From their first moments on screen together, everyone knew that there was magic going on in the scenes between Greg Finley and his co-star Natalie Hall in STAR-CROSSED. In fact, their characters Drake and Taylor’s love-story literally felt electric whenever they were on screen together. The air seemed to sizzle and the light around them seemed a bit bright as their characters fell in love and we fell in love with them.
With the alien-drama series STAR-CROSSED about to wrap its first season, in an exclusive interview Greg Finley talked about discovering that on-screen magic, the funnest scenes of this past season, and where the show may leave fans hanging in the finale.
First of all, episode 12 was so jam-packed. It was actually a lot to take in with so many plots and betrayals.
GREG: (Laughs) Yeah, we knew that when we were shooting it too. There’s a lot of stuff going on.
With all that was going on in that episode, we didn’t get much Draylor scenes, like we did in Episode 11, which had the big baby reveal and Drake and Taylor reuniting.
GREG: I was actually surprised that they didn’t put any Draylor in this last episode. But I guess it goes to show that you’ve got to keep them wanting more.
The Draylor fans have really become a dominant force amongst the Stargazers, and they are anxious for anything and everything all about Drake and Taylor.
GREG: I am honored. It’s really cool. I think it says something about Natalie [Hall]. I’ve never had more chemistry with an actress before. She makes it pretty damn easy. (Laughs)
That’s just a real blessing when you find that with another actor ’cause you are not sure how it’s going to look on screen, and yet when you see it, it’s like, “Wow!”
GREG: Exactly. Everyone said even when we were doing the scenes, “You guys have crazy chemistry.” We knew we did, but we just didn’t know how it would translate on screen to the fans.
The fans fell in love with you two. It’s just beautiful that the fans have fallen in love with those characters so passionately.
GREG: I know. It’s cool.
So will we get some Draylor moments in the finale, or will that have to be back-burnered?
GREG: I’ll be honest. We do get some Draylor moments, but to not give too much away there’s a lot of drama that goes down. We thought we were in the clear, and we’re definitely not in the clear with the Trags and the whatnot. So there’s a lot of saving the world that needs to be done before Taylor and Drake can have any moments.
So you do get to have any scenes with Natalie?
GREG: Oh yeah. For sure. It’s not as private a scene as fans may hope for as it’s with other people as well, but there is a little bit of a connection going on.
Are Drake and Taylor out-and-proud as a couple or are they kind of keeping their relationship still a secret?
GREG: They are out a little bit. I know Drake is still leery a bit. But he knows he’s got to step up and be a man for the kid. So they are definitely out in public, which he’s still leery of.
In the last episode Drake told his mom and she took it so well. That was a surprise.
GREG: I know. He picked a crazy time to do it. Now that she was leaving, it was kind of smart ’cause she had no choice. I loved that scene with Louise [Lombard]. It was fun to shoot.
It seemed like Saroya should be thinking, “Hey, I’m not ready to be a grandmother. What’s going on?!”
GREG: It seemed like she should be upset, but I think she realized that the humans and the Atrians came together to save the world, so maybe times are changing.
It is kind of remarkable how the die-hard Atrians that were against integration are adapting pretty rapidly, which is encouraging.
GREG: It’s cool ’cause they are all coming together for a larger purpose. That’s cool. It’s like in real life, like when a tragedy happens and people come together and forget about their differences and kind of look at the bigger picture.
That was the big message that came out of this last episode. People who were not aligned came together for the bigger purpose to save both races. That was actually actually kind of cool.
GREG: I think it’s great. It makes me proud just to be a part of a show that really promotes that. I’m just really honored to be a part of it.
When you first signed on for the role of Drake, did you anticipate the bigger arc that he would be going on during the first season?
GREG: I had no clue. I was number eight on the call sheet. Out of eight series regulars, I was number eight. So I knew going into it that it was not going to be a very prominent character. But I knew he was going to be a tough guy. I thought it would be fun to play, not knowing all the layers that this character would have. They say it was what I brought to it and that’s flattering, but I do think it’s the writing that carries everything. So I owe Meredith [Averill] and Adele [Lim] a lot ’cause I’ve never had more fun acting than I did last year shooting this show.
They took each of the characters in unexpected directions. That actually made this first season a lot of fun as a viewer, watching to see what was going to happen next.
GREG: Oh yeah. Every character has their moments, and I was lucky enough to have a lot of them.
Would there have been another storyline, outside of the Draylor storyline, that you would have liked to have seen explored further?
