Bitsie Tulloch Discusses 'Grimm' Season 3, Juliette's Character Arc, More

Bitsie Tulloch is as excited about the return of NBC's Grimm as the rest of us! And with damn good reason. The actress, who plays Juliette Silverton on the hit NBC drama, has a greatly expanded role in the new season, a byproduct of the character discovering the truth about Nick (David Giuntoli) and his Grimm abilities. Tulloch took part in a conference call to discuss her role in the series, as well as what we can expect from season 3 of Grimm, which promises to be completely wall-to-wall excitement. It's the craziest season yet!

Credit: NBC

On what she's most excited about fans seeing in the Season 3, both from Juliette and from the show as a whole:

Bitsie Tulloch: Well, you know, the truth is ... Season two was better than Season one, and I think Season three, you know, I’ve finished up to episodes nine now. It’s better than Season two. It’s getting better, and I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that Jim [Kouf] and David Greenwalt as show runners have really been able to delve deeper into the mythology aspect. And, I think that’s really what the fans like.

I mean, the procedural stuff is fun, but they’re into this mythology and they’re into this Wesen family tree that’s been created and sort of connecting all of the dots. And now they’re going further into these Wesen families.

Episode one coming back -- one and two, really, -- they’re both still dealing with zombie storyline. They really feel like movies. Norberto Barba, who’s our main producing director, makes it feel like a one hour film. And there was a lot of action, you know. I was doing a lot of stunts which I had a blast with. ... At one point, Bree [Turner] and Silas [Weir Mitchell] and I were basically dangling from the top of a container yard that was like 50 feet high. It was just really fun and I think, you know, what I’m most excited about, besides the fact that every script that comes in, I’m like, 'Ah this is so great!' ... is I’m getting to shoot more with everybody else because Juliette is now part of the Scooby squad and that’s been really fun for me. You know, I think that in the past, last Season in particular, having amnesia and Season one, basically, the main thing was Nick having to hide [his secret life as a Grimm] from me.

I have just been having so much fun shooting together this Season. Because it changes everything for us. The fact that I get to be involved, and I get to help him solve storylines. But even just the fact that we can talk about this stuff has changed everything for us, and it’s been really great.

Credit: NBC

On whether Juliette will have a more active role this season than in seasons past:

Bitsie Tulloch: Yes. Definitely. You know, they’ve alluded to the fact that Juliette -- even though in some ways she was a somewhat passive character, obviously having had amnesia; they’ve alluded enough in the last two Seasons that she’s quite capable. She’s smart and she’s kind of a badass. I mean, she knows how to use a gun. That’s popped up and so that’s definitely a direction that the character is going in.

But one of the things that I’ve always said, ... she just got him back. I mean, she was literally thrown into the fire. She has no background in this world. She doesn’t know what is going on and then she’s sort of part of the Grimm gang and helping out. There’s this zombie invasion. But, you know, she’s kind of thinking, "I will be damned if I’m going to lose him now. I just go him back!" ... I think it’s really a testament and I always have to give credit to the show runners again. They didn’t want this relationship to be like a lot of TV relationships, where they're breaking up and getting back together, and breaking up and getting back together.

They established early on that we’ve been living together for years; we’ve been through a lot together and there’s a lot of love there. And I think that it’s really a testament to that love that no matter what they’ve been through, they always find their way back to each other and so, she’s very pissed. She’s angry. She’s scared that she’s going to lose him again, because he’s in a severe amount of peril right now, in the first three episodes coming back in particular, and I think that she’s going to do everything in her power to make sure that they get him back. Hopefully, safely before it’s not too late.

On whether the increased focus on serialization over one-off procedural cases changes how much the actors know about the direction of the season going in:

Bitsie Tulloch: We don’t know that much more than we always have, which is that I have a general idea of what’s coming up, you know, what the main twist is going to be towards the end of Season of three, which is great by the way. I have a general idea, but otherwise, we don’t really know and the truth is the writers were way ahead of the game this season.

Usually, you know, we would get the scripts for the next one while we were shooting the previous episode. This time we have, lik,e four or five scripts out, and a lot of us just stopped reading them, because we were like, "It’s too much information." You totally get confused if you’re in another story but you’re shooting another one. So, it’s almost -- I don’t know that anybody really wants to know that much out.

I mean, I have the general plan. Everybody has the overarching plan ... I know David for sure does not read the script until the day before he starts shooting it because it’s just too much.

