‘Found’s Mark-Paul Gosselaar Breaks Down the Season Finale & Season 2

[Editor’s note: The following contains major spoilers for Season 1 of the NBC series Found.]

The Big Picture

• Mark-Paul Gosselaar initially had doubts about whether the premise of the NBC series ‘Found’ could work but became hooked after learning more about the story’s twist.
• The success of TV shows is unpredictable, and there are no guarantees that a show will resonate with audiences.
• Gosselaar has only been given broad information about his character’s arc in season 2 and still has many unanswered questions.

From the beginning of the NBC series Found, which has already been picked up and is getting ready to go back into production for a second season, Gabi Mosely (Shanola Hampton) has been living a double life, bringing the missing and often otherwise forgotten home to their loved ones while keeping her own kidnapper chained in her basement. The team at Mosely & Associates are each working through their own trauma, healed bit by bit with the support of each other and with Gabi cheering them on, the knowledge of her shocking secret threatens to tear them apart. And with Sir (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) breaking free of his chains, there’s no telling what could come next.

The thing I love most about Found, which was created by showrunner Nkechi Okoro Carroll, is the fact that it’s a TV series with something to say that’s disguised as a procedural. From the reveal of its twist in the pilot to the roller coaster ride that kept building toward the finale, the series has made storytelling that seemed impossible to sustain both compelling and exciting. It’s pushed the cast of actors to deliver and it’s pushed the viewers to embrace its flawed characters, all while its made everyone inch closer to the edge of their seat to see what comes next.

After watching the season finale, Collider got the opportunity to chat with Gosselaar about playing a character like Sir, when and how he found out about how the finale would play out, his excitement to dig into the broad strokes he’s been given about Season 2, all the questions he still has about what comes next, his experience with co-star Hampton, and how people in real life sometimes look at him a bit differently as a result of this role. He also talked about the challenge of drawing viewers to any TV series, and that he’s proud and grateful to be a part of the Found team.

Mark-Paul Gosselaar Wasn’t Sure ‘Found’ Would Work But He Was Up For the Challenge

Collider: I love how absolutely unhinged this show is. When I learned the premise of this show, I thought there was no way it could work. And then, when I watched the pilot, I didn’t believe there was any way it could be sustained for a season. But I was quickly hooked and I loved the finale. Now, I can’t wait for Season 2. When you learned about the character you’d be playing and the twist, what was your initial reaction? What sold you that it could actually work?

MARK-PAUL GOSSELAAR: I had the same hesitation and trepidation as you did. I read this and went, “This is a network show? How do we fit this into 44 minutes each week?” At the core, it’s a procedural. It’s what people love about network television. There’s a case and there’s a band of characters that people can relate to, and then there’s this twist, and I was playing this twist. When I first got the script, I knew about it because there’s a handful of scripts during pilot season every year when agents and representatives will say, “These are A-list. We can get our clients on these shows,” and Found was one of them. So, it was on my radar.

I had just come off of doing Mixed-ish and didn’t know what I was gonna do that year. We had just taken a family vacation and the call came in that they wanted me to consider, so I was standing at the airport on the trip from hell. It was 24 hours to get back from Europe with our two kids, and we missed flights and were diverted to Vegas and I thought I was gonna have to drive from Vegas to L.A. But then, we were standing there waiting for a bus while I was reading the role of Sir. I skipped through the script in about five minutes because Sir is so scattered in the pilot and I went, “Wait, am I in this show? I don’t quite understand.” I understood the procedural part, which I didn’t read, but I could glean from what I was reading that that’s what it was. But I was like, “Wait, Sir is so dark and this is such a departure from network. I don’t understand how this is gonna work. But you know what? It’s so crazy that it just might work.”

What do people want on television nowadays? I don’t know. I don’t think any of us do. If you look at a show like Mixed-ish, and you see the success of Black-ish and Grown-ish, as an actor and business person, you’re thinking that’s a horse that’s gonna win a race and it’s gonna sustain. And then, it doesn’t go and you’re thinking, “Oh, my gosh, what is it?” And then, you think, “Oh, the reboot of Saved by the Bell, there was such a want for that.” But then, it only goes two seasons. And then, I did shows like Pitch and The Passage, and each one of those had components that I thought would sustain. And then, you read a script like Found, which is so well-written by Nekechi [Okoro Carroll] and her team, and it had this component that had a little bit of a twist that separated it from a typical procedural, so you’re thinking, “This could work.”

But it is a gamble. Every show you ever do is a gamble. Nothing is a guarantee. [Nkechi] and Shanola [Hampton] are the two most confident people I’ve met and they told me from the very beginning, “Don’t worry, kid, stick with us. It’s gonna be great.” I’ve been in the business for a while and I’m a bit cynical at times. I’m a point in my career where you just don’t know and you go along with it, and you just enjoy the ride and try to be present, which I’ve tried to do. I’m really enjoying myself. I really enjoy this cast. I enjoy the work. I know what’s gonna come for Season 2. I’m so ready to get back to work and do it. I’m excited for the audience to see what we do next [season]. It continued to build throughout the entire season, and what [Nkechi] has planned for the second season, for all the fans out there, is just bonkers. I always get asked, “How do you get into the mindset of Sir? How do you find this character?” And it’s all on the page. With [Nkechi], it’s there. We’re very spoiled on this show.

My two favorite new freshman broadcast network TV series were Found and Will Trent, of which you’re on both, because I think they’re both doing the same thing, in the sense that they’re both unexpected. They’re sneaky, in that they represent themselves as procedurals, but they’re so much more than that.

GOSSELAAR: Will Trent is a good show, as well. That was one of those during that pilot season where I was like, “That one’s gonna go.” But there’s no guarantee. It happened to find an audience, and thankfully it did because I love Liz Heldens. We worked together on The Passage. She’s a fantastic writer. That’s the reason I was on that show for a little bit.

Did you always know that, by the end of the season, Sir would be getting out? Was that something you found out later? When were you made aware of that?

GOSSELAAR: With a film, when you receive a film script, it’s all there in front of you. For a film, you know the start to the end and you know your character. When you’re shooting, they may possibly tweak a few things, but generally, you know the backstory of your character and how it’s gonna end. And with television, a lot of the time, it’s a week before or maybe a day before we actually film the next script, that you received this new information. I didn’t find out about Sir escaping until much later. I didn’t know his backstory with his mother. I didn’t know the backstory with Gabrielle. I think I knew he was a school teacher, but I didn’t know the full story.

When I receive the script, I read it immediately. Shanola tends to wait until she’s done with the episode completely, and then she’ll read a script. She has to compartmentalize things. I would see Shanola maybe once a week for our scenes in the basement and I would say, “Oh, my gosh, did you read the next script? You have to read the next script. It informs us about what we’re doing now.” And she wouldn’t do it. She wouldn’t bite. So, sometimes we don’t know what we’re actually doing until a few days before, which is tough. It’s one of the reasons I don’t like watching myself. I feel like I don’t have all the information, so I’m coming up with stories in my head on my own, which is tough to do.

What was your reaction to learning that he would get out? You’ve played him as this guy chained in the basement, which I would imagine becomes familiar, and then that’s taken away. With what has happened and with what you know about Season 2, how do you feel about all of that?

GOSSELAAR: When I say I know about next season, I know very broad strokes. [Nkechi] will give you these broad strokes, and then she’ll fill that in. Before we actually start in two weeks, she’s gonna talk to each of us individually about our characters and where we plan to go. We know that Sir is out. You’ve seen how the season ends. I’m thinking, “Okay, how long does he stay there? How does he get out from that situation? How does Lacey get out of that situation? What happens?” All these questions that I have, a lot of the time, they don’t get answered until we actually get the script. Will it be the same dynamic between Gabrielle and Sir, where he’s gonna help her with cases? That component of having a procedural and a missing case every week has to sustain. I feel like Sir and what he is bringing to the show is that component of helping her find these people, so how does that sustain? I have a lot of questions, as well.

Mark-Paul Gosselaar Says Sir Will Continue to Be A Part of ‘Found’

This whole season, it’s felt like he’s been very controlled. It seems like he feels that he’s very much controlling the situation that’s happening, even if he is chained up. Now that he’s escaped, do you think that will have an affect on him, mentally and emotionally? Do you think that control will crack?

GOSSELAAR: I think what he’s fighting for and what is most important to him is that control and the control that he has over Gabrielle, just to be in her presence no matter what. People always say, “Why is he in that basement? That must really suck for him. But just to be in the presence of Gabrielle, it doesn’t matter the situation or environment, is what he wants. So, I have questions about why he would go after Lacey. Why even waste his time with that? What does that do? It all has to somehow work itself back to Gabrielle. It has to, in some way, manipulate and control her for his benefit. Somebody said, “Oh, he does this as a redemption.” And no, he’s not doing it out of redemption. He doesn’t do any of this for redemption because he doesn’t feel he did anything wrong. If anything, he feels he’s made Gabrielle into the woman she is today and he can continue to build her up. So, I have questions about how he’s gonna get out of that situation with Lacey and how that’s gonna benefit him. I’ve been told one thing that I thought was interesting, and I don’t think I should tell you because it would be a reveal, but I know where he’s gonna go in the middle of the season and it makes sense. We’ve all wondered, “How long can this relationship sustain in an environment that has no boundaries?” [Nkechi] is gonna put Sir into something where he’s contained and he can stay in the picture for a long time.

