Have U Heard had the chance to speak to Chuck stars Ryan McPartlin and Sarah Lancaster about the upcoming season.  In the midst of teasing each other and finishing one another’s sentences, they divulged information about the show’s struggles and dedicated fan base, their lives as a fictional married couple, Baby Awesome, and even a possible Chuck movie!

Chuck has returned a number of times, and a lot of online following is what helps keep the show on track. How important do you see online promotion to the continuation of Chuck and the fan base?

Sarah Lancaster: It’s essential. I’ve never been a part of something like this, and you can really feel the grown swell of emotion from people. And, the online support I think is essential in our continuing on.

Ryan McPartlin: I think we get half our viewers online, so it’s amazing.  Who knew that ten years ago people would be watching network television online through Hulu, NBC.com, and iTunes?  I think everyone’s trying to play catch up to it right now, and thankfully, we’ve been on the forefront of branching out to those fans.

And Ryan, why do you think people continue to tune in and watch Chuck?

Ryan McPartlin: Well, it’s just fun. I’ve heard a lot of people say that it’s just kind of their natural anti-depressant in that you just tune in for an hour and have a good time, go along for the ride. And you don’t get a whole lot of shows like that anymore that you can just sit down with most of your family and enjoy it together.  I just was at the gym today and there was a handful of guys there that said that there’s about six or seven of them that watch it together every week, and that says a lot, that these guys who should be watching Monday Night Football are tuned into Chuck.  It’s one of those fun shows, and who knew that we’d get such a good, strong cult following that is die-hard.

Do you think – or do you know if Ellie and Awesome are going to find out how much their marital and parenthood issues are freaking out Sarah?

Sarah Lancaster: Yes, I think that’s sort of our job, we’re always right up against Chuck and Sarah, so Sarah specifically has this right in her face – visual of what marriage, and life, and carpool, and normal jobs, and all of those things are like, and it’s sort of staggering to her. So, I think they do that on purpose. You know, it’s kind of, we’re the anti-Sarah and Chuck, and she’s always sort of having to decide between which way is her life going to go and which way does she get pulled.

Ryan McPartlin: Yes. The grass is always greener too, because they long for that normalcy when their lives are in danger, and then they get that normalcy and after a couple weeks of it, they’re like, “Oh, that’d be kind of cool to be hanging over a building again and having that adrenaline rush and kicking somebody’s butt.” So yes, we’re a good mirror for them of what should be normal life, but then obviously we get tangled up into the spy world as well.

Despite their objections, I have to feel that Awesome and Ellie are bound to become, if not spies at some point, at least more involved in the crime fighting. I know that obviously you guys have a great creative team behind this show, but as actors, what is your preference? Would you like to see your characters get more involved in that world, or would you rather that they stay out of the crime fighting and be the safe zone for Chuck, if you will?

Ryan McPartlin: Go ahead, Ms. Lancaster.

Sarah Lancaster: You know, it’s interesting. I think sometimes if I were to let my ego get in the equation, it would be like, “Yes. I want a gun. I want to fight. I want to do this. I want to do that.” But when I look for the show as a whole package and what would be best for the story line as a whole, I think that you have to have the dichotomy of Chuck’s spy world and Chuck’s home world. And, I think that the Ellie character is best suited to not know and not to participate in that stuff.

I think the writers agree with me. That being said, they’re great writers and they could flip it and turn it around, and I’d be like a kid again. I’d be happy to wield a gun and try shooting somebody, but, I do think even though some of the moments are few and far between, I really look forward to those moments that I have with Zach, where it kind of – it brings the show to a different [level], it takes it down a notch. It grounds it a little bit. I think it’s important, and I think that the show would be lacking something if those moments weren’t there.

Ryan McPartlin: Yes, like Sarah said, as much fun as it is to get out there and try and grab a gun or do whatever, shoot some missiles from cars and save the day, I think the real moments that the audience relates to comes because Chuck has us at home and has a real life to go back to. And without that we would just become the A-Team.

What is the set like, is it always a lot of fun?

Ryan McPartlin: Yes it is, usually if Josh Gomez is on set with all of us; it brings it up to that level. We all have a good energy together and it’s what I hoped for when I’ve worked on other shows. I always looked for a show to be on that other people matched my energy, and I feel like I have found that home. What about you Sarah Lancaster?

