One of the most interesting dramas to premiere last fall was Life, about a former cop who was vindicated by DNA evidence after spending 12 years in prison for a triple murder he didn’t commit.

The strike-abbreviated first season introduced viewers to Charlie Crews, played by actor Damian Lewis, who asked to be reinstated to the LAPD as part of a wrongful arrest and conviction settlement. He gets assigned to the homicide division, where he is partnered with Dani Reese, played by Sarah Shahi. Reese, a former narcotics agent, is also somewhat of an outcast because she ended up with a heroin addiction while deep undercover and continues to struggle with recovery.

Dreamed up by creators and executive producers Rand Ravich and Far Shariat, Life is about larger themes of vengeance and redemption, set within a web of conspiracy that framed Crews for the murders. Crews, naturally, uses his position with the LAPD as a means to continue the investigation into the murders he was once convicted of. Not just to finally solve the crime, but in order to confront those who took away his life.

Joining the cast for the second season is Donal Logue playing homicide division Captain Tidwell. Adam Arkin returns as Crews’ former prison buddy and current roommate Ted Early.

The second season of Life premieres on Monday, Sept. 29 (NBC in the U.S., Global in Canada). Episodes two, three, and four air on, respectively, Friday, Oct. 3, Monday, Oct. 6, and Friday, Oct. 10. The show broadcasts on Fridays from then on.

On Sept. 25, CinemaSpy participated in a telephone interview with Ravich, Lewis, and Shahi, a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, it should be noted. The conversation is below.

Question: What would you tell people that maybe didn’t get around to seeing your show last season? What would you tell them about jumping into the series at this point?

Rand Ravich: I would tell them not to be afraid. Although it has a reputation for being slightly serialized, this year starts all over again. If you had never seen this show before you can come to the first episode this year and be caught up by the end of the recap, which is only 21 seconds long. We’ve constructed the first episode to act as kind of a booster pilot. So you will not be left behind if you come fresh.

Question: How much time has passed since the [Series 1] finale as far as the timeline goes?

Rand Ravich: About four or five months.

Question: Charlie seems to be getting closer to the answers he’s looking for. How do you think it will affect him if he eventually solves his case?

Damian Lewis: How will it affect Crews if he solves the case? Well I’ll have to look for another job, so I hope he doesn’t. I hope he doesn’t solve the case.

Rand Ravich: He’s going to move over to be in Chuck.

Damian Lewis: Yeah, right. He’s just going to go guest-starring in all the other TV series. You know, if he finds out finally who did it, who set him up for the triple murder, I think that’ll be some kind of closure and he’ll be able to carry on with his life as normal. But I don’t think he’s that close to finding where they are. I mean, he’s - something he’s established early on in this season’s show - what becomes clear is its more than just one person who’s been operating this thing. There are five or six of them and he’s going to systematically work his way through them and find out exactly where that leads him. We don’t know how deep, how high up this corruption will go, who’s behind the whole conspiracy. Why was he set up? Was it something personal, vindictive, or was he just - was he a fall guy? Was he just in the wrong place at the wrong time?

Rand Ravich: But from an internal level there is this kind of vengeance machine inside the Charlie Crews character that at any moment he could decide he’s had enough and he can walk away. But if he needs that satisfaction, that vengeance - that is very un-Zen-like - he’ll never stop looking. And so at some point the question has to be asked: Is this enough? Have I closed enough circles? Have I gained enough vengeance? And can I get back to life or will it never be enough? So that conspiracy level works both from the inside and the outside.

Question: Considering Charlie is very wealthy, why doesn’t he just hire like a whole team of investigators to help him?

Rand Ravich: Well that’s an excellent question and in Episode 1 [of Season 2] part of the answers are solved by that. But there are some things that he wants to put his own hands on and some things that he doesn’t want anybody else to know he’s doing.

Question: Do you think that Charlie will ever ask Reese for help in solving this conspiracy or do you think he just won’t ever fully trust her?

Rand Ravich: Oh, absolutely he will bring her in. The question is - it’s one of those things where it’s completely on a parallel with them having sexual relations. Once they do that they’ve crossed over a part in their relationship that you can never go back and pretend it didn’t happen. So we’d have to be very careful when they do that.

Question: The character of Crews’ father was introduced, or at least his bride was introduced last season. Is that was going to be developed more this season?

Rand Ravich: That will absolutely be developed this season. There’ll be more of the lovely Christina Hendrix playing Charlie’s future mother-in-law. And hopefully we’ll be building to a wedding by the - sometime at the end of the calendar year.

Question: Last year Charlie was always eating fruit. Will that continue throughout this season as well?

Rand Ravich: Absolutely.

Question: Damian and Sarah, obviously your characters have a lot of baggage. We’re dealing with a lot of things in the first season. How will we see them evolve as we go into the second season?

Sarah Shahi: When we first see Dani she’s just a little bit better in terms of her - maybe her edginess or her sobriety this year. On a scale of one to ten she’s maybe like at a seven or so. But physically she’s a little different. Her hair is down. Her wardrobe got a bit flashier. But I think she’s going to be challenged at some point with her sobriety and possibly relapse. She also gets a love - what’s the word?

Question: Interest?

Sarah Shahi: Interest, thank you. Yeah, which is different for her. She can’t feel love and - which is good for her, too, because it allows her to - you know, he’s the first person that her guard has come down with and she becomes vulnerable, too.

Question: And Damian?

Damian Lewis: I think Crews will continue to bounce back between, you know, the kind of pick-and-mix candy store girls that, you know, keep falling in his lap metaphorically - and literally, actually, in one episode. And the ongoing heartache with his ex-wife. And his relationships at the police station are very bizarre. You know, his relationship with Dani Reese improves steadily, weekly. They seem to have a good solid respect for each other and accept one another’s differences. There’s a new captain at the station. But Crews learns to negotiate him as well and I think they kind of have a weird sort of respect for each other as well, although being very different.