Person of Interest: Michael Emerson On Ending the CBS Series

The Person of Interest TV show’s fifth season and TV series finale, “Return 0,” airs on CBS tonight, June 21, 2016, at 10:00pm ET/PT.  Find out what star Michael Emerson, late of ABC‘s Lost, had to say about the end of Person of Interest and what he would like to work on, next. 

The Person of Interest TV series cast also includes: Jim Caviezel, Kevin Chapman, and Sarah Shahi.

 

 

From TV Line:

 

TVLINE | Without naming names, obviously not everyone makes it out of the finale alive. Do you agree with the loss the team sustained in the name of doing the right thing?

You have to have casualties to give it gravity. That’s the only way that writers can say that these things have consequences, that these decisions have cost. To tell you the truth, I’m not sure who’s left standing, unitl [sic] I see it [Tuesday] night. But I’m always the one that has a bunch of questions after I see a finished episode, like, “Is that what that means?” Sometimes I have to replay them just to make sure that I’m getting what they’re putting out there! I had read the [series finale] script of course and acted in the scenes, but things change a little bit when they get cut and music is added, and they highlight the things they want highlighted and bury the things they want buried. That’s one of the interesting aspects of the job and one of the reasons why I always watch the finished episodes.

TVLINE | What’s your biggest takeaway from the Person of Interest experience? I mean, this is your second series in a row to have banked 100-plus episodes.

That’s right, that’s unusual. I’m really a lucky actor to have had two good shows like that, both of which I was proud of. My takeaway is: It’s hard to do a big show like [POI or Lost]. Both were huge to shoot, technically, with action and explosions and effects and all of that. I don’t know how much longer the network formula can support work that difficult, on the model that they’re using now. To shoot a credible half-of-an-action feature every eight working days…? I think it’s just unsupportable.

 

If CBS were to reverse course and order another season of Person of Interest or a spin-off, Emerson said he would be glad to do it, but would want to do fewer episodes.

 

If they said to me, “We want Person of Interest to keep going but we’re only going to do 10 or 12 [episodes],” I’d say, “Sign me up.” But I can’t do 22 again. I think people always expect me to be broken up about things coming to an end, but we were so tired in December, I couldn’t even have imagined coming back after the new year and shooting more.

 

As to what he would like to work on next, Emerson will probably limit himself to projects in shooting in the continental U.S., adding, “I don’t like living out of a suitcase like I once did.”

 

 

What do you think? Will you watch the Person of Interest TV series finale tonight, on CBS? Do you think it is ending at the right time, or should CBS have renewed Person of Interest for a sixth season?