J.J. Abrams Takes Us to the Fringe

IGN took time to site down and have a great interview with J.J. Abrams about the upcoming Fox TV show "Fringe." We get from Abrams what to expect from the mysterious new show and the influences that help to bring it to the screen.

We recently caught up with the busy J.J. Abrams to talk about his new television series Fringe, which he co-created with his frequent collaborators Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (Alias, Mission Impossible III and the upcoming Star Trek).

Fringe centers on three characters – FBI agent Olivia Dunham (newcomer Anna Torv), scientist Dr. Walter Bishop (Lord of the Rings' John Noble) and Bishop's son Peter (Dawson's Creek's Joshua Jackson), as they investigate some very strange occurrences.

Abrams, who of course co-created Lost, is an executive producer on Fringe, and during our conversation we talked about what his ongoing involvement will be with the new series, the inevitable comparisons Fringe already is getting to The X-Files, and how he came to cast Torv – the latest in Abrams' successful run of casting then-unknowns as the female leads on his series, which has previously included Keri Russell (Felicity), Jennifer Garner (Alias) and Evangeline Lilly (Lost)

Question: How did Fringe come about? What was the inspiration for it?

J.J. Abrams: It was really just Alex Kurtzman, Bob Orci and myself just hanging out and talking about the kind of show we'd love to see on the air. For better or worse, like most of the things I do, it just comes from stuff that I'd love to watch. It's sort of a boring answer, but that's kind of what the truth is!

Question: What will we see on the show on a weekly basis? What's the core of the show?

Abrams: At the core of the show are three very distinct characters – this young woman, who's an FBI agent; this really eccentric, nutty and until recently institutionalized scientist; and his somewhat troubled and estranged son. [It's] this trio going up against this very shadowy network of [what are] essentially researchers, who are playing with science and pushing it in ways that are increasingly terrifying. And these three are basically the good guys who try to police them.

(...continue J.J. Abrams "Fringe" interview)