Sarah Lancaster: I love my boys. My boys make me laugh. I mean, I still feel like the mother hen. You know, like the character’s not too far from the reality. I feel like I’m reeling everything in. But, it’s a great working environment.

Have you guys talked about what you’re going to name the baby, or what they’re naming the baby?

Ryan McPartlin: That’s funny. We talked about names for babies, but not what we’ll name the baby. I mean, I guess we’ll have to come up with something and pass it along to the writers if we’re set on something.

Well, no. I meant with the writers, have you guys all talked about that or not?

Ryan McPartlin: No. The writers don’t talk to us. Are you kidding me? They hole up in their room and they just wall us out. They say, “Oh, actors are coming. Let’s lock the door, quick.”

Sarah Lancaster: Yes. We don’t know anything. Well, we found out the sex, but that hasn’t aired yet, so we can’t say that.

Is Awesome going to mellow out about the whole baby thing, or not really?

Ryan McPartlin: No, dude.

Sarah Lancaster: I hope not. I think it’s really funny.

Ryan McPartlin: I’m a dad in real life, so it just comes natural for me to be obsessive-compulsive. I was ahead of the curve with this whole BPA in the plastic. I don’t know if you know what this is, but the BPA that was a chemical that was leaking out of plastic bottles that was creating basically a liquid estrogen. So, boys were getting these feminine traits because too much BPA, and I was way ahead of the curve before – like no microwaving plastics and all that stuff. So, I mean if my character is anything like me in real life, if I have anything to say about it, I’m going to be as neurotic as I am in real life when it comes to raising this child.

Sarah Lancaster: Wow.

I’ve never known. No more microwaving plastic. Okay.

Sarah Lancaster: Wow.

Ryan McPartlin: Microwaving plastic is the tip of the iceberg. I could just give you a whole list of things that I do and don’t do.

Sarah Lancaster: Help me now. Somebody help me now.

Ryan McPartlin: Yes. So, Ellie’s in for a real treat.

Ryan, what’s it like to see a statue of yourself?

Ryan McPartlin: You know it’s funny. It was very surreal. I think my favorite thing about the statue is that Zach looked at me and he said, “I am so jealous of your ten foot statue.” So, I think that was my favorite part of it, because I’m so jealous of Zach in a number of other ways.

So yes, it was surreal, but it’s one of those things that I say that I’ll look back on and be like, “What kind of crazy show was I on? What was happening?” But, you kind of expect these things when you’re on Chuck. You go, “Oh, wow. That’s crazy. We’re going to blow up an armored car today, and missiles are going to shoot out of the car, Jeff and Lester are going to be on the run,” or whatever it is. Each week is so ridiculous that you kind of take it for granted. But, I know that one day I’m going to look back and go, “What a crazy, nutty show, and how much fun did we have.” And, “Where’s that statue now, because I want it in my back yard.”

Sarah, how do you see Ellie’s role in terms of kind of grounding Chuck, and if she’s going to find out at some point this season that Chuck didn’t quit the spy game for very long, how that might affect them.

Sarah Lancaster: It seems to me as far as what we’ve been shooting lately, the biggest issue at hand is the mom situation. So, I think that maybe is going to override Ellie’s anger or Ellie’s frustration, or even Ellie finding out. They’re doing it in such a way that that’s going to overpower anything that Ellie has in regards to Chuck’s job. So, everything’s been really focused on family.

And to the extent of what the secrets were, and it makes Ellie question growing up what she thought was right, what she thought was real, what was really going on, also obviously at the same time while she’s pregnant herself. So, it’s bringing up a lot of stuff. Maybe making her a little bit softer than she otherwise would’ve been towards the idea of her mother possibly coming back. So, it’s been a good ride for me so far this season.

Ryan McPartlin: There’s a lot of stuff for Ellie this season that Chuck went through in the first season – finding out about his dad, and now Ellie’s getting to do the same stuff with her mom. The father-son and the mother-daughter relationships are two very special bonds; Ellie’s getting to go through a lot of things now that Chuck had to go through the first couple of seasons, as she’s finding out little by little who her mom really is.

Last month, Gomez said that the baby Awesome will be born and have a tiny beard, kind of like you know who. Care to comment?

Sarah Lancaster: Wouldn’t that be a great scandal, right?

Ryan McPartlin: No. Not at all.

Sarah Lancaster: Ryan’s not having that one.

