The third season of “Haven” begins on Friday, September 21, 2012 at 10 p.m. on SyFy Channel. Here’s a look at what’s coming, from the stars of the show: Emily Rose, Lucas Bryant and Eric Balfour, who spoke to media via a press conference call. We understand the town of Haven will see organ stealing, mind control, time travel and eletrocution...



Q. In the season premiere, all three of you take some punches, even before the opening credits. Could you talk about what it’s like doing stunts for the show? 



Lucas Bryant: I’m such a method actor. Nathan doesn’t feel anything and so I really inhabit that role and I don’t feel anything either. And even though Eric throws monster haymakers, it really doesn’t affect me. No, that’s not true. He punches like a girl. No, that’s not true either. We had a big fight scene in the first episode and that was a lot of fun to get to do. We weren’t sure if it would be us or stunt doubles initially, and it ended up that we got to do most of it, and it was a lot of fun. There were a couple of minor injuries but nothing terribly serious. Right?



Eric Balfour: My favorite part about the fight scenes is just that I get to roll around very closely next to Lucas Bryant. Yes, that’s the best part for me. Any excuse I can get to be squeezing, holding, grabbing, touching Lucas, is great. 



Lucas Bryant: It’s mutual.



Eric Balfour: It was interesting because we actually shot the home opener of the show second in line. We shot the second episode of the season first and then shot the first episode second. So by the time we got to the fight scene, it was actually the last day of shooting and it’s a tricky thing because you don’t want to hurt each other. You try to be careful but I think I got a bloody nose - or did I just get elbowed in the nose?



Lucas Bryant: I don’t think you bled. There was pain.



Eric Balfour: But poor Lucas kept getting thrown across the room. I felt bad for him. I mean, it’s fun to watch. I laughed. I don’t want you to think I didn’t laugh. 



Q. So one of the big concepts on the show is the romance. Nathan’s starting to open up and tell Duke what’s going on. Can you talk about how that will develop throughout the season?



Lucas Bryant: Nathan is now in a place where - in the second season we saw him sort of uncomfortably thrust into the position of police chief. And in the third season he’s manned up a bit and he’s accepted his position and taken more initiative. And my relationship with Duke this season takes a number of turns, doesn’t it. I guess it comes, it goes. We fall in love and then we break up again. But you know, the cool thing about...I guess it shows in many love stories, and Nathan and Duke are sort of arch enemies, or each other’s nemesis in many ways. But what’s really under that is a great affection for each other, and I think both of them really care about each other and rely on each other. So when they get to occasionally team up, we have a blast doing that. And we did get an opportunity to do more of that in season three and I think they work better together than against each other. 



Eric Balfour: I like to think of Nathan and my character’s relationship as sort of like “When Harry Met Sally.” And I think now we’re in the second act of “When Harry Met Sally,” when I think they’ve probably slept together at this point but it was a little awkward and they’re going to have to now realize how much they actually mean to each other. The show obviously has this really exciting element of the troubles and every week you have these fantastic scares and mysteries. But, at the core of this show, it really is about this love story and this triangle between these three characters and about the different relationships that Emily’s character, Audrey, has to these two men. And they represent different components of her own personality, if it’s okay for me to say that. 

What the writers even told us at the beginning of the season, and what was most exciting for me and I think is going to be terribly exciting for the viewers who tune in this year is that this love triangle is really going to just be like a rubber band. And it’s going to expand and contract and move and grow and cause riffs and strifes and it really is dynamic this season. I think that’s what’s going to be ultimately I just think the most exciting part for the fans of this show, because we really do get to take the audience on a ride this year, with the love story that goes on between these characters. As friends, as lovers - and it’s my favorite part of the show this season.



Q. Without spoiling too much, what did you guys learn about your characters this year?



Emily Rose: Well, it’s interesting. I think Audrey, in the first season she just is curious when she finds a connection with the place of Haven, that there’s something there about herself. And then by season three, she’s facing some really, really dark, dark, dark questions regarding who she is and there’s sort of a clock in play. So it’s really, really hard and I think she’s in a really, really hard place all season. It’s not a fun place for her to be in mentally. We filmed the second to last day yesterday when we were finishing up the season, and there’s this one scene at the very, very end of the season where Audrey is able to ask all of those questions that she sort of deal with, and it’s just neat. It’s neat to have posed a lot of questions to the audience for so long, and then finally have a season where some of those things are addressed or directly asked, and to see what kind of answers are given.



Eric Balfour: For Duke this season, Duke is going to have to really decide who he wants to be in this world, and he’s going to get pushed to the limit and has to make some really tough choices - about who he wants to be in this town, and in this world, and to these two people in his life. 



