Aaron Stanford and Amanda Schull Talk 12 Monkeys Season 2 Partnerships [Exclusive] 

In tonight’s 12 Monkeys episode, “Hyena,” we spent some time with odd couples–Cole worked with 2016 Jennifer, and in 2044, Cassie teamed up with Ramse and found herself in a supremely awkward version of Truth or Dare where they finally hash out that each felt betrayed by Cole for the other. I recently chatted with Aaron Stanford and Amanda Schull about season 2, and I’ll have snippets over the rest of the season. Here’s what they had to say about working with new cast configurations.

Schull says the onscreen mirrored the offscreen for her because last season she spent no time in the future whereas this season, that’s been where she has spent a fair share of it.

“I love working with everyone. We’ve got a good group. There was a moment when we started shooting [that] I looked around and I was like. ‘You guys, I’m living in the apocalypse!’ I realized I hadn’t spent any time working with all these people [in this environment last year],” she recalls.

“Suddenly I [was spending] all day, every day, with all these people. Todd [Stashwick] and I weren’t even on set at the same time last year. It was interesting to have these new partnerships on camera because they were new partnerships off camera, too.”

“These were people that I knew, but I hadn’t spent any acting time with them at all. There was that great moment with Cassie and Whitley when he was surprised to [see Cassie] and it was sort of indicative of my plight as well. That was a lot of fun.”

While Schull hasn’t spent as much time with Stanford this season, she’s happy working alongside him, even when their characters are at odds. “I love any time I get to work with Aaron. We’ve become great friends,” she shares. “[This season], both of us had switched places with our characters and we were figuring out how that worked.”

“[It] was really interesting to work that out with him…this new person that she is and he’s more compassionate and empathetic. It’s [partly driven by their] environment and their own influence on each other, whether they realize it or not.”

This season, Cole’s been a constant for Jennifer in both 2016 and 2044, and Stanford says he’s enjoyed that dynamic, and he takes his cues from Emily Hampshire‘s phenomenal performance as the only character with a bead on all the timelines who also carries all the weight of that knowledge, as we saw tonight in that great scene toward the end where she reels in the aftermath of the bombing.

“Cole’s really operating at a disadvantage in that relationship. She has a lot more information than he does,” he explains. She’s always holding something back until those final moments and the coin drops and he realizes what it’s all about. It’s been fantastic.”

“Emily’s amazing to work with. You have to do very little acting when you’re working with her. [She’s] such a force of nature. All you have to do is sit there and react to whatever she does, because you know whatever it is, it’s going to be completely full to bursting and fully motivated and completely real.”

12 Monkeys airs at 10/9c Mondays on Syfy. Only four episodes remain in season 2. If you’ve missed one, catch up now on Syfy.com. “Hyena” repeats tonight at midnight/11c.