By Jamie Ruby

Covert Affairs, USA's hit spy drama, returns for a third season this month. The series stars Piper Perabo as Annie Walker, a young woman who was recruited to the CIA for her instincts and skills.

The Golden Globe-nominated Perabo has starred in such films as Coyote Ugly and Cheaper by the Dozen and appeared on television in series such as House M.D. and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. The actress will also be appearing in the upcoming films Looper and Red Machine.

Perabo recently talked to the digital press about the new season of Covert Affairs, which premieres Tuesday, July 10 at 10/9c on USA.


USA Network Conference Call
Covert Affairs
Piper Perabo

June 27, 2012

SCIFI VISION: So can you talk about how both your character and Auggie (Christopher Gorham) are being reassigned this season? A lot of things are going to change. Can you talk about that overall change in the season, how it changes the dynamics of everything?

PIPER PERABO: Well, yes. Both Auggie and I are reassigned this season. And we both go into more secretive departments, but different departments. And my office where I go to work is in this bunker in the basement and he’s working with the really high up powers of the CIA. And so we’re not only physically very far apart from each other whereas we used to be our desks could see each other.

Now we’re physically very far apart. And also because of what’s going on in our personal lives, we start seeing less and less of each other. And as the season goes on that causes all kinds of problems because you begin to realize that having Annie and Auggie together is kind of - they support each other in a way that ends up solving things.

And when they’re not together, wires get crossed all over the place.

SCIFI VISION: Do you enjoy the dramatic part of the show or the action part more?

PIPER PERABO: Well, I enjoy them both. I like the acting. That’s really where my heart is. But this show, I like how we do action on this show. It’s a real Doug Liman style where we’re real run-and-gun with handheld 5D Canon cameras. And when we shoot internationally, most of the time, we don’t block off a street. We don’t have cops to shut it down.

We just go. The whole world starts invading our set. And then we’re on foot. And the camera boys are used to it. So the action has a great acting component in the show because of the way we shoot it. So, I like some balls.

QUESTION: Will Annie and her sister get to any more trouble this season?

PIPER PERABO: Well, I can’t tell you exactly what happens with Danielle this season. But there is a big thing that happens in Danielle’s life. And it puts a strain on her relationship with Annie. Annie Dudek, who plays Danielle, she went on the road with us and traveled at the end of season two and got involved in Annie’s mission.

So now she’s really waist deep into the spy world with Annie. She knows how dangerous it is. She knows what’s going on. And so it makes Danielle worry even more now that she realizes the great risks that Annie is under. So when Danielle’s life gets complicated, it puts a lot of stain on the sisters.

QUESTION: Do the dynamics of Annie and Auggie’s friendship change now that she’s realized she has feeling for him and he’s with someone else?

PIPER PERABO: Well, it definitely puts a strain on the friendship when one person feels more strongly than the other person. At least, that’s my personal experience. So the problem is Auggie - the fact that Auggie’s blind in some ways mirrors his relationship with Annie. And it’s fun to play the scenes with Chris Gorham because you can sort of be in love with him.

And as long as you’re not saying anything, Auggie doesn’t know. So there’s a lot of moments in the opening, especially where Annie’s trying to keep her feelings under wraps. But it’s plain as expression on her face. Just that Auggie doesn’t know. It’s really fun to act it, actually. And Chris Gorham’s constantly laughing because he could see me peripherally while he’s acting Auggie.

And then he’s like, “Come on, gosh. Everybody would feel that smile coming at them.” He’ll tease me a lot about how I look at Auggie.

QUESTION: Is there any chance for the crossover with White Collar and Covert Affairs?

PIPER PERABO: I hope so. I was texting with Matt Bomer. And he’s in New York, and I live in New York. And I keep wanting to get home so I that could see him. It would be such a perfect crossover, although I haven’t seen the script idea for it yet.

QUESTION: Covert Affairs it’s such a fun show to watch. I can’t say enough good things about your performance. Why do you suppose this is such a good fit for you?