Credit: NBC

On whether Juliette thinks long term about her life with Nick, and considers the potential repercussions of having kids with a Grimm:

Bitsie Tulloch: Well, to be honest with you, Juliette does not yet know that there’s a genetic connection. ... So that wouldn’t be a concern yet. But I also think that for the time being, I mean as far as anybody getting married, then it's going to be Monroe and Rosalee. I think Nick and I really just need to have some normalcy in our life and get back to having a normal relationship, and I think their main focus, honestly, is figuring out how to navigate this together now that Juliette knows and, you know, in the second to last episode, Juliette messed up and she asked that tow truck driver what kind of Wesen he was. It’s not going to be smooth sailing.

She’s the only character of any of the series regulars who’s either not Wesen or not a cop or a detective. So she’s really ... kind of the normal one. ... To her, this is almost like a fantasy land that she’s stepped into. Because ... she’s not used to it being a reality yet.

Credit: NBC

On how Juliette handles zombie Nick:

Bitsie Tulloch: I mean, you’ll see, a lot stuff happens. In the first two episodes, obviously he is a zombie and that’s pretty frightening, but again I think you guys are going to see a really different side of Juliette this season because, as I said before, she’s very capable. And as much as she’s constantly taken aback, I think she’s seeing. She’s also kind of -- this is the first time she’s really been able to be a tough cookie, and she’s always been that way, but she couldn’t be that way when Nick was hiding stuff from her because she didn’t know. She just didn’t know. She didn’t have the opportunity to be strong because she didn’t know what was going on. And then, in Season two, she was poisoned, in a coma, and had amnesia for most of the time.

So, as I said, I think she was slightly passive but through no fault of her own. So, yes, it is going to be scary. There are certain things that are going to be really scary for her, but I think it’s definitely been fun for me to be able to sort of show her true colors now that she actually knows what’s going on.

Credit: NBC

On David Giuntoli -- what he's like on set and what he brings to the series as an actor:

Bitsie Tulloch: He is so much fun on set. Well, you know, for me in particular, because he and I have known each other the longest basically because we shot a movie together before we booked Grimm and we were playing boyfriend and girlfriend in the movie, so basically for the last three years we’ve been playing boyfriend and girlfriend. So he’s pretty playful with me. Like there was a huge spider on set, and I have major arachnophobia. There was a massive spider on Juliette’s and Nick’s stages ... and I ran away screaming immediately and I literally climbed over the porch and almost sprained my ankle because I wouldn’t go near where the spider was; and David totally tricked me; pretended like he got it down with his arms and was chasing me around the set.

He’s really fun. He’s such a good guy, you know, he’s just -- he’s very like a good ole boy from the Midwest. You know, there’s not a lot of pretense. He’s just smart and charming and he’s just delightful.

As far as where his character’s heading, you know, the truth is -- same thing I said as far as, you know, you’re not just going to go into another Season with a certain amount of stasis. It has to get fettered. We have to keep the fans into the show and intrigued, and Nick is learning more and he’s getting stronger; he’s faster. But there’s an edge to his character going forward because of what he’s going through with all of the zombies.

You’re going to see a different side of him. You’re going to see a slightly twisted side because of everything that went on and vice versa. You’re going to see stronger Wesen and families who now know more about him because they’ve been aware of him longer and they’ve been tracking him longer so it feels like everybody’s sort of coming out together as far as the same level of capabilities or what have you.

On whether the mood generally remains light and fun on set:

Bitsie Tulloch: Yes, for the most part. I mean sometimes we have really, really long days and everybody’s kind of, you know, dragging their feet by the end because every so often, we’ll have a 17 hour day, but I would say 95% of the time, we’re all really having fun. ... The Grimm gang, whenever we’re shooting together, we’re always having a blast. We really like the fact that for the first time we’re having, you know, these scenes where there’s a group of us and everybody has their specific talents.

Juliette is a veterinarian. She’s a doctor. So she has more of the science and chemistry background which she’s now being able to really use. I always refer to Bree’s character Rosalee as sort of being like, if I’m the actual doctor, she’s like a Wesen doctor with all her potions and stuff.

But, yes, it’s been -- we really have fun. ... You know, we are always hanging out. We’re -- all of us, literally all of us are going out to dinner tonight because it’s [Sasha Roiz]'s birthday. It’s a happy cast.

Credit: Scott Green/NBC

On how much she prepared physically for her increased, action-oriented role:

Bitsie Tulloch: I didn’t. It’s definitely more action oriented just because of the fact that my character is sort of involved now, and the Scooby squad, you know, I’m sort of tagging along to certain things. As far as preparation, at the Wrap Party I had torn my radial collateral ligament, so that stuff was really hard for me to shoot. There wasn’t a lot I could do to train because I was in a removable cast. I was supposed to have surgery but I couldn’t because episode one was a continuation of the finale, so I couldn’t all of a sudden have a cast on.

So my hand surgeon had to make one that I could take off and Bree was like, "Bitsie, what are you doing?" Because I’m right-handed and it was my right hand, my natural inclination was play her as yourself. I would put my right hand out on my wrist, so it was actually kind of brutal having to shoot some of that stuff considering the fact that I was still pretty hurt, and I was in physical therapy.

But at the same time, there’s so much adrenaline pumping. You know, you have all of these zombies, stunt guys running after you, and I was having a blast. I loved all of that physical stuff. I have a scene coming up in another one and I’m already just so excited about rehearsing with our stunt coordinator and getting to do that. So, definitely a lot more action just by virtue of the fact that my character is "in the know.”

On whether she'll miss being the focus of entire individual scenes and story arcs:

Bitsie Tulloch: No, because I got lonely, you know? David and I were always saying, because we liked shooting together and he’d be off doing something and -- it wasn’t that I didn’t like it. I actually did like it as actor. It forced me to use muscles I’d never used before. Not only because I was working with more green screen, and that’s really just you and your imagination, and you’re putting yourself in the location in the scene and you’re seeing things; none of which are there. ... But, you know, when that happens I’m also on set by myself and we all, you know, congregate in our cast chairs in between takes and stuff, and we’re chit-chatting and "What’d you do this weekend? Oh the funniest thing happened!" and [Bree’s] showing us videos of her kids and stuff and so, it almost feels like college, ... so we kind of prefer the scenes where there’s at least somebody else in it with us. It’s more fun.

Credit: NBC

On future scenes between Juliette and Renard, and the potential awkwardness between them:

Bitsie Tulloch: For now, I mean I think it’s a touch awkward, but the primary focus is really, because this is a question that pops up again, are we going to see Juliette and (Renard) together again? And, I just say "never say never," but as far as I’m concerned, it’s really about Nick and Juliette sort of figuring this out together and strengthening their relationship now that everybody knows this information, and going forward together as opposed to on diverging paths.

Credit: Scott Green/NBC

On whether Juliette will ever find out if Adalind was the one who poisoned her, and whether that will lead to a confrontation in the future:

Bitsie Tulloch: You know, that is an awesome question that I do not know the answer to, but I always mention to the writers. I’m like, "When is she going to figure it out?" I mean this woman screwed up her life; almost killed her. You know, she almost lost the love of her life; she, you know, was involved in this love affair with somebody she barely even knew and had amnesia, and you know, that’s terrible -- what Juliette went through. I’d been reading this book by [Oliver Sacks] when they first gave me that storyline about the amnesia, and it was a book called The Mind’s Eye about postal prognosia, which is people with facial recognition problems, but obviously not what Juliette had.

But I always remember in the book how sad it was, you know, that a wife couldn’t recognize her husband or she would have to touch his face or something to know or smell him to know "that’s my husband." And that always broke my heart. And then, you know, two weeks later they said, oh you’re going to have amnesia. So I always just thought what a cruel, cruel thing and also they were so specific in that it wasn’t that she forgot everyone and could just start a new life over, she forgot just Nick. So I would think if she figures it out, she’s going to be pretty angry. I mean, that’s all I have to say about that. I haven’t seen anything coming up,

Adalind's storyline is basically in Europe right now. So I haven’t seen anything coming up as far as that, but I wouldn’t mind seeing that. I think that that would actually be pretty fun.

Credit: NBC

On why Juliette is so loyal to Nick, and why he's the right person for her:

Bitsie Tulloch: I think, you know, a lot of it -- I always remember getting asked a lot in Season one, "why is she being so naïve? Why's he lying to her?" all this stuff. ... [Nick and Juliette] had been together by that point for three years. And [Juliette] had been with him and had gone through [Marie] dying for him, which was really traumatizing for him.

I mean, basically his mom, ... that mother figure, had died and so I always sort of interpreted it as she’s being patient and she’s being understanding and letting him grieve. And she kind of thought that the reason that he was being so weird had to do with not getting over [Marie’s] death. Like in the proposal scene, when he proposed, she says, "Until you let me back in again." So she ... obviously didn’t know about anything that was going on with the Grimm. She thought that he was just shutting her out because of [Marie’s] death. So, in that sense, you know, you can kind of understand the patience. It just feels like they have this really comfortable rapport and ... they’re not really fighters. And it just sort of feels like they’re just comfortable, like a little old married couple, and they really love each other a lot.

And I think that if the new storyline with Juliette getting involved more ... he’s going to look at her in a different light because he didn’t realize that she was such -- kind of a badass. And you’re going to see more of that. And I think that he is -- there’s going to be scenes where he’s like a little impressed. He’s like, "oh crap, I didn’t even know this side of her. Look at this. This is interesting."

On her favorite episode of Season 3 so far, and her favorite Wesen:

Bitsie Tulloch: My favorite Wesen is the evil thing -- the Wesens from the Christmas episode. It’s just such -- it’s a twisted take on Christmas. You would think that maybe for a Christmas episode, they would sort of lighten things up a little bit, but that was --- everybody was kind of "oh, it’s so scary!" So that one, I think, is going to be really fun with the fans, and that one in particular is really creepy.

And then my favorite episode so far, I -- it was very tough shooting the first episode back because we were on splits, which means you’re shooting half the afternoon and then all night long until the sun comes up. And it was cold; it was weird even though it was in July. That was definitely hard on all of us because there were a lot of stunts and the hours were tough. But that one, it’s just so cool. I think Norberto did a fantastic job. It really feels like a one hour feature film. ... I think the fans are going to really love it. I know they’re kind of like, "we’ve been waiting for months and months!"

On the craziest thing she's ever encountered from a fan:

Bitsie Tulloch: Some fan in Germany tattooed my face on his thigh, which was kind of like, "Should I be flattered or should I be scared?" It was pretty cool actually. Basically, his entire left thigh. So I actually think it’s pretty cool, because nobody else has had their face tattooed on a fan that we know of. So that was kind of cool and then Silas and I just did a reading at Word Stock, which is sort of a literary festival in Portland, and we each picked our favorite Grimm fairytale and we read it to a big group of people, and a woman came up and handed me a package.

And when I came home, she had made a Bitsie doll. She found a red carpet picture of me that she really liked and recreated the dress and the shoes and the hair and that was so cute. It was so great. I put it in Instagram and on Twitter. That was definitely one of the cooler gifts I’ve gotten.

Credit: NBC

On bringing Juliette to life and building the character over the last two and a half years:

Bitsie Tulloch: Well, you know, it really shifted. You know, unfortunately, a lot of the back story that I did in Season one was stuff that I couldn’t then act out because of what was going on with the character. You know, not being able to know, and so when I talk about the love there and, you know things that Nick and I have been through and little traditions that we had, those were really things that were kind of just for me.

And that’s sort of the nature of acting. A lot of your homework is really just for you. But Season two was definitely a little bit of a challenge just because I’ve never really played a character with amnesia before and I‘d never really done so much stuff solo. And, you know, she was losing her mind. She thought she was losing her mind; she’d seen a ghost; she can’t remember things. She thinks she’s falling into an abyss. There’s a lot going on and so that was actually pretty fun for me.

As much as I missed shooting with the other cast members, it was a challenge and it was something that I really had a lot fun with and it was more layered than I’d been able to play. And then in this one in particular, it’s just that this person that I know is there who’s really smart and who’s really comfortable, and you know I think what Nick is going to realize is that he should have told me in the beginning, because as scary as it would have been, I would have been able to deal with it.

On the other hand, what really, I think, in my mind changed everything for me was that part in the second to last episode when Monroe and Rosalee and [Bud] morphed for me. It really was "seeing is believing." Because prior to that point, there was no way she was really going to believe it. Nick could say it and she was still was either thinking "he’s crazy" or "I’m crazy." But the fact that she walked out; you think she’s just done; really all she does is she goes outside, takes a deep breath and she’s like "I can do this" and walks back in.

She’s like "I’m going to figure this out." You know that’s the way her mind works. She’s very intelligent and she’s like "All right I guess this is going to take me a little while to piece together and understand this world" because, as I said, this is brand new to her. I mean put yourself in her shoes. This is - it feels like a fantasy. It feels like this can’t be real because she doesn’t have, you know, the knowledge that everybody else has. This sort of Wesen Wikipedia or whatever.

This is all brand new for her. And then when she is finally included, she’s thrown into basically the most perilous situation any of them have been in. The fact that she maintained her composure with the zombies running around, I think speaks volumes of her strength.

Grimm Season 3 premieres Friday at 9/8c on NBC.