In a series where things that go bump-in-the-night are truly terrifying, GRIMM showcases what life would be like if supernatural beings lived amongst us on only the special few could see them. Yet not all of them are big, bad scary creatures. In an exclusive interview, co-star Reggie Lee talked about whether or not his character Sergeant Wu is part of that supernatural club, who he is rooting for in the love triangle between Nick (David Giuntoli), Juliette (Bitsie Tulloch) and Captain Renard (Sasha Roiz), and what kinds of excitement the remainder of Season 2 promises for viewers.
So what’s coming up on GRIMM? We’re dying to find out!
REGGIE: Can you believe it’s been three months?! We’re going to come back and everything is going to come to a head in the first episode. The Captain finds the trailer, the Captain and Nick finally confront each other, things go on with this crazy love-triangle, and Wu is first on the scene. When am I never the first on the scene?! I think Wu just never goes to sleep. So when Wu arrives, there are literally cracks on the wall at Nick and Juliette’s place. And there are things that happen that you’ll just have to tune in to see. There are alliances broken. There are alliances formed. Relationships go awry. Rosalee (Bree Turner) is back. Yep, we’ve got the girls in town. So it’s no longer an all-dude show. Bitsie loved it that way. She loves being the only girl, but now she’s got some good company. So the first episode coming back is pretty ridiculous. I think they threw everything in the pot and decided to stir it up.
Just from your perspective, do you think Juliette should be with Captain Renard, or should she be with Nick?
REGGIE: I’m so old-school. I think Juliette and Nick have something really special. It’s that whole question between passion and stability, and we wish we could have them both. I think Juliette’s a smart gal. I think she’ll figure it out. But it provides for some very interesting storyline going forward one way. I don’t know how it would go the other way, but I’m sure they would form some interesting storylines around it. But, boy, if she got together with the Captain, I’d say that would be very volatile. My poor friend, Nick. But I vote for that. As to what’s going to happen, you’ll just have to wait and see.
Wu may be first on the scene, but he kind of plays it safe. We don’t see him in the action very much. Are we going to be seeing him in some choreographed fight scenes?
REGGIE: (Laughs) I think I’ve already had some choreograph fight scenes performed on me. There’s been some episodes, these past few, where questions have arised like, “Reggie, how are you with heights?” Things like that. There’s been some pretty nutty things that we’ll get into. It’s interesting because in the next couple of episodes, the question has always been, “When is he going to find out?” I can’t wait to see how he reacts when he finds out. I think that question — well, here’s one thing I can tell you, he does see a Wesen in the next few episodes. I see them in their true form. As to how he reacts to that, you’ll have to see for yourself.
That’s always been a big question, why Wu never reacted to any of the other Wesen were around. He just seemed oblivious.
REGGIE: He doesn’t see them. They don’t show themselves to him. But you’ll have to see with this one. It’s coming up in a couple episodes. I also think there has to be a great deal of balance required on the show and who knows when they are going to play with that balance and they have already started futzing with it in terms of who knows and who doesn’t know. I think it would be kind of dangerous if everyone knew and not as much fun. Now that’s me speaking as Wu. If I were speaking as the actor, I’d feel like, “Dammit! Let me in on the action. How come I’m not invited to the party?”
He usually is. He just doesn’t know what’s going on.
REGGIE: I know! I think that’s the fun part of it. I like to play him so much because he has a sarcastic sense of humor, which came about with great collaboration with the writers. They really just brought about this character and together I think we brought him to fruition. He’s kind of oblivious, but only because he’s so into achieving and into his own thing and into being the best — and into pulling his one-liners. I think if he found out, it would take a little bit of coaching to accept it.
Were you surprised how comedic the role became opposed to just being a dramatic role?
REGGIE: Yes. It’s interesting ’cause I heard Edie Falco talk about this once, she said, “I don’t consider myself comedic actor at all.” Yet I think she’s won several Emmys now for it. So I think if the writing is good and I think if you believe in the craziness of what’s going on, really throw your heart and soul in it, if it’s written funny, it’s going to be funny. And we really evolved this out of one line that came out of the pilot and I thought, “There’s something really sarcastic about this guy.” And sarcasm usually stems from insecurity. The reason people are using sarcasm is usually because they are insecure. But there is something very endearing about Wu’s sarcasm because he’s been doing it for so long. So as soon as I kind of hooked into that, the writers kind of hooked into me, and we just started forming this crazy, wacky character. People have started dissecting that one or two episodes where we saw Wu’s apartment and been focusing on what was in the apartment to try to figure Wu out. I think that’s kind of cool. I think especially with this show, like with Monroe — Silas Mitchell, bless his heart, is so brilliant — you have to have some lightness. Because it is such a creepy dark show that there has to be some humor in it. I think that bodes for the best sci-fi and the best horror. It reminds me of Sam Raimi and that kind of thing where it’s really scary creepy and then suddenly you start laughing out loud. But I am surprised, and pleasantly surprised, with that. That this character has evolved the way that he has. I enjoy playing him so much and I get so much response from people who are fans that appreciate this character a lot. We were at Comic-Con and it was interesting ’cause a bulk of the episodes centers on Nick and Hank (Russell Hornsby) and Monroe, and it was interesting how the fans all had an appreciation for every character and what they brought to the show. It’s a really well-rounded show, but I am over the moon with the way that my character has evolved. I love it.
Has the show ever told what kind of Wesen that Wu is?
REGGIE: Is he a Wesen? How did you come to that conclusion?
From the poisoned cookies that he ate and all the stuff he consumed that would have killed a normal person.
REGGIE: That was only due to the curse that Adalind (Claire Coffee) put on the cookies.