Ryan McPartlin: Gomez lives in a fantasy world that is beyond our comprehension. So let him have his little jokes, and let me just keep Ellie as my wife and having my baby.

Sarah Lancaster: No, the baby will not have a beard. The baby will be born with washboard abs and it will be all Awesomeness.

Sarah, are we going to see any Ellie and Sarah girl bonding? We saw them in kind of a family situation at the beginning of an episode with Morgan, but we’re wondering if Sarah and Ellie are going to have some one-on-one time?

Sarah Lancaster: Good question. I don’t know. I think Yvonne and I would both be excited about that. It’s just a matter of the writers bringing it together. You never see any of Ellie’s friends or other girl friends. So maybe – I don’t know, maybe Yvonne has to do the baby shower, which I’m sure she would have no idea how to proceed with that.

Ryan McPartlin: That’d be hysterical.

Sarah, how will the pregnancy affect Ellie this season?

Sarah Lancaster: I think it’s a really interesting thing to pull from, because you know Ellie and Chuck are focused a lot on their mother and what happened to her and where she is and why she left, and all coinciding with the fact that Ellie’s pregnant right now. I think it’s giving her a wide range of emotions. Maybe softening her a little bit more than she would otherwise be, because when she talked about her mother in episodes past, it’s been sort of very cut and dry. She left. That’s it. Moving on. Done.

I think the fact that she’s about to be a mother raises a lot of questions and raises the stakes, and makes her wonder, does she want this child to know her grandmother? So, it creates a good story line.

And, will we see Morgan as the child’s second uncle, I guess you’d say?

Sarah Lancaster: Oh, that’s a terrifying thought to have Morgan and the Buy More guys babysit. I’m sure they’ll do it.

Ryan McPartlin: Oh, my God. Now we’re talking about The Hangover all the sudden.

It’s pretty obvious just listening to you guys that you all have a great chemistry.  Sarah, Ellie and Chuck have such a real, loving sibling relationship. How does that compare to your relationship with Zach on the set?

Sarah Lancaster: I have always felt a real affection for Zachary. I adore that man, and it’s really been there since the moment I came in to read with him. And you just have that with some people, and it’s sort of unexplainable. Not taking apart from the fact that he’s an amazing individual and super talented, and all of those things. It’s just chemistry, and sometimes it’s instant and it just reads.

I have a younger brother, and there are similarities there in his physical stature and whatnot. So playing those moments, having it be Zach, maybe it’s a little bit from my personal life combination, but at the end of the day I think it’s just chemistry and Zach and I have it.

How do you feel that the news that Ellie’s pregnant is going to affect Chuck’s spy life and with a pregnant sister, and in the future with a niece or nephew?

Ryan McPartlin: I just feel like the good news of the pregnancy, it raises the stakes of the show once again. Just when you feel like, “Oh, where could they go with it next year?” The writers do a good job of being able to create something in the home life that will just make each situation when you’re in the spy world feel like there’s a lot more jeopardy, a lot more at stake. So yes, in that respect it’s a nice device for that as far as the spy world.

As far as we’re concerned, when we’re at home there are plenty of dramatic moments of really trying to get through a pregnancy and maintain a healthy relationship. So, we’re able to do all those things at once on the show, which is damn hard to be honest. But, they do a good job of it. I think everyone does a good job of it.

Yes. And I’m also putting my money on nephew. I think he may come out with some abs, like you were saying before.

Ryan McPartlin: I don’t know. You may be surprised.

What kind of mother can we expect Ellie to be? Does she have something to prove since her mother was absent?

Sarah Lancaster: Ellie is sort of a manic individual, and I really like the moments when Ellie comes undone completely.  I think that Awesome should be awesome as he is in everything he touches, and I think Ellie should maybe be pulling her hair out a little bit. It’d be funny if she’s just running around you know, panicked and every time the baby’s in Awesome’s arms, it’s just “Coo.” I think that would be pretty relatable.

Do you think there’s any baby care data loaded into the Intersect? Can we see Chuck flash on the baby and just immediately know how to change a diaper?

Sarah Lancaster: That’s funny. They should use that.

Ryan McPartlin: That’s really funny, actually.  When he’s babysitting, he’ll have to do that.  That’d be a great episode of him actually babysitting and then having to flash. That’s funny.  We’re going to end up taking notes here and passing them on to the writers.

