Rachelle Lefevre & Mike Vogel – Under The Dome – Comic Con 2014

Interview By: Lynsey Tamborello

Q) Julia and Barbie seem like they are getting a little “hot and bothered” all over again. At the same time, they are not always on the same page. Are they going to drift away at this point or are they going to find a way to work through their problems?

Rachelle: [turns to Mike] Baby, can we work it out?

Mike: Um, no!

Q) So, it’s over? You’re breaking up now?

Rachelle: He’s done with me.

Mike: Well, their relationship is just like any relationship in life – there are ebbs and flows. Turmoil is interesting. Differences are interesting. So, what we’re going to do is explore some of that. But I think at the heart of it all, they share the same goal, same desire for this town and the people of this town. There will always be ebbs and flow, but I think people know it won’t be permanent.

Q) Is Barbie suspicious of Sam?

Mike: Yeah, I don’t like the guy one bit. First of all, the man’s trying to eat out of my kitchen. Second of all, as we found out [earlier this season] and we find out in ensuing episodes, Sam ain’t a squeaky-clean guy. He’s caused some trouble.

Q) Do you think Barbie believes that Sam killed Angie?

Mike: Well, he has two suspects, Lyle or Sam. Barbie has an idea, which is why he comes to Julia’s house to warn her to watch out for Sam.

Q) We have seen a preview where they’re in a cave and there is a lot of drama and screaming. How does this affect their relationship?

Rachelle: It definitely changes things for a lot of characters and opens up more of the mythology of the show. It’s a really big event and the repercussions of that moment do reverberate throughout the season. It creates emotional ripples and change the dynamic between a lot of characters.

Q) From the previews, we also see a rather beautiful confession in there from Barbie to Julia. Are we going to see some repercussions from that?

Rachelle: Oh, is that the first time our characters say “I love you?!”

Mike: I think it is.

Rachelle: I feel like we play that so much with our characters, like I just “know” he loves me already. It’s interesting because we have all these back stories for ourselves and there is so much that happens to our characters that is not on screen. And in order to see that, we have to evolve in real time. So, I just sort of assumed they’d already had that moment.

Mike: And we shoot a lot of things out of order.

Q) Speaking of evolving, was there anything that you added to your role that wasn’t originally scripted for you?

Rachelle: There is always a little that’s not scripted. As actors, we play a lot. There is a little bit of dialogue improv, but it’s more that the dialogue is performance with that underlying sense of how we feel about each other.

Q) What kind of surprises can you hint about, especially with regards to differences from the book?

Mike: It’s interesting. Anyone can read the book, and the ultimate answer to this thing, we can’t change. So, within staying true to that ultimate answer, then how we get there is open to interpretation. As far as what we know in advance, we only really know maybe three episodes in advance and even then just broad strokes. There is a lot more story to tell that I feel will really offer a lot of surprises for the audience.