“Lone Star” is the new drama from FOX where Robert/Bob Allen (James Wolk) is a con man leading a double life in Texas oil country. His wealthy Houston wife is Cat Thatcher, played by “Friday Night Lights” alum Adrianne Palicki, who tells Zap2it she’s excited to play someone her own age for once.
“I’ve never played a character that was my age,” laughs Palicki. “She comes from the right side of the tracks, which I’m also used to playing the opposite. She has a 7-year-old daughter. She just really interested me in those respects. And the script itself … I’ve never read anything like this. The scripts just keep getting better and better.”
Part of her wealthy upbringing means Cat isn’t used to working very hard, which is something she admires in her husband Bob.
“She sees in Bob the things that were lacking in her past relationships,” says Palicki. “She also sees somebody who is so different from the world she grew up in, which is somebody who is working from the bottom up. He doesn’t come from society, he doesn’t have money and she loves that about him.”
But something she may not love about Bob is that he has another family 500 miles away in the small town of Midland, TX, which includes another wife named Lindsay (Eloise Mumford). Cat probably would not want to meet Lindsay, but as an actress, Palicki has another opinion about if the wives were to meet.
“I think it would be fantastic,” she says. “It’s about how it’s done and I actually do think it will happen. I think it’ll be something for the audience to just really [gasp] ‘Oh my god!’ … I think those moments are what make good television.”
Palicki also teases some upcoming tension between the three children of the Thatcher family. Cat has two very different brothers in the older, more responsible Tram (Mark Deklin) and younger playboy Drew (Bryce Johnson).
“Tram kind of gets his nose bent out of joint. They have a lot of animosity because Clint (Jon Voight) really would like her to take over the family business and she really wants nothing to do with it,” says Palicki.
“And then there’s Drew,” she continues. “Their mother died years back and she’s really taken over the mother role in the household. She overcompensates for Drew, which you’ll see in further episodes. He gets into some trouble and she’s constantly enabling him.”
“Lone Star” premieres Monday (Sept. 20) at 9 p.m. ET on FOX.