Giacomo Gianniotti stars as Cole Ellis in Wild Cards. You can catch new episodes on Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW.
WILD CARDS is a crime-solving procedural with a comedic twist that follows the unlikely duo of a by-the-book, sardonic cop and a spirited, clever con woman. Cole Ellis (Giacomo Gianniotti) is a demoted detective who has begrudgingly spent the last year on the maritime unit, while Max Mitchell (Vanessa Morgan) has been living a transient life, elaborately scamming everyone she meets. But while arrested and being held at the station, Max ends up helping Ellis solve a local crime. The two are offered the opportunity to redeem themselves – Ellis needs to get back to his detective post and Max needs to stay out of jail. The catch? They have to work together, each using their unique skills to solve crimes. For Ellis, that means hard-boiled shoe leather police work; for Max, it means accents, disguises, schemes and generally befriending everyone in sight, while driving Ellis absolutely nuts. The two will have to learn what it means to trust another person and maybe actually become partners.
“I had a meeting early on with the producers and they just really sold me on the kind of show that they wanted to make and the heart underneath it,” he shared with me, reflecting on why he wanted to join the project. “Here’s a show that makes you feel good and lifts you out of that [dark time in our world], and reminds you of what it’s like to be human and being kind to one another, and helping each other out and relatable things like grief. We’ve all lost someone in our life. Those are things that anyone at home can understand and so, I think it’s a relatable show. The characters are really lovable and relatable, and then there’s just a really fun dynamic between them. There’s gonna be darker moments of like, we deal with solving crimes, so there’s murders and things which are dark, but that doesn’t mean that we have to live in that world. We can certainly have fun while we’re trying to solve the crimes.”
I spoke with the actor about combining the Grey’s Anatomy and Riverdale fan bases, that premiere ending cliffhanger, what makes his character and Max the perfect team, the theme of grief, fun stories from set, and more.
Watch my interview below:
