Celebrity scoop
Checking in with LEE PACE
Tech wizard Joe McMillan (Lee Pace) is flying high again since he and his former Mutiny colleagues Cameron Howe and Donna Clark (Mackenzie Davis, Kerry Bishe), plus Donna’s husband Gordon (Scoot McNairy), relocated to California’s Silicon Valley, circa 1986, in the two-hour Season 3 premiere of “Halt and Catch Fire,” Tuesday, Aug. 30, on AMC.
As fans will remember, Joe suffered through some personal and professional reversals in Season 2, but ultimately was able to exploit a computer virus antidote Gordon designed to build a new company, McMillan Utility.
“Basically this antivirus software is racketeering, because he’s telling people to be afraid, so they will buy this antivirus software they don’t really need,” Pace explains. “He’s also becoming a real thought leader in the community, because Joe brings with him this very democratic idea that he has had since the beginning when he built his computer. He wanted a computer that was small and fast and inexpensive, so he could get it to as many people as possible. ... Now he’s selling caution to as many people as possible: Be afraid of what you may let in the door. That’s a very interesting place to find him.”
With all four members of the volatile main quartet in this new environment, expect old relationships to evolve, including Joe’s turbulent past with old flame Cameron.
“There’s so much connective tissue between Joe and Cameron,” Pace says. “He cares about her, and she maliciously ruined his life. It was the only way that she could keep Mutiny from being completely destroyed, and she didn’t care enough about what it would do to Joe to stop herself from doing it . ... I don’t want to say too much because what she did to him remains a live wire to Joe.”
Despite slim ratings, AMC remains bullish on the show, partly because it’s produced by AMC Studios, which means the cable network owns it outright. “AMC has been great,” Pace says. “If there’s any way to make (a fourth season) work, I’m sure they will, and I certainly hope it does. It’s something I’m not ready to let go of.”