Almost a year after filming the pilot episode of “Saving Hope,” the cast and crew have reunited to get further inside the world of Hope-Zion hospital.

“It’s been great to get back,” says Michael Shanks, who plays the comatose former Chief of Surgery, Charlie.

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“We had so much fun shooting the pilot, it’s been nice to be working with the same people and reconnecting with everyone.”

As Shanks settles back into the routine of preparing and shooting each day, he’s thinking a lot about Charlie’s transformation from the pilot episode onwards.

“I think the first thing Charlie figures out is that he had an attitude when it came to patients. It was detached. It wasn’t cold, he had an optimistic approach, but he’s working on cars – ‘You’re broken and we’re going to fix you and that’s what it is and I’m not going to get emotionally involved,’” says Shanks.  

But when he finds himself on the other side of the patient-doctor divide, Charlie’s take on things  begins to shift. “He realizes that the concern about what’s going on with the patient’s mind is more important.

“He’s also observing things in the hospital and seeing them from a perspective he hadn’t had before. That’s fascinating – to be playing this shift of someone who really thought he had it all figured out and now he doesn’t and he’s having to question all of those things and figure out how to get back to where he really wants to be, which is with the love of his life,” says Shanks.

Another facet Shanks has started thinking about it Charlie’s changing definition of spirituality. “I think he’s established as a devout Atheist who doesn’t really think about that stuff too much (before the accident),” says Shanks.

“And of course, when this happens, he sees things that make him question what he thought.”