Tag Archives: Alyson Hannigan

Pure’s Alex Paxton-Beesley: “It feels so special”

You can hear the enthusiasm in Alex Paxton-Beesley’s voice when she talks about Pure. She was crushed when CBC pulled the plug on the show after one season and thrilled when it was resurrected on Super Channel Fuse. Paxton-Beesley uses one word to describe Michael Amo’s creation: special.

With Episode 3 headed our way on Tuesday night at 10 p.m. ET on Super Channel Fuse, we spoke to her about hers and Anna Funk’s journey.

What were your initial thoughts after Pure was cancelled after Season 1?
Alex Paxton-Beesley: I was devastated because I felt like it was such a great world. I knew from talking to Michael Amo about it that there was a ton of story left to tell. I was excited for the story arc that he had planned for Season 2. And then the rumours started. There was rumbling around in the fall a year later. ‘What do you mean, stand by? What does that mean?’ It felt really surreal, even into shooting Season 2. We would look around and say, ‘Are we actually here? The dream came true?’ It’s one of those projects that feels so special.

What did Michael Amo tell you about Season 2 that got you excited?
APB: How different life was going to be at the beginning of Season 2. The Funks have been cast out of everything that they were fighting for, really, the first time around. I thought that was a very interesting place to start from because they’re sort of in purgatory. Anna has one foot in the Auslander world and she doesn’t to be there. She’s desperately trying to keep a foot in the Mennonite world but they don’t want her there. And she’s also trying to protect her kids and give them some semblance of a life. Dylan Everett, Jessica Clement and I had some conversations about what we thought had happened in that year or so since the end of Season 1 because Noah walks away and all of a sudden it’s the three of us.

That was a very satisfying and fun conversation because we went all over the place with our imagining.

How has the tone changed for Season 2?
APB: I think it’s gotten much, much darker. Part of that is afforded by the plot. We’re not so much within the Mennonite colony. There is so much more going on in the outsider world. It’s been a very satisfying element, to push the envelope story-wise.

Christopher Heyerdahl is a new addition to the cast and plays Augustus Nickel. What can you say about Augustus?
APB: I think people are going to be pretty darn surprised at the kind of man Augustus Nickel is going to turn out to be. [Laughs.] He is the most incredible human being and actor and at times made my life very difficult because he is so delightful as Augustus and in character, Anna is not always delighted. He made it really, really hard to stay in character.

The shock for me was Gord Rand returning as the not-so-dead Abel.
APB: Gord Rand is one of the most amazing actors we have in Canada. He is the most inspirational person I’ve ever seen and I want to eat his brain and absorb his knowledge. When he was killed, we all knew he wasn’t really dead because he’s too good of a character and his journey is really rich, especially now. The conversation he has with Noah in the first episode about seeing God and maybe God just wants us to be happy. I think that’s going to be a very powerful perspective for Noah to have to contend with.

Alyson Hannigan was announced as a cast member but nothing else has been revealed. Can you say anything?
APB: I’m not allowed to say much. She is going to be appearing later on in the season. She’s playing a very fun character. The day I was on set watching her, I was just losing my mind laughing. She is so funny. The character she plays is super-feisty, mouthy and integral to the plot.

Pure airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on Super Channel Fuse.

Images courtesy of Super Channel.

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Super Channel announces casting for second season of Pure

From a media release:

Super Channel is pleased to announce casting details for the second season of acclaimed Mennonite drug drama, PURE, currently shooting in Nova Scotia. The six-part second season is anticipated to premiere on Super Channel Fuse in 2019.

Ryan Robbins (Arrow, The Killing) and Alex Paxton-Beesley (The Strain, Cardinal, Copper) return as Noah and Anna Funk, Mennonites trying to protect their family and preserve their faith while battling drug trafficking within their community.

Alyson Hannigan (How I Met Your Mother, American Pie, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) joins the cast as a recurring guest star for season two as “Esther Dunkel”, a lapsed Mennonite who is nobody’s fool and has been helping her lawyer boyfriend funnel a fortune in cash through a local bank. When the cops start closing in on the ever-resourceful Esther, she has no other option but to engineer her own escape.

Also joining the cast in season two are Chris Heyerdahl (Hell on Wheels), Zoie Palmer (Ransom) and Victor Gomez (Orphan Black).

PURE takes us deep inside a closed, secretive subculture through the eyes of a conflicted, good-hearted Mennonite couple trying to protect their family and preserve their faith.  Inspired by actual events, PURE is the journey of Noah and Anna Funk, determined to rid their community of the scourge of drugs and its nefarious ties to a transborder smuggling alliance with ruthless Mexican cocaine cartels.  But just when they believe the danger is behind them, they are pulled back into a world of violence, greed, and betrayal.

Produced by Two East Productions and Cineflix Studios (Pure East 2) Inc. in association with Super Channel, WGN America, Hulu and the CBC, PURE is created and written by Michael Amo (The Listener) with Ken Girotti (Orphan Black, Vikings) as the series Director. Amo and Girotti serve as executive producers for the second season, along with Brett Burlock, Peter Emerson and David MacLeod (Call Me Fitz, Haven). Cineflix Rights has the exclusive worldwide distribution rights to PURE.

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