‘Under The Dome’: Rachelle Lefevre Previews New Season

Last year’s summer smash, “Under The Dome,” returns for its second season on Monday, June 30, and Rachelle Lefevre said there will be some new additions who will shake things up in Chester’s Mill.

“We think that we know who the good guys are and the bad guys are, and then we have all these new players, and it kind of rocks the foundations of everything that we built in the first season,” Rachelle told Access Hollywood.

Among the newcomers are teacher Rebecca Pine, played by Karla Chrome, teenager Melanie (Grace Victoria Cox) and Eddie Cahill’s Sam Verdreaux, who is Junior’s uncle on his late mother’s side.

“He’s an interesting character,” Rachelle said of Sam. “He’s kind of the recluse. He was an alcoholic, he’s sort of the dark horse character, comes out of the woods and was trying to hide that he was alive, but can’t anymore, [and] has to reveal himself… and so you meet him for the first time.”

Melanie enters the fray quickly, too.

“I literally pull her out of a lake, from drowning, in the first episode,” Rachelle said.

Rachelle said the drama returns exactly where it left off – as the sky went pink, after Julia threw the mini egg into the lake, and while Barbie was facing a life or death situation.

“You will find Barbie still in the noose and yeah, Jim advocating for somebody to pull the lever, and the Dome suggesting it wants a different outcome,” Rachelle said. “The audience, the minute that they tune in, they’ll get the full conclusion to that whole scene.”

Author Stephen King (who wrote the book, “Under The Dome”) actually penned the first episode of Season 2, and the actress said it has some shockers.

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“I’m excited for people to see it ‘cause it’s really dark,” she told Access. “I think that he took the opportunity to reveal a little darker sides of our characters and maybe make the Dome feel a little more ominous and, of course, because it’s Stephen King, two characters die in this episode.”

But, are they gone for good or could they return as aliens in human form?

“You never know,” Rachelle said. “It is that kind of a show. It is the ‘anything is possible’ kind of show and that is the genre. So… people are gone, but maybe not for good. Who knows?”

Last season, Julia was revealed as the “monarch,” someone who has a special relationship with the Dome, and it should make for an even stronger character this time around.

“I think Julia’s journey this season is one that she realizes, reluctantly, that she has to come to power in some way, that she has to be a leader and all that that entails. … Last season, I felt like she was doing her part by trying to keep everybody sane, like keep it fact based, get the information and really be level headed and try to keep the calm so that everybody would survive. And this season, I think she realizes that she’s just gotta get her hands dirty more than that, she’s gotta get more involved,” Rachelle said. “She has to take on Big Jim more than she has. And there are some physical aspects. She’s gotta go out and sort of do some of the more action-y stuff. She’s really gotta play a bigger role in the survival of Chester’s Mill this season.”

Julia was ready to let Barbie die to protect the mini egg at the end of Season 1, and should he make it through the Season 2 premiere, there’s some questions for the couple to think about.

“For me, the biggest question hasn’t been answered yet, hasn’t been dealt with, which is, is what they have real? And is this something that is going to endure or is this a romance of circumstance,” she said. “Are they just together because they found each other, they found common ground and they’re in this situation, they’re trapped and high stakes makes high feelings? … Is that a sustainable relationship model? I don’t’ know. I think there’s some conversations that have to be had there.”

“Under The Dome” returns Monday, June 30 at 10/9c on CBS.

Jolie Lash

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