that, Malcolm (Tom Payne) is reeling after Ainsley showed up covered in blood—and with no memory of what occurred. But that’s not the only problem the family will have on their plate.

“It’s a great, dramatic episode, which obviously plays into the overarching storylines of the fallout of Endicott’s murder and how Malcolm is going to deal with Ainsly,” Phillips previews. “And how inextricable is this going to be for the Whitly family at large? And [it’s] the introduction of Catherine Zeta-Jones[‘ character], which sets Martin off on a completely different tangent, which is sort of amazing.”

Zeta-Jones’ Dr. Vivian Capshaw and Martin (Michael Sheen) immediately are at odds—and trouble is brewing.

“[She’s] the doctor in front of the infirmary at Claremont,” Fedak says. “We expanded the world, because when you have Michael Sheen, who doesn’t want to spend some time in an insane asylum when Michael’s there? There is definitely going to be a lot of interesting things happening—some bonding between Dr. Capshaw, who is a no-nonsense, very edgy doctor in charge of this crazy-pants place, and then nothing good is going to come from it. All crazy bad things. We’re looking forward to it…[there are] some dramatic twists and turns; she’s the dream for this show.”

Fedak, however, was coy about how her dynamic with Martin’s son, Malcolm, might play out: “I think it’s going to be a little on the edgy side.”

Hm…

PRODIGAL SON, Tuesdays, 9/8c, Fox

RELATED:

• PRODIGAL SON Post-Mortem: Halston Sage Previews What Comes Next for Ainsley After ‘Head Case’ Twist
• PRODIGAL SON’s Bellamy Young: ‘The Ground Opens Up Underneath’ Jessica
• PRODIGAL SON: Alan Cumming to Guest as an Unexpected Foe
• PRODIGAL SON Post-Mortem: Frank Harts on JT’s NYPD Dilemma
• PRODIGAL SON Season 2 Premiere Post-Mortem: Chris Fedak and Sam Sklaver on Bright’s New Issue, JT’s Heartbreaking Storyline
• PRODIGAL SON Bosses on the Unique Challenges of Crafting Season 2
• PRODIGAL SON: Catherine Zeta-Jones Joins Season 2
• PRODIGAL SON Bosses on Potentially Exploring Romance in Season 2
• PRODIGAL SON Post-Mortem: Chris Fedak and Sam Sklaver Break Down Long-Planned Finale
• PRODIGAL SON Bosses Tease the Season 1 Finale: ‘No One is Going to See it Coming’
• Daily Dose of Joy: PRODIGAL SON…As a Family Comedy?
• PRODIGAL SON Bosses on Gil and Jessica’s Connection
• PRODIGAL SON: Lou Diamond Phillips on Gil’s Paternal Relationship with the Team, ‘Complex’ History with Jessica
• PRODIGAL SON Boss Teases Bringing the ‘Most Insane Crimes and Criminals’ to TV

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