PIPER PERABO: Well, it was luck initially. I wasn’t looking for a television show. But I’m always looking for a strong female lead. And so when the show came up, what I really liked about Annie is she’s true to her moral code even if it’s not the rules of the game.

And I thought that’ll be a fun conflict to play. And then I feel like the writers room and the creators, Matt Corman and Chris Ord, we all have a similar ethos. And with a similar sense of humor, we get excited about the same things. So I feel like our imaginary world - my imaginary world and the writer’s imaginary world overlaps in a lot of ways.

We like the same things. So I think somehow that makes the show mesh together.

QUESTION: As an actress, you’re called upon to do a lot of different things - running, jumping, sliding and all the different languages you have to speak. Was that easy for you to pick up? Or if it wasn’t, has it gotten easier for you as the show has progressed?

PIPER PERABO: The languages were not. We’re up to 18 languages that Annie speaks. And I told the writers they have to put a lid on it because it started to get a little ridiculous. Although some languages have gotten easier. At the beginning, Annie didn’t speak any tonal languages. And now she speaks Mandarin. And so the tonal languages are still really difficult for me.

But the European languages and Russian I sort of have a handle on. So at one point, the boys were saying if we could find a way to justify it, we could do a whole act in a foreign language. And so I think that’s such an exciting idea. And I don’t know what language we’d do it in. But I just hope it’s not Mandarin.

QUESTION: The premiere, it changes the game for Annie in terms of taking her completely out of her comfort zone. And we knew when the show started that she had moved around quite a bit, and that’s part of the reason that she had all of these abilities. What have you learned about Annie going into this world where she’s setting her own missions?

And the chain of command has changed and she doesn’t have Auggie as a sounding board. So there’s a lot that changed for her right off the gate with the premiere. What have you learned about the character as that’s happened this season?

PIPER PERABO: Well, it was interesting. When the writers’ room started talking about this change that was going to happen for Annie, we never wanted her to get too expert too fast. And when she was going to get all this autonomy to make decisions out in the field and make decisions about her own missions, one of the ideas that came up was the idea of a teenager who just got their driver’s license.

And after they’ve been driving for a couple of weeks, they think they’re a great driver. And that’s when teenagers get into accidents. When they think you know they really know what they’re doing. And so that idea of the person who has newly acquired power, that thinks they’ve got it all under control and how colossally dangerous that is because they go way too fast.

And so I think Annie’s just right for that kind of problem because she never looks before she leaps. And she often solves problems on the fly. So autonomy is not necessarily that useful, at least in the beginning. So it’s going to cause a lot of problems for her.

QUESTION: The fight scenes look really real and accurate. You actually look like you’re getting the crap kicked out of you.

PIPER PERABO: Sometimes, I am.

QUESTION: Or that you’re kicking the crap out of someone. The two that come to mind are in the first season on the subway platform.

PIPER PERABO: Yes.

QUESTION: Also the scene at the rowing club and the garage and the storage room with...

PIPER PERABO: Oh, yes.

QUESTION: I was wondering what kind of toll does that take on your body. And have you ever actually been injured in any of those?

PIPER PERABO: I was injured in the first season in a fight scene, injured my leg. And then there’s usually - not usually, I shouldn’t say that. But in the boathouse sequence, I hit a guy with a crew rowing boat. And there was one take where I did clip him with the boat. When you know we shoot, we always talk about Bourne and how the Jason Bourne fights are sold by Doug Liman and how it’s messy and hand held.

And we’re always aiming for that visceral feeling of a fight as opposed to a cleaner, choreographed style. And so when you start moving fast, it is more dangerous and you have to be really alert and really rehearsed in a way to make it get it messy.

By the end of the day, you definitely can use a cool bath and a beer because you’re tired. Because you just don’t do the fight once, you do it so many times from so many different angles. So the good thing is we have great stunt people on our show. And so I always feel really safe.

