Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent is set to premiere tonight with a stellar all-Canadian ensemble cast.
The new drama centres on the Specialized Criminal Investigations team of detective duo Detective Sergeants Henry Graff and Frankie Bateman who take on high-profile homicides across the Greater Toronto Area. The show’s cases are inspired by some of the country’s most popular scandals and headlines in politics, high finance, real estate and more.
In honour of the new show, Now Toronto sat down with some cast members to learn about the secrets behind the making of the drama.
“I think viewers are going to get a thrill out of seeing stories that they’re familiar with but at the same time, we have a really brilliant team of writers who are creating stories as well. So, we’re getting those headlines that everyone is familiar with but then also twists that people aren’t going to expect,” Kathleen Munroe, who plays Detective Sergeant Frankie Bateman, said.
When it comes to potential guest stars fans can expect, the star duo revealed that “The Handmaid’s Tale” Canadian actress Amanda Brugel will be making an appearance. Aden Young who plays Detective Sergeant Henry Graff even said the actress saved him on a particular shoot day.
“I turned up, we did the rehearsal and it was word for word perfect. They rolled the cameras and I literally watched all of the words fall off a cliff into darkness and she was just there keeping me going, keeping me moving,” Young said.
READ MORE: ‘So excited for this,’ Here’s a first look at Law & Order Toronto premiering next month
Aside from the guest stars, the pair shared a lot of gratitude for the people behind the show who brought it together and kept the energy alive.
“The writers and the creators of the show were so collaborative in terms of anything we brought to them in terms of tone, improv or ideas for certain elements of the show. We just felt welcomed, we felt like we were part of the process,” Young said.
“From the crew to the writers to the rest of the cast, it really feels like we’re all kind of there doing the same job and it all felt very well integrated into the departments and really intensely collaborative and we laughed a lot,” Munroe said.
Karen Robinson who plays Inspector Vivienne Holness shares the same sentiment.
“I think that our creative team, they’re so incredibly talented. And they knew that at the end of the day, it has to be entertainment. They knew when they had to punch stuff up, they knew when they had to edit stuff out. It was just really interesting to see how they made these stories, the best that they could be,” she said.
K.C Collins also attributes the writers for helping him prepare for his role as Deputy Crown Attorney Theo Forrester.
Collins says thanks to their consultants and talented writers, he was able to learn about the complexities of his character and transform him into the person he needed to be, however with every new role comes its challenges.
“The law and making sure that you are bringing enough of the authenticity of that to the character, but still balancing that with creating a character…and then there was also the challenge of my character who is really an in and out type of character,” he said.
Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent premieres tonight at 8 p.m. ET on Citytv and is available to stream on Citytv+.