Any idea if we’ll see a baby by the end of the 13 episodes?

Ryan McPartlin: We don’t know. Well, here’s the deal. If we get more episodes, they may stretch out that 13, and what they have arched for all of our characters in the season right now is a shorter arch, and they may have to say, “Okay. What we were going to finish that 13 with, we’ll put at the end of the season and fill in and lengthen that arch basically.” So to be honest, I don’t even think the writers necessarily know, and hopefully we’ll all find out in the next couple of weeks what we’re dealing with.

Ryan, it’s my understanding that you auditioned for the role of Superman in Superman Returns. Now that Warner Brothers is rebooting the film series with Chris Nolan and Zach Snyder directing, would you want to audition for Superman again or have you already even taken steps to secure an audition?

Ryan McPartlin: You know, it’s so funny – I was on the train next to Zach Snyder going down to Comic-Con, and I was like I really should go over and introduce myself to him, because I’m a fan of his. And, we’re literally sitting across the aisle from each other, but my buddy wasn’t in the – oh, this sounds so tacky, but the business class. He was back in coach, so I ended up sitting with my buddy and giving up my seat.  So I probably blew the whole Superman role right there.

But, of course that would be great, but realistically speaking, I’m with Chuck now and whatever happens after Chuck, we’ll just take it as it comes. But, Brandon Routh played Superman and he joined us in season 3, so who knows.  I think Zach Levi would make a great Superman to be honest.

When the series does come to an end would you be up for a theatrical film version of Chuck?

Sarah Lancaster: We’re in Chuck for the long haul. We want to continue on. If for some reason there was a theatrical release beyond that it would be dependent on the script, and then I think all of us would look at each other and say let’s go. We have a great time working together. If the script wasn’t there, then we’d just have to leave the roles where we left them and move forward.

Ryan McPartlin: Yes. In everything, there are a lot of hypotheticals. I mean like I saw they’re making a new Wonder Woman now. I was like, “Oh. Sarah Lancaster would be perfect for that Wonder Woman,” but hopefully, she’ll still be my wife on Chuck and not take the chance to play Wonder Woman at all, ever. Hopefully ten years from now, we’ll still be doing this, right Lancaster?

Do you have any ideas for a story that has not been done with your character that you would like to see the writers do?

Sarah Lancaster: Oh, gosh.

Ryan McPartlin: I actually do, and I passed it along to the writers. I can’t divulge it because they liked it.  Not necessarily for my character, but just for the show. I felt like there would be a good setting for it, but I hope it gets done, so I can’t tell you.

Sarah Lancaster: Interesting. I don’t know what this is.

Ryan McPartlin: Yes. I don’t know if I’ve had a chance to tell you. I was talking to Chris Fedak the other day about it, and they seemed to like it. I’ll tell you later…

I was just curious Ryan, in this interview what would you have asked Sarah?

Sarah Lancaster: You better have something for me. What you got? What you got?

Ryan McPartlin: Well, I was going to say you know, all this chemistry talk about you and Zach, what the viewers really want to know is what is your chemistry like with Captain Awesome off-screen?

Sarah Lancaster: Ryan and I have merged into a married couple. I mean, seriously. We spend all of our time together on set and our trailers are next door to each other’s. We socialize outside of the set; we get into little squabbles like married people do.

Ryan McPartlin: Married couples range from very happily married to like being at each other’s throats. Now, why aren’t you getting a little more specific here?

Sarah Lancaster: I said we get into little squabbles like some married couples do, but at the end of the day I’ve got nothing but love for him.

Ryan McPartlin: There you go.

Sarah Lancaster: You know what? You know this is how I know we spend too much time together. Ryan and I showed up two weeks ago, sat down in our chairs, got ready to shoot a scene, pulled out on the side of our chair the same book. We were reading the same novel. We’re merging into the same being.

Ryan McPartlin: Yes. Well, it’s true. And, I think that you said it best. I can’t argue with anything she said, and I found it best just to not argue with her period, and keep her as happy as possible, just like a husband would.

Sarah Lancaster: See. Four years and I’ve got him trained!

Ryan McPartlin: You bet, honey. Anything else I can do for you? Can I get you another cup of coffee?

Sarah Lancaster: Oh, thanks love.

Ryan McPartlin: A little glimpse into the real life world of Awesome and Ellie.