And we now have a stunt fight room where we block out the whole thing. And we rehearse fights in there. And it’s fun to make it up and to think about who you’d be fighting. And what’s in the room? And how would you defend yourself, because she’s a woman? And then I’m smaller than a lot of people I fight. You’re constantly looking for weapons. And it’s really fun.

QUESTION: What do you do in between seasons to stay in fighting trim? Do you keep up your training or do you just grab a bag of Doritos, lie in a hammock and say “Screw it?”

PIPER PERABO: I wish I could grab a bag of Doritos. Usually, I mix up my training a lot because I get sort of bored doing one thing all the time. There’s a gym in New York called Tracy Anderson which is [a] mix of dance and Pilates. And I do a lot of that recently.

But in the last hiatus, I did a bear hunting movie called “The Red Machine.” And so we’re in the mountains east of Vancouver. And we were hiking in the mountains and the snow with packs on. And so you don’t need to go to the gym at the end of the day after hiking all day

QUESTION: Are you going to Comic-Con this year?

PIPER PERABO: I don’t think we are going to Comic-Con. We’re traveling so much this year that we’re having to try and fit as much filming days as we can on our stages. In fact, tonight we leave for Paris.

So, yes we’ll film all day and then literally, the crew wants (unintelligible) travel, we bring our suitcases to work. We film all day on our stage. And then we all go to the airport and get on planes and fly. This season, we’ve gone already to Morocco, to Spain, to Puerto Rico and now to Paris. So, Comic-Con’s not going to fit in the schedule this year.

Although I know the Psych boys are going. I know Dule is going. He keeps talking to (unintelligible). He said he was going. So I’m sure I’ll hear all about it from Dule.

QUESTION: So, wow. You get to travel a lot.

PIPER PERABO: Yes. When we have guest stars on the show, they’re always so excited because we’re like, “Well, we’ll do this many days here, and then we’ll meet you in this country and do that many days there.” It’s really different from most shows.

QUESTION: I imagine it is hard to keep relationships going that way when you’re gone all the time?

PIPER PERABO: Well, you know the life of an actor, especially working [so] much, my life has been that way a lot because I’ll do a movie in Vancouver and then I’ll do a movie in Louisiana. And then I’ll go to LA, and then I’ll go to New York. So the people in my life are used to it. And you get more time off then someone who has a regular 9-to-5 job.

So although maybe I don’t see everybody every evening, then I’ll have three weeks off in the middle of a random month and so it pays off in different ways.

QUESTION: I noticed that over the course of the seasons, that Annie’s moral grey area just keeps getting bigger and bigger. And especially [the premiere], I noted that she’s taken way more risks then she ever has. And maybe throwing caution to the wind.

Are we going to see that continue throughout this season, a ballsier, more risk-taking Annie than ever?

PIPER PERABO: I think it is. I think the moral grey area getting bigger is a good way to put it. I think as Annie gets given more missions that are higher security clearance and more personal and intimate, if you want to get into these places, you have to find a way.

And sometimes the way in is morally ambiguous. And I think to be that level of operative, you need to be willing to blur the lines. And so I think Annie’s ambition to really play in the big leagues is going to come up against her moral code.

QUESTION: At the end of the premiere, Annie makes a decision that involves the shower. That to me showed her making a decision or maybe the lack of a decision and just going with the flow. How will Annie handle the aftermath of making that decision?

PIPER PERABO: Well, right now, we’re filming Episode 8. And Annie is still dealing with the aftermath of what happens at the end of 1. It’s such a blurred line. And I think she makes a decision in the season premiere without really thinking it through. She doesn’t have time in that moment to really sit down and think it out.

As is Annie’s way, she just leaps before she looks. And so the emotional fallout from that goes for quite a while. And I’ve only read up to Episode 9 because the writers they keep it so secret, so I don’t even know where she’s going to land in this. It gets really confusing for her.

QUESTION: Did her decision have anything to do with the new handler played by Sarah Clarke and the conversation that they had?

PIPER PERABO: I think so. I mean...

QUESTION: That relationship?

