Warning: Spoilers ahead
“Zoo,” the CBS show about a world in which animals begin inexplicably attacking humanity, has proven to be one of this summer’s breakout hits. The show has consistently ranked among the top new programs week to week, drawing between 6 and 8 million viewers with each episode.
Jeff Pinkner, one of four showrunners on the series, spoke with TheWrap about a major twist coming in Tuesday’s episode, in which the team travels to Paris to investigate just as a group of GPS-tracked bears suddenly disappears.
Last week, Jackson (James Wolk) and Jamie (Kristen Connolly) were able to obtain the mother cell, a key piece of evidence linking conglomerate Reiden Global to the outbreak of animal attacks. But one character makes a decision this week that puts that evidence in jeopardy.
“The team was brought together to deal with this specific event. They don’t really know each other and they’re just starting to trust each other,” Pinkner said. “If the rest of the team finds out what [this character] has done, it’s going to have pretty big ramifications.”
Pinkner also spoke about the challenges, and unexpected benefits, of working with live animals. “No matter how well-trained they are — and they are spectacularly well-trained — they’re animals. And so there are moments where our director calls ‘Action!’ and the actors turn around and the animal has fallen asleep between takes,” Pinkner said.
However, Pinkner went on to say that working with animals like lions, bears and wolves, keeps the crew energized. “Even with the best crew, there can be a little ‘been there, done that before’ attitude,” he said. “But when you’re working with animals, everybody’s excited. They’re beautiful, beautiful creatures that we’ve been fortunate enough to work with, and people legitimately get excited by it.”