Covert Affairs: Piper Perabo talks Annie and Auggie romance

Piper Perabo says she always knew that Annie and Auggie would get together on Covert Affairs. But the long-awaited romance is proving trickier to handle than she thought.

For the characters, that is. Being in the spy world necessitates that the popular pair keep a lot of secrets from each other, and not being able to be completely honest will no doubt take its toll. But Perabo says she and costar Christopher Gorham, who plays the blind CIA operative trusted with guiding Annie (Perabo) through her dangerous missions, have been through all this before.

“Chris and I have been acting for so long that we’ve done so many love scenes and makeout scenes and romance scenes that for us it’s just another tool in the toolbox,” Perabo says. “We’re really comfortable with our bodies and each other. But the crew is not used to seeing us making out and ripping each other’s clothes off. The boys on the crew get super shy … and all flushed and blushy and red and they find somewhere else to look. It’s super funny.”

The Annie-Auggie romance is just one new element dominating the blockbuster fourth season of Covert Affairs, which airs Tuesdays at 9pm on USA Network. There’s also Arthur’s (Peter Gallagher) surprise resignation, Joan’s (Kari Matchett) pregnancy, the revelations from Henry Wilcox (Gregory Itzin), and the introduction of Calder (Hill Harper). The twists come fast and furious, along with the wit and humor, all of which have won Covert Affairs a devoted fan base. It all comes to a head in a pivotal Episode 10, which Perabo was on her way to film the morning we spoke.

“The way that the writers structured the season is they planted all these seeds in the premiere episode,” she says. “In Episode 10, Annie has to make this huge decision. Although [Annie and Auggie] should know how to keep secrets, these secrets are all too big this season, and it makes their world spiral out of control.”

Each episode holds its own buzzworthy moments, though, which send the show’s social media community into a frenzy. Perabo — a relatively recent Twitter adapter thanks to Gorham’s encouragement — says she enjoys the feedback, positive or negative.

“The show is a fantasy, in the way that James Bond could never have that many tuxedos,” she says. “But sometimes people take it really literally, or say things like, ‘You can’t get to Geneva that fast!’ or ‘How is she going to clean up that body?’ Logical questions, which I appreciate. As an actor I’m asking those questions all the time. ‘Where can she hide her gun?’ ‘How could she get past security?’ I’m really hard on the writers about trying to follow the logic. … I like the fans that have questions and push on the story to see if it really holds. I appreciate that.”

Piper Perabo Christopher Gorham Covert Affairs

Photo: © 2013 USA Network Media, LLC Credit: Ben Mark Holzberg