PIPER PERABO: Yes. Well, you know Sarah’s part of Lena is she’s super ambitious and she doesn’t care about the rules. Way beyond Annie. Annie will disobey Joan, but she still has moral integrity. She still tries to obey the laws as best she can. Lena is (unintelligible) about getting the op done at all costs.

And I think being around someone like that - I always think of Lena as like when you’re in high school and there’s that really cool girl who all of sudden invites you to a party. And she’s never talked to [you] before. Even though you’re not supposed to go to the party, it’s so exciting that that cool girl asked you to go. You think, “Well maybe I’ll just get in trouble and do this. I’m so excited she wants to hang out with me.”

I think Lena’s sort of like that. And she’s so talented. She’s so highly regarded. She’s so cool, that she starts having an affect on Annie.

QUESTION: Glad to see you finally joined Twitter.

PIPER PERABO: Thanks. It’s been so fun.

QUESTION: We’ve got to get everybody else on there.

PIPER PERABO: I know. Actually, I have a little thing to share with you guys. Chris Gorman and I decided that we’re not going to be together for the premiere. But so that we could be together, we’re going to Twitter live during the premiere together so we can talk about it with the fans while they watch the premiere. So we’re sort of watching it with them.

QUESTION: Back to the Annie and Auggie relationship. A lot of times when shows go there, it ruins the tension that goes on between the two...

PIPER PERABO: Yes.

QUESTION: And I just wanted to know what your thoughts are. Do you want to them to go there? Do you want it to never go there? Or do you want them to just do it a little later?

PIPER PERABO: Well, I feel the same way. And if I was watching the show, I always have that feeling when I watched shows, I want them to go there. And I never want them to go there because I love watching them think about going there. But with Annie and Auggie at this point, we’re pretty far from them going there because with his relationship with Parker, it’s going to go far away from there before it possibly swings back around.

So I don’t know. Annie’s going to have to try and work a little harder if she wants to get Auggie’s attention now that Parker’s in the picture.

QUESTION: Well, with that being said, is Annie going to try to tuck those feelings away and pretend they’re not there for a while? Or are we going to see her dealing with that...?

PIPER PERABO: Well, I just shot a scene. I can’t even say all of this, but I just shot a scene of Episode 8 where Annie is supposed to have all those feelings tucked away in a little box that she’s supposed to leave on the top shelf of the closet. And then Auggie turns around and does something and literally Annie.

It’s like, you know when you’re just so in love with someone and you have to be silent about it? And once in a while they do something that just sends you overflowing? Auggie does something like that in Episode 8. And it’s so cool to watch him do it. And it’s so fun to play it that he can’t see her.

Because [as] the girl, you can just melt. And he doesn’t know. So, it starts to become undeniable to Annie. I’ll tell you that.

QUESTION: Are you going to be driving his Vette or what?

PIPER PERABO: I know. There was an episode that was a couple of episodes back where I was like, “Hello, this is the perfect opportunity to drive the Vette.” And they’re like, “It’s a little bit conspicuous, Piper.” And I was like, “That’s the point. Let’s put a high red shoe on and drive in the Vette.” But I know I’m driving it when we come back from Paris. So don’t worry.

I’ve been thinking long and hard about what kind of dress I want to be wearing when I drive that Vette.

QUESTION: Yes. Because as it stands, we’re all going to be waiting to see the ‘Vette and take it whether Auggie’s in the car with you taking it for a ride. I don’t know, but we want to see the Vette.

PIPER PERABO: I can promise you this. When you see the Vette, it’s going to be - when I read the scene with the Vette, I was like, “This was worth waiting for.”

SCIFI VISION: You mentioned so many different places you have filmed. Can you talk about that and some of your favorite places that you’ve been for the show?

PIPER PERABO: Well, like you saw in the season premiere, we’re in Marrakesh. We’ve been in so many beautiful places. The light in Paris is so outstanding. Venice is so good for its architecture. I liked Berlin just because the art was so amazing. But I have Marrakesh and the spy locale is so perfect.

