Jericho Preview: Nice-guy Stanley Visits the Dark Side

Fans of CBS' Jericho are definitely not going to want to miss tonight's new episode, airing at 8 pm/ET. During the country's state of desperation, it's not unusual that emergencies arise on an hourly basis, and this week is no different. It's up to the leaders to help the Kansas town survive another day, and even resident nice guy Stanley Richmond — played by Brad Beyer — toughens up to lend a hand. TVGuide.com spoke with Beyer about his character's friendly disposition, and how that might change in upcoming episodes. Tight-lipped with regard to the big bombshells, Beyer couldn't divulge too much, but shares enough to get us excited for the rest of the season — and hope for the show's renewal.

TVGuide.com: Stanley cracks me up, which is great, because everything is so serious on this show. He throws in some lighter moments to get people through it all.
Brad Beyer: Thank you so much. Yeah, I think the show needs a little bit of levity, a little bit of that lightness to even it out a bit, because even in your darkest moments in life, you're still going to try to get a laugh somewhere to keep things going.

TVGuide.com: Definitely. Well, I watched tonight's episode, "Winter's End," and it looks like we're in for some danger as Stanley and the rest leave Jericho. Will they be gone long?
Beyer: You won't see us for a couple of episodes. We've gone in to New Bern to try to get parts and windmills for the town.

TVGuide.com: Will we see any of your journey, or will you just return to town eventually?
Beyer: You'll see us coming back into town. But not all of us come back at first.

TVGuide.com: Will we see more of Heather? Because she's been gone for a while.
Beyer: Yeah, Heather is in New Bern, and you'll see what she's been up to. That's an interesting story as well.

TVGuide.com: If we don't see the journey to New Bern, what will the show focus on for the next few episodes?
Beyer: There's a conflict between the people of New Bern and the people of Jericho over farms and crops and windmills and energy sources. We're trying to get it resolved before it blows up into something bad.

TVGuide.com: Yeah, there are definitely some shady negotiations going on.
Beyer: Exactly. Everyone's trying to fend for their town and fend for themselves and starting to get selfish and greedy. And that's when bad things happen.

TVGuide.com: Are we going to see Stanley take a leadership role at all? That's mostly been Jake (Skeet Ulrich) so far.
Beyer: Yeah, Stanley has a whole experience in the last couple of episodes [of the season] where he goes to the dark side a bit and comes back stronger than ever. He does sort of assume more of a leadership position in town. It's pretty cool, but he does go to a dark place.

TVGuide.com: Does Stanley have any secrets we don't know about?
Beyer: There are a lot of people in town with secrets. [Laughs] But I think that for the most part, what you see is what you get with him. He's pretty much the most upfront guy around. There are things that he's harboring, like how his parents were killed when he was 18 and he had to assume responsibility for his sister when he was really young. He never got out of town and is feeling, in some ways, like he got the short end of the stick. He envies Jake for being able to get out of town, but he doesn't really have any secrets of his own.

TVGuide.com: Is he going to do anything with that tank he's keeping in his barn?
Beyer: I can't tell you that. [Laughs]

TVGuide.com: Anything dramatic ahead for Stanley and Mimi (Alicia Coppola)?
Beyer: Yeah, there is some pretty dramatic stuff coming up for them, actually. What's awesome about that relationship is that they're so different. Where Mimi comes from and where Stanley's from makes for an interesting combination, because she's this street-wise, educated city girl, and he's this farm kid.

TVGuide.com: Yeah, but he never gave up on her, even though she was so cold in the beginning.
Beyer: Very cold. In real life, they'd probably never get together, but the circumstances brought them together and they've been able to break down all those barriers, which is really fun and interesting.

TVGuide.com: What will surprise us about the end of this season?
Beyer: All I can tell you is... it's not what you think it's going to be. Things are going to happen, and you're never going to expect them to happen.

TVGuide.com: Well, I hope Jericho gets picked up for Season 2.
Beyer: It's a really good show and it's been getting better and better. Unfortunately, we were off the air for 10 weeks and then they put us back on against American Idol, so I'm just hoping that the network sees how good it is and will keep us going. Everybody is so nice and in step with making the best show possible.

TV Guide Channel's InFANity goes behind the scenes of Jericho in this video.