Warning: SPOILERS lie ahead for Leverage: Redemption season 3, episode 7, "The Shakedown In Clown-Town Job"!

Beth Riesgraf is not only back as Parker for Leverage: Redemption season 3, but she's also put her director's hat back on for episode 7. Riesgraf, one of the main stars of both the original and sequel shows, expanded her involvement with the heist series by getting into the director's chair with season 1's "The Bucket Job". In the years since, she has directed four subsequent episodes, including the newly dropped "The Shakedown in Clown-Town Job".

The new Leverage: Redemption season 3 episode sees Riesgraf's Parker, Christian Kane's Eliot and Gina Bellman's Sophie on their way back to headquarters from a con when, while driving through a small town, they are caught in a speed trap and Eliot is placed in jail. Sophie and Parker quickly learn that the town is under the thumb of its corrupt mayor, played by RENO 911! vet Cedric Yarbrough, who also has a tenuous arrangement with a local biker gang. Driven to help the kind people of the town, including a jack-of-all-trades who catches Sophie's eye, the group set out to steal the town.

In honor of the episode's release, ScreenRant interviewed Beth Riesgraf to discuss Leverage: Redemption season 3, episode 7. The series vet opened up about getting to return to the director's chair, including paying homage to a modern action classic, and how she and writer Josh Schaer sought to adapt the true story of a mayor holding every corner of power in a small town. The director/star also broke down Astrid and Parker's big episode 5 twist, reuniting with Jeri Ryan's Tara, and the chances of season 4 happening.

Riesgraf Was Excited To Direct "A Very Classic Leverage Episode"

She & The Production Specifically Sought A Small Town "You Love & Want To Root For"

With each season seeing everyone from showrunner Dean Devlin to Riesgraf, Marc Roskin and Star Trek vet Jonathan Frakes helming different episodes, Leverage: Redemption season 3 always builds as interesting a roster of directors as guest stars. As Riesgraf explains, the process for how directors are chosen for episodes is "you kind of just get assigned your episode", subsequently reading the script and embarking on "a new journey" for their piece.

Riesgraf praised Josh Schaer's script for "The Shakedown in Clown-Town Job", sharing that he "did such a beautiful job" with the true-story-based episode. She also revealed that "there was more" to the episode, but that they "didn't have the time to shoot everything", leading to them "tweaking and condensing and losing things". "I was really excited to shoot [that stuff]," the director/star lamented, "but it's just the nature of, 'We Have eight days to shoot, essentially, this little film.'"

She then went on to discuss how the production team went about location scouting for the small town, in which they "had one option" to shoot the five different locations the episode is set in, with Riesgraf chuckling that "it just happened to work out that this town said, 'Yes'". She went on to praise director of photography Dave Connell for having "lit it so beautifully" and production designer Randal R. Groves for creating the scenery. "The bank, for example, was a wedding venue we found in this little town," she explained, "and we turned it into bank teller stations and all the things."

After pointing out that the "mayor's court" and "corrupt mayors creating speed traps to fine their townspeople" were based on real events, Riesgraf denoted the importance of making not only the town feel like its own character, but to also populate it with "really good people" who have "lost their power". In telling the story of "people taking back the power", which the director/star calls "such a universal message", she expressed her delight at getting to direct "a very classic Leverage episode in that way".

And I knew I cast all the right people. Cedric Yarborough was so excited to play a villain, and he came in just ready to play with Carl Palmer, who's fantastic, and Craig Frank. It just all really panned out, it was so fun.

Episode 7's Oldboy Homage Was Both Satisfying & A Logistical Nightmare For Riesgraf

"We'd Never Done Something Like That Before..."

Though the episode starts with him getting arrested, much of the rest of episode 7 sees Eliot getting tangled up with the local sheriff, as well as the local biker gang, the latter of whom engage in a stylish brawl sequence with him. Interestingly, the filming of episode 3 conflicted with The Librarians: The Next Chapter's production, with Devlin having to pull Kane for filming in Serbia, which became "difficult, logistically" for Riesgraf to pull the fight scene off.

Nonetheless, she forged ahead and worked with Kane and stunt coordinator Lex Damis to pull off her vision for the scene, which was "designed as an homage to the corridor shot from the South Korean film, Oldboy". Expressing her feeling that it was something "we'd never done" before on the show, Riesgraf immediately found herself driven to "find a location where we can track" and "pay homage to this amazing shot that I love so much".

"Then, we came in and pulled it off, and it was something that was exciting," Riesgraf detailed. "There were motorcyclists and the BMX bike, and the whole thing. It ended up just working out beautifully. That was really challenging, but really, for me, satisfying to put my own spin on something. You don't want to go in and remake the show, it's not our job as directors. It's to come into an already established, beautiful model and figure out how to fit in that world, but also, you get a couple of moments maybe that you can say, 'Okay, well, what could I do here that we haven't done that could be exciting for everybody?' And that was definitely one of those moments for me."

Casting Sophie's New Love Interest Came With A Few Objectives

"...We Don't Talk About It [In The Episode]..."

One of the other big developments to come from Leverage: Redemption season 3 episode 7 is the introduction of Saint X alum John Charles Meyer as Jack, one of the of the town's council who teams with the titular group in an effort to bring the corrupt mayor down. It's quickly established that Jack works as something of a jack-of-all-trades for the town, working as a firefighter, mechanic and more, while also being far more learned than his small-town roots belie, which catches Sophie's eye.

Given Jack is the first semblance of a romantic partner for Sophie since the death of Timothy Hutton's Nate, Riesgraf acknowledged that "it was really important for us to find somebody that Sophie would genuinely be surprised by". The director/star went on to describe the character as being someone who "knