‘Wild Cards’: Giacomo Gianniotti Previews New CW Series (Exclusive)

A brand new show is coming to The CW, and it’s not your typical procedural. Grey’s Anatomy and Riverdale‘s Vanessa Morgan star in Wild Cards, which follows demoted detective Cole Ellis (Gianniotti) and con woman Max Mitchell (Morgan) teaming up to solve crimes in order to help themselves.

While speaking with PopCulture.com about the new dramedy, Gianniotti shared that the show has “action,” “romance,” and “a lot of comedy.” Fans will be able to check out Wild Cards when the show premieres tomorrow, Jan. 17 at 8 p.m. ET, which will be “a bunch of fun,” but for now, check out what else the actor had to say about Wild Cards.

PopCulture: How would you describe Cole Ellis?

Giacomo Gianniotti: Cole Ellis is a tortured soul. He’s a real man’s man. Your traditional blue collar cop, but he’s got a lot of darkness behind him. He’s lost his brother about a year ago in a pretty violent murder, and so he’s carrying a lot of grief that follows him wherever he goes. So that’s the center and forefront of his character. Grief is where he comes from, so I think he’s angry at the world. I think he’s angry at the universe for dealing him this hand. He’s a little bit quick to anger. He’s got a little bit of a temper. He doesn’t smile often. And so enter Vanessa Morgan’s character, Max Mitchell, who’s entertaining and funny and bubbly and puts all these accents in disguises and it actually warms his art. And we get to see little cracks of smiles from Ellis, which are really rewarding on the show, so she’s the only person who’s able to melt his cold, dark heart.

PC: Is it hard to get into that mindset, with the grief and dealing with different feelings and emotions as an actor?

Gianniotti: Well, why I think the show is set up for success and why I think a lot of people already are starting to be very excited about it is that, ultimately, it’s relatable. Who hasn’t lost someone in their life? These are all things that we all go through. They’re parts of our human existence, so everybody can find an entry point into, certainly, Ellis.

Now, not everybody is a con woman. That’s not immediately relatable, but it’s relatable in the sense of we’ve seen those things before. Ocean’s 11 or heist movies where we imagine ourselves, I certainly as a young actor watching things like The Sting with Robert Redford and Paul Newman, imagine what it would be like to pull off a heist or rob a bank and then living on the excitement of the edge of the law. So I think that provides the fun and the thrill.

PC: Is there anything in particular that drew you to the role?

Gianniotti: Playing a detective was really cool. I haven’t played one before, so just entering that whole law enforcement world was a completely new foray for me, so that was initially what was probably the most exciting and just being able to don the badge and the gun, uniform, and drive a police car and just experience what it’s like to have that power in interviewing people as well. And all that psychological preparation of when you’re interrogating someone and how to figure out if they’re lying or not and what their tells are.

Certainly if you watch the first episode and all the episodes in the season, being a con woman, Vanessa Morgan’s character also is very hip to that. She’s very hip to human psychology and reading people. And she’s often telling Ellis as well, “Hey, I think he’s lying. She was playing with her hair every time she talked about him or whatever the tell of that specific person.” So I think in that way they’re very similar in that way.

PC: Is there any cop character that you drew inspiration from?

Gianniotti: A lot, actually. I think there’s the first season True Detective. I had a lot of inspiration from both of those actors. Matthew McConaughey was a good inspiration, just the calm, quiet, understated, the subtleties, and that’s really what I wanted to come from. And luckily, Ellis is written that way, and he spoke about his grief that also really centers and grounds him. I think the difference between Ellis and Max is, Ellis is very calculated. He really thinks before he speaks and thinks before he leaps. Max is very instinctual. She’s in the moment, and she will have an idea and immediately put it into action and then suffer the consequences later. Whereas Ellis is more thinking of the consequences and being like, “Maybe we shouldn’t do that. That sounds dangerous.”

PC: You’ve previously played a doctor. What would you say is the most challenging part about playing a detective as opposed to playing a doctor?

Gianniotti: I would imagine you’re usually first called on scene when there’s a homicide and the first thing you have to do after you’ve done your initial notes on what’s happened is you have to inform next of kin. And that’s something that also happens in playing a doctor, and that was, for me, certainly the hardest part in speaking with doctors and surgeons. Definitely, they always said that was the hardest part of the job. So I think being a detective, also having to knock on someone’s door and say, “Hey, your daughter’s dead,” is horrible. You know you’re going to absolutely decimate the person on the other side of that door. And that’s got to be an incredibly horrible part of that job. So I got a lot of respect for law enforcement and surgeons as well, who go through this daily and then just … people’s lives. It’s a really difficult, challenging thing to handle that with grace and kindness, and compassion, so I got a lot of respect.