It feels far away. It feels fantastic. The souks make for these incredible chase scenes where there’s shafts of light and darkness. And I think that Arabic is such a beautiful language. And it has this curvaceous and still strong feeling. So for me Marrakesh was incredible for the show. And I really like, we’re always filming our scenes earlier.

We’re always with no lockups out in the street with boys with handheld cameras. And so we eat a lot of street food when we’re filming on location. And Marrakesh has the most incredible street food. So, Jamie Barber, the DOP and I are often while they’re picking out which side of the street they want to be on, he and I’ll be sitting there eating fried eggplant and French fries on the curb and just waiting for them to make a decision.

And one of the funniest parts of filming abroad is eating street food with Jamie Barber.

SCIFI VISION: Are there any special guest stars that you’d love to see on the show if you could?

PIPER PERABO: I keep saying that I want my friend Lena Headey to be on the show. But Game of Thrones keeps overlapping. And they’re doing so well on Game of Thrones, I can’t seem to get her off it. Everybody keeps watching it. And Peter Dinklage loves her so much, I don’t how I’ll ever get her over on to my show.

And she did one episode of White Collar. So I don’t know why she can’t make a little escape. But apparently, they really need her over on Game on Thrones. So, I’m missing Lena Headey. I wish she was on our show.

QUESTION: You talked a lot about the change in the dynamics between Annie and Auggie. But I want to know about how that’s going to affect Annie and Joan. Because they’re the other relationship in the show that to me is really special.

PIPER PERABO: I agree. And Kari and I - Kari Matchett who plays Joan, we had a bigger scene yesterday in Arthur’s office. And as much as it can be contentious between Annie and Joan, I think Joan in a lot of ways is Annie’s touchstone of a woman who’s done it right.

And so when she comes under the guidance of Lena, although it’s really - Lena’s division is really cool. They’re a bunch of bad asses. Nobody has a desk. They sleep on the floor. They fly to Cabo for two hours and they fly back out. It’s so rock and roll over at Lena’s, it’s kind of dangerous. And I think it gets contentious with Joan and Annie because Annie takes to Lena.

But I think Annie will come to realize what a kind of rock Joan is for her even though you sometimes it’s not so buddy- buddy with Annie and Joan. But Joan really does care about Annie. And I think Annie’s going to start to realize that.

QUESTION: Yes. I think there’s a respect there from both sides, which is what makes the relationship so interesting to watch.

PIPER PERABO: Exactly.

QUESTION: Will we get to see interaction between Annie and Joan or Annie and Auggie, even though they’re not working directly with each other anymore?

PIPER PERABO: Oh, yes. Not only do you see interaction between them, but they’ll (unintelligible) places in our (unintelligible) that we’ve always walked through like hallways and elevators and atriums and stuff like that that are usually just part of a walk and talk when we’re going somewhere. All of sudden, all these scenes start getting shot in those places because Annie’s constantly trying to find Auggie, pulling him into a corner in the hallway, trying to copy him.

Trying to speak to Joan for the length of an elevator ride because it’s her only chance to see Joan. And so we’re shooting in these different places all in our sets because we’re having all these secret conversations with Lena’s secret agency. So it’s so funny ‘cause (unintelligible) were shooting the scene in the doorway and we’d pull each over into a corner and we’re talking in the hallway.

And we’re looking to see who’s in the hallway. And I’m like, “With so much shit going on, I could just come to your office.” It’s not that way this season.

QUESTION: You mentioned a little bit ago about reading that script for the scene with the Vette. What’s your general reaction when you get the script for the first time? Is there something that you’re always on the lookout for or anything like that?

PIPER PERABO: Well, we’re doing a lot more long arcs this season, so guest stars come in and they stay for many episodes. And the story of who they are unfolds. And old characters come back. So I do a lot of cracking of how much information certain people know, because certain people only have certain security clearance.

So I have to think about how much they already know and where we’re going and cracking the guest stars this season because of the way they’re writing. Also, I think as we come up to the end…of the summer season, things have gotten really dangerous. So I’m always curious to make sure everybody’s still safe by the end of the story. It gets really dangerous here at the end.