Lucas Bryant: I learned that Nathan has a lot more ability to find his private parts and strap them on than he might’ve necessarily known. That’s maybe a crude way to say it, but it’s the truth.



Q. What are you most excited for fans to see this season?



Lucas Bryant: This season just feels like the show’s got its game on. Everything, you know - the scrips this year are hugely ambitious...The stakes are that much higher. Everything’s just juiced up a bit. So for people that enjoyed following the first two seasons, it felt like it’s been a steady increase on intrigue and it’s like the lid gets blown off a lot of it this year. I’m excited to see how people react to that. A lot of big questions and big mysteries are answered in a way that they haven’t been up to now. I think just each show is bigger and better than ever before.



Eric Balfour: Yes, I’m most excited about the fans getting to see just how deep down the rabbit hole this show goes this year. It really just opened Pandora’s box and lets everything out of the bag. It’s pretty cool. 



Emily Rose: I would also say I’m really excited for the fans to see the quality of the show this year....It’s really neat to feel like you have a very large, large amount of very strong episodes. That’s exciting for a cast, to look at their season to see that.

Lucas Bryant: I think for me personally, as a fan of science fiction, I get frustrated at shows that I love that in the third or fourth seasons they run out of ideas, almost. And everything starts to feel over the top and it starts to just go off the rails. I was really proud that I feel like we’re just starting to hit our stride and the show is now just actually starting to get interesting. And what’s going to be really exciting is what we’re going to learn in seasons four and five because of everything that happens in this season. This season is huge.



Q. Looks like there will be a lot of guest stars and recurring roles, such as Bree Williamson’s turn as Dr. Callahan. Can you describe what these new actors and characters will do to stir up the pot in Haven? 



Emily Rose: It’s been really, really fun because we’ve had some great people. Dorian Missick came in and we were just so excited because we were like, “What a new side of Haven we get to see.” This is really, really neat. It’s always neat when you develop this little community of things that you’re used to seeing Haven as. And when new people come in, like Adam Copeland or like Bree, it mixes it up a little bit. It’s neat to see their humor and their personalities and how our dark little [world] reacts to that.

Eric Balfour: You’re seeing that the level of excellence on the show gas been raised, and the bar’s been raised. We’re starting to become a show where actors like Iain Glen come on and that whole pedigree that he brings to the show. I think that is a testament to this show, that we are now at a point where people respect the show. There’s a following. And now actors of that caliber are saying, “Yes, I want to come do a guest spot on this shot, and I’ll be a part of this, and I’ll put my name on that.” And that says a lot.

Emily Rose: Frequently people would come on set and we would talk, say, “Oh my gosh, we’re so glad you’re here,” and they would say, “I watched a few episodes” or “When I read the script, it was really, really fantastic and I really liked the writing and I really like the characters.” And that’s always really neat to have that happen. And this year, I’ve been really fortunate, now that we’re in a third season, to actually have some friends that I’ve worked with on other things. Nolan North and Claudia Black came and...I think a lot of [Uncharted, the video game] fans will actually really love to see that. And the fact that our producers made that happen and saw that as an asset is really, really cool. There’s some things that will draw new people to the show, and I think people will really want to see. It’s exciting to live in a world where that’s a possibility.



Q. This show covers every emotion - you have things that are funny, things that are romantic, things that are scary. Is there a specific element that each of you enjoys playing the most?



Emily Rose: It’s interesting because I think you want the mixed bag. Anytime I’ve been doing dramatic crying things for too long, I’m over it. And anytime I’m doing too many lighthearted, not-lady things I’m aching for that. My favorite scripts are the ones that have a quirkiness to them and that allow for those moments of the romance or of the real, hearty emotion because you do feel like you’re really tapping into something very human. But then you’re also able to laugh about things and be quirky. To me, being able to do all of it is what I like about our show. 



Eric Balfour: I think my favorite part is that episode that really takes you out of your everyday life. I think what we’ve created here in Haven is this strange, macabre, quirky - like Emily just said - quirky world and it exists in its own reality, in a way. And those are my favorite episodes, when we really dive into that world and that reality where Haven is a town that, although it’s not completely different from the world we know, it is unequivocally not the world that we know.

Lucas Bryant: Yes. I think it’s such a pleasure to have all of the above elements in our show, and I think that’s what makes our show unique - that one minute it’s disturbing and weird and creepy and in those moments sometimes there’s some strange humor and light fun. I guess some of that is that Stephen King element, you know - the mundane just turned sideways and twisted out of whack. But it’s something I think makes our show totally unique, and that I’m really proud of.