TV Fanatic Set Visit Preview: Covert Affairs and Suits

There's a moment coming up in Covert Affairs' second season when Auggie "shatters Annie's expectations," a sly, yet cryptic, Piper Perabo told us during our visit to the set in Toronto.

We'll be giving you more details of our visit - which included chats with almost the entire Covert Affairs cast, including Perabo, Christopher Gorham, Kari Matchett, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Eion Bailey and executive producer Doug Liman (who flew himself into an air strip adjacent to the set just moments before!) - in the coming days.

To whet your appetite though, a few things we learned:

Annie is in no rush to start packing! An effervescent Perabo, whose energy was impressive despite the long shoot, feels that Annie doesn't need a gun just yet, because there's more creativity involved in the action scenes without relying on firepower to escape sticky situations.

When asked if there is one identity she would love for Annie to assume at some point, Perabo, while curled up comfortably in an easy chair, responded that Annie posing as bride to either Ben or Auggie during a staged wedding would be fantastic; only that during the nuptials, "all hell would break loose! Wouldn't that make a great teaser promo?!"

Plus, she thinks a wedding dress has plenty of cover to hide a weapon!

During our chat with Ramamurthy, he hinted that Jai would follow a slightly darker path as the season progresses, but by the end of the summer run we should have a good idea of the direction in which he's headed.

Although other cast members will be traveling abroad for some location shoots, he won't be joining them - the reason why will soon become apparent as Jai's story evolves.

Auggie's evident disdain for Jai stems mostly from his father's reputation and the whole "like father like son" adage, Ramamurthy indicated, but that he feels Jai is trying to both prove something to his father as well as repair the tarnished Wilcox reputation.

Did we mention he also let slip that Jaime Alexander will be guesting on the show this season?!

Kari Matchett, who looks even more regal in person if that's possible, was practically giddy that viewers will finally get to see what a great agent Joan can be when she goes back out into the field (in the episode they were filming while we were on set), and why she deserves to have the position she now has. Matchett also loves that Joan is a strong woman who doesn't feel like she has to "become a man" to compete at the CIA; she adores Joan's femininity and her wardrobe!

After sharing some heartfelt details regarding some of the people he's met while training to make Auggie's blindness as authentic as possible, Gorham, who is just as affable in person as he is on screen, related that the upcoming flashbacks involving the loss of Auggie's sight were personal and very emotional for him to film. It was a special moment, he said, and the biggest production day they've filmed yet.

Bailey was simply mesmerizing and introspective in relating his thoughts regarding playing scenes in the first season finale when Ben's life was hanging in the balance, not knowing at the time whether or not his character was coming back for season two. He expressed his almost poetic thoughts on mortality and even posed thought-provoking questions to the group about our own.

As for Ben's love life, Bailey believes Ben is a one-woman man. Despite his ruggedly handsome looks, hypnotizing gaze and job that takes him all over the globe, Bailey claims Ben is just not the type to bed and run.

This merely scratches the surface of our visit, which included dinner with some of the Covert Affairs writers (including co-creator Chris Ord!), tours of all the core sets (Annie's bedroom, Auggie's office) and the location shoot set, as well as a set visit and interviews with the cast of USA Network's new sure-to-be-a-hit summer series Suits.

Many thanks to USA Network, who proved by their hospitality that more than just "Characters" are welcome, for their generous invitation! Be sure to check back over the next few days as we share more details of our exciting trip and, as always, follow our coverage of all your favorite USA Network summer shows right here; we've got 'em all!

Jeffrey Kirkpatrick is a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow him on Twitter.