Did it feel very different to get to do the scenes with Sir and Dhan? What was it like to have another actor there to feed off of, who clearly is not approaching Sir in the same way that Gabi is?

GOSSELAAR: I joke about it, but it is true that I don’t care about anybody else on the set, except for Gabrielle. When I did that scene with Karan [Oberoi], who plays Dhan, I just treated him with disdain and just brushed him off. That scene where I talk to him while he’s upstairs, that came late. I think that was the very last think I shot. It was late and I remember we got it in two takes. It was an interesting thing. I don’t have a lot of connection. I see the other cast when they’re filming. We have this distributing plant that’s been converted into a studio, so we have multiple sets and I’ll see them and say hi, but then I’ll just go off on my own and do whatever. I don’t do a lot of cast building stuff. I don’t go to dinners. Partially, it’s because of my character, but partially, it’s because of me. I’m on a different show. But it was fun working with Karan. He’s a fantastic actor and such a sweet guy. I’m sure, in the second season, there will be more interactions with some of the other casts. I would imagine, from what I’ve heard. I’m trying to fill in the blanks, but it feels like there might be interactions with more of the cast.

What would you say was the most unexpected challenge that came with playing this role? And what was the most unexpectedly enjoyable aspect of playing this role?

GOSSELAAR: The most challenging was just filling in those blanks throughout the season and making sure that you’re making choices that are within those boundaries. [Nkechi] is not on set all the time. She’s in the writers’ room and she’s dealing with stuff. So, you have the writer who wrote the script there and if you have questions, you have to ask them, and then they have to fill it in for you or make a call to [Nkechi]. So, it’s about doing the dance of interpretation and making sure that you’re on the right track. Before I found out about my mother, I made that story up in my head. [Nkechi] said Sir had mother issues, but she didn’t say what exactly they were until I saw that script. I just made up this story in my head of what it was. I’d say those are the most difficult things.

One of the most surprising things is that it is a very light set when you work with Shanola. My first time working with her on the pilot, I had to make a call to my reps and say, “Is she for real?” It’s a drama, but she’s so light and effervescent, and then she just flips a switch and goes into the role of Gabrielle. It was a departure from everything that I’ve worked on in the past. We don’t rehearse. Everything is pretty much organic. We read it and she knows her work. When we’re on set, that’s when we find these moments. And Shanola is such a force. I respect her for everything that she does. She’s a producer on the show, she’s a fantastic actor, and she’s an awesome mother. That was probably the bright light for me, working with Shanola.

Mark-Paul Gosselaar Says Sir is Evil and Shouldn’t Be Redeemed

There’s something just so fun and exciting, and it gives you this feeling of guilt, watching your characters together because you want to keep them in this position, which is just wrong on every level.

GOSSELAAR: I know. I get that a lot. I get people saying, “Yeah, Sir, he’s evil, but there’s something about him.” And I’m like, “No, there’s isn’t. There’s nothing. He’s an evil person.” My son’s fourth grade teacher binge-watched the show during the holidays, and when I picked up my son after the holidays, the first day back, she was like, “Oh, I watched the show and we need more Sir.” And I was like, “Do you realize what you just said? You’re rooting for a monster.” That connection between Gabrielle and Sir is something that was not worked on. It’s just organic and it’s on the page, and Shanola and I just find it when we’re on set.

Watching the two of you together on the show really just makes me want to see the blooper reel from all those moments.

GOSSELAAR: Yeah. It would be like pulling back the curtain. I’ve seen bits of the blooper reel. It’s fun to watch, especially when they’re doing the M&A stuff with the other side of the cast. They have a lot more fun than I do. The only days when there’s no fun are in the farmhouse with Azaria Carter (who plays Teen Gabi). She’s amazing. Those are really dark scenes to do. I try to keep it as neutral and dark as possible. With Shanola, Shanola is Shanola. She’s like, “Fuck it, we’re just having fun!”

