Annable now plays the doctor-husband ofZoe Saldanain Sheridans latest seriesSpecial Ops: Lioness, which premiered Sunday on Paramount+.
(Note: this interview was done before the actors hit the picket line).
Did Taylor give you an IOU at the end of that, and thats why were here?
Dave Annable as Neil In Special Ops: Lioness.Greg Lewis/Paramount+
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DAVE ANNABLE:Thats a great question.
And Im like, yo, this is amazing.
Lee was the son who was gonna take over the ranch, the best cowboy.
And I was like, Im from New York.
Ive been on a horse twice in my life.
And he is like, I heard your boy just passed on my show.
What is he thinking?
Tell him to put his ass on tape tomorrow.
I was like, okay, lets go, lets do this.
I went to cowboy camp for a three or four month experience of Yellowstone and being a cowboy.
And I just fell in love with everything.
I loved the cast.
I loved being in Montana and Utah.
this is just makeup.
Like, you dont have to kill me.
When it came back Taylor asked me if I was still interested.
And I was like, oh my gosh,thisis amazing.
There might have been some version of an IOU in there, you know, his feeling bad.
But I think Im the right guy for the part.
Im over the moon.
DEADLINEHow was the timing?
You had also shotWalkerfor CW.
ANNABLE:The world works in mysterious ways.
I found out that the pilot wasnt moving forward.
I was pretty low.
Being in the business a long time and having another pilot that didnt go.
I have two kids.
It was actually the next morning that I heard from Taylor.
I was within 24 hours of being at a real low point.
Thats the blessing and the curse of being an actor.
DEADLINE:What did Taylor tell you about the character?
Are you the poor guy whos at home with the kids?
We know their schedules are insane.
Throughout the series we are gonna see Neil struggle more with all of his responsibilities.
Did I hear that correctly?
That was one of the lines that stood out in the pilot as I was reading it.
Neil says, are you seeing anybody?
And that becomes this very layered moment of, whoa, I didnt see that coming.
I mean, do they have a deal?
What was that conversation like?
Whose idea was it?
DEADLINE:Do you even know that your wife works for the CIA?
Like we really are soulmates, but theres this interesting juxtaposition of passion, career, and nationalism.
So I think hes gotta know that shes in some stuff that shes not allowed to talk about.
And what is that like?
Is she gonna come home from this one?
DEADLINE:Are we going to see how your daughters are adversely impacted by the whole situation?
DEADLINE:Are you all done with production?
Youre gonna be in Baltimore.
Neil is obviously not part of the CIA, the thriller aspect of the story.
DEADLINE:Did you see Taylor on the set?
Did you get some good Taylor time?
ANNABLE:I didnt.
Basically he made a joke.
Hes like, if you see me on set in Baltimore, it means things arent going well.
I was like, oh, okay, great.
Its good to know.
Hes able to really help guide us through all of those questions in the beginning.
Hes always been available if I had any questions for work.
DEADLINE:How are you feeling about the potential of a strike?
ANNABLE:I think theres a lot of justification for it.
Im part of the union and Im happy to support the union.
It would be lovely to get back to work and get this industry moving again.
That being said, it needs to be updated.
Times change, things change.
Obviously our whole business is changing.
In the 20 years Ive been doing this, its sort of night and day how much its changed.
All of the deals need to reflect that.
