To me, the difference between mythology and real history is that the real history has to tell a kind of believable story of how things happened. The physics has to work.

A lot of the challenge with TV, as opposed to making movies, is that you have to leave room for the characters in the story to tell themselves. Sometimes you don't know where a character is going to go and what's going to happen to them until you've seen the actor take that part and make it their own.

It's easy to leave people wanting more after the first episode, but it's hard to leave people wanting more after the 24th episode. And it's my job, more than anybody else's, to keep that in mind. One season, in TV terms, is nothing. You need to hit it for three or four seasons, and then you're doing well, in TV terms. Then, you've done your job.

There is a place for visionaries and the avant-garde in this world, but not at 9 o'clock on a network.

I think when people talk about lighter drama, they tend to use that term, not derogatorily, but 'lighter' means sort of less to a degree, but if you're an actor, light drama is often mistaken for easier drama.

You always think, no matter how many times you fail, that the next time you will succeed. Otherwise you wouldn't keep trying.

You name the TV psychic - they're con men.