The premise of “The Traitors” may be for the Faithful to find out who among them is lying about their identities. But in Season 3 of the Peacock series, the Traitors’ worst enemies have been themselves.
“We couldn’t have predicted how this season would have panned out,” executive producer Sam Rees-Jones tells Variety. “We could never have imagined the storylines, the narratives, the relationships happening. It was a fun one to film, it’s a fun one to watch and a fun one to see people reacting to.”
At the time of our interview, seven people remain in the game: Episode 9, “A Silent Assassin,” ended with Traitor Carolyn Wiger being banished, and Traitor Danielle Reyes being forced to try to enlist a new Traitor. She chose Britney Haynes, and viewers will find out whether Britney accepts on the Feb. 27 episode.
However, after Carolyn was banished, she said in interviews that she believes Danielle broke the rules of the game and told Britney that she was a Traitor. Could her former “Big Brother” co-star have known all along?
Below, Rees-Jones and his fellow executive producer Mike Cotton answer all our burning questions — from whether the cast signs NDAs and whether Britney knew about Danielle to how those campy before-bed montages come about.
Can you break down how you, along with Alan Cumming, chose this season’s Traitors?
Mike Cotton: It’s the same process every season: There’s Alan, there’s us and there’s the network. We all have the discussion about who should be the Traitors, because that can shape the whole season. It was slightly different this year. There’s obviously a lot of gamers in the turret this year. With the twist at the start of the season, the cast had the chance to either take Rob [Mariano] or swap him out for someone else. We’d always planned that whoever was swapped out would become the final Traitor. So we didn’t know that Rob was necessarily going to become a Traitor; we thought they might swap someone else. But that was sort of their own decision.
Wow, so it wasn’t the plan when you cast Boston Rob for him to be a Traitor.
Cotton: It was a roll of the dice. There were a lot of rivalries at the start of the season, so I thought one of the “Survivor” members might step forward to swap someone out, and they didn’t. We didn’t know what way that was going to go. So, a lot of chaos ensued.
Euan Cherry/Peacock
Chaotic is a great way to describe this season’s Traitors! How do you feel about Danielle’s gameplay?
Sam Rees-Jones: There’s a conversation to be had — some people think that she’s a brilliant actress. Some think that she’s over the top. That’s all we, as program makers, want: for people to be talking.
Cotton: She’s owned the fact that some of her gameplay was quite messy. Some people have criticized her performance, but people aren’t suspecting her, so she’s obviously doing something right at the same time.
Like you said, you’re making a TV show. It has to be good TV. Was there any time you wished someone had lasted longer because they’re more entertaining?
Rees-Jones: We’re not going to lie. There are times where we say, “Oh, that’s a shame they’re going so early.” We are completely out of control, and there’s something disconcerting about being out of control about the boot order. Sometimes people might get murdered or banished when we don’t want them to. As soon as that happens, we have to move on as program makers, and we just hope that people then fall in love with other narratives or other characters. Of course, Dorinda Medley going in Episode 1, we were disappointed.
Cotton: We also feel like everyone has to own their own story. And Dorinda got out of the boat and put herself on a raft — a lot of the Housewives did — so it was quite possible, after that first mission, that a Housewife was going to go. But, we can’t control who gets banished or murdered, so we have to move with it.
Rees-Jones: We try and mostly film an episode a day. Within a day, things have moved so quickly that you’re on to the next thing — the next backstab, betrayal or relationship dynamic.
Speaking of that, the Traitors almost immediately turned on each other. Were you worried that would change the format of the show, since it’s supposed to be Faithfuls vs. Traitors?
Cotton: Yes, you’re right: The whole idea of the show is Traitors vs Faithfuls. I think the Traitors were quite a harmonious group, until Rob went for Bob the Drag Queen, and it unraveled from there. Is that terrifying? Yeah! The roundtable between Rob and Bob was slightly heartstopping for us, because it could have blown everything up. But that is also what makes it great. I really like the fact that this season is different. I like the fact that those turrets have been fascinating to watch, and it’s given the whole season a different feel.
Rees-Jones: The group of people and the group of Traitors that walked in for Season 3 had a specific story, a specific tone, and it was unique to this season. That’s what we love about the format, that’s what we love about making the show. It’s always different. We’re just along for the ride.
Cotton: And we didn’t put those Traitors together thinking that they were all going to argue and that they weren’t going to get along. We actually thought it’d be really interesting to see the gamers’ strategic minds work together, and how they played. It just so happened that they, at times, imploded instead of working together.
You just said there is a worry this could implode. Bob could have blown up Rob’s identity as a Traitor when Rob started coming for him at that roundtable. What are the rules for what the Traitors can and can’t say?
Cotton: This is a good question, because we tell them this a lot! The Traitors take an oath with Alan, where they promise to murder every night and they promise to keep the identity of their fellow Traitors a secret. The rules say that they can, at the roundtable, accuse a fellow Traitor of being a Traitor, but only from the guise of being a Faithful themselves. What they could never do is say, “I know that he’s a Traitor because I’m one as well” — or “…because I’ve been to the turret.” They have to be acting as the Faithful when they accuse another Traitor. So, it’s quite terrifying to watch when two Traitors are going hard at each other. It’s also a risky move. We say to any Traitors, of course you can accuse another Traitor, but you have to be aware of how that might affect your own gameplay. Rob went in there, bold, and took out Bob. And he actually carried on for quite awhile longer. Perhaps, if the Traitors had been more of a harmonious group after, he would still be in the game. You just don’t know.
OK, they can’t tell them at the table… but what about elsewhere? Carolyn has claimed that Danielle told Britney and maybe Dylan Efron that she’s a Traitor.
Cotton: I find that theory mad, if I’m honest. We listen to absolutely everything that happens in the castle. We’re with them 24/7, they’re either filming or in their rooms. There was never a moment where any of us ever heard Danielle reveal to Britney or whoever else that she was a Traitor. Also, that would be an absolutely crazy move, because you’re then out of the game, essentially. I can’t see any reason why anyone would actually ever do that.
Do they sign NDAs saying they can’t?
Cotton: They sign a lot of paperwork, and the Traitors sign their own oath and agreement with us. There’s lots of things like that, but there was never a moment that we heard when anyone revealed their identity and honestly, it wouldn’t make any sense.
What keeps Traitors from revealing the other Traitors after they’re banished/during their exit speech?
Cotton: That would be a break of the rules as well. Once they reveal their identity, when they have their passing words, they are not allowed to reveal their fellow Traitors’ identities.
Euan Cherry/Peacock
You added an in-person murder this season inside a church. Was that an active church?
Rees-Jones: That’s the castle chapel. We are so blessed with the location on the estate! That’s at the end of the driveway. We’ve used it for other missions, but it’s such a beautiful space, so we had this idea of ending this twist with a wedding and the theater around it, and it was a perfect setting. Filming-wise, that was one of my highlights from this season.
Would you do another in-person murder?
Rees-Jones: Yeah, nothing’s out of the realms. The thing is, we always want to mix it up each season. So we won’t be doing another twist where you would expect it. The whole point of a twist is we take the cast and the audience by surprise.
Would you ever think of implementing rewards or punishments for voting out Faithfuls?
Rees-Jones: Nothing’s off the table! We’re still pushing ourselves, and the players are pushing us with the format. So we always need to regroup and look at where we go for the next season.
There are a few cast members who are alone — ie. Dylan, Sam Asghari and Ivar Mountbatten. Then there are some that came in with a group — ie. “Housewives,” “Survivor” alumni and “Big Brother” cast members. Do you feel like that’s an advantage or disadvantage to come in as part of a group?
Cotton: It’s funny. Some people say it’s a disadvantage going in with alliances already because they’re going to get targeted. And then another person will say it’s a disadvantage going in without any alliances because you’ll get targeted. I think you could spin it either way. We had the Bambi Alliance, who eventually turned on each other because of the paranoia. So, you might go in trusting someone or having an alliance, and that could be broken because you think that person’s a Traitor.
A new season of “Survivor” just started. How far ahead are you looking at cast members for future seasons? Is your casting team watching everything right now?
Cotton: We’re always thinking about potential cast members. We’ve got Deena Katz on casting who is constantly feeding us names. The network is constantly talking about names as well. It’s ongoing. Also, we think about how we can make things feel different for future seasons. We’ve done a lot of Housewives and gamers. What other fandoms are there that we could tap into? What’s great about the show is that we take people from all types of different shows. I don’t think that’s something that we would ever change, but we’re always looking at how we could mix things up, because it’ll give it a totally different flavor.
We talked last season about the sleeping arrangements, which are kept a bit mysterious. But let’s talk about the pre-bed videos filmed. How do those come about?
Cotton: They’re some of my favorite bits! We do talk to the cast about it as well. We asked them beforehand what they would like to do in the bedroom, or if they can bring something with them from their actual home. Those shots are tongue-in-cheek — they’re quite camp. We have a lot of fun with them. There’s a lot of Dylan with his top off, doing sit ups, push ups, whatever else he would do, which he had a lot of fun with!
Rees-Jones: The important thing is, they’re talking about murdering someone. At that point, you need to be able to add campness to it. The show could become dark, so when you’re talking about murdering someone, why not show Tom Sandoval with a rubber duck in the bath?
It’s excellent. The U.K. version of the show reveals that contestants don’t sleep in the castle. It shows them getting in the car and leaving. Why did you guys decide not to do that?
Rees-Jones: BBC has the viewers’ trust, and that’s important to the network. With the U.S. series, there is a campness and a theatrics to it, and it’s not something we labor, it’s just sort of the wrapping of the theater around it.
There are two episodes left. What can you tease about what’s to come?
Rees-Jones: There are things that we didn’t expect to happen, that the audience might not expect to happen as well. There are twists and turns that were exciting and terrifying to film!
This interview has been edited and condensed.
