Yesterday was the first day of ABC’s summer TCAs, where members of the media get a glimpse of the upcoming fall TV season. In addition to the official announcement of ABC’s fall schedule, there were also panels for new and returning shows and a visit to the set of ‘Revenge,’ where reporters got a chance to interview some of the cast about the much-anticipated second season. Below you can read three articles featuring quotes from Emily and her co-stars about what’s in store when the show returns in September.

‘Revenge’ has more in store for Emily VanCamp
By: Chuck Barney

Last season, “Revenge” was certainly sweet for ABC. But after all the ruthless scheming and bloody beatdowns, isn’t Emily Thorne ready to chill out for a while?

Not quite.

“I don’t see an end quite yet (to her thirst for vengeance),” says Emily VanCamp, who plays the young woman dedicated to destroying the powerful and deceitful family responsible for framing her late father.

“Coming into Season 2, she has sort of regrouped,” Van Camp told journalists during a conversation on the “Revenge” set Thursday. “She’s sort of numbed that human side of her for a little while and she’s back to that sociopathic nature — that thing she does where she just shuts off.”

The wildly popular Season 1 of “Revenge” ended with a doozy of a cliff-hanger that included a plane crash and the stunning news that Emily’s mother — long presumed dead — is among the living. Jennifer Jason Leigh has been cast as the mysterious parent.

“I was so excited (to learn she’s alive),” VanCamp said. “I think the relationship between daughter and mother is so interesting even in a semi-normal family, let alone Emily Thorne’s family. Their relationship is going to be so interesting to explore. It’s going to give me so many places to go.”

VanCamp revealed that the woman Leigh plays won’t be “the most stable of characters.”

“It’s very possible that this will possibly start to affect (Emily’s) psyche and have her wondering, ‘OK, how crazy am I? Am I following her footsteps? Am I mentally unstable?'” VanCamp said. “So it will be a great way to explore her behavior. And I think that will cause her a lot of discomfort.”

VanCamp teased that Season 2 will also introduce “several other villains who will play integral parts,” along with a new love interest for her character, played by British actor Barry Sloane. The latter news may not sit well with fans who prefer to see Emily with either Jack (Nick Wechsler) or Daniel (Joshua Bowman).

“He’s someone who was part of her life when she went away to study,” she revealed. “It will be the first real grown-up relationship she’s had. With Jack, it’s been sort of nostalgic and with Daniel, it was very manipulative. But this is a character she really cared about and he betrayed her. It was one more disappointment in her life.”

VanCamp says she’s looking forward to exploring more sides of a character who has pulled off some heinous deeds, but somehow remains sympathetic.

“The thing that I love about Emily and why people are able to continue to root for her is that, as much as she behaves like a sociopath, underneath that shell is a vulnerable, hurt, angry young girl who ultimately wants to rid herself of that feeling,” she said. “Those moments of vulnerability are what allow people to continue to connect to her.”

Revenge Scoop: Emily VanCamp, Gabriel Mann, Josh Bowman Talk Season 2
By: Jolie Lash

Emily VanCamp is back on the set of “Revenge,” and she revealed Season 2 will introduce a new character into her complex storyline — Emily Thorne’s old flame, Ethan.

“A new love interest of hers — someone that was a part of her life during that period where she went away to study — a new character will be coming in to sort of challenge her,” Emily told reporters during a visit to the Southern California set on Thursday.

British actor Barry Sloane will play Ethan. The two actors haven’t met yet, but the actress said his character will offer new insight into the troubled revenge-doer, Emily Thorne.

“That’s going to be, I think an interesting relationship, because I think it will be the first relationship that you see an attraction…. [with an] adult male that, they had a grown up relationship,” she explained. “With Jack, it’s very nostalgic and with Daniel, it was very manipulative and… he’s a character that she really cared about and then he sort of betrayed her — [he] was one more sort of disappointment in her life.”

Emily won’t be the only one with someone new in her story line. Gabriel Mann said Nolan has a new love interest in Season 2.

Although the actor kept the gender of Nolan’s love interest a mystery, he did reveal the story line does not happen in a flashback.

“We will see a whole other ‘Revenge’ world in flashbacks yet again, but definitely moving forward in the love interest department [to] present day, current,” he said when AccessHollywood.com asked him to clarify.

Also joining the show in Season 2 is Jennifer Jason Leigh, who is playing Emily’s thought-to-be-dead mom, someone with mental problems that will deeply affect the young woman who has set her sights on taking down the Graysons.

“I think that relationship between daughter and mother is so interesting, even in a semi normal family… Emily Thorne/Amanda Clarke’s family — her relationship is going to be so interesting to explore, it’s going to give me so many places to go,” Emily explained. “[Jennifer’s character] is not going to be the most stable of characters and I think what’s interesting about that too is when you think about mental health, young women will often come into those kinds of problems and difficulties in their 20s, so it’s very possible that this will start to affect [Emily’s] psyche and wondering, ‘How crazy and I?’ ‘Am I following into these footsteps?… So it will be a reflection on herself and it will be a great way to explore her behavior.”

In related “Revenge” news, the mystery of the plane crash at the end of Season 1, which seemingly saw Madeleine Stowe’s character, Victoria Grayson, board a plane that exploded, wasn’t answered by the cast.

At one point during the set visit, Emily, speaking about the potential end of the show (years down the line) said, “That’s sort of what Mike Kelley says will be the end — you’ll see Victoria and Emily standing there in a sea of bodies and it’s a bit of like ‘Did you really find peace?’”

So when Access then asked if that meant Madeline was back, Emily offered a hazy answer.

“It’s a possibility. She’s not here right now so I can’t tell you,” the actress said. “That was his initial plan. The other thing to sort of think about as well is that there are several other villains that are sort of becoming a part of the show and I think will become integral parts of the show as well.”

Josh Bowman, who plays Daniel Grayson, suggested his character would be mourning the loss of his mother, Victoria, at the start of the season, and he would also have some big regrets over splitting with his fiancee Emily Thorne.

“You’re just gonna see someone who’s – I mean, it says in the script, ‘Brooding,’ but I don’t want to play brooding because no one wants to see f***king brooding,” he told Access. “I’m trying to find out the levels within him. He feels guilt ridden and he misses what he had with Emily… You’re gonna see him, I wouldn’t say pining, but he’s still on the hook.”

Another one of the cliffhangers in Season 1 was whether Charlotte Grayson (Christa B. Allen) overdosed, and when the show resumes – picking up eight weeks after the events of the finale – the youngest Grayson (technically a Clarke) is around.

“I will say, when we find Charlotte, in the opening of Episode 1 of Season 2, the addiction is still involved in some way and affecting her. That’s all I’ll say that that could mean anything,” Christa, who was on set on Thursday, told Access.

Asked how Declan would be affected by Charlotte’s overdose, Connor Paolo said it hits hard in his character’s story.

“Pretty severely. I think, knowing Dec as I do, he’s going to take it very personally and he didn’t know what had happened with her and based on what had transpired between them over the past few months, he was pretty justified in telling her to f***off,” the actor told Access. “But despite knowing what’s now happened and knowing now that her mother is gone, he thinks he’s done her a great wrong and he wants to make it right.

“But right now she’s not available to him, and he’s dealing with another [bout] of guilt… but it’s getting harder to get up in the morning,” he hinted.

TCA: Is Victoria Grayson hanging in Nolan Ross’s trailer?
By: David Wiegand

The big question at the end of the freshman season of ABC’s deliciously addictive nighttime soap “Revenge” was whether Victoria Grayson survived a plane crash.

After a visit to the show’s set today and interviews with various cast members, I can officially say….