Because it’s a power play and not a sexual dynamic, it’s much more layered and complicated and unpredictable. It’s so interesting to watch because you’re never sure what’s going to happen between them.

GOSSELAAR: Yeah, and that’s something that Shanola brings up quite a bit. We don’t see this type of relationship on film that much, where it’s a man and a woman and there is nothing sexual about it. There’s not that component, which I think is important for us to continuously play. They may be together, but it will never be in a sexual relationship. That component will just never be there. And yeah, it makes it much more interesting. One of my favorite scenes was when he basically manipulates her into saying, “I love you.” We typically think, when somebody says, “I love you,” that it’s something to do with a sexual relationship. To see that he just needed to hear those words from, it’s one of my favorite moments between them.

You’ve played a few characters that people have gotten very passionate about. Because you played Zack Morris for as long as you did, is that the character that people talk to you about the most, if they run into you somewhere or meet you under some circumstance? Do people bring up Pitch because they’re as salty as I am that we didn’t get more episodes of that show? Or are you finding people talking to you much more about Found now because it is making such an impression on people?

GOSSELAAR: I think it’s what is on the air at the moment. Once I’m off the set, I’m at home where I’m a little league dad, a softball dad, and a volleyball. My kids are in sports, so I’m at school and at sporting events, but I’m having a lot more of our friends in that world that watch the show having time seeing me as Sir. They’re actually having a hard time seeing me now because, once they’ve seen Sir, they’re like, “Is that really how you are, in some way? We didn’t think you had that in you.” But yeah, whatever is currently on the air is what I get recognized for. Obviously, I’ve got this scraggly gray beard because we’re prepping to go back to the show in about a month, so I’m starting to look like the character and people will do a double take. I ran into my daughter’s holiday play, right before the Christmas break. I was late and I ran in, and I heard this woman go, “Sir!” In my head, I was like, “Oh, she’s telling me to stop,” but then I realized, “Oh, no, she’s watching the show.” And then, the other day, somebody I walked by looked at me and I could see that the wheels were turning in their head and they’d seen me before. If I go to a Comic Con or a fan fest, then it’s mostly about Saved by the Bell. Pitch is one of those where people want to know why and they have a lot of questions. That’s a show where still, to this day, we don’t understand what happened.

Much Like ‘Pitch’ Fans, Mark-Paul Gosselaar is Crushed the Series Only Got One Season

I will be forever salty over what happened with Pitch.

GOSSELAAR: I know. We are, too. Trust me, everyone involved with that show – the writers, producers, and actors – feel the same way. You just never know. You see it on paper, and you see it on the screen when that pilot came out. I still watch that pilot, every once in a while, and it brings me chills because it’s so well done. To only get that season was crushing.

What is the most nervous you’ve ever been, the night before starting a project and why? Are you someone who always wants to be at least a little bit nervous about everything you do because it means you’re invested? How do you approach that?

GOSSELAAR: I was on an interview for a live news channel this morning and I was a little nervous. It was on Zoom, and I was still a little nervous with that. It’s interesting, I’m not good at being myself on live television. Doing an interview like this, I don’t really get nervous about because, even though it’s being recorded, I’m not on. I’ve always been that way. Even on Saved by the Bell, I was just never good until the red light comes on, and then I knew that we were filming and it all goes away. I would do school plays and would always be nervous. I would say the most nervous I’ve ever been in my career was when I did the off-Broadway play, The Understudy, with Justin Kirk and Julie White. It was a three-person play and I remember being really, really nervous for the opening day of the previews. It was such a departure for me that I really had a hard time. And then, every day on a play like that, it just becomes more about adrenaline. When I had to enter the theater, I was just very nervous. But when the red light turns on, I kick into another gear. I’ve always been that way. With Saved by the Bell, I was terrible at rehearsing. I didn’t like to rehearse because it didn’t feel real. But then, once that red light went on, then I would give it my all.

Well, I have to say that it was definitely exciting to watch Found all season because I never had any idea where it was going and just had to give into the ride, which was so much fun.

GOSSELAAR: It’s a testament to [Nkechi], our showrunner, and the writers. People always say, “You’re playing a really disturbing character.” I’m like, “Listen, I’m not the one that’s writing this. We have some really dark people on our show.” These writers come up with these stories that are really dark and really interesting and really complex, and it makes for good television. I’m just so proud to be a part of it and so grateful to be a part of this team. I hope it goes for many years and we’ll get to see where the relationship with Sir and Gabi go, and the rest of the team.

Found is available to stream at Peacock. Check out the trailer at:

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