‘FBI: Most Wanted’: Edwin Hodge on the Show’s First Wedding: ‘Audiences Love to See a Love Story’

In the Season 5 finale of “FBI: Most Wanted,” agent Ray Cannon (Edwin Hodge) marries girlfriend Cora (Caroline Harris) in the first wedding for the series’ history.

After mad bombers, a cannibalistic serial killer and Sheryll Barnes (Roxy Sternberg) getting shot in the line of duty, the season ended on a high — and very jubilant — note.

Hodge spoke with TheWrap about why he loves the Ray and Cora relationship, how it changes his dynamic as a character and his own upcoming wedding.

TheWrap: It’s the first wedding in “FBI: Most Wanted” history.

Edwin Hodge: No pressure. Yeah, no pressure at all. Especially since I’m about to get married on June 29. And my TV wife (Caroline Harris) got married prior to us actually filming the wedding scene.

Are you going to have a big contingent of your costars at your wedding?

Keisha [Castle-hughes] is going to be able to make it. Dylan [McDermott] and Shantel [VanSanten] are going to be on vacation. And Roxy’s having another little one, so she will definitely be too busy to come to a wedding.

In the finale, Ray barely makes it to his own wedding on time. But he does make it. 

Oh, yeah. He’s got to now balance his life between work and being a husband and father. That’s the intricacies of being a federal agent or anybody in law enforcement.

Seeing what Barnes has gone through, facing a divorce and then being shot, does it give Ray pause in terms of potentially not coming home to his new family?

I didn’t play the pause. I don’t think pause needs to be played, to be honest with you. Ray is dedicated to his job, the family is new to him. Not that he didn’t take them into consideration. But, I think he’s confident, he doesn’t worry about it. Going into the next season, I want to really dive in and play on the complexities of being a federal agent and a new husband.

This season, the focus was more on characters’ personal lives. Did that feel more rewarding to you as an actor? 

Yes, we got to really dive into who these people are, outside of holding the gun. I think that’s really important for audience members. I think we all need somebody we can identify with, someone who becomes our escape in a sense, and we, as artists, we give that to the audience. So, for them to really  step into the personal life of Ray, I’d like to think that maybe there are some things, certain choices that I’ve made as a character or whatnot that will help benefit someone who may be going through a crisis. Also, we just need to see people being human beings on screen.

What was the audience’s reaction to Cora as your love interest? 

Audiences love to see a love story. Audiences love to see a good family dynamic. They love to see families get through struggles successfully. That added a different dynamic to Ray, what it means to play this character. I feel like it’s only going to become more fun. But at times, I think there’s going to be some tugging on our heartstrings, based on his lifestyle and chorus.

How has the relationship changed Ray?

I think he’s well rooted in who he is, as a federal agent. I think there’s a confidence that he wears, that is very, very true to himself. But Cora and Caleb are going to be what breaks it down. And I want to see that, I want to go through that emotional rollercoaster. And it’s not a breakdown in a negative way, but he’s going to have to make decisions that it’s not just about himself. So I trust that the writers will expand on that world in a very productive, progressive way.

I love the New Orleans parade surprise.

It was definitely needed. [Ray and his dad] are men from New Orleans and that is very important when it comes to weddings. When we think about the overall cultural life and what it means to have a wedding, they didn’t stray too far from home. Even though they’re in New York, Ray Sr. did everything he could to bring a bit of that.

This was a great way to end the season, with a really happy moment. 

Yeah, it’s definitely good to have that balance. Certain shows, it makes more sense to leave it on a cliffhanger, or in a moment that’s not too happy that’s going to play on the audience’s psyche and they’re going to want to come back to see what’s going to happen in the next episode.

We can push out problems all we want, we have millions of stories, because hundreds of them are created for us every day, when it comes to crime in the world or here in the United States. So that’s never going to go away. But for someone who doesn’t or can’t recognize love in their life, they get to see it between Cora and Ray? Maybe it gives them hope. And that’s part of what we do.

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