Sally Pressman Enlists For Another Season Of “Army Wives”

Sally Pressman
It was a no-brainer that Lifetime‘s series Army Wives would be back for another season. Not simply because it ended on a cliffhanger (networks have been known to leave viewers hanging by yanking shows before storylines are completed if the program’s ratings are low), but because the all-important viewing numbers were more than there. Season 1 was one of last summer’s hit shows, with the season finale becoming Lifetime’s most-watched original series telecast ever.

And the cliffhanger should certainly help bring all of those viewers back for more. Last season ended with a bombing at the Hump Bar, a watering hole in the town where the characters’ Army base is located.

Not surprisingly, star Sally Pressman is reluctant to tell us just what happens in the aftermath of that event, which kicks off the new season.

“The only thing that I can say is that I’m still there,” she laughs. “I’m not supposed to say anything else. The first episode of the second season is extremely emotional, as you can imagine. We don’t take the easy road; it’s not just that we kill off characters that are unimportant.”

Fortunately, Pressman plays a character that is important: Roxy LeBlanc, who last season entered a group of wives (and one husband) on an Army base when she impulsively married Trevor, a soldier whom she had known only for a few days. Over the course of last season, Roxy grew more through her experiences on the base, and while Pressman doesn’t know the exact details of this season, it appears that her character will grow even more in a big way.

“Trevor’s been deployed, and he’s gone for 18 months,” she explains. “What real-life Army wives have told me is that as soon as your husband deploys for the first time, every single thing that he takes care of in your life and in the house goes wrong, like within the first week. So for Roxy, it’s just a lot of having to deal with a whole new life … completely on her own, without Trevor’s help, and without really being able to get in touch with him unless he contacts her. That’s a very hard thing for a spouse to understand, that they have no power over that.

“And then, when he comes back, in the latter half of the season … [while] they had a very idealistic, romantic beginning to their relationship — [which] was characteristic of Trevor himself, how he is — soldiers change the first time they get deployed. So I think the latter half of the season will deal with being married to a changed man.”

Pressman did not research much about the military or life an Army base for the first season, in order to keep herself and her character on the same page. But this season, “[I] really had a lot of opportunities to meet and hang out with Army wives, and spend time on an Army post and see what it’s like. So [Roxy and I] are a little more seasoned.”

Because Pressman and the other cast members consulted with real wives, the show has a realistic element, which the actual women experiencing this life, and even the military itself, greatly appreciate.

“We have an amazing support base,” Pressman says. “It’s just amazing how after one season we have the respect and approval, and the attention, of the Army, Navy and Air Force, and it’s just a great thing because it’s a testament to the fact that we’re doing a great job.”

And her connection with those affected by the military has gone beyond direct contact and consultation with them, and taken on a more emotional aspect. “I read the paper every day,” she says, “that was something I always did anyway. But now, when I read stories about the war in Iraq, I always immediately think of what’s going on at home … that there are families who are reading the paper as voraciously as I am just to make sure that their loved one is still alive … that they’re finding out the news just as we are, and how much harder that must be for them.”

Like Roxy, Pressman — a relatively new face in the worlds of television and film (although she just appeared in a Lifetime original, Love Sick: Secrets of a Sex Addict, and appears later this year in the theatrical release My Best Friend’s Girl with Dane Cook and Kate Hudson) — was new to a group herself, that of her veteran costars, among which are several established actresses such as Catherine Bell, Kim Delaney and Wendy Davis. And like Roxy, she was welcomed in.

Catherine Bell, Kim Delaney and Sally Pressman in Army Wives on Lifetime

“I think that the dynamic that you see on the screen between all of us is really the dynamic that exists off [it], too,” says Pressman. “They were very generous with me, and if I ever had any questions, they sat down and helped me with that. So I don’t think I was too much trouble!”

Season 2 of Army Wives airs Sundays beginning June 8 on Lifetime.