Dean Devlin Dishes on THE LIBRARIANS: THE NEXT CHAPTER's Magical Homecoming

Geek Girl Authority

2 days ago

Dean Devlin's career in film and TV is the stuff of geek dreams. On the big screen, he wrote the screenplay for 1992's Universal Soldier, co-wrote and co-produced the first Stargate film, and even played Milton in Real Genius , the movie anthem for all who fly their geek flag high. But it's his television credits that truly rev our engines. He helped create, write, and produce both the Leverage and The Librarians franchises, The Ark, The Visitor, and Almost Paradise (completing his Christian Kane triumvirate).
RELATED: Read our recaps of The Librarians: The Next Chapter
Geek Girl Authority had the pleasure of speaking with Dean Devlin via Zoom about his most recent production, The Librarians: The Next Chapter, the sequel series to The Librarians, which concluded in 2018 after four seasons and three films. In New York City for the fan screening event of the premiere at The Morgan Library and Museum, Dean Devlin shared some insights about the history, characters, and setting of the new series with us before jetting back to Belgrade, Serbia, to conclude filming on Season 2.
Disclaimer: The following interview has been edited for clarity. Photo byfor TNT Dean Devlin, EP and Showrunner, The Librarians: The Next Chapter
Diana Keng: What was your inspiration for bringing back The Librarians with The Librarians: The Next Chapter ?
Dean Devlin: I've never wanted to not bring back The Librarians . The day it was canceled … the next morning, I was calling to see where else I could continue to tell the story. It's my happy place, making that show. A couple of years ago, I got a call from the CW. They had lost the rights to all of their DC comic properties, and they needed new franchises, and thought The Librarians could be a perfect show for CW. We started making the show for the CW. We were midway through the first season when I got a call from TNT saying, 'Is there any chance the franchise could come back home to TNT?'
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And that, to me, was music to my ears because we started there a little over 20 years ago. To bring the franchise home would be a dream come true. I said I didn't know if that's possible, but I contacted the people at CW. They were remarkably sympathetic to me wanting to bring the show home, and while it was a little bit of deal-making gymnastics, we figured it out. They couldn't have been more supportive. And TNT, when they started watching episodes, they were so excited about the show, they greenlit Season 2 before even airing Season 1. So it's been a remarkable homecoming for us. Shared DNA
DK: Are there shared themes between your two sequel series — Leverage: Redemption and The Librarians: The Next Chapter ?
DD: Oh, without a doubt. Both series share the DNA of found family. It's a theme I never grow tired of. I love to do shows about flawed characters who find a simpatico relationship with very different, flawed characters and create their own families. Maybe it's because I'm an only child and feel like my family was something I created, but I love found family stories. I find there are so many roads to expositing character, of finding heart, and the feelings of healing. Both shows share that common theme. Bluey Robinson, Dean Devlin, Olivia Morris – Image Credit: Aleksandar Letic
DK: Of the many mysterious backstories hinted at about the members of The Librarians: The Next Chapter , is there one that was your jumping-off point for the series?
DD: I loved the painting. I love that the only thing left of the old Annex was this painting. We meet this character, [Lysa Pascal], and she looks exactly like the girl in the painting, and we don't know why. It's a fun mystery, but it's also a source of enormous heart for the series. That was probably my favorite. [No spoilers], but I can promise you that it's a surprising and fulfilling storyline that plays all the way through the season. Age of the Geek
DK: Do you include geek characters like Bluey Robinson's Connor and Aldis Hodge's Hardison as representatives of yourself in your series?
DD: Yeah, you write what you know! [laughs] Hardison in the original Leverage had this line, 'Age of the Geek.' And it's really true! When I was a child, the geeks were the outcasts, and now the geeks run the planet. You gotta have that representation.
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DK: What drives Connor to leave a career in academia behind to pursue his passion?
DD: One of the things I love about that character is that he doesn't pout. When bad things happen to him, he always looks at them as an opportunity. So, when he got fired from his teaching position because he was teaching about the possibility that there was a place called The Library, rather than pouring himself into a drink at a bar, he went out, he found fans online who would go fund his adventures and he was determined to prove that what he believed about magic was true. That doesn't change with his character. He's a guy who always sees the glass half-full. Bluey Robinson – Photograph credit: Aleksandar Letic/TNT The Power of Place
DK: Can you speak to the differences of shooting abroad in Serbia versus Portland?
DD: Being in Belgrade, Serbia, has been really interesting because most people have a misidentification of what that's like and what that world is. Before we started shooting The Librarians: The Next Chapter, I flew all the writing staff to Serbia and, to a person, they were like, 'This was not what I was expecting.' By getting that, they were able to reach into a bag of tricks. To a real degree, by placing the show in Serbia, I might as well be placing it on another planet because for most people, it's a whole brand new world.
RELATED: Find your own Magic Well with our On Location deep dive in the Belgrade Fortress, seen on The Librarians: The Next Chapter
DK: Much of the filming of the Annex scenes is done around The Belgrade Fortress, is that correct?
DD: The exteriors, yeah. The interior is this incredible set, maybe one of the most beautiful sets that I've ever had. Y'know, we're a season and a half into shooting — we just finished shooting Episode 6 of Season 2 — and we still haven't shot all the parts of that set yet. Image Courtesy of TNT
DK: What about the well? Because the Belgrade Fortress has a 'Roman Well.'
DD: So, that shot that you see is the actual Roman Well. And then the bottom of it — y'know when they crawl inside — we built that.
New episodes of The Librarians: The Next Chapter air on TNT on Mondays at 9 pm ET.
New TV Shows This Week (June 1 – 7) Diana lives in Vancouver, BC, Canada, where she invests her time and energy in teaching, writing, parenting, and indulging her love of all Trek and a myriad of other fandoms. She is a lifelong fan of smart sci-fi and fantasy media, an upstanding citizen of the United Federation of Planets, and a supporter of AFC Richmond 'til she dies. Her guilty pleasures include female-led procedurals, old-school sitcoms, and Bluey. She teaches, knits, and dreams big. You can also find her writing at The Televixen, Women at Warp, TV Fanatic, and TV Goodness.