‘Reacher’s Kathleen Robertson Says Role Is “Certainly Set Up” To Become Powerful Ally In Season 5; Talks Moving ‘Tracker’ To LA

SPOILERS: This post contains details about the Reacher, Season 4 finale episode “Cut” As Alan Ritchson’s Reacher brings another far-reaching crime to justice, Kathleen Robertson thinks it could be just the beginning for her politico Elspeth Sampson. The Reacher star recently discussed the Season 4 finale episode “Cut” with Deadline, noting that it’s “certainly set up” for her newly widowed character to become a powerful ally for the titular retired soldier in the Prime Video series. “That’s my hope. Let’s put it out there into the universe,” said Robertson. “Yeah, I mean, I think that she’s certainly set up that way. And it’s been nice to see people’s responses.” Watch on Deadline Initially, Elspeth fields Reacher’s request to meet her North Carolina congressman husband John Sampson (Marc Blucas) when the mystery-solving drifter connects the suicide of a Pentagon employee to a photo of the politician during a 1998 military operation in Indonesia. “The role was fun for me. I love playing obviously very strong, complicated women, and I tend to be sent those roles a lot, which is great,” she explained. “I think they really were sort of looking for somebody that could kind of be believable, going toe-to-toe with Alan Ritchson and not at all having it feel forced, not having it feel like an inherent power imbalance.” Kathleen Robertson and Marc Blucas in ‘Reacher’ Robertson added, “And I know for [Ritchson], he loved that as well, and it was sort of an interesting color for him to play with.” Following her husband’s heroic sacrifice in the penultimate episode, when he tackles a chemical bomber into the ocean, Elspeth embraces Reacher as an ally, revealing her intention to take over her husband’s presidential journey. “It’s always that interesting, funny thing as a woman when you’re married to a man who sort of has the visible power and people just sort of automatically assume at the beginning that she’s just his plus-one and his wife,” Robertson said. “But she’s obviously not, and she’s much more than that.” Read on about Kathleen Robertson’s role in Season 4 of Reacher, now available to stream on Prime Video. DEADLINE: Tell me about joining this ensemble and playing Elspeth, this high-powered politician’s wife. KATHLEEN ROBERTSON: It was fun. It was really fun. It’s always really great as an actor to work on a show that people actually love and watch. We work on so many projects as actors that never see the light of day, or we love so much and go to film festivals, and then like 250 people see them. So, it’s fun to be a part of something that is so wildly loved and successful, and the role was fun for me. I love playing obviously very strong, complicated women, and I tend to be sent those roles a lot, which is great. I think they really were sort of looking for somebody that could kind of be believable, going toe-to-toe with Alan Ritchson and not at all having it feel forced, not having it feel like an inherent power imbalance. So, I think that that was something that was really fun to kind of play with in a sort of small subtle way, to just kind of trust that the power with this woman is inherent and it’s part of the DNA of who she is as a human being, and so she doesn’t have to necessarily say a lot. It’s just kind of the essence of how she moves through the world, and so that was really fun to play with. With Alan in that regard, with those scenes, it was fun and I didn’t have to do any stunts, which made me very happy. I’m not a stunt person, I hate doing that kind of stuff. DEADLINE: I also saw you posting photos of your outfit and getting to wear the red bottoms. ROBERTSON: Yeah, of course. She was fun. She’s very different from me in that regard. I felt very much like a politician’s wife when I would get into wardrobe. DEADLINE: And you mentioned going toe-to-toe with Alan. I really appreciated that first meeting between the two of you because he has so many physical opponents that he goes head to head with, as far as fighting, but he doesn’t have too many mental opponents. ROBERTSON: Exactly. I thought that was interesting, and I know for him, he loved that as well, and it was sort of an interesting color for him to play with. DEADLINE: I also enjoy the dynamic between Elspeth and her husband and the fact that she kind of knows a lot of his secrets, and it seems like she’s pulling a lot of the strings. Tell me about building that dynamic with Marc Blucas and getting to play with that. ROBERTSON: It was interesting, ‘cause it is such an obviously top secret show in terms of what they want to share or not share in the scripts and whatnot. So, at the beginning, before I signed on to do the role, I had a meeting with Nick Santora and he sort of walked me through it, and it was interesting. He’s great. I’m a huge fan of his, and he thinks about things in terms of backstory. And he really sort of talked me through, this is a woman who was also a politician, and he’s like, “I imagine that there would have been at some point a conversation between her and her husband going like, ‘OK, which one of us is gonna really go for this? Is it gonna be you or is it going to be me? Because it can’t be both of us.'” And so that it became this very sort of practical, strategic—we talked a little bit about the Barack and Michelle thing, of like how Michelle could have equally gone and run for president, but it was that decision of, “You’re a guy, you’re gonna have a much better shot of this happening than me. So, I’m gonna be with you and we’re gonna do this together, but you’re going to be the face of this, and I’m going to be essentially running things behind the scenes.” So, that was very much kind of how I approached her as a character. It’s always that interesting, funny thing as a woman when you’re married to a man who sort of has the visible power and people just sort of automatically assume at the beginning that she’s just his plus-one and his wife. But she’s obviously not, and she’s much more than that. So yeah, that was interesting too, and I thought the other thing that was interesting about what Nick said from day one to Marc and I, was that these people love each other. They don’t have children, they never had kids, they never did the traditional kind of thing, and they always have been each other’s fiercest advocates. But there isn’t sort of a dark secret where we’re gonna go, “oh, they don’t really love each other” or “this is all sort of for show,” like some other presidents and wives that we may think, “Are they really in love? Is this real or is this just sort of a facade?””And for them, it very much is not. So that was also something interesting, let’s actually show a couple who moves in this political world that actually is in love, and they do truly love each other. So that was kind of subverting what we sort of expect with political marriages. DEADLINE: By the end of the season, Elspeth does kind of step into her own political path, and I’m wondering if we could see her again in a future season, because it feels like she could be a powerful ally for Reacher. ROBERTSON: That’s my hope. Let’s put it out there into the universe. Yeah, I mean, I think that she’s certainly set up that way. And it’s been nice to see people’s responses because I know people have really felt sort of like, “Oh, she’s such an interesting character, and we were so curious to see where it went and what the backstory was.” Of course you only have so many hours of television in a season, so that would be amazing. DEADLINE: I’m also curious, are you gonna be back for the next season of Tracker. ROBERTSON: I am, yeah. DEADLINE: What’s it like playing with those guys? ROBERTSON: It’s really fun. We actually filmed last season in Vancouver, and then of course I’m sure you saw in the trades, all the excitement over it moving back to LA. So, it was like a big thing that they really wanted to bring it back to Los Angeles and obviously help create more jobs for LA and for the industry there, which has been great. So yeah, this new season’s filming in Los Angeles, and I’ve been back and done a few of those now. The season just started back like a month ago. So yeah, I will be popping up again on that show. DEADLINE: Anything else you have coming up? ROBERTSON: I’m in pre-production right now on a new show that I created, that I’m showrunning and I’m starring in it and I’m writing it, and it’s called Blessed Sacrament. We’re gonna start filming in January and we’re doing 10 episodes, shooting it in Toronto. I’m showrunning it, so I’m excited. That’s my main thing I’m really focused on right now, writing and hiring directors and all that kind of stuff.