"Shoot the Messenger," the new WGN America series starring Elyse Levesque, deals with the kind of issues regarding the complex relationships between the media, the police and the political world that come across as if the scripts were being written only moments before each episode of the dramatic thriller airs.
In actuality, the eight episodes were shot in 2016, long before the current tussle between the media and politicians started to take shape. Episodes that will begin airing on WGN America Monday have already been broadcast in Canada.
"It is so surprising to me how relevant this show is because we finished filming so long ago," Levesque says. "I feel like it is a more relevant story now than when we filmed it. This whole war that is being waged between the media and the government that is going on makes the show more relevant than ever.
"We are fortunate that we saw all of this coming."
The show follows Daisy Channing (Levesque), a young reporter trying to balance a messy personal life with the start of a new career as a news reporter. She's already got one strike against her because she comes to the hard news side of the print publication after working as a features writer. Strike two comes while tracking a story about a gang-related murder that's connected with big business and politics and she makes a bad move that threatens her career.
She will need help from her editor Mary Foster (Alex Kingston), co-worker Simon Olenski (Lucas Bryant) and lead homicide detective Kevin Lutz (Lyriq Bent) to get to the heart of the complicated story. Levesque was attracted to the role because of all the highs and lows Channing faces in both her personal and professional lives.
"I like the complexity of the character. I've never really had the opportunity to play someone who is so multi-faceted," Levesque says. "She's incredibly intelligent, incredibly tenacious. And she is massively damaged.
"When I initially signed on, I had only read the first episode. When I agreed to do it, I got the second and third episode and I was both terrified and exhilarated to find out where they were taking her. Maybe to her detriment, her heart is in the story and she cares about the people she's reporting on. It all does matter to her."
In her quest to find the truth, Channing will go down a political rabbit hole that will lead to some very dark places for Levesque to play. She urges those who watch the show to stick with it past the first episode, which mostly sets up the characters for the unsettling journey ahead.
Levesque did her homework before taking on the role of a newspaper reporter spending time talking with a woman who had been a reporter for The Globe and Mail newspaper in Canada.
"We not only talked about the technicalities of the career, but about the obstacles of being a female reporter in a very male-driven medium," she says. "She worked at the Globe at a different time, but a lot of the dynamics still exist where a woman has to work harder to be taken seriously."
Having her character making the jump from the features department to hard news sets up some of the naivete she brings to the job that often leads her into more and more danger. Her lack of knowledge of the political and social worlds she has to enter also works as a way of bringing in viewers who also might not be up to speed with these big issues.
"Shoot the Messenger" is the latest acting job for Levesque, who knew at a young age this was her calling. At the age of 11, Levesque made a very bold declaration to her mother. The life prediction came after the young Canadian actress had finished her first day of work as part of the repertory company for the children's television series "The Incredible Story Studio."
"She picked me up at the set and she asked me how my day was. I said 'Mom, I am going to do this life. They gave me free food all day.' I kept my word and kept going at it," Levesque says.
Time has shown just how on target that predication was for Levesque. Before landing the starring role in "Shoot the Messenger," Levesque has been working steadily on "Smallville," "Flash Gordon," "Men in Trees," "Stargate Universe," "The Originals" and "Orphan Black." The only break she took from acting was during the two years after high school when she traveled the world as a model.
Levesque reached a point in the last couple of years where she's been able to be a little selective about the roles she wanted to do _ such as the one in "Shoot the Messenger" _ rather than taking work just to pay the bills. Another one of the roles she really wanted was getting to play Det. Maddy Engers on the final season of "Orphan Black." It was one of the best roles she got to play before "Shoot the Messenger" came along.
"That character was so opposite of everything I have done before," Levesque says. "I was really lucky that the team behind that show saw something in me because I don't normally get cast in that kind of role."
There's no word if they gave her free food all day to go along with the role she found so fun and intriguing to play.