QUESTION: It certainly sounds like Annie has a lot on her plate as usual, but especially this season. Is there a piece of advice that you would give her?

PIPER PERABO: Gosh, that’s such a good question. This season is so explosive and so fast. If Annie would just slow down a little bit, she might see things more clearly. But she just doesn’t want to slow down. She gets a little excited and drunk on the power that she’s given under Lena’s division.

So if I was her friend, I would tell her to slow down. But since I get to play her, I don’t want to tell her that because it’s really fun to just go running towards a burning building.

QUESTION: What do you like most about Annie?

PIPER PERABO: I like that Annie is impulsive because acting-wise, it’s very active. To sit and ponder the consequences before you do something is not active, in a way. And what’s fun to act is someone who goes, and goes, and goes. It’ll get you into trouble faster, which is fun to act.

It has a kinetic thing that I really respond to. But it sounds so girly, but I also really like how Annie dresses. I love that they let her - that’s where the James Bond comes out in Annie, her shoes and her dresses and her jackets. And a character makes a joke about it in this season. He says, “How can you afford this many shoes on a government salary?” And it’s so true. It’s so beyond fantasy, her shoe collection. Oh God, as a girl, it’s so fun to walk into the wardrobe trucks in the morning.

QUESTION: What do you think it is about Cover Affairs that really resonates with [viewers]?

PIPER PERABO: I think in the summer, it’s an escape. We travel a lot and it’s high octane. And in the way that in the summer the blockbuster movies come out and you want to go see Ghost Protocol and you want to go see Prometheus because you want these big blowout escapes.

And I feel like Covert Affairs really takes advantage of that tone of the summer.

QUESTION: You talk about the dynamics that she - that Annie’s on a new team. And she’s got somebody that she’s indirectly reporting to. But can we trust Lena? Or are we supposed to sort of wonder whether she has another agenda that she’s running Annie on?

PIPER PERABO: Well, I had those questions at the beginning too. But, I can’t really tell you the answer.

What I can tell you is I think Lena’s good for Annie. I think she needs a push out of the nest. And she needs someone - people can tell you how to do things until they’re blue in the face, but if you don’t experience something, you don’t really know how to do it. And I think Annie is ready to take on bigger missions. And although Lena’s methodology may be questionable, I think it’s good for Annie to be under that kind of boss.

QUESTION: Thenon the guest casting question, so now that Sandra Berkley’s available, can we get Sandra Berkley to work with Sarah on the show?

PIPER PERABO: Wouldn’t that be amazing? I keep hoping that he’s going to stroll into the stage to pick her up and maybe Nikita will be there. And maybe they’ll just all roll into the DPD to pick Sarah up from what could happen yet. But it would be bad ass. And then if a real fight broke out between Nikita and Covert Affairs, I’d like to see that brawl.

QUESTION: We [interviewed] Chris last month and he mentioned that Annie and Auggie go undercover as a married couple in Spain in the second episode.

PIPER PERABO: Of course, I can’t believe he told you that. Man. Oh, my God.

QUESTION: What it was like for Annie to pretend to be married to someone she does have feelings for?

PIPER PERABO: Well, first of all, Chris and I had been begging for Auggie and Annie to go into the field again. They’re kind of in the field in the pilot and then it doesn’t happen again. And they’re such an incredible team that to have them in the field, it’s just so exciting.

And then on top of it, to be married - when Joan gives us our wedding rings, it’s so intense. Like when you like someone and by chance you just sat next to them in a meeting or you sit next them on the bus, or you happen to be at the grocery store, it’s so exciting. And so if you like someone, and someone says, “You have to pretend to be married to them.” Annie can barely control herself.

I can’t believe he told you. I’m going to get on him for keeping his trap shut. He’s supposed to be a good spy and keep secrets.

QUESTION: I love street food too. I lived in Cambodia and used to visit Vietnam a lot, so I’m an old hand at street food. And they had great street food.

