by Reggie Lee talked with SyFy Wire about the final two episodes of Grimm, why Wu has changed him as an actor, the storyline he wished his character had experienced, and more. Source: SyFy Wire
Take a sneak peek at the SyFy Wire interview.
Initially he was mostly around for exposition and to say a funny line. Over time Wu’s become an important part of the team.
Reggie: I was testing for different pilots at that particular time when they pitched the story to me, they gave me a little a few things here and there. But it was like, how do I fit this into the entirety of the show? I knew I would be doing exposition and in that regard I thought, how do I bring life to this? Because in a day and age when Asian Americans there were not playing a lot of series regulars at that particular point … even now it’s not a lot. But still, back then I think they were forging a different path, and so it was getting to this point where he is integrated and has a life.
I auditioned for all these other things, and sometimes they give me stuff with just exposition of a character because there’s so many procedurals, and so you get stuck in that rut. And I go, “Oh, no, I can’t – not after having been through Grimm and a life and experiencing what they gave me – will I ever be able to go back.” It was a gift truly to have this full circle-ness that comes around, and a lot of the fans will see a very much a full circle with these next episodes.
It’ll tie it all up. There are certain things that are still left to the imagination and not tied up, but mostly they tie a lot of things up.
What challenges did you face with Wu?
Reggie: I think because of what will happen in the next couple episodes, I truly think that the biggest challenge was keeping in the story. Because man it’s going to get very emotional. So a lot of it was very rough. It was tough on set emotionally. I mean even right now as I talk about it I get emotional. The things that will happen in these next couple of episodes get very emotional. So it’s keeping that, being able to fulfill the story and keeping that in check, the emotions of leaving the show, of the show being over and everything that happens within the show. It was almost like a very, very quiet set with the crew all around because everyone just had a lot of emotions. I think that was the biggest challenge for me was. It’s so hard to say because I can’t give anything away … The intensely high emotions were the biggest challenge for me, both as a character and as an actor.
What’s the one storyline that you wish they would have been able to delve into more?
Reggie: A love story. A Wu-mance.
A Wu-mance, yeah!
Reggie: Every one was pining for a real Wu-mance and it was interesting because with something that started with that whole Midsummer Night’s Dream episode where we all fell in love with whatever and it was initially teased to me that might carry over a little bit into whatever they had left. But the thing is they had so many things to tie up. It couldn’t fit anywhere and I got it. I got it. But that was the one thing that I really thought, you know a personal life. Some kind of personal life. You saw a bit of it, you know the episode that happened in Season 3, you know with friends, with a cousin, with the younger me, with a grandmother, but it wasn’t really carried through that much. But certainly a love interest would have been really nice and it would have been nice as an actor for me to experience that. I think that a lot of the fans [wanted things to go in that] direction. It’s like either that or when is he going to get promoted?
