Music: {allcanada} Enrico Colantoni is grateful 'Person of Interest's' writers haven't killed Elias off

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

{allcanada} Enrico Colantoni is grateful 'Person of Interest's' writers haven't killed Elias off

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation / Home Alone

When Enrico Colantoni took the role of Carl Elias on "Person of Interest," he never expected his character to still be alive and kicking in Season 4. Though he has been a fan of the show since its premiere, he admits to Zap2it he expected showrunners Jonathan Nolan and Greg Plageman to get rid of him in Season 1. "I'm just grateful to both of them for not killing me off," he quips.

Fortunately for viewers and for Colantoni, Elias is still a formidable presence on the CBS series. He comes back in a big way in Nov. 25's "The Devil You Know" when Dominic tries to make a play against him to seize control of New York's gangs.

"Person of Interest" has had a rotating cast of villains over the years, but Elias is the one man who has stuck around the longest. Sometimes ally and sometimes troublemaker, Colantoni thinks it's his character's personality that has kept him around for so long.

"It's not every day you get such a sardonic villain," he says. "Usually it's pretty black-and-white, their intentions. You're afraid of them. But Elias allows me to bring a sense of humor and irony, and I think that's rare in any villain on TV. He's just so much fun."

Colantoni has been enjoying the way "Person of Interest" Season 4 is bringing its main characters back to street-level crime, especially since that boded well for his return on the show. "The Machine got so big by the end of Season 3 it's like what's going to happen?" he says. "At the end of the season when they had to come back to the streets, I knew Elias would have to show up again. I like it when they're just dealing with the city and what goes on in the city and the underbelly of the city."

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation / Home Alone 2