PC: Did you talk to or get advice from any real cops or detectives while playing the role?

Gianniotti: I did. That was something that I asked for very early on, and the producers were very excited and collaborative in that, and then they got me hooked up with the RCMP, which is our Royal Canadian Mountain Police, which is more like government, like CIA, Canadian style. Except they’re on horses and have big red jackets and very Canadian, so I got hooked up with them in their local law enforcement there in Vancouver, and so I got to work with them, I got to do ride-alongs. I got to do some police training with them and weapons training and tactical training and all the different stuff like that, so by the time I stepped on, I felt very engaged and present for that.

PC: Is there a specific episode or a scene that you’re most excited for fans to see?

Gianniotti: I think all the episodes are so great. I think our showrunner, Mike Konyves, had this great idea that he got the writers on board for, which is that every episode is inspired by a famous film. It’s either the name of the episode, or it’s something like that, but it’s very much taking a diving board off of an established marquee. So, each episode really feels like its own little movie. It has its own tone, it has its own pace. It really feels like almost each episode is a little movie. Each episode doesn’t feel like the last one.

They’re very different. We’re in different locations, we’re different crimes. We’re meeting all kinds of different characters. Some episodes are funnier than others, some are more dramatic than others, and so we’ve really given ourselves that liberty to, in ten episodes, take the audience on a journey. We don’t have this formula that every episode has to feel and look the exact same, and I think it’s going to end up being a much more satisfying ride for the viewer.

PC: You were just talking about this, but there are tons of procedurals, past and present, but Wild Cards is very unique in that it involves a cop and a con woman working together. And also, like you just said, every episode is completely different. Besides the obvious, how does the series set itself apart from other procedurals?

Gianniotti: I think casting is a big thing. I think the people that you put up there on screen, because ultimately, whether it’s a doctor or a firefighter or a cop or whatever these established procedural worlds, it’s never about people’s work. That’s not what people are tuning in for. It’s fun. It’s fun to go along for the ride and fun to solve these crimes alongside these heroes on screen that you fall in love with. But the only real reason you are there and coming back every week is because of these people. You’ve fallen in love with this couple, you’ve fallen in love with this character, you’ve fallen in love with these friends. Whoever the heroes of the journey are, that’s who you’re rooting for. All the other stuff is like an afterthought, at the end.

The most important thing is really getting a cast and getting those characters that you really feel the chemistry and the love and that tension between them that’s engaging to watch.

PC: With The CW in the midst of rebranding, how do you think Wild Cards plays a part in ushering the network into a new era?

Gianniotti: Yeah, I think the network’s in a state of transition. There’s still some things from the previous CW that are still taking place, and then there’s new things like Wild Cards that are coming in to bridge that gap and introduce the new way that The CW wants to be seen, which is raising that demographic age and having shows that are more pitched towards adults, rather than teens and just more fun and light.

I think the world is in a dark place right now. There’s shortage of atrocities all over the world happening and crazy headlines that make you sad. So having a show that lifts you out of that, that’s lighthearted, that isn’t going to bring your day down, I think is important. I think that’s what people are looking for, to watch now and at the end of their day, something that’s going to lift them up.

PC: It sounds like that it’s a good mix of both drama and comedy.

Gianniotti: Yeah, I think it’s definitely being marketed as a comedy, and we certainly try our very hardest to make you guys laugh, and we’re excited to see that. But yeah, we definitely have taken more than one occasion over the span of the series to be more dramatic. And those are the moments that I think, because they’re more rare, we earn them and they’re more satisfying for the viewer. Scenes where we peel back the layers of the onion of Ellis or Vanessa’s character, where we get to know them a little better. Those are the really juicy, satisfying stuff for the viewers, right?

PC: For my last question, what is something you want fans to take away from the new series?

Gianniotti: I think ultimately, Max and Ellis, in their own way, in their own mind, are trying to do good in the world. One is a cop, and one is a criminal, but they both believe that they’re doing the right thing. They both believe in good and doing good for people. I think that’s something that hopefully everyone can aspire to be in their own way, in their own life, and so hopefully it makes people think about that, of what good am I doing in the world? What can I do for my neighbor or for my family, or for my friends, or for my community? What’s something that I can contribute in a positive way?

*This interview has been edited for length and clarity*