Podcast #580: Gina Torres Talks “SUITS,” “Revenge,” and Jessica’s Love Life

Gina Torres
Gina Torres

Gina Torres is best known to fans for playing the role of Jessica Pearson on the hit USA series, “SUITS.” The second half of season four begins on January 28, and picks up where we left off in the summer. How is Pearson-Hardman going to handle Louis Litt now that he knows the truth about Mike? Torres gave us some insight to what may possibly happen down the road during the remainder of the season:

“She is going to handle it in her Jessica Pearson way in what has become her signature stance. She’s a chess player. I think we’ve established and proven that. We’ve seen it, and love it. Just when you think she is not really paying attention, she surprises you with something. What Louis unleashes onto the firm and all of us in it, it’s really rough! Everyone just has to hold on. He becomes IMPOSSIBLE. I remember going from one script reading to the next with the cast, and was like, ‘Why haven’t we pushed him down a flight of stairs?’ *laughs*”

At the beginning of this season, fans were treated to the fact that Jessica may have a life outside the firm…and by life, I mean LOVE life. Unfortunately, it was just a tease as we didn’t get to experience more with that for the character. We asked if we could possibly be seeing something like that again:

“A little bit. It’s one of those things that I think the audience would love for her to have a life outside the workplace. They want to know what that really looks like. We didn’t get to see that, unfortunately, because her love life immediately started infringing on the workplace. Also, chaos ensued, and all these things began happening. We do address that. Again, I think this is something that is a real issue with women who are dedicated to their workplace, and worked very hard to get where they are. They try to find space and time for those other things in their lives. They realize very quickly that, ‘Time is going by, and there is this other part of my life that I haven’t even addressed yet.’ So, I would love more of that. I think Jessica is confident in her choices, but we see her really having to hunker down. She needs time to herself and have her address those choices she has made over the years, and see if they still work for her today.”

Later this season, Torres is set to make her debut on the ABC series, “Revenge,” where she will be playing the role of Natalie Walsh. She talked about joining the show and teased a LITTLE tidbit about Natalie:

“I really hope the audience loves where they go with my character. I am having a BLAST! The cast is great, they were very welcoming, and I can’t give anything away. All I can say is that Natalie proves very quickly that she is a force to be reckoned with. These people don’t see me coming.”

Torres continued with how she was cast on the show:

“I have to say part of it was wish fulfillment. *laughs* ‘Suits’ and ‘Revenge’ pretty much started at the same time. So, when I came off of the first season of ‘Suits,’ I had a nice chunk of hiatus. My team asked me my wish list of what shows I wanted to be on, and to do something different. As actors, we do not just want to put out one thing for too long because people get too attached. However, I was just loving ‘Revenge.’ I’m a child of the ’80s, when the nighttime soap reigned. So, here comes ‘Revenge,’ and I was like, ‘This is the reboot of the nighttime soap.’ Then, they rebooted ‘DALLAS.’ I was in hog heaven! Those were two of my shows on my wish list to be on. It just so happens I came off of finishing ‘Suits,’ and two weeks later, this character comes up. They threw my hat in the ring, and they loved it. They felt I would be a good match, and the Hamptons were waiting for me to show up.”

We spoke more with Gina about Jessica’s relationship with Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht), and how the fans continue to be invested in all of the characters on “SUITS.” Plus, which other shows are on OUR wish list? Tune in for the full podcast to find out.

The premiere of “SUITS” airs Wednesday, January 28 at 10/9c on USA, and “Revenge” airs Sunday nights at 10/9c on ABC.

Download the full podcast with Gina Torres below:

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