Season-Finale Scoop from Kyle XY's Dad!

For months fans have wondered, "Who is Kyle XY? What is he?" In the end, might this seemingly supernatural being with the rather super abilities be just a long-missing milk-carton kid named Noah Peterson? That is precisely what's proposed in the opening minutes of the ABC Family series' first season finale, airing tonight at 8 pm/ET. But it can't be that simple, right? Right?! TVGuide.com spoke with Kyle's "dad," Bruce Thomas, about the switch in parental units ahead.

TVGuide.com: I just watched the season finale where Kyle's real parents show up, so I guess we're all done here, eh? The series is over?
Bruce Thomas: [Laughs] Yeah, no more need for the Trager family! We're out of the picture! I actually thought about that this morning: "Wow, there's really no need for us anymore. What's that about?"

TVGuide.com: Oh, but it's not at all so simple....
Thomas: No, there's a plan....

TVGuide.com: The finale has this great  what I'm going to cryptically call "Usual Suspects" moment at the end.
Thomas: Yeah, it's just like the Kevin Spacey movie. It's cool.

TVGuide.com: What do you make of the hit that Kyle XY has become? [Among other superlatives, it's ABC Family's highest-rated original series of all time.] Was it anything you foresaw?
Thomas: You know, I did and I didn't. I did because ABC Family has put together in us a group of actors that's really unique. In this last episode, what you see emotionally isn't fiction; all of that came about because we knew we were at the end of our 10 episodes, and obviously we had no idea it was going to go into a Season 2. As far as we knew, this was the last time we were going to see each other and be together. We had developed such a strong bond, and I only mention that because it's rare. It's not like that on most shows. Bar none, we have become very, very close.

TVGuide.com: Why do you think the show caught on the way it did? Is it because of that palpable closeness among all of you?
Thomas: That's part of it, of course, but on top of that, it's the plotlines and the way the shows are written and put together, with little cliff-hangers in each episode. I have a 12-year-old daughter and an 8-year-old son, and most Mondays a handful of their friends come over knowing that I'm on the show, but also because they really like the show.

TVGuide.com: Big Kyle XY viewing parties at "Mr. Trager's" house?
Thomas: Yes, yes. [Laughs] And these kids get so excited looking for clues while watching "I got more clues!" "Ooh, what's that about?" That's the genius of the storytelling.

TVGuide.com: Do they pester you for scoop, or do they know better by now?
Thomas: The friends know better now, but my kids don't. They know I watched Episode 10 this morning and they're about ready to slit my throat for the information. Every week, as soon as the episode is over on Monday night: "Dad... what happens?!" "You know I can't tell you!" [Laughs]

TVGuide.com: What made you want to do this series? What cinched it for you?
Thomas: It was a job. But on top of that....

TVGuide.com: Yeah, give me the warm and fuzzy answer now.
Thomas: On top of that it was the character of Stephen, who is an uncharacteristically strong father in the world of TV. In the last 20 years, TV dads have been bashed over the head, [becoming] insecure dudes and not real men. This was an opportunity to play a real guy with strength, a guy who had a thumbprint on his family.... He also has weaknesses, and I hope those start to come out in Season 2. When we started the show, we brought out even more of Mom's and Dad's faults, and that was supposed to be how Kyle learned how to be a human being, by seeing these faults unfold, but we kind of pulled back from that to get into plotlines.

TVGuide.com: From where you sit, how has Matt Dallas been handlng his rise to young hunkdom?
Thomas: Matt's great. [Chuckles] As we were wrapping up shooting in Vancouver, I remember one particular day when we were in a convenience store and I picked up a magazine and held the back cover up to his face: "Look at that! Who's that?" It was his belly-button-less ad. And a couple of young girls in the store go, "Oh, my god, that's him," and Matt's face turned red. He's so sweet and so nice and so kind to all these girls and their moms who come up to him. He's the genuine article. A special kid.

TVGuide.com: At the close of the season finale, do you think Stephen is totally buying what just happened?
Thomas: No, no, no... I think Stephen has always got one eye in the back of his head open. I got that sense when I watched it, and I'm glad it came across that way. "There's something not right in this whole scenario...."

TVGuide.com: How many Legally Blonde films do you have to do before "UPS Guy" gets a name?!
Thomas: I know, right? [Laughs] I was practically cut out of the second one, but we shot some good stuff.

TVGuide.com: Any rumblings for a No. 3? "Elle Woods for President"?
Thomas: There was, but I don't think Reese [Witherspoon] is going to want to do it.

TVGuide.com: What else do you have in the works?
Thomas: I did Closing Escrow, an independent film and improvisational comedy set in the real-estate world and roughly framed in the pattern of the Christopher Guest comedies (Best in Show, A Mighty Wind). It's a bunch of kooky Realtors dealing with kooky clients.... I was at a screening of it the other day and it's funny. It's being shopped around now.

TVGuide.com: And then Season 2 of Kyle XY?
Thomas: Yeah, we go back in February and we're going to do 13 [episodes]. We're psyched! TV Guide has been a big fan of ours from the very beginning. You were one of the first to say you thought it'd be a hit, and we thank you for that.

TVGuide.com: Hey, with so much reality programming out there, it's imperative to support the quality scripted fare that finds its way onto today's TV.
Thomas: Well, I like the way you think!

Send your comments on this Q&A to online_insider@tvguide.com.