Comic Con 2011: Covert Affairs Panel

Ballroom 20 played host to USA Network’s Covert Affairs for their first Comic Con appearance, and the second panel of Thursday. Oded Fehr moderated the panel featuring Piper Perabo, Christopher Gorham, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Kari Matchett, Peter Gallagher and Anne Dudek, with producers Doug Liman​, David Bartis, Matt Corman and Chris Ord.

The crowd went absolutely crazy for Chris Gorman, practically deafening me, which was nothing compared to the noise when he was shirtless in the extended trailer. Co-creator Matt Corman gave a little insight into Auggie being blind, saying that he based the character on a friend who was in a life altering accident. He developed “levels of complexity” afterwards, and ultimately became a more interesting person. But the downside Gorman says is that he’s stuck in the office while everyone else globe trots.

Kari Marchett may not be as tough as her character, but she definitely has her humor. Anne Dudek has a simple request, probably the same as many of the girls and some of the boys in the audience, she wants to be in a scene with Chris Gorham's abs.

Turns out that Perabo, although extrodinary at picking up languages, isn’t fluent, and has a language teacher, Liman spills. A fan asks about a Burn Notice/Covert Affairs crossover. Gorham would love to see an Auggie/Fi story, and Perabo jumps in suggesting a Burn Notice/Covert Affairs/White Collar crossover. Not sure what the story line would possibly be, but that would be one I wouldn’t be able to miss.

And as for hints, Ramamurthy shares that one of his Heroes buddies was coming, likely Santiago Cabrera whose slated to guest star, and possibly provide some “shenanigans” with Annie. Corman teases that there will be “secrets from the sisters’ past” later revealed.

Attention came back to Gornam and the difficulty of filming action sequences while blind. "The trick is trying to find a way to make it believable," Gorham says. It was written into the script this week that Auggie could never let go of his opponent during their fight.

An audience member asked why Annie doesn't carry a gun. Is it to separate herself from spies who just "bust a cap" in their opponents all the time? Perabo laughs at this, commenting about the lack of show there would be if she could just “bust a cap” in someone, before getting serious. She said that Valerie Plame advised her on the pilot and that CIA operatives don't carry firearms in America.

The last fan question is if there are any plans to "fix" Auggie? Gorham without missing a beat: "Are you talking about, like, castration? I hope not." And the short answer, delivered by Liman is that Auggie being blind is not going away, that to fix it would be cheesy and disrespectful to all that they’ve done but castration is still on that table.