GREG: I got so lucky. The stuff between Drake and his mom was great, and a lot of people loved the bromance between Drake and Roman (Matt Lanter), which was fun. I think that’s cool. That’s not shown a lot on TV, two guys as friends — being really good friends and having drama to their relationship. In fact, I think Drake and Roman went through more ups and downs than Drake and Taylor.
That’s true. It was so fun to watch. The other cool thing was they introduced Grayson (Grey Damon) into that dynamic — and they become a trio working together in this last episode, which was fascinating.
GREG: (Laughs) There was a lot of testosterone in these last couple of episodes between these characters that’s for sure. Drake hasn’t forgiven Grayson for what he did making Drake break up with Taylor or for threatening him and blackmailing him. But they came together for the greater cause.
That was cool to see, that these characters were willing to set aside their differences and personal issues to work together fairly quickly.
GREG: Yeah, it didn’t take long. The world was ending. But there was tension you could see in Roman and Grayson’s scenes, and there was definitely that tension between Grayson and Drake. The tension doesn’t go away, but all the characters had to dig deep to get it done.
We also saw in that final scene in last week’s episode that Zoe’s (Dora Madison Burge) back, and that was like, “Oh my god, we thought that girl was gone.”
GREG: My gosh, she just doesn’t go away. Drake thought he’d killed her when he threw her in the fire, but they brought her back. Dora does just such a great job with the character. I can see why they wanted to bring her back. In the season finale — not to give away any spoilers — but she’s prominent in the season finale. Hopefully, she will meet her doom in the finale.
Is she coming after Drake for trying to kill her?
GREG: (Laughs) She’s coming after everybody.
That crazy girl. I’m calling her the Terminator now as she just keeps on coming. When I saw her pop up, I was like, “How is that possible?!”
GREG: I know. I got to see this last episode with my family were like, “Wait — I thought she died.” Then they’re like, “Isn’t Drake supposed to be tough? But the girl that he’s supposed to have killed is back alive and he gets choked out by his mom.” So they thought that was pretty funny.
It was kind of funny and added levity to that episode to see that scene where Saroya knocks out Drake.
GREG: (Laughs) Hey, she’s a badass too. Where do you think Drake got it from? So I don’t feel too bad about it. To be honest, I never enjoyed playing a character as much as Drake. It’s been a really cool, positive thing. I’m grateful for it.
Teri (Chelsea Gilligan) seems to be in an interesting position where she is kind of waffling between the dark side and the good side. Is she finally going to pick a side in the finale?
GREG: I think we see her turning towards the good side. She’s on Team Roman. With Roman dying, she knows what side she is on.
That was pretty shocking of her to take out Castor (Johnathon Schaech). That was a surprise.
GREG: When she said, “There. All better.” That line. The way she said it was just so cool.
For you, looking back over Season 1, what for you were some of your favorite scenes to do as Drake?
GREG: I loved the scene in Episode 9, where Drake confesses to Natalie about why he is the way he is. That first time he opens up to her. It seemed for a long time that Drake was just using her and then to finally see how he really feels about her. It was cool ’cause my mom was on set that day behind the camera and it was cool for her to be there. I think that was a real big turning point for Drake. I also loved all the scenes with Matt, just working with him. He really committed to his character. So those scenes were great too. But I liked it all, to be honest.
As a teaser for the fans, how would you describe what’s coming up for the finale?
GREG: I would say that if the fans think everything is safe and everybody is safe, they are strongly mistaken. The Trags are not done yet. Zoe’s not done yet. Vega’s not done yet. It’s like they have to do it all over again.
Is it going to be a “tissue” episode?
GREG: It is a tissue episode. Maybe not everybody survives. Maybe nobody survives. I think I’ve mentioned it before, but the last scene of the last episode, it’s one of the coolest scenes you’ll see on TV and I’m proud to be in it. It’s awesome.
To see that big scene is that Greg’s so proud of and whether our heroes survive through it, be sure to tune in for the Season 1 finale episode of STAR-CROSSED on Monday, May 12th at 8:00 p.m. on the CW.
Tiffany Vogt is the Senior West Coast Editor, contributing as a columnist and entertainment reporter to TheTVaddict.com. She has a great love for television and firmly believes that entertainment is a world of wondrous adventures that deserves to be shared and explored – she invites you to join her. Please feel free to contact Tiffany at Tiffany_Vogt_2000@yahoo.com or follow her at on Twitter (@TVWatchtower).