So Wu may not be Wesen?
REGGIE: He may not be. (Laughs) That was only due to the cookies and the curse she put on them. There were definitely a lot of people that had questions about that and they were like, “Would he react like that? Would a human react like that?” But it was a reaction to the curse, as far as I know right now. There are several things that come up in other episodes that may suggest differently, but as far as that episode is concerned, there is nothing about Wu being Wesen. But you never know, anything can happen on this show.
They like their little surprises, don’t they?
REGGIE: That’s what kind of scares us. The scripts are coming so fast and furious and I just leaf through them thinking, “Wow.” We don’t know what twists or what turns the show is going to take. And Sergeant Wu is what they call the wild-card of the show, so they could take him in any direction. Which is kind of fun and nerve-wracking at the same time. (Laughs)
So how much is Wu aware of what is going on with Adalind? Does he have an awareness that she is bad news?
REGGIE: She’s back! The bitch is back. (Laughs) Claire’s fantastic at it. She’s a sweet little person and then she just becomes this completely different person on television. Adalind stirs things up more than anyone on the show. I can tell you that much. She will stir it up and this time she stirs it up pretty bad. She gets pretty much everyone involved. And there’s a lot going on with her. So she’s back in town and she’s out for her revenge. And she’s going to do it little by little, and as much as it hurts. It hurts more that way, I think.
Will Wu remain unscathed? Will he stay on the sidelines there?
REGGIE: Oh, he’s not on the sidelines at all. I can’t tell you whether he finds out or not, but I can tell you that he’s right in the midst of the action.
So Wu may be taking on Adalind and maybe picking some sides or alliances and we’ll be seeing if he’s Wesen or not. Sounds like we’ve got some big stuff coming up with Wu.
REGGIE: Yeah, it’s interesting because they divvy it up really well with the characters all throughout the season, and there wasn’t a lot going on with Wu in the beginning of this season. So now it’s becoming a little heftier towards the end of the season.
Knowing what you now know, how would you describe Wu in one word?
REGGIE: One word? Wow, that’s a tough one. The first word that instinctively comes to mind is: quirky. He is a quirk in the show. Well, Monroe is very quirky too. So there’s a lot of quirks to be discovered with Wu. You know all the quirks about Monroe. But there’s a lot of quirks left to be discovered about Wu and it’s coming up.
Are we going to be seeing Wu and Monroe interact a little bit coming up? They always seem to be off to the side of each other in scenes.
REGGIE: They do, but you’ll see them interact once in awhile in these last few episodes. Absolutely. Silas and I are always over-joyed when we work with each other. You know, rarely is the whole cast together, but there’s definitely one scene where we were all together. It’s interesting ’cause I’ve known Silas the longest, because he and I did PRISON BREAK together and then he and I also studied with the same acting coach for the past 10 to 15 years. So we’ve been in acting class together the whole time. So it’s kind of cool that we’re on this show together. And you’ll see Monroe and Wu interact in these next few episodes.
Did either one of you have a hand in getting the other on GRIMM?
REGGIE: No, but what’s interesting though is that Silas knew one of the writers/creators on the show. So Monroe was pretty tailor-made for him. I am sure they saw some other people, but he had it in the bag and he’s so good at it. And I came into it — I actually had auditioned for the part of Hank, and it came down to Russell, myself and another guy, and 10 minutes after that audition Russell got the call, and I’m so happy ’cause he’s so great at it. Then 10 minutes after that, my agent got a call that said, “I haven’t cast Reggie, but would you be interested if I wrote a role for him?” And I thought, “Would I be interested?!” At that particular time I was testing for other shows, and I was so done with it. It’s not fun. So I thought, “These are great guys. I loved the script. I love the people that are involved.” So I had them pitch me a story or what was going to happen with this character and I just jumped on it. And since then, I think they created a pretty wonderful, special quirky character. I love him to death. So I can’t wait to see what is in store for him.
If you can say, what has been the funnest thing you’ve found out about Sergeant Wu?
REGGIE: That he is comfortable with his humor. ‘Cause I’m not! (Laughs) I’m not a funny person. I really am not a funny person and everyone is going, “Yes, you are.” This is the show where I’ve kind of found my fun and it is so funny ’cause when we’re filming scenes, it’s a regularly written scene, and David Giuntoli is going, “Wu, find the funny. I know Wu is going to find the funny.” That has been the great thing: to play a character that is comfortable with his sarcasm. I love that.
There is a certain confidence about it. He just says it and gets away with it.
REGGIE: Yeah, he just says whatever it is. He has nothing behind it. He just says it. He’s used to doing that. I love that.
Have you pitched to the writers that they should create a book of Wu-isms?
REGGIE: (Laughs) It’s interesting ’cause something they will say, “Can you Wu-ify that?” I’ll say something and they’ll go, “Can you Wu-ify it?” and I say, “Sure.” But they have made up so many Wu-isms that there’s a Wu dictionary now. They’re all Wu-liners. So it’s been fun. And it’s been more than a blessing. I’ll tell you what, this has been a fun ride. And you guys that write about it and support us, have been amazing. 
To see more of the wonderful world of Wu and to see whether he joins his co-workers in the Wesen world, be sure to tune in for all new episodes of GRIMM on Friday nights at 9PM on NBC (CTV in Canada).
Tiffany Vogt is the Senior West Coast Editor, contributing as a columnist and entertainment reporter to TheTVaddict.com. She has a great love for television and firmly believes that entertainment is a world of wondrous adventures that deserves to be shared and explored – she invites you to join her. Please feel free to contact Tiffany at Tiffany_Vogt_2000@yahoo.com or follow her at on Twitter (@TVWatchtower).