12-October-04
Alias Door Open For George
Melissa George, who played the duplicitous Lauren Reed in the third season of ABC's Alias, told SCI FI Wire that she tried to leave the door open for her character to return to the show, despite her apparent death in the season finale. "I think she should come back," George said in an interview on the set of her upcoming film, The Amityville Horror. "She got shot a lot. Like, a lot of times. Like, more than any regular person can take. But it was nothing in the heart. [It was in] the arms. And I played it like it didn't hurt her so I could come back. Like, maybe she had a vest on or something. They're like, 'Can you just look like you're in pain?' I'm like, 'Nope. I refuse.'"
The fourth season of Alias is currently in production without George and another former regular, David Anders, who played British henchman Sark in the second and third seasons. George said that she thinks the audience will miss the characters and their interactions with the lead couple, Vaughn (Michael Vartan) and Sydney (Jennifer Garner). "Where's the blond assassin ruining their love life?" George said. "It's like, don't you want the Aryan-looking blondies in the leather?"
Although George won't be returning to the show as a regular character, she has spoken with Alias creator and executive producer J.J. Abrams and several former co-stars about making a guest appearance this season if her schedule permits. "Yeah, they want me to so bad," she said. "So I'm trying to work it out, if I have time. They're all calling me. All of them. Like, 'Please come back!'" Alias returns for a fourth season in January 2005.