Psych Season 3 Set Visit: Maggie Lawson
by Reg Seeton

Recently The Deadbolt was invited to the set of the hit USA Network series Psych to find out what’s in store for the upcoming third season, which premieres Friday, July 18 at 10pm. Although we missed actress Maggie Lawson in roller-skates and roller-gear while she was shooting her upcoming stint as a roller-girl in the season three episode of Psych called "Talk Derby to Me", we did get a chance to meet and chat with Lawson when she met us in a boardroom at Vancouver’s North Shore Studios.

As mentioned in our previous Psych set visit features - Psych Season 3: Set Visit Preview, Visuals and Costumes with Mel Damski and Simon Tuke, James Roday and Dule Hill - the cast and crew came into the new season with a twenty percent bigger and better mentality. The same applies to Lawson's character, Santa Barbara Police detective Juliet O'Hara, who will be seeing her fair share of quirky adventures in season three.

As we learned during our chat with Lawson - who not only looks absolutely amazing in person, but she's hilarious, too - new dynamics will be at play between her by-the-book SBPD partner, Carlton Lassiter (Tim Omundson), and fake psychic Shawn Spencer (James Roday). Although we did know Lawson already suited up to be a roller-girl, we had no clue she'd be taking a page from Molly Ringwald and going undercover in a John Hughes inspired episode. Given the many '80s nods you see in Psych, it only makes perfect sense.

On a break from shooting Psych season three at North Shore Studios in Vancouver, here's what Maggie Lawson had to say about what fans can expect:

THE DEADBOLT How's the season going so far?

MAGGIE LAWSON: This season has just brought - I mean, we are just so pumped because the shows have just continually gotten better and better, and bigger and bigger, and funnier. And we have some of the best guest stars. This year we have Cybill Shepherd and we have Steven Weber and Rachael Leigh Cook, and we have coming up Gary Cole. I mean, we're just so lucky. I think we all just feel so lucky because we're on a show that we really push ourselves to deliver the best. The goods.

THE DEADBOLT: So, what kind of emotional changes can we expect?

LAWSON: So Cybill, I'm sure. I know there's a level of - I think there's a little more weight to the episodes this year. There's a little more substance.

THE DEADBOLT: So what's happening with Juliet this season?

LAWSON: What's happening? This year so far, again, we're getting - we're exploring a little bit more the Juliet-Lassiter relationship on not a romantic level but just on more of a personal level. Taking an interest in the other one's lives. We're teaming up more rather than bickering. And we see a little bit of a softer side to both characters. And I think later on in the season we're going to see a lot of changes in Lassiter's world and in Juliet's world. And exploring just what she and Shawn really think of each other. That's all I'll say about that. And just again this year - it's like with every season I feel like - first season I was the new detective at the Santa Barbara Police Department and so it was all about sort of negotiating all the men. And then Chief Vick was around more so I had more of a pal last year and I was getting more comfortable. And then I think Juliet this year is really secure in her job. And I think the personal side of her life is struggling a little bit more. So hopefully we'll get into that a little bit.

THE DEADBOLT: Twenty percent better?

LAWSON: Twenty percent. No, I think everything is just twenty percent more. [laughs] Everything. Every character, too. Not just the Juliet-Shawn move. We see some of Shawn's world a little bit and maybe a little bit of his past as far as relationships go. And Henry's world, and seeing Cybill, is he going to be dating? What's going to happen there? And Juliet, and is she going to be dating? Is she going to be dating [Shawn]? All of that. And Lassiter as well. So twenty percent better. Twenty percent more for every character.

THE DEADBOLT: Did you spend any time with Cybill?

LAWSON: I did. I just love her. I love her so much. She was - this is really funny, actually. When I was 17 it was my first job in L.A. I played her daughter on her sitcom on Cybill... So she had her family and then she had her show. And I was this girl that they hired to play her daughter to come on for an episode, which is really funny because I was just from Kentucky. It was one of my first roles, and I was wearing a skirt that was up to here, a shirt that was down to here. I was smoking, had tattoos, and was like - they had to bleep out some stuff that I was saying. I was that Hollywood starlet kind of character. And so when she came up here, we had a really nice laugh about it because that was a long time ago, and I won't tell you how long ago. So yeah, we had a nice laugh about that.

THE DEADBOLT: Is there an '80s reference that you've really connected to, that you can relate to?

LAWSON: An '80s... Oh, yeah, only the entire second episode of the season, I would say. It's a John Hughes throwback [to high school years] The music, the outfit. I mean, the whole thing, which is really funny because I have to go undercover. I have to go undercover as a member of the high school reunion that the episode is taking place at, and I show up in a prom dress that I never got to wear to my prom. So Juliet's running around in undercover, really crinkly, shiny pink attire. I'm undercover so I sort of have to convince everyone that I'm a member of the class. Like, "How are you?" Yeah. It's a whole John Hughes thing, so even the characters, some of the shots and the scenes. I think for all of us just because that's what we all grew up with was just, "Oh, my god!" It was so much fun. It was like finally, after all the '80s references we have on the show, we get that episode.

For more on our trip to the Vancouver set of Psych, check out...

Psych Season 3: Set Visit Preview
Psych Set Visit: Visuals and Costumes with Mel Damski and Simon Tuke
Psych Season 3 Set Visit: James Roday and Dule Hill