TV Movie Goodness Preview: Syfy’s Sharknado 2 The Second One [INTERVIEW, VIDEO and PHOTOS] 

[Warning: General spoilers in images, preview, and interviews].

Well, Syfy knows when they have a well to be tapped and they’re going deep with a cheesy midweek pickup, premiering the sequel to last year’s surprise social media-fueled juggernaut, Sharknado. You don’t really need a synopsis do you? The cast who survived the first one (Ian Ziering and Tara Reid) are joined by Vivica A. Fox, Mark McGrath, Kari Wuhrer, Judah Friedlander, and if you can believe it, Judd Hirsch, this time around.

The cast and director participated in a press call leading up to tomorrow night’s premiere and chatted about joining the second film.

“I was on board right from the get go. You know, what’s so nice about Sharknado is that it really is not competing with itself. This was a low-budget independent film, you know, a very campy nature,” says Ian Ziering. “So really the only way to screw it up would be to change it. And the brilliance of Sharknado 2 is the fact that it’s more of the same. It’s a similar formula but it’s a different experience, similar situation in a new environment. And if people liked one they’re going to love two.”

Co-star Tara Reid said the first script was first and foremost a fun read. “I read the first one and went out to dinner that night with my friends, I told them I thought the script was hilarious [and they said] ‘This is amazing, you’ll have to do this.’ And never knowing it would become the phenomenon it did, but…it worked [and] people really enjoyed it,” she says. “And then we learned from the first one and I think made it even better. The audience has really embraced it, loved it, and they’re looking forward to the sequel. I thought it was a wonderful opportunity to work with a great cast and awesome director. [Adding] the personality of New York into this film really added a magical element.”

New cast member Vivica A Fox. teased that it was perfect timing for her. “Well, you know, I was saying, ‘wow, I need a little bit of Syfy in my life, and action.’ And wham, there came Sharknado 2,” she says. “I was really presently surprised when I got the offer to play Skye. I hadn’t worked with Ian since back in the day with 90210 and Tara [and I have] known each other for many, many years. So the opportunity to work with both of them [after] the major success of the first Sharknado, it just seemed like a win-win situation for me.”

Director Anthony C. Ferrante shared that Fox’s inclusion allowed them to ramp up a backstory for Ziering’s character. “[We] changed the character a lot when [she] came on board and I was so thrilled…because we were allowed to do an idea that we had early on of making the Skye character Fin’s high school sweetheart,” he says. “Because we were trying to show this reuniting of Fin and April, but we wanted an obstacle and [she] sold it. [It] was a blessing…because it just gave us so much more depth. I love that dynamic because at the heart of it, if you don’t care about these characters, everything starts falling apart. So we had a really nice mix with everybody.”

Ferrante was also thrilled to shoot the film in New York, at Syfy’s suggestion. “That makes this movie look gargantuan and it feels authentic. And I think that’s what makes this one really special because we’re right there in the thick of New York,” he says. As a bonus, Syfy told them to use the winter weather as part of the storyline [even though it was] set it in summer. “[That] liberated us. We didn’t have to…hide the snow. And that really adds to the look and feel of the movie.”

Sharknado 2: The Second One airs Wednesday night at 9/8c following an encore of Sharknado that starts at 7/6c. Here’s a sneak peek: