Priyanka Chopra may be one of Bollywood’s biggest stars, but ABC’s “Quantico” will mark her television debut.
During “Quantico’s” Tuesday panel at the Television Critics Associations Summer Press Tour, Chopra explained that she chose the series as her first TV project because of the appeal of her character, Alex Parrish, an FBI agent who must clear her name in the wake of a major terrorist attack.
“Any actress in the world would want to play Alex Parrish,” Chopra said. “She’s the female Jason Bourne.”
Though the actress was quick to praise ABC and its push for diversity, she said that she wanted to take on a character that had more to her than her race. “The only thing I said to ABC was that I wanted to do a show which gave me the respect of being an actor, instead of casting me for the color of my skin or what I look like,” Chopra said.
That’s what Chopra got with Alex Parrish, a character who is very much the lead of the ensemble series. “It’s her story,” said executive producer Joshua Safran. “She’s the audience’s way in.”
As far as who the actual terrorist is, Safran says the writers do have an idea of who the guilty party will be. “There is a very clear plan in place,” he said, promising that the story would be resolved by season’s end.
The show’s multiple timelines will carry over into future seasons, but each season will have its own “event,” Safran said. It will also continue to follow the characters, even once they’ve graduated out of Quantico.
“The goal is to watch these recruits stepping through their careers,” he said, admitting that the FBI academy will always be a part of the show, be it the characters returning to teach classes or otherwise.
Safran also addressed the show’s structural similarities to ABC’s breakout hit of last season, “How to Get Away Murder.” Both shows feature multiple timelines revolving a group of students — law students in one and FBI recruits in the other — and . But according to Safran, those similarities are a coincidence.
“I’m somebody who doesn’t really pay attention to other pilots,” he said, noting that he had been working on the idea even before “How to Get Away With Murder” was on the air. In fact, the show was modeled after a completely different ABC drama: “Lost.”