Navy SEAL officer James King is about to find himself in a heap of trouble.
In the next episode of Last Resort, James finds himself teaming up with USS Colorado's Lieutenant Grace Shepard (Daisy Betts) to diffuse a dangerous bomb that threatens the crew's livelihoods. That situation leads to a compromising position for the pair that could jeopardize his newfound relationship with islander Tani (Dichen Lachman).
Aussie actor Daniel Lissing spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about why James continues to screw up everything that is good in his life, meeting his old mentor and whether he'll be reteaming with Sam (Scott Speedman) in the near future.
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The Hollywood Reporter: A lot is going on with your character at the moment, but let's get down to brass tax, what exactly is going on with James?
Daniel Lissing: When he's got a good thing going, he'll find a way to scuff it up. He's so conflicted at the moment with his allegiances, where his love life lies and where his loyalties lie. But I think he's just jumping forward unsure of where he's going at this point in time. I will say, he will make a decision in the next few episodes on what kind of guy he's going to be.
THR: So he does choose a side?
Lissing: Yeah. He's dealing with so many things at the moment with his past -- with his mission in Pakistan and everything that ensued after as a result -- but he's conflicted with, does he jump on board with the crew of the Colorado or does he go back to the States. That all comes to a head pretty soon.
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THR: It's been bubbling up for a while, but trust issues seem to be running rampant on the Colorado, and James finds himself in the middle. Will that continue?
Lissing: He's pretty weary at the moment with everybody. He doesn't know who to trust, he's still trying to get as much information as he can and weighing out the options. We'll find out what happened in Pakistan with James and Hopper. We won't find out why just yet but we will get there. Of course, he's keeping his eye on Marcus and the way he's running things as well. James is unsure about this guy; did he make the right decision with the actions he's taken?
On the other side of the spectrum, he's got a lot of decisions to make romantically as well. He's in there with Tani, who's like the escapism for him and I think he trusts her and I think she represents to him an alternative life, an escape from having to deal with the stuff that's going on with Hopper, the SEALs and Pakistan. "Scuff all this, I'm going with Tani into the jungle and getting naked." Then he's got Grace Shepard and she represents the uniform, the flag, the American, the stuff that he holds dear -- and that he's turned his back on, recently -- so he's got decisions to make.
THR: We saw James and Sam (Scott Speedman) teaming up during last week's BZ attack. Is that something that we'll see more of as the episodes unfold?
Lissing: That's really been fantastic for me, from an actor's point of view. You may or may not see James and Sam teaming up in the next few episodes.
THR: One of James' mentors will also be introduced in a coming episode. What can you say about that?
Lissing: I got an opportunity to work with a phenomenal actor, Jason Beghe, and he plays Wes Porter, the guy who taught James a lot of what he knows. There are twists and turns in that episode and that relationship in a way that you may not expect.
Last Resort airs 8 p.m. Thursdays on ABC.
E-mail: Philiana.Ng@thr.com
Twitter: @insidethetube
