Preview: Rebecca Romijn leads cast in “The Librarians” on TNT

Barb Oates

11 years ago

TNT’s popular movie trilogy The Librarian gets serialized in the new action-packed drama series The Librarians, premiering on TNT Sunday, Dec. 7 at 8pmET/PT. Leading the cast is Rebecca Romijn (X-Men) who plays counter-terrorism agent Eve Baird who is reluctant to take on the job as the guardian to this weird but interesting Librarian (Noah Wyle) she encounters.

“I was an investigator and I get invited to work at the library — I don’t know why, and I don’t necessarily want the job but I received this mysterious invitation,” Romijn explains. “I [become] the guardian of the Librarian. He doesn’t want me either. We discover the Librarian, and the librarians in training, are all in danger of being killed off.”

Wyle has long been the front man of The Librarian movie franchise, as the socially awkward, Indiana Jones-like librarian — Flynn Carsen. Wyle returns to his role but transitions the storyline to a new cast of librarians in training in the 10-episode series. Romijn’s character is in charge of protecting not just Flynn Carsen but future guardians, as well.

The series picks up where the movies left off, following the brilliant but bumbling Flynn as he continues to collect ancient knowledge and protect the library’s artifacts and magic from the dangers of the outside world. Flynn and Baird take no time to discover that former librarian candidates are slowly being killed off and they set out to protect the remaining few. Enter the new librarians in training — Cassandra (Lindy Booth), whose got an exceptional gift of memory retrieval; Ezekiel Jones (John Kim), a master of new technologies and seasoned criminal; and Jake Stone (Christian Kane), who holds an IQ of 190 and an encyclopedic knowledge of art history.

Together they “run around the world and collect dangerous magical artifacts to keep them out of the wrong hands,” Romijn says. “I am there to fight them off.”

Romijn’s mixed martial arts and weapons training from her former King & Maxwell days came in handy during her 16-hour shooting schedule that often found her kicking, punching and running for her life. “I am a lover of this genre … I love the high concept and action adventure.”

“My number one reason for wanting to get involved with this was because of the genre. I was a huge Indiana Jones fans as a kid,” Romijn continues. “It’s not dark. It’s not bleak. We are not superheroes — we are highly skilled people and for the librarians in training their power comes from knowledge and books, which I love as a theme for the show.”

While Wyle appears in just four of the episodes (spread throughout the season), the series makes a smooth transition to a new cast of equally entertaining characters who have no problem finding the comedy and the drama in their high-stakes adventures. The series is a welcome addition to the Sunday lineup and something your entire family will enjoy.

“The series is a standalone series, so you don’t need to be familiar with the three original movies to pick up at our first episode and take off. In fact, each episode is a standalone episode but there is a through line throughout the season, which is sort of led by Flynn Carson coming in and out of our season,” she shares. “There is a through line in the season and a huge payoff in our finale.”

And, there is a special Christmas episode titled “And Santa’s Midnight Run” that is slated for Sunday, Dec. 21. “Yes we have a Christmas episode, and, yes, Santa Claus is in it. That’s the episode where you see my character’s backstory and it’s actually my favorite episode of the season,” Romijn laughs.

The Librarians airs on TNT Sundays at 8pm ET/PT.