Following its inaugural season, Lie to Me was considered a success for Fox.

But the network chose to tweak its highly-rated, Tim Roth-led drama anyway, bringing in Shawn Ryan (creator of The Shield; i.e. the best show in television history) as executive producer.

A couple weeks into season two, Ryan spoke to TV Guide about his plans for the series.

"There were a lot of things that worked well about the show last year, primarily Tim Roth," he said. "He's one of the premier actors in the world. The show had a lot of strengths. I have just been trying to refine it, add a little adrenaline, add some deeper character work and dig really deep into who these characters really are."

During the September 28 season premiere, Roth's Lightman strangled a client to extract information from her.

Is this the dark kind of path the show will now be taking on a regular basis? Ryan said:

"The show is still going to have humor. It's not a dark universe we're trying to portray, but a visceral, real world. That's something that Tim Roth really embraces. There's a real blue-collar, rough-around-the-edges nature to Tim, in real life and in the way he plays Cal Lightman. And we want to expand upon that this year."

A slew of Lie to Me spoilers have also revealed that Ryan will explore the depths of these characters as much as the plots in which they're involved.

"I think there's a way to still remain a procedural while still delving into who your characters are," Ryan said. "Certain kinds of stories allow you to open avenues of who those characters are as it relates to the story. We're choosing stories that allow us to reflect and illustrate who these characters really are."

Matt Richenthal is the Editor in Chief of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter and on Google+.