‘Revenge’ star Connor Paolo talks tonight’s uncomfortable dinner with the Graysons, explains Declan’s accent

Image Credit: Eric McCandless/ABC

Tonight marks the official beginning of Declan’s introduction into girlfriend Charlotte’s world on Revenge, and according to Connor Paolo, that’s as scary as it sounds.

“In last episode he was invited to their 4th of July party and he went, but this time, he’s sitting across the table from Conrad and Victoria and a couple other folks that he’s not to comfortable with,” teases Paolo. “Certainly, after everything that happened between Jack and Emily last episode — [which] Declan certainly heard about and found out from his brother — he’s not to happy with Emily. So, things happen…his tongue is not held. It flies free.” 

But as tough as it is for Declan to sit at the table, it’s going to get even harder as he falls even more for Charlotte and develops a desire to fit in with her crowd. “You’ll see in this episode, the more time he spends with her and the more time he spends with her family, he really tries to make an effort to — as much as he doesn’t want to apologize for who he is — [not] feel different. He doesn’t like feeling different,” he says. “He starts to kind of do his best to be more of the person that Charlotte — or at least that Charlotte’s family — can accept.”

That’s complicated a bit by certain…qualities about Declan as a character, Paolo adds. Yes, we’re talking about that accent, which actually has a full explanation.”That’s something [director] Phillip Noyce told me to do when we did the pilot,” he says. “And when we did the 2nd episode, as he directed that too, he asked Nick Weschler, who plays Jack, to research some Montauk, Long Island accents. I get asked ‘Why do you sound different than everybody else?’ and it’s because [the characters] live in a different area from everybody else. Everybody else is from Manhattan and they summer in South Hampton. We live in Montauk, which is the end of the island. It’s 60 or 70 miles away from the Hamptons and people from Montauk have a strong accent.”

Accent aside, the social and class barriers between Declan and Charlotte will, for a while, be a large obstacle in their relationship. “It’s very difficult to have a relationship when people close to you are telling you get out,” he says. “And Declan’s feeling it to [the point] where his brother is going to go, ‘Dude,  what are you doing? You’re out of your league here, she’s going to dump you. You’re going to get your heart broken.’”

But will he? Well, add that to the ever-expanding list of questions on the show.

(Benjamin Wood contributed to this report.)

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