They're making a case for 'Damages'

The creators of FX's critical hit seek a wider audience with plot twists and a new costar

From left: ''Damages'' co-creators/writers/executive producers Glenn Kessler, Daniel Zelman, and Todd A. Kessler at Steiner Studios in Brooklyn last May. (Michael Nagle for the New York Times/file)

They won, but nobody's going to Disney World.

In season one of FX's "Damages," ruthless litigator Patty Hewes collected billions for employees of business magnate Arthur Frobisher. She also tried and failed to have her protegee, Ellen Parsons, killed, fearing her betrayal. Now Ellen will seek revenge by wearing a wire for the FBI, even as their law firm takes on another dangerous adversary.

The characters are playing for high stakes as "Damages" returns for a second season on FX, beginning Wednesday night at 10. So are the actors. So is the cable network.

Glenn Close won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for playing Patty in this complex, critically acclaimed series. Rose Byrne, much like her character, Ellen, must work hard to keep up with her high-powered mentor. Ted Danson reinvigorated his career as the slimy Frobisher, and now Close's "Big Chill" costar William Hurt joins the cast as Daniel Purcell, a mystery man from Patty's past whose personal tragedy kicks off the new case.

"Damages" was a hit with critics, and this kind of prestige drama is a bragging point for FX. But like AMC's acclaimed "Mad Men," "Damages" didn't do nearly as well in the ratings, and no doubt network executives want to see its audience grow this season.

Recently, co-creators/writers/executive producers Daniel Zelman and brothers Todd A. Kessler and Glenn Kessler got on the phone to talk up "Damages."

Q. Many shows reset at the beginning of a new season. You've really made season one integral to season two, especially for Ellen.

Todd Kessler: Hopefully you can come to season two without having seen season one. We experienced a lot of things with [Patty and Ellen] and those events in their lives don't go away, they just continue to inform the characters' lives through season two. We open season two with Ellen's monologue, and when she pulls out the gun, if you've seen the first season, you have some ideas about who she's talking to and who she's holding the gun on, but . . .

Q. Todd worked on "The Sopranos." One thing we learned from Tony Soprano is that having a relatable lead character is a much more flexible idea than anyone thought. Patty's done some pretty evil stuff, but you guys obviously have tremendous empathy for her.

Todd: We never really think of Patty as a villain. We don't think in terms of, "This will be our good character and this will be our bad character." We approach every character with empathy for who they are, for the situation that brought them to where they are today. In the first season we very much wanted Patty to be an enigmatic figure. She's the boss, and we don't get to see everything about her life, because the character of Ellen was very much our lens into Patty. . . . In the second season, we wanted to see more of Patty so we're very much seeing her entire life.

Q. Was bringing back Ted Danson as Arthur Frobisher a last-minute decision?

Todd: We were thrilled with Ted's portrayal of Frobisher, and we were also endlessly entertained by the character of Frobisher himself. Ted had only signed a one-season deal. It was very much dependent on his scheduling and other commitments he was going to have. . . . So we purposely left it open-ended, with him shot in the field, and we didn't show him 100 percent dead, because our hopes were that we could bring him back. He's integral to Ellen going forward, because he had her fiance killed.

Q. I expect Glenn had to endure many grueling auditions for his role as an FBI agent alongside Mario Van Peebles.

Glenn Kessler: It was kind of a nationwide talent search. (Laughter).

Todd: It came down to Glenn and a guy we found in the Wal-Mart parking lot.

Glenn: Mario Van Peebles directed a couple of episodes last season, and in one of the episodes, we had two guys following Ellen. Two guys who had no lines. And Mario thought it might be fun for us to be in it. It was a time we didn't really know where it was going. . . . You know Todd plays Patty's doorman in the first season. All of us actually started in the theater after leaving Harvard.

Q. Right, so what is it about a Harvard education that makes you all write about brilliant, driven, manipulative, relentless people?

Todd: Weekends at Yale.

Daniel Zelman: I think actually this isn't so much a product of our education as it is our experience in the world, unfortunately, meeting a lot of very powerful, manipulative people, especially in the entertainment industry. . . . Harvard is a pretty tame, unmanipulative place compared to the real world.

Q. Is it easier or harder when you're writing for a Glenn Close or a William Hurt?

Todd: The frustration in working with fantastic actors is that it makes you very much desirous of having more time. More time to write better, more time to work with the actors and dig into the scenes. . . . It shines a spotlight on the shortcomings of the television process, which is that there just is not enough time. It doesn't make it easier to write for them, it can actually make it more frustrating, because you're asking them to be rushed in the same way that we're rushed.

Q. There's an amazing little scene in the first episode when Patty gets into Purcell's SUV for the first time and nobody says anything for a moment. They say it all with their faces.

Todd: It was the first scene we did together of those two characters in the series, and also the first time Glenn and Bill had acted together in a scene in 25 years, since "Big Chill." It was pretty extraordinary to get into the back seat as a director and hear Glenn Close and William Hurt read the lines and discuss the scene with them. It's a cliche, but it's truly about getting out of the way and letting the actors do what they do.