PIPER PERABO: I keep angling to try and get us into Southeast Asia because I think it’s so beautiful. And I think it would be such a - when we’ve been in Europe recently in the last season, there’s a certain light and architecture and crispness in Europe. When you get into Southeast Asia with the heat and the jungles and the color story and color palette is so different.

Not to mention the street food. I keep angling to try and get Annie a mission down there so we can go.

QUESTION: So do you have a wish list of places that you want to go?

PIPER PERABO: Not only do have a wish list of places, I actually keep this list of things that I send to the writers. Maybe every month, I send them a list of things that I wish would happen to Annie. And I know that it’s not up to me and I don’t have any control over, but I always hoped that by sending them the list where I say, “How about an underwater chase scene? How about dirt biking through the Sahara? How about XYX?” that when they’re sitting in the writers room, they’ll be that moment where they’re like, “Wow, what did she do?”

And then there’s my little list sitting on the table. They can’t help but look at it. So, I do send them lists of places I’d like to go.

QUESTION: How about a chase scene through Angkor Wat in Cambodia?

PIPER PERABO: Exactly. Exactly.

QUESTION: It’s really rare for spy shows that we get to see an operative from the very beginning of their career. But you have an ingénue (unintelligible) what’s an easy way up. So the first episode I think it was, Annie leaves her shoes behind in the hotel room...

PIPER PERABO: Right.

QUESTION: And has to go back and collect them. And now we’re up to where she’s producing her mark. So what do you think of Annie’s progress so far as an operative?

PIPER PERABO: I think Annie’s progress is pretty impressive considering how often she breaks the rules, that she’s still alive. So I’m proud of her for not dying. I think most people would not have made it this far. And I also think progress-wise, what she has to balance between life and work, I can relate to.

My job is not life-threatening, nor does national security depend on it. But it’s still hard to balance a busy career and family and social life. And I think considering how much stress she’s under, she does a pretty good job staying connected to the people she loves. And it’s something that I admire in her that when she’s been away from Danielle or when she hasn’t spoken to her nieces in a while, it does weigh on her.

And that’s important to her and stays in the front of her mind amid such an ambitious career. I just like that about her.

QUESTION: I know you’ve been to Langley and I have to ask, do you actually see operatives really run around in those ridiculous shoes?

PIPER PERABO: You know what I saw one day? When I went to Langley for the first season and there was a woman. I won’t forget. There was a woman walking down the hall. I would say she was early 40s, smoking hot bod in a cherry red dress and heels. And she had on a security clearance tag, it’s a different tag depending on whether you’re in analysis, technology or operative.

And she had an operative tag on. And I couldn’t believe it. But then later in the day, I saw a guy running down the hall and I said, “What’s going on that somebody’s running down the hall?” They said, “Well, some things are eyes only.” And Langley is so big that if something’s happening in real time, and you need to see something eyes only, you’ll see people going running through the building.

And so some women keep sneakers under their desk for that reason. So if all of sudden something comes up that’s for eyes only, they’ll put their sneakers on and then run through Langley. So it’s been one of the things that’s on my list in the writers’ room, that I want an eyes only security clearance thing to come and you see Annie take off the Louboutins and put on her gym shoes and then go running down the halls. They really do that.

SCIFI VISION: I know obviously there’s a lot of technical stuff you would have to stick to, but do you guys ever improv or get more loose with the dialogue sometimes?

PIPER PERABO: Sometimes. It’s not really improv. But sometimes things are written because the writer’s idea of the architecture of a space in a certain way. And especially with action sequences, when you’re doing a car chase or when you’re doing a foot chase through a building, that’s complicated. Then it’s dialogue that’s written because of how the writer dreamed it would be.

But once you’re on the ground - we did a chase where a motorcycle has a sidecar and it’s a one-way street, so we go running from the alley into a one-way street. And that’s just the way the streets are in Barcelona. So we had to change the dialogue on the fly to make sense of the geography. And that happens a lot in the action sequences.