Chuck’s Zachary Levi :: the new James Bond?
One of those prime time shows that always seems to find itself on the bubble between being renewal and cancellation is NBC’s Chuck. While many thought the end of the second season was the end of the series, NBC saw one final chance to make Chuck into a hit and, as new episodes began airing this week, time will tell if audiences are finally going to put the comedic spy series in the hit category.
While the first two years of the show have focused on the bumbling Chuck (played by adorable geek Zachary Levi) slowly becoming immersed into the world of spies and international intrigue, the third season kicks off with Chuck having downloaded more spy components into his brain. This new ’program’ enables him to now be on par with not only his fellow spies but also the numerous bad guys that he’ll come up against.
A new Chuck
Will all these changes make Chuck more like a James Bond series with comedic elements? And how will die-hard fans take to these changes? To find out, Edge’s Jim Halterman talked with Levi and executive producers/creators Chris Fedak and Josh Schwartz during a recent press conference about the third season.
Levi was not shy about his excitement about being able to do more with his clumsy character this season. "As far as Chuck being able to fight this season I like it very much as an actor and as a man. For two years I kind of sat on the sidelines and watched [co-stars] Adam Baldwin and Yvonne Strahovski, who play Casey and Sarah respectively, kick bad guys’ butts and was very jealous of that."
However, Levi is aware that having Chuck be able to become an instant spy in season one would have lacked realism. Besides, he admitted, Chuck "was much better at running away or screaming like a little girl. But now that he has this new intersect and the abilities that come with that he is able to kind of lend a hand in the kick butt-ery if you will."
