The third season of Warehouse 13 kicked off last night on Syfy. The first new episode “The New Guy” resolved last season’s cliffhanger and introduced a new character, Steve Jinks, an ATF agent who has the ability to tell when people are lying played by Aaron Ashmore.
Producer Steve Kenny recently talked to Blastr about the new cast addition and his role on the hit series.
“I see a character that’s got a complex past, maybe with some pain in it,” said Kenny. “That’s what I see when he’s playing the part. And so, in my mind, he comes from a complex past. Maybe when he came out, or if he came out, to his parents, it wasn’t well received. And maybe that’s brought some pain.
Ashmore adds that it will take a bit of time for Jinks to mesh with the Warehouse 13 team.
“Who’s going to trust him until he proves himself? And I don’t think that anybody’s too comfortable with the fact that he can tell when people are lying. I mean, that’s great for solving cases, but this guy can come in and you can’t lie to him. You can’t B.S. him. He can tell what’s going on,” Ashmore says “So, yes, there’s definitely some tensions. … There’s ways that these characters are going to clash, but there’s also ways that they are going to bond in certain ways. It’s not all smooth coming into the Warehouse on your first day. They put you through the wringer a little bit.”
Another aspect of Ashmore’s character will be explored in upcoming episodes–the fact that Sparks is gay.
“You really start to see who Steve is, and you get a little bit of his backstory, and you really see how his life has impacted who he is,” said Ashmore. “Because he’s very different, I think, from a lot of the other characters on the show, in that he is more reserved and he’s got these walls up. And so throughout the season I think that Jack and the writers have done a great job of just putting in these little nuggets of character throughout particular episodes, so you start to see like, ‘Oh, okay, well, that makes more sense, and I can see why this guy is how he is.’ And a lot of times you don’t get that in shows.”
While they’ll dig in to Steve’s character, they won’t focus specifically on the character’s sexual orientation. “We won’t play with it any more than we address the fact that Mrs. Frederick or Leena are black. It’s not what the show is,” said Kenny. “This is not a show about diversity in minorities. It’s a show about … it’s a thrilleromedy. And it’s about a family. And families tend to accept each other for who they are and then argue about the details.”
Just saw “The New Guy” and I have to say I’m very impressed with the character and actor. Usually when a new actor joins a show after it’s been firmly established, there is usually an awkward introduction. However, in this case Ken Ashmore feel like he has always been on the show. I also like that there is another guy on the show for Pete tell his bad jokes to.
As a gay man I can say that I jumped for joy at the inclusion of a gay character such as Jinks. Of course this will add yet another dynamic with the way the characters have to work together, and it could make for some great fun between Jinks and Claudia.
I’ve been a fan of Aaron Ashmore for a long time and was thrilled when I learned he would become a part of the Warehouse team. What scares me though is that, according to IMDB.com, he’s only slated to appear in 6 episodes. Now maybe this is because of the split season that Warehouse 13 will have, but the fact that he’s only given “guest starring” status makes me uneasy. I find it awesome to have (from what we’ve seen so far) a positively portrayed gay agent on such a fun show as this. I would hate to see him be set up to become nothing more than just canon fodder.