In riotous comedy series Reaper, the put-upon Sam Oliver (Bret Harrison) learns some surprising news on his 21st birthday – his parents sold his soul to Satan (Ray Wise) before he was born! The subsequent episodes see Sam employed as a reluctant soul-collector for the wisecracking Devil. With Season Two beginning on The CW in March, Harrison tells Abbie Bernstein how he’s “nerding it out right now!”

What did you know about the second season at the outset?

I knew absolutely nothing. I was calling my producers going, “Where is the script? I start on Monday!” And they said, “We’ll give it to you …”’ I don’t know if it was top secret, or what the deal was, but I was in the dark as much as you. I am an actor and they obviously want to keep as much away from me as they possibly can because of this [interview situation] right here!

Were you surprised by the possible plot twist at the end of Season One, where we learned that Sam might be the Devil’s son?

Yeah, absolutely. I had no idea where they were going. There are so many politics involved in TV as it is, so you don’t know what’s allowed or what’s going to happen. But I thought it ended really well, I thought our last six episodes, coming up on the cliffhanger, were phenomenal.

It seems like the mythology about the Devil, demons et al got amped up in those last six episodes …

Absolutely, and that’s the way the show was pitched. It was all about the mythology, it was all about this kind of X-Files-esque thing going on and we weren’t getting to do that as much as we would like [during the middle of the first season]. I think that the marketing strategy was that we must hammer home the premise of what’s going on for people who have not seen the show before. I feel like people need to give audiences the benefit of the doubt and say, “Well, you know what, you missed the first five, figure it out!” They will figure it out if they want to know.

I thought we hit our stride towards the end. I feel like what was in the last six episodes indicates what’s to come for the next year. That was the best time I ever had on the season. As an actor, you get the script and you read it and go, “Okay, this is what I’m going to do.” And on those last six episodes, I was the happiest I was since I’d been on Reaper. Characters were changing and evolving and the Sam/Devil relationship was actually fluctuating – Sam was doing things that he’d never done before.

I feel like we have a cool show, and the people that like us really, really love us. It’s like a PG version of Superbad, but on TV. We’re just nerding out right now!

Were you happy that Sam has a gang of friends who know about his deal with the Devil?

A hundred percent. I feel like once you put friends into the mix and they’re in on what’s going on, we have much more dialogue to go back and forth with. I’m so happy that Andi [played by Missy Peregrym] is a part of the crew now as well.

Did you feel that first season started picking up with the introduction of the gay demon neighbours played by Ken Marino and Michael Ian Black?

Absolutely, because they’re brilliant. Not only was the show better, but everybody was excited because of those guys. They came in and we were laughing harder than we ever had been before that. They were so excited to be there, even though they’re involved with some of the best shit out there, and I got a chance to work with them!

Actors working with CG effects often say they have to play scenes opposite a tennis ball that's standing in for a monster that'll be added later…

[Laughs] It’s so funny you should say that, they totally did that!

When you saw the finalised effects, were there any that really surprised you?

Yeah, absolutely. One that really surprised me was when Ricky Gonzalez [Ben] was thrown through a wall [and the character got stuck halfway through it]. He was on this drywall platform, just laying there, without any backdrop. When I got to see the episode, it looked completely different from what we’d shot.

Did you have a good feeling that Reaper would be renewed when you wrapped Season One?

Honestly, I didn’t think we were going to come back, and that’s why those last six episodes, I feel, were the way they were. From what I was told, it was kind of a last-ditch effort. “We’re not really quite sure about renewal, we’re on the bubble …” We don’t hit a female demographic the way some other shows do, even though we get great numbers. This is what I’m told, anyway. We’re a “guy show,” I guess. I was really of the notion that we weren’t going to come back, but I was so pleasantly surprised. I love Reaper and I hope it comes back for five seasons.

Reaper: Season Two begins on The CW on 3 March 2009.