WonderCon 2016: ‘Houdini & Doyle’ Screening and Q&A

Note: this article was also published on SciFi4Me.com.

During this year’s WonderCon, there was a preview screening of the first episode of the new Fox show Houdini & Doyle, “The Maggie’s Redress”, followed by a short Q&A with Michael Weston, who plays Harry Houdini, and executive producers David Shore, David Ticher, and David Hoselton.

The series follows the two men in 1901 as they go about investigating cases that involve supposed paranormal events. Houdini, riding high on his celebrity as a magician, is the doubter, wanting to bring reason and expose those who would take advantage of people who are looking for comfort from the great beyond. Doyle, on the other hand, has just killed of Holmes and is trying to get out of that shadow, and is the believer, wanting proof that there is something more to this life beyond death. We will be recapping the series when it premieres.

In the Q&A that followed, Weston spoke of learning about Houdini for the role, and for doing some of the various escape tricks seen in the episode. 

Ticher talked about getting the idea for the show back in the late ’80s while reading a book about the paranormal. The book mentioned that Doyle and Houdini were friends, and that “just sparked me. I thought it would be a great idea for a movie,” he said. However, he kept trying to make it a movie without luck, mainly because he had, “seven or ten stories.” Which, of course, doesn’t really work for a movie.

“The essence of this series is what we believe and why,” said David Hoselton, “That’s what we wanted to deal with: these two men, on the opposite end of the belief spectrum. And it hopefully sparks that notion of, ‘What is it about us that needs to believe in things, and why are there certain things that we do believe in and other things that we just reject out of hand?'”

David Shore is no stranger to the world of Doyle, having run House prior to this, which was influenced by the world of Sherlock Holmes. “I’ve just always been a fan of both these people,” he said in the Q&A. “It’s fun to play in the sandbox that Arthur Conan Doyle created and it’s fun to keep doing it.” He went on to talk about the characters. “These two characters are just absolutely fascinating. Forget characters, these two human beings are fascinating.”

The team was asked if there was anything to tease for the series, and Ticher brought up the character of Adelaide Stratton (Rebecca Liddiard), who is a constable with Scotland Yard assigned to ‘keep tabs’ on the two during the case. “She has quite a substantial character arc that goes over the entire season,” Ticher said. “We’re going to find out why she joined the police force, and that she has some deep dark secrets in her past.” She, too, is based on a real person, the first female constable of Scotland Yard. 

Tichner continued the teasing, stating, “Over the season, we’re going to do our take on vampires, our take on aliens, our take on reincarnation. And we have a lot of fun with it.” Hoselton added that they will be focusing on the famous cases of 100 years ago. “We deal with a lot of historical supernatural cases.” 

For surprises, Tichner brought up that even though it’s a period piece, they were adamant to make sure the series deals with things that we’re still dealing with today, especially focusing on women’s rights.

Houdini & Doyle will premiere May 2 on Fox, and will follow Gotham.

For more coverage on WonderCon 2016, check out this link.