'Grey's Anatomy' star Giacomo Gianniotti, 'Riverdale' alum Vanessa Morgan bring fun to 'Wild Cards' crime drama

Riverdale alum Vanessa Morgan and Grey's Anatomy star Giacomo Gianniotti join forces for the new crime procedural Wild Cards, adding some frenzied fun to the genre.

Where to watch Wild Cards: Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m. on CBC CTV in Canada, premieres Jan. 17 in the U.S. on The CW
Where to stream Wild Cards: CBC Gem in Canada
Creator: Michael Konyves
Cast: Vanessa Morgan, Giacomo Gianniotti, Jason Priestley, Terry Chen
Number of episodes: 10

Watch Wild Cards

What is 'Wild Cards' about?

Morgan plays the energetic and cunning Max Mitchell, a skilled con artist we first meet in the middle of running a scam.

After being arrested, Max meets Cole Ellis. He was a detective, but has been demoted to the maritime unit.

When Max actually helps Ellis solve a local crime, they're given an opportunity that could benefit them both. If they work together to solve crimes, Max can stay out of jail and Ellis can get back to being a detective.

While the pair are dealing with different cases in each episode, which largely involves Max taking on a new persona, more is also revealed about each character's past, and their motivations.

'She knows how to friendly manipulate people'

When the series first starts, Morgan has this electric energy as Max. She's incredibly charming, but also provides enough intrigue to keep us interested in her past, and where she's planning to be in the future.

"I just loved how fun my character was and the con artists aspect was really intriguing to me," Morgan told Yahoo Canada.. "I just thought there was so much depth to her."

To balance that energy is Gianniotti's Ellis, the strong, serious and far more silent type.

"What Vanessa's doing is so funny and entertaining, so it was difficult at times to not be kind of swept into that and laugh, or share joy in what she's doing," Gianniotti said. "Because my character is much more of a hard ass, and so that was challenging, because Giacomo would oftentimes find it very funny, but my character does not find it funny."

"But ... you do need that sort of solid, straight and narrow kind of counterpart, and that's where the comedy comes out. ... Those two polar opposites being in the same room is what makes it funny and entertaining for the audience."

Teasing what we'll be able to see as the season progresses, Morgan said Max is absolutely "on a mission."

"Obviously she's light-hearted and she's really fun, but at the end of the day, she does have a mission and she's trying to get what she wants, as well out of certain situations," Morgan teased. "She knows how to friendly manipulate people."

"You're going to kind of see the motive for that throughout the the show."

"Ellis opens up and shares with Max that about a year ago his brother was brutally murdered, and it's been a horrible time for him, and so having that mystery and crime unsolved is very difficult for Ellis to reconcile," Gianniotti added. "As the season goes [on], we will sort of circle back to that and continue to sort of unravel that storyline."

Stepping away from repetitive, darker crime shows

Police procedurals are a well-established and very loved form of television. In terms of what the stars of the show believe makes Wild Cards stand out, it's the fun.

"Sometimes in these procedurals, they can be kind of the same and have a darker vibe to it, I like how in this one there's a lot of fun," Morgan said. "For someone like me, this is the type of show that I like to watch. I don't like things so serious all the time, I like a bit of a combination."

"Tonally, our show was kind of unique and different, in terms of it's light, it's fun, we want to have you laughing and having a good time," Gianniotti added. "We're going to deal with the severity and the seriousness of the cases, people are murdered, it's a serious thing, but along the way we're figuring out ways to sort of entertain the audience and make them laugh."

"Visually, I think is going to be really, really cool for the audience. ... You're going to find these characters all over the place, in completely different locations. It's not just your classic boring street corner, or an alley with a dead guy, that sort of feels repetitive. We're in incredible, beautiful locations out in Vancouver and the surrounding areas of Vancouver."

The actors attribute much of the show's success to creator, Michael Konyves, who's placed smart film references in each episode and is really collaborative in his work.

"Michael was really, really great. He's one of the best showrunners that I've worked with," Morgan stressed. "He is so passionate about this show, I felt so seen with him, which is so crucial as an actor."

"I felt like he heard me. He really had Max's vision and I'm so grateful that we kind of already had the same vision for Max. ... But whenever I had an issue, I wanted to change something, he was so receptive and made that happen."

"The talent of great showrunner is a really clear vision. ... A showrunner's in trouble when they've not really made their mind up on what the show is yet, and that was just not the case," Gianniotti added. "Michael was just incredibly clear with the show he wanted to make, the tone of the show he wanted to make, the shows that he was referencing and sort of writing homage love letters to as well. ... He was incredible."