Person Of Interest: Reader Questions Answered

How Is Season 5 different from Season 4? —Kelsey

"I would say it's pretty dramatically different," shares Amy Acker. "There were some episodes that I got the script and literally thought, 'Are we on a different show?' There's one in particular — Episode 4 — that doesn't seem like Person of Interest at all, but people are saying it's one of the best episodes." Jim Caviezel meanwhile sums up the farewell run thusly: "By way of analogy through Star Wars, I'd say it's Empire Strikes Back meets Return of the Jedi, the way we're going out."

I loved the New York Comic-Con sizzle reel! Who did the actors have the best time impersonating? —Lee

That sizzle reel in fact opens Episode 2, when the resurrected Machine demonstrates a problem with facial recognition, allowing each cast member the chance to play other roles. "It's hard to do Jim [Caviezel], because his work is very contained," said Michael Emerson, photo'd above giving us his best Reese. "But it was fun to do Amy [Acker]." Root's portrayer meanwhile "was panicked about all of them," Acker shared. "I was afraid no one was going to be my friend anymore. I thought Michael was pretty hard. I went with [his distinct vocal intonations], but you feel so pressured to be good. And Chappy [Kevin Chapman] was fun."

The show has had some great guest stars over the years, Who would you like to bring back and why? —Katherine

Sarah Shahi was quick to cite Warehouse 13 alum Saul Rubinek, who midway through Season 3 played Harold and Nathan's MIT pal/NSA whiz Arthur Claypool. "He's one of the best actors I've ever worked with," said the actress. "His preparation just kind of went into another level. I mean, he knew his material so well, every nuance that he did was tied to a moment, and he really listened. I think that's something that actors don't do very often. They don't listen and they just kind of respond because it's their line. It was a treat being able to work with him."

We have been given hints that The Machine is going to be slightly different as compared to The Machine that we have known. Could you give us some hints about what this means for Root's relationship with it? —Lily

Indeed, even once booted back up, "The Machine's a mess," Michael Emerson notes. "You can't hypercompress something like that and expect all the programs and files to work like they used to." As such, as first glimpsed in Episode 2, "There are some quite dangerous problems with the Machine that have to be ironed out." Root however will always stand by her girl. "She is still Her No. 1 champion, trying to get Her back up and running," says Amy Acker. "And this year she's working on trying to convince Harold that we should make maybe a few [ethical] 'modifications' while we're rebuilding her."

Is Mr. Finch going to make any ethical changes to the Machine when rebuilding it? —Kaan

As noted in the previous slide, that is a debate that Harold and Root will engage in, especially since the gloves will need to come off now that Samaritan has the upper hand. Says Michael Emerson, "I had a line in Episode 10 where I said [to the Machine], 'I see you've thought several steps ahead and our opponent has thought a thousand.' There's just no fighting that much computing power, that much ability to run variations of situations."

What is Fusco up to in the final season? —Craig

"Fusco kind of goes rogue there for a few episodes," Kevin Chapman reports. "As you know, in the first four seasons he had no knowledge of the Machine, so he has a lot of unanswered questions that he wants to resolve — and he has the tendency to start his own little investigations."

What happened to Root's black nail polish? Will we ever see her wearing it again? —Julia

"I break it out as toe polish this year, which you get to see in the scene," Amy Acker answers, "But because I was changing different identifies [to evade Samaritan], we took it away, because we didn't want something consistent that Samaritan might recognize."

What is one of the toughest things you've had to do on the show? —Miles

"The [Season 3] fight sequence with Fusco and Simmons was tough," said Kevin Chapman, "because it was something that was kind of done on the fly, and we choreographed that in about 15 minutes prior to shooting it. So, I was really concerned about somebody getting hurt." And speaking of getting hurt, Jim Caviezel says that toughing out a back injury was his most grueling on-set experience. "I had to keep going, I had to keep working," he shared. "I was lying on a cot [between takes] and then I'd just rollover and keep working."

Since there's so much communication via phones/earpieces, how do the actors feel about much of the dialogue not being based in acting with your fellow cast members but being fed lines by the script supervisor? –Fran

Oh, Sarah Shahi had opinions on this one, saying: "I'm not a fan of that for a couple of reasons. One, we shoot a lot on location and usually it's our script supervisor yelling to us and 99 percent of the time you can't hear him. So, it's almost like you have to memorize the other person's lines and yours, so you can hear it in your head. And then usually the way they end up saying it on their coverage is not the correct way of which you responded to it, if that makes sense. And then you just look like you're awful and you didn't prepare!"

How many episodes can we expect to see Carrie Preston/ Grace in, and is there a chance there'll be a scene in the present, rather than a flashback? —Laura

In addition to last week's season premiere, Preston will also appear in the June 21 series finale — which one would have to think mayyyyybe offers a happily ever after for Grace and Harold...? Regardless, two is better than none. "I think they want her to be in more than she has been," Michael Emerson (aka Mr. Preston) told TVLine. "She's busy with another show [NBC's Crowded], so it was all about scheduling."

After Shaw's experience with Samaritan, is Root able to get through to her in some way? Is she still the same Shaw we knew? —Char

"I don't want to give away too much about it, but I will say that we learn what's happened to Shaw over the last 9, 10 months, however long it's been that she's been missing," says Sarah Shahi, who first appears in Episode 4 (airing May 16). "And they've definitely done a number on her. They've done a number on her. And when she does return to the team later, the question will be whether or not she's one of them still." And Root may be the only one to pull the real Sameen out of her fog, given their intensifying connection. "Shaw has always been one that doesn't experience emotions the same way that every other person does," notes co-EP/writer Denise Thé. "Her emotions have always been dimmed, so to awaken those in her, you have to have pretty strong chemistry."