Absolutely nothing. No one’s talking. In fact, although even star Emily VanCamp was on hand, despite feeling under the weather, Madeleine Stowe was nowhere to be seen and Gabriel Mann insists that the cast hasn’t seen her since filming began on the second season recently. The show returns to ABC on Sept. 30, the network announced today.

Mann is a good actor, so who knows? But he confessed that, of all the cast members, he’s the one with the loosest lips, so no one is too ready to supply him with sensitive information.

Of course, no one seriously believes Stowe is a goner.

The show is filmed in a rather small studio near LAX. Once you’re inside, you walk into a semi-deconstructed Grayson mansion. The rooms are as you’ve seen them on TV, but actually smaller. In fact, the people are smaller too. Conor Paolo, who plays Declan, and Christa B. Allen, who plays his (at the moment) former love interest, Charlotte Grayson, could easily pass for slightly taller middle school students. Mann is tall, thin and lanky and the big news for the second season is that Nolan’s hair is going to be shorter.

Yes, it can be revealed here. Nolan got clipped. Mann hinted that he may have visited a barber after filming for the first season ended, but it appears the show creators are ok with the new do.
Mann said from the beginning of the show, his hair had been the subject of conversation, if not fierce debate, on social media. The more traditional cut may facilitate Nolan’s romantic life.

In the first season, he hooked up with Daniel Grayson’s (Joshua Bowman) evil college roommate, Tyler (Ashton Holmes), but Gabriel is, Mann says, an equal opportunity lover. He’d like to see the character hook up with Emily.

VanCamp was asked if people were somehow afraid of her if they saw her on the street, given the havoc her vengeful character wreaks on the show. She laughed and said she really resembles some of the good-girl characters she’s played in family dramas in the past, notably on “Everwood.”

One reason VanCamp is so good in the role is because she can so easily project that good-girl image. But she is careful to almost underplay Emily Thorne, making the character somewhat of a blank slate on the surface, which makes it possible for us to believe her when she’s taking her revenge on those who destroyed her father.

Asked about her own taste in TV, she said she’s hooked on “Dexter” and Michael C. Hall‘s performance in the title role. It’s, of course, an interesting choice because her own character is someone who has almost as many sides as Hall’s Dexter.

The cast usually doesn’t find out what happens to their characters until a few days before shooting, and given all the twists and turns the show has taken just in its first season, that means they pretty much have to be ready for anything.

The new season will see the introduction of a couple of new characters, including Jennifer Jason Leigh as Emily’s mother. Mann, for one, is bowled over by the idea of working with her. He said her presence means he has to bring his A game, but I’m not sure how he could be any better. One of the show’s strengths is the actors’ ability to explore sometimes seemingly contradictory aspects of their characters. Nolan is loyal, shy, impetuous at times, noble at others, but what enables him to wear all of these masks is that, at heart, he’s an awkward loner. Money — lots of money– has bought him a degree of respect among the Hamptons snobs, but what motivates him is that he’s still as lonely and as much of an outsider as a rich guy as he was as a kid.

So much of why we are fascinated with Emily and Nolan, and, to an extent, Jack, is because of where and what they were earlier in their lives. That’s always the core of any of us and it leverages much of the characters’ actions as adults.

To some, “Revenge” is a guilty pleasure, but I quickly got over any feigned guilt about liking the show last year. Its success has spawned other nighttime soaps, but, frankly, it’s in a league by itself. The writing is not only better, but unlike many daytime soaps, it is careful to remain credible, even if only partially so.

Most of all, it’s just great fun.

Much as I loved hearing Mann talk about the show, I was almost as interested in his shoe choice but didn’t get a chance to ask. He had a pair of killer dove grey and lavender saddle shoes on at the end of last season, and today he had a sweet pair of black leather sneakers.

Mann has had the most interesting wardrobe on the series, and he allows as how he’s always excited when he gets to work to see what’s hanging in his trailer.

As long as it’s not Victoria, that is.