Flashpoint returns Sept. 25 for its third season on CTV, and despite only premiering in 2008, the series has easily become one of the network's flagship shows. One of the few Toronto-filmed shows actually set in Toronto, the hostage negotiation drama has been both a commercial success for the network and a critical one, earning a record 19 Gemini nominations this year, including one for Best Actress (Amy Jo Johnson), two for Best Actor (Hugh Dillon and Enrico Colantoni) and one for Best Drama.

Here, Colantoni talks about developing the character of Sgt. Greg Parker, dealing with Flashpoint's intense subject matter and the explosive season premiere, in which one of the characters doesn’t make it home.

Congratulations on Flashpoint's 19 Gemini nominations.
Thanks. I'm sure someone will win.

Have you been practicing your acceptance speech?
No. I figure that's just the kiss of death, to have an acceptance speech. It's better, if one wins, to go completely unprepared.

And just ramble.
And then ramble. Then nobody can blame you for forgetting to thank them.

Or everyone blames you for not thanking them.
Yeah, that seems more likely. Sure. You're always going to mess up somehow.

So what can you reveal about the Flashpoint premiere? There are bombs going off around the city, people are going crazy...
Yeah, it's cool! I can't tell you exactly what happens because it's so monumental and so huge. It really is. It was probably the most difficult episode to film for us.

You guys film some pretty intense episodes.
It was difficult emotionally, technically – I think the preview for the premiere suggests one of the characters doesn't go home, right?

Is that accurate?
It's true. Somebody doesn't go home.

Is it going to be a cop-out, where they just stay at a friend's house for a night?
Yeah, they fall in love on the job and they quit, so everybody's happy.

And then everyone has some ice cream.
Right at the end, somebody says, "You know what? I'm not going home." La la la! No, that's not what happens, but that's about all I can tell you. It's as exciting as the preview looks, for sure.

Flashpoint is a very dark show, emotionally, but you're not an angsty guy.
No, but Greg Parker isn't one, either. He's seen too much – and, I hate to say it, but Enrico's seen a bit too much, too. It's like, how many times do you want to watch those procedural shows where every moment is life and death? I'm going to get exhausted! With everything going on with these characters, it's so intense; it's like CSI, almost. I would have blown my head off if it's that intense in every moment! Every moment can't be life and death. Certainly, as an actor, I try to bring levity as much as I can and make this guy a little calmer than everyone else. You need that in a leader, you need that in a guy you want to follow. You need to know that not everything is life or death. It's like, OK, this is a difficult situation, but we're going to get through it. Everybody needs to have that anchor on their team and I get to do that, fortunately.

Do you ever find yourself getting dragged down by the emotional weight of the show, despite your best efforts?
Absolutely, because his whole M.O. is to make a connection with these people. That's what drives him, and as an actor, that's our job, too. We have to connect with other actors in the moment. So when people die because I didn't connect with them, it's hard to go home because you think, "Ack, if I had just acted better I could have saved them!" It's that kind of thing. The lines become blurry.

How has Sgt. Parker changed since Flashpoint began?
He's not as detached because we discovered the things that really get under his skin – kids, for instance. Those first episodes where kids are involved, you see a different part of Greg. You saw what pushed his buttons. You saw how that connected to his own [estranged] son. A guy who's usually cool under pressure, you put a kid in there and he loses his cool. But still, not to the point where he's not in control, but I think my favourite example was the "Fortress" episode, when we were outside in the snow and those Russian dudes were holding two kids and their nanny hostage. When they threw that body over the building, something snapped in Greg because kids were involved. I think that's what's changed – we know what drives him. At least, I know, as an actor, what drives him, as opposed to just being a keeper of the peace.

Sgt. Parker is a bit tortured by his bad relationship with his son, but you appear to have a good relationship with your own children. Is it hard for you to identify with Parker in that respect?
Difficult? No. What's difficult is that my kids are in L.A. most of the time. That makes my job easier as an actor, but I hate it. I hate it. That's where he and I share a lot, although, I get to see my kids when I can. Parker hasn't in many years.

Do you find that his background helps the show become more realistic?
I think the show has become more of an adventure, a futuristic look at police work. We can't really hold on to what is truly authentic. We tried to parallel; we can't anymore. Now we have to embrace that this show is very much about going in and resolving situations that's not in a realistic way. You'll find that when the show comes back, we've changed a few things. The storytelling used to be that we'd come in, we'd storm the castle and the entire episode was about storming the castle. But the show goes away from what is realistic but is much more in line with a procedural show. So you be the judge of it when you see it. I think it works really, really well as a television show, but not as an authentic representation of police work. But who cares? I'm an entertainer!

In the U.S., CBS moved Flashpoint and hasn't decided whether to pick up more episodes beyond the first nine of this season.
I don't know. Is that true? I guess so.

Does that mean the show is done after that, or does it stay on in Canada?
No way, man! We're CTV! We've got a life in Canada and the rest of the world. If CBS wants it, awesome. If they don't, we're still working. We're still making these shows.

Is your friendship with costar Hugh Dillon still going strong?
You know what? He's become more and more like a brother to me, where you just know each other very well. It becomes less of a friendship and more of a respect and admiration society. He's an artist in every way, shape and form. He's being creative; he's exercising that imagination through his writing, through his songs, the television work, the movies. He doesn't stop. That inspires me, to see him do what he does. I think that somehow, he empowers me because he sees the same in me. So we've got this thing where we can't really move forward without checking in with each other. It's really a blessing to have someone like that behind you, when you have to go to work for nine months and work as hard as we do. To have someone going, "Yeah, yeah, we can do this! Let's go!" I'm a lucky guy.

Can you reveal anything else about Flashpoint's new season?
Uh... I think the biggest news is that first episode. It changes everything. It really changes everything.

You're probably sick of this question, but is there any news on the Veronica Mars movie?
You know what? If I say something that I know definitively, [Veronica Mars creator] Rob Thomas will hate me.

Are you hinting at something? Can we extrapolate from that?
What I know is disappointing to me, but I can't really say because it doesn't... It doesn't... It doesn't look like it's going to happen.

That is disappointing.
But you know this sh*t; it could change tomorrow. So I don't actually know. But there was all that talk and there's no more talk. Rob's busy with Party Down and [producer] Joel Silver is doing other stuff. You know what we need? We need Kristen [Bell] to have the out-of-the-ballpark hit in the movie theatres. And then maybe, hopefully, they'll talk about Veronica Mars again.

Flashpoint's third season premieres Friday, Sept. 25 at 10 p.m. ET on CTV.

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