Sarah Michelle Gellar’s ‘Ringer’ Amps Up The Drama For Midseason Return

Sarah Michelle Gellar’s “Ringer” returns to The CW Tuesday night, with a big dose of twin action.

The new episode – the first this year for the freshman drama – finds SMG’s Siobhan character, secretly back in town, plotting against her husband Andrew (Ioan Gruffudd) and reconnecting with Henry (Kristoffer Polaha).

“The conceit of having Siobhan in Paris was perfect for the first chapter, but we wanted to amp things up and it’s just more fun playing with the twin-ing of it all by having the two sisters in the same city simultaneously and kind of interacting and interweaving [and] at least from one side, unaware,” show co-creator and executive producer Eric Charmelo told a group of reporters, including Access Hollywood, at a sneak peek screening of the midseason premiere.

According to “Ringer” writer Nicole Snyder, the new episodes will add some dark twists for the series.

“The focus shifts on Siobhan and her revenge plot,” Nicole said.

“And also, Bridget trying to unearth the mystery of who is trying to kill her sister, why and how she can stop it so she can continue to live as Siobhan,” Eric added.

The return of the CW series will finally bring an answer for fans wondering why Bridget and Siobhan stopped speaking, as well as bringing in a back story for Ioan’s character – Siobhan’s husband, Andrew.

“Everybody has secrets and lies and what you see at face value is hardly the person who they are at their core and Andrew has a deep dark past, just like most of characters,” Eric said.

“Just on a personal [level] — as an actor — it’s so much fun to play and we’re currently in the throes of this sort of transition, but it’s handled quiet elegantly as well,” Ioan added of what’s to come. “It doesn’t come from necessarily a dark, evil side to somebody, it comes as a response to real emotions and being sort of boxed into a corner.”

Although not made clear by the show bosses, it appears Andrew’s character shift could have something to do with a drama unfolding in tonight’s episode centered around his daughter – Juliet (Zoey Duetch).

The teen character’s storyline, however, may not be all that it seems.

“You think it’s going one way, but then it becomes what unexpected,” Nicole said. “What you think is going to happen — it’ll shift and once you think you’ve figured out the plot, it’s going to shift again.”

“But [it’s] equally as disturbing,” Ioan added.

For casual watchers of the show, tonight’s episode might be a good time to tune in as the twins will show off different enough looks that it will make it easier to tell Sarah Michelle’s two roles apart.

“It got tricky once Siobhan came back to New York,” Nicole said. “We wanted, for certain scenes, to have them look different, but I think we also have some fun too in upcoming episodes… There’s a lot of attention paid to hair and makeup and clothing and making them distinct.”

Kristoffer said he even finds he has different chemistry with Sarah Michelle when she’s playing one twin.

“When Henry’s with Bridget, there’s a thing that doesn’t happen, vs. when Henry’s with Siohan there’s tons of chemistry and there’s an easy open. It really is like two different characters, it’s cool,” he said.

“Ringer” airs Tuesday at 9/8c on The CW.