Zach Gilford Q&A

Zach Gilford has received much acclaim for his portrayal of quarterback Matt Saracen on "Friday Night Lights." Courtesy of NBC Jimmy Traina's Mailbag Submit a comment or question for Jimmy Name: Email: Hometown: Question: SEND

With just a few episodes of Friday Night Lights remaining in Season 3, SI.com's Jimmy Traina spoke with Zach Gilford, who plays quarterback Matt Saracen, about the show's future, his own future, various FNL storylines and, of course, Minka Kelly. Zach was also kind enough to answer some reader questions.

SI.com: There have been rumblings about the show coming back for two seasons. Is there anything new on that? Anything you can tell us?

Gilford: Everyone I talk to at DirecTV or NBC or from the show says, "You know, it looks good, but we don't know." So I've heard the same thing that's been in the news, which is kind of frustrating because I wish you had an inside scoop or something.

SI.com: Is there a timetable for an announcement or non-announcement?

Gilford: NBC usually announces its fall lineup the second week of May. So within the next month we'll know -- hopefully.

SI.com: If the show returns, would you definitely be back next season?

Gilford: I don't know. They kind of left it open. They told me, "We're not sure what we're going to do if we come back, yadda, yadda, yadda." So I have no clue. I can see it going either way. Matt can go off to college or he can stay and take care of grandma. They have options. It's just a matter of what they feel like doing.

SI.com: One of the big storylines on the show this season was how Saracen lost his job to J.D. McCoy. When you saw that in the script, was there an art-imitates-life thing going on where you got a little ticked off that your character lost his job?

Gilford: A little bit. You know, it's like, "I've been doing this for three years. Why are you benching me?" But at the same time, it was fun playing wide receiver and doing something different. I got to run all the routes, which is way more tiring than playing quarterback. But I actually feel more like one of the guys playing wide receiver.

SI.com: All the game action we see is real, right? You're doing all that stuff out there?

Gilford: Yeah, it's all totally real. We have a full team of guys. They all played college football. Some of them played in the NFL, some in the Arena League. They're great guys and good football players. And all those hits are because they know when they're going to hit each so they go full force.

SI.com: Have you suffered any injuries as a receiver this season?

Gilford: Nah. I tore up my legs with a lot of turf burn, but that's it.

SI.com: The other big storyline this season is the deteriorating health of Saracen's grandmother. First, tell me about Louanne Stephens, who plays Matt's grandma.

Gilford: She's awesome, dude. She's a totally normal, completely with-it woman in real life. She's my Texas grandmother. She lives in Dallas and she comes down to work for a day or two for an episode and she'll bring newspaper clippings to me and stuff like that. When we're on set, I'm very protective of her.

SI.com: You guys have had some intense scenes.

Gilford: She's so good. And in some of those scenes where she loses it and freaks out, it's kind of scary. When you're there doing it, it's freaky to see her flipping out like that.

SI.com: In the episode that aired two weeks ago, Coach Taylor caught Matt in bed with his daughter, Julie. How was that to play?

Gilford: It was cool, man. I like the way we did it. It was more about the coach. And his reaction was typical of how he is on the field. He's not a screamer and yeller. That scene after when I went out to the back porch to talk to him while he's grilling was memorable. He just had this crazy look in his eyes. Kyle Chandler has two daughters, so you could tell he was thinking about that. We did just two takes on that scene. He totally had it. I couldn't even look him in the eye.

SI.com: If you and Matt return, what would you like to see him do?

Gilford: I don't know. It'd be interesting. You'd have to come up with a whole new thing because I'm not on the team anymore. I think you'd see Matt figuring out what he wants to do. He knows he's not going to the pros or anything like that. I think it would be interesting to see what he does now that that part of his life is over and to see him figure out where he's going to go and where he's going to take himself.

SI.com: I think there was a cool scene between Matt and Julie toward the end of the season where he shares his doubts about his future, right?

Gilford: Yeah, and that's what made Matt a little different than other characters on the show. He's definitely a realist. He doesn't have any delusions of grandeur. He said to his mother in one scene, "I'm just the quarterback because the quarterback got paralyzed." He doesn't think he's a superstar. He knows he's just there because no one else could do it and as soon as they got someone else, they replaced him.