Conversations With the Cast & Creators of ‘On Call’

Troian Bellisario and Brandon Larracuente as Officer Tracy Harmon and Officer Alex Diaz in Season 1 of ‘On Call’. (Photo Courtesy of Elizabeth Morris/Prime Video.)

On Call debuts on Prime Video on January 9, 2025, and it truly is a sight to behold. For this latest offering from Wolf Entertainment, goes places that few police serials have ever gone before and it features some bold moments, and to further celebrate its release, we sat down with cast members Troian Bellisario, Brandon Larracuente, Lori Loughlin, and Eriq La Salle, and co-creators/producers Tim Walsh & Elliot Wolf to discuss this dynamic new series!

Troian Bellisario (Officer Tracy Harmon) & Brandon Larracuente (Officer Alex Diaz)

John Betancourt: This is a supremely ambitious and bold series, and I’m curious what it means to each of you to be part of it?
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Brandon Larracuente: I mean, it's kind of, at least for me, it's what I've always dreamed of being a part of. A show that just allows you to expand on what you thought you were capable of. I mean, I remember reading the script, and every single day it's like, at first, fear. It was like, “Oh my gosh, I can't do this.” And then you read it again, you go, “Okay, maybe I can pull this off.” And then, of course, you know, there's still that fear stepping into set. But then when you're surrounded around people who are there to uplift you and just want you to succeed. I think that's what made it easy for me. But I think as an actor like you, always are looking for that next thing that that will help grow you as a person and as an actor. You know that'll expand your skill set.

Troian Bellisario: I think that that's a really wonderful way to describe it, reading the scripts, it was always fear first, and okay, “I'm gonna do this. So, how's it gonna happen?” And it was just really wonderful to be working with this incredible team of writers and directors and actors, and, you know, everybody behind the scenes. We had the most incredible prop department, and really wonderful people that were making sure that we were, you know, approaching a call in the right way, checking out that we were holding our weapon in the right way, or harnessing it in the right way. You know that we were responding on the radio in an authentic way. And so, for us, and for me, I'll speak for myself, like it was just so exciting to be put in this position, to get to be able to portray something so authentically that all we had to do was do our best, to get to the truth of it. You know, what does it really sound like when you're putting something out on the radio? Because if I were in that position, I would be screaming, and I would be terrified, and you wouldn't get a word of it. And it was really wonderful to have a tech on set with us, and he was like, “If you're that, you know, scared, and you project that on the radio, they're not going to be able to locate where you are. You need to be clear; you need to be calm.” And so, to have that kind of authenticity was just really incredible. And I agree with you, it's a very ambitious show, but I think first and foremost it our goal was to be authentic, and that allowed us to reach for something bigger, wonderful.

Lori Loughlin Lieutenant Bishop in Season 1 of ‘On Call’. (Photo Courtesy of Elizabeth Morris/Prime Video.)

Lori Loughlin (Lieutenant Bishop) & Eriq La Salle (Sergeant Lasman)

John Betancourt: You both turned in some amazing work in this show, and I’m curious what you’re both most proud of when it comes to your work here?
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Lori Loughlin: Oh, my goodness, I'm proud that I… like the role is so different. And I think the moment that was impactful for me was when Eric screened a rough cut of the first episode for me, and I came on screen, and I was sitting in the screening room, and I stopped, and I was like, “Oh, wait, that's me again.” To not recognize myself for a moment. I don't know how to describe it. It was just, I don't know, just gave me such a sense of satisfaction that I had taken on a role and done it, you know, in a way that I was unrecognizable to myself.

Eriq La Salle: There’s so many cool experiences… I'm, you know, it's funny when you talk about being proud of a show, it hits you in different stages. There are moments that are quick. Right away. You as a director, you give a note, you see an actor flourish from that note. You see them grow. You're proud. You do a scene, a challenging scene, you get finished with it, while it came together, you get into the editing room -- so, there are these stages of pride, but we are now collectively going through another level of pride, because as many times as you guys, the press, do these things, what we have gotten today, overwhelmingly, is your enthusiasm for the show, your appreciation for the show. Like so many of the people that have interviewed us, they've already binged the show. And, you know, some people, they watch one, one show, they show up, they ask a couple of, you know, ready-made questions, but just knowing, even now, there's a sense of pride -- a different kind of pride today that we didn't have yesterday, because we haven't had these interviews, and we didn't know how engaged that you guys would be, that you and your colleagues would be, and so, so we're experiencing all kinds of pride. The trailer dropped yesterday. We're proud of the trailer. We’re proud of the artwork drop. You know, so it's, it's the gift that keeps giving.

Eriq La Salle as Sergeant Lasman in Season 1 of ‘On Call’. (Photo Courtesy of Elizabeth Morris/Prime Video.)

Tim Walsh & Elliot Wolf

John Betancourt: What kind of challenges went into creating a show that is this ambitious?

Elliot Wolf: I appreciate that.
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Tim Walsh: That’s a big question. There's challenges in the development of it, trying to tell this show in this climate, that's a challenge in and of itself, and then technical challenges with the body cams, the lens captured everything. We found that out in the editing afterwards. You know, you get you get in the editing bay, and you see that characters that are, you know supposed to be looking this way, but you can see everything that's not supposed to be in the shot. So that was trial and error. The weather down in Long Beach, very challenging, you know, um, but really, outside of that it was a pretty great time, pretty great shoot.

Elliot Wolf: I think that we are our own toughest critics. Yeah, so in writing and so forth, we hold ourselves to a quality standard that is challenging, but ultimately, we hope it shows in the final product.

John Betancourt: This is a labor of love, that took years to finish, and it shows in the final product. But I am curious, what it means to each of you to have this labor of love released?

Tim Walsh: So much. Quite honestly, you know, for me, personally, it's taken me 23 years to get here, and I'm incredibly grateful for that journey. And so, to be working with Elliot and to have it be this show, here in Long Beach, super exciting.

Elliot Wolf: I mean, this has been four plus years, five now in the making, and… I was telling Tim when we were walking to the room, seeing the printed key art for the first time. It still feels a little surreal, and it feels surreal, and I think we're so excited, because we're proud of it. We're really proud of the product, and that is, by far and away, the most gratifying part, being excited for the world to see what we've done.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.