Michael Xavier – Bitten

Q) Please tell us the premise for the show “Bitten” and about your character Logan Jonsen.

A) The premise is basically following Laura Vandervoort’s character, Elena, who is torn between two loves. Clay (Greyston Holt) is a lover of her’s from the past and she has broken up with him and starts a new life in Toronto where she starts a new relationship with Philip (Paul Greene). She is a werewolf though so she has to come back to upstate New York when ever the pack calls. In this first season, she comes back to upstate New York and is pulled away from this normal life she is trying to live in Toronto back to this relationship with Clay. Out of the entire pack of wolves that we have, Logan (my character) and Elena are the only ones living in Toronto. So, I kind of look out for her and watch her back. We have our therapy sessions together and I give her advice on relationships. As things escalate with our pack of werewolves, our pack gets attacked by mutts that are rogue werewolves. They are sort of closing in and as that escalates throughout the season, Logan goes from being very level-headed and well thought out and very caring and loyal to a person whose buttons continually get pushed to the point he starts to push back. At times, you’ll see the darker side of Logan.

Q) Was there anything that you brought to the character that wasn’t originally scripted for you?

A) Our series is based off a series of books and my character didn’t really last long in the books. I have spoken to a lot of people who are big fans of that character and they were really disappointed to see his death. So, the plotline has really been extended and there are a whole lot of new things you can find out about this character. When we were starting early on with the show, I was speaking to the writers really closely and we passed around some ideas back and forth. One idea that they had was that they wanted to see how dark they could go with Logan. I opened up and said, “Let’s go as dark as you want to go. Really challenge me and let’s try some more aggressive scenes.” I was able to go back and forth with them about that and they were able to incorporate that into the script. It’s sort of midway through the season through the end you see a drastic change with the character. That’s something the writers and I discussed back and forth. That is something that is definitely different from the book and I think it is going to be really interesting moving forward and seeing what happens with that character.

Q) Did the chemistry come naturally between the cast or did it take some time to develop?

A) It was absolutely natural! My girlfriend on the show, Rachel (played by Genelle Williams), we worked with each other years ago. Out of the entire cast, she is the only person who I had worked with previously. It was my first time meeting everybody else and the chemistry was pretty instantaneous as soon as we stepped on set. Even before we got to set, we got together before we were shooting and the chemistry was there from the start. We have a cast full of guys who likes to joke around and Laura likes to joke herself. She is a self proclaimed tomboy at heart. So, there is a lot of freedom for jokes going throughout the entire series. We all get along. I still hang out with Steve Lund (who plays Nick). We had a growing relationship since the show wrapped. Greg [Bryk] plays the alpha male on the show and you couldn’t ask for a better mentor type of actor. Aside from being the alpha male on the show, he’s also the seasoned actor of all of us. So, it’s nice to get his input from a mentor sense as well.

Q) What do you think it is about the show that will make people want to tune in?

A) I think it’s a very sexy show. There are a lot of great relationships on it. Obviously, Elena has her relationships with Clay and Philip, which can get pretty intense. It’s very back and forth throughout the season. People will be curious where that is going. There is my relationship with Rachel and that gets intense. There is a tipping point and it gets to the point in our relationship where he has to decide how dark he is willing to get. The chemistry between the cast is on point and because this story is built around this pack of werewolves there is a very deep family aspect to the way the show is coming across. I think that we really hit the nail on the head with that chemistry because we all have a natural, close feeling bond with our pack. It helps with the storytelling.