THE FINDER has been off the air for just about a month now, and tonight brings an all new episode on an all new night!  Rap superstar 50 Cent (Curtis Jackson) guest stars as music mogul Big Glade and Salli Richardson-Whitfield (EUREKA’s Allison) guest stars as his lawyer and Leo’s former love as Walter is tasked with finding the missing music of a dead hip hop star.

To celebrate the return of the show, I spent some time chatting with Maddie Hasson about what’s coming up on the show, and why people should tune in!

Excited to have THE FINDER back on TV.
I’m so excited!  I just woke up and I’m jumping about it.

The show is so much fun, and it seems like the kind of show that you’re going to have a lot of fun shooting.
Oh yeah! Definitely!  It’s definitely a great set to be on, for sure.

I can imagine it is, as your first experience in TV.  Hart really knows how to run a show, the cast is so great. 
You’re exactly right.  I lucked out with that set.  The cast, the crew, the producers, everyone that is a part of that show, is not only incredibly talented, but they’re great people to be around and hang out with.  Great personalities.  We all got along like a big family.

Is there anything that surprised you about working in TV that you weren’t expecting?
I think there are things that I expected, but considering this was such a new experience for me, just being on that set for the first time.  The first time that I went on set.  There are so many people, and so many cameras.  I was the first shot of the show, and it was just me, stealing money out of the cash register by myself.  It was just them throwing me right into it.  It was a little overwhelming at first, but incredible and exciting.

What can you tell us about what we can expect from the episodes that are coming up?
For the rest of the season.  We return on 50 Cent’s episode.  That’s exciting.  I never got to shoot a scene with him.  I was so mad [laughs].  I was like, Hart! Come on man!  Hook a girl up!  Walter finds a lot of cool stuff, of course, as always.  Gets himself into a lot of shenanigans.  Willa gets incorporated into the group more.  Actually, her and Walter – you can expect her and Walter to go find something together without Leo or Isabel so much.  They go on a little finding trip together.

Have you been getting fan response already? Have you experienced that yet?
I have a little bit actually, which I am very surprised at [laughs].  It’s only been a couple of episodes.  I was at a Mexican restaurant, and I walked in, and there was like a really long wait.  They saw me and my mom, we were going to get dinner with a friend. And we were going into the line, and the manager was like, oh, we’ll find a seat for you, and it was like, wait, what? Cool!

Why do you think that THE FINDER is a show that people should, for lack of a better word, “find” on Friday nights?
I just think as far as procedurals go, these types of shows, they can be very “you know what you’re going to get.”  Very straightforward.  There’s a dead boy, they’re going to solve a mystery.  THE FINDER is quirky.  It’s light, and it’s fun.  It doesn’t take itself too seriously.  I think that’s the best part of the show, is that, it’s funny.  It’s not, you know, the kind of gray, and run of the mill proecdural that you usually see on television.

It takes its cue from BONES where it’s light but it also deals with some dark things, doing it in a way that you don’t feel depressed after watching it.
Right.

Will we get to see Eric Roberts come back?  What’s Uncle Shad up to?
Oh he comes back.  He does come back, and he’s just as bad in every episode.

We’ve gotten to see Willa grow over the first batch of episodes into someone more trustworthy, less criminal.  Has it been fun to get in on the action of helping with cases?
Oh yeah, so much fun!  When Willa is incorporated into that part of the story, it brings a dynamic that isn’t always there with just Leo, Walter, and Isabel.  She is so “oh I’m a teenager, I’m against this.” She brings all of this angst into it.  She plays the devil’s advocate, and I think that’s a cool aspect to have in a show, and she really starts to get into it, then she gets excited, and she doesn’t want to be excited about it, but she can’t help herself because Walter is cool, and fun.  Definitely.

What else do you have coming up besides THE FINDER – I know you show a film?
Yeah, the film comes out in April, I really hope this is right [laughs].  It’s called “God Bless America.”  It was directed by Bobcat Goldthwaite.  It’s a lot of fun, it’s a dark comedy.

As you start to get more and more into the business, do you find yourself gearing towards comedy, or would like to do some darker dramas, too?
I would definitely love to do some dramas.  My thing is that I don’t want to get stuck doing one thing.  I want to do it all.

Is there someone whose career path you’d love to follow?
It’s hard to say because everyone’s so different in the way that they act.  It’s really up to chance about how it’s going to end up, but I really love Meryl Streep.  Because she is that – she can fit into so many different roles, and she does them effortlessly. She is incredible.  I can’t even go there right now!

Do you watch TV when you get some downtime, and do you have favorite shows that you have to watch?
Oh yeah!  I watch probably too many shows, but we can call it research, right? Um, there is one show that I’m really getting into, because I have a musical theatre-y background, is SMASH.  Have you watched that show? Love that!

I have a feeling that no matter which direction THE FINDER takes her, we’ll be seeing a lot more of Maddie Hasson in the coming years.  Tune in tonight to THE FINDER at 8/7c on FOX and let us know what you’re looking forward to for the rest of the season!