Raquel Laguna/ SUCOPRESS. Troian Bellisario and Brandon Larracuente star on Prime Video’s drama series On Call. In this interview, both actors talk about their characters and about how was working in this adrenalized and visceral police drama. On Call, a thrilling new half-hour drama series from Wolf Entertainment and Universal Television, follows a rookie and veteran officer duo as they go on patrol in Long Beach, California. Incorporating a mixture of bodycam, dash-camera, and cellphone footage to create a cinema verité effect, the innovative series explores the morality of protecting and serving a community. Co-created by Tim Walsh and Elliot Wolf, the series stars Troian Bellisario (Pretty Little Liars) as hard-charging but protective veteran officer “Traci Harmon,” who struggles to find her place in the department while training the next generation of officers. Brandon Larracuente (The Good Doctor) stars as “Alex Diaz,” an ambitious rookie who grapples with holding onto his optimistic outlook as he realizes the challenges he’ll face in today’s climate. Additional cast includes Eriq La Salle (ER, Logan) as “Sergeant Lasman,” who also serves as an executive producer on the series and directed multiple episodes, Lori Loughlin (Fuller House) as “Lieutenant Bishop,” and Rich Ting as “Sergeant Koyama” (Tulsa King). Dick Wolf (Law & Order, Chicago, FBI-branded series), Tim Walsh (Chicago P.D., Hightown, Night Stalker), Elliot Wolf (Dark Woods, Hunted), Eriq LaSalle (former EP/Director Chicago P.D.), and Peter Jankowski are executive producers. On Call debuts on Prime Video on January 9th, 2025.
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00:00Trojan, how would you describe the dynamic
00:04between your character, Officer Harmon,
00:06and Officer Diaz?
00:08What makes their partnership unique?
00:12I think what makes it unique is that it is multifaceted.
00:15I think from the jump, you know, it's a mentor and mentee.
00:19She's a field training officer.
00:20It's his first day on patrol.
00:22So she's really in a position of leadership.
00:25She's teaching him. She's trying to protect him.
00:27But then what's really interesting
00:29is that the minute they show up on their first call,
00:32the people that they're responding to don't know
00:35that he's learning and that she's teaching him.
00:38They just show up as partners.
00:39So he's got to jump into the situation
00:42and almost intuit what to do and respond in the way...
00:46You know, that's why he's been trained,
00:47but it's putting him to work right away.
00:50And I think what's really cool is that we get to
00:53just keep on turning the dial on who these two are to each other.
00:58And how they can... how they improve each other,
01:01how they can trust each other more,
01:03what betrayals happen, and, yeah,
01:05how their relationship grows and deepens.
01:07Just to add to what Troyan said,
01:09I think it's really interesting how, like,
01:10at moments throughout the series,
01:12the teacher also becomes a student, you know?
01:14There are times where Tracy's forced to, uh,
01:18kind of shift her usual ways of thinking to,
01:22I don't know, to just connect with Diaz
01:25on a more human level.
01:26Oh, absolutely.
01:28Dandon, what attracted you to Officer Alex Diaz?
01:31Do you relate to him in any way?
01:34I do. I do.
01:35Um, one of the things that stands out to me
01:38right off the top is the fact that Diaz sometimes,
01:41he reacts before thinking.
01:43And a lot of times, uh, I can do the same exact thing
01:46because I lead sometimes with either instinct or emotion.
01:50Uh, but in a job like policing, especially nowadays,
01:53um, I think having a more...
01:55And I've said this before, but Harmon almost operates,
01:58almost like his logical side of the brain,
02:01where she forces him to really ponder
02:04and think things through and think four steps ahead,
02:06which is something that Diaz is not really used to.
02:09Something I'm not really used to myself.
02:11Um, I try to live as presently as I can,
02:13but I think especially in a job like policing,
02:15it's crucial to at least think about the repercussions
02:17before you make a choice.
02:20Adrian, how did you prepare, uh, mentally and physically
02:25to portray, uh, such a challenging character
02:28as a police officer?
02:30Hmm.
02:31Oh, my gosh.
02:32I think just remaining, uh, just, just throughout
02:36the entire show, being a student and, and just being a sponge.
02:39Uh, we had such amazing police advisors on set.
02:42Absolutely right. There was always a learning opportunity.
02:45I remember even one day, you know,
02:47because we were always shooting on locations,
02:49and even when our only standing set that we returned to
02:52was a working police precinct.
02:54So we were sitting in our chairs,
02:56waiting to go in front of the camera
02:57next to other working police officers
02:59who were on their shift.
03:01So taking that opportunity, if they had a minute,
03:04if they weren't, you know, busy, being like,
03:07hey, what's it like for you?
03:08So can you tell me a little bit about this?
03:10What would you impart? You know, or, or one time,
03:12I remember we were out on, um, at an intersection,
03:16and we had Long Beach police officers
03:18who had to close down the street for traffic
03:20to make sure that it was safe.
03:22And being able to talk to them,
03:24we didn't want to talk to them too much
03:26because they were in traffic,
03:27but there was always an opportunity to learn
03:30or add one more thing or say,
03:32oh, I never considered that angle.
03:33That's so helpful.
03:35So it was really, really cool to be immersed in the world.
03:38Yeah.
03:39How about the experience of working with body cams,
03:42dash cam? Troia, how was for both of you?
03:47Oh, well, it was fantastic. It was really wonderful.
03:50Some days, you know, when we did the body cam,
03:52they slapped a GoPro on us,
03:54so we were our own camera operators,
03:56which was a blast.
03:57And, um, and it was really exciting
03:59to be able to get that, that level of sort of like,
04:04cinema verite, you know, that realism of when the,
04:07when the camera is on the dash and you see both of us,
04:11you see us so close and you see the interaction,
04:13you see that there's no barrier between us.
04:15It's really, it's different than having a close-up on me
04:18and a close-up on you.
04:20It really brings our worlds together.
04:22You almost forget you're acting.
04:23You do.
04:24During some moments, yeah.
04:26Totally, totally. You forget you're acting
04:27because you're just in the car together.
04:29And so it was, I think it made our jobs a lot easier.
04:33And I think, like you said, it really brings the audience in,
04:36in a way that other shows, you know,
04:39they don't have that opportunity to lean on.
04:41So it's, it's really wonderful.