Comic-Con 2013: ‘Strike Back’ Panel Report

During one of the later panels on Saturday night, “Strike Back” returned to Comic-Con International as Philip Winchester and Sullivan Stapleton took the stage with their new co-stars Dougray Scott and Milauna Jackson as well as co-executive producer and director, Michael Bassett.

TV Guide’s Mike Schneider served as the moderator and the panel was heavy on clips from the new season. To start things off, Schneider played the first few minutes of the season as Winchester’s Michael Stonebridge and Stapleton’s Damian Scott raced through California’s highways on motorbikes and flirted with girls before getting pulled over by the highway patrol and dramatically recalled to duty at Section 20.

Stapleton fondly recalled that he and Winchester were going so fast on the bikes that the helicopter filming them had trouble keeping up. The panel also laughed about the way that South Africa was used for a scene set in California. Bassett noted that the new season takes place about five months after the last season, as Scott and Stonebridge go on a vacation together and reassess whether they even want to return to Section 20.

Although Rhona Mitra was not at the convention this season, her character, Rachel Dalton also showed up in a clip as she stormed a bathhouse in Beirut and tortured a very obese man whom she accused of betraying her.

Bassett said that Dalton is off the reservation this season, as he laid out the way that the story will bring Scott and Stonebridge to South America in hopes of finding high level drug smugglers who are sending money to a new terrorist network led by the elusive and mysterious al-Zuhari. Scott also gave some background on his new character, James Leatherby; who like Damian Scott, was once an operative working for the Americans who was betrayed by his countrymen.

Leatherby will be one of the new antagonists this season and Scott described him as “very sociopathic,” “very volatile,” and “very sexual… and not with women.” Scott was briefly embarrassed that he exposed his character’s homosexuality before it was revealed on the show, but a subsequent preview clip demonstrated both his violent streak and his sexuality as Section 20 monitored a meeting between Leatherby and one of their reluctant assets.

Another preview clip introduced Jackson’s new character, Kim Martinez, whom Scott and Stonebridge meet during a standoff in South America before they join forces. Jackson described Martinez as a former Marine and DEA agent who has been living in Columbia while in pursuit of a drug lord. Martinez also thinks that she may have found a potential new home in Section 20.

Stapleton and Winchester said that they weren’t hurting after the season the way they were after the previous two seasons. Although both men said the stunts this year are bigger than ever. Winchester pointed out that the show is more believable because they do most of their own stunts. Only the insurance company kept them from doing all of their stunts.

Bassett promised that the season finale “is quite big.” But he also added that the show wouldn’t be able to pull off its action without stars willing to do it as he praised the starring duo. A behind-the-scenes video was then played of Winchester describing an upcoming stunt as Scott and Stonebridge commandeer a train as a truck full of fertilizer blocks the tracks in front of them.

When the topic of Scott and Stonebridge’s bro-mance came up, all of the panelists took out capes for Stapleton’s upcoming movie, 300: Rise of An Empire and wore them in solidarity with him… before taking them off a few minutes later. Stapleton seemed surprised by the gesture, but he laughed and went along with it.

Winchester and Stapleton also spoke glowingly about their freedom on the show to improvise their lines or directly confer with the writers and directors. It was also brought up that Winchester recommended Bassett for the show last season and now he has a much bigger role this year as a co-executive producer and director.

In turn, Bassett spoke about Winchester and Stapleton’s commitment to accurately portraying military tactics and he noted that some of their realistic touches are edited out of the show. But their drive gives the series a sense of realism that it otherwise may not have had.

Another clip played that featured Scott and Sullivan making their way through a jungle river with weapons drawn, as seen in the picture above. Both actors said they became sick at one point after being in the river and that they were warned not to get in or get any of the water in their mouths. However, the scenes on the river required them to be in the water and they did it.

Scott’s infamous nude scenes came up and Stapleton recalled one of his first sex sequences on the show… which was soon followed by having to fight two men while he was naked. Stapleton said he preferred the love scenes to fighting naked.

Towards the end of the panel, Bassett reiterated that the goal of “Strike Back” is to make a movie every week and to take the audiences to places in the world that they may have never otherwise seen.

The final clip of the night featured Scott, Stonebridge, Dalton and Martinez on a boat in the South American jungle as they are pursued by several heavily armed drug smugglers in boats of their own. Scott and Stonebridge come up with a plan to use their two remaining C4 blocks as improvised explosives in the water. But Stonebridge misses the shot to detonate the first block. And the clip came to an end as he desperately tried to make the second shot.

“Strike Back” returns to Cinemax on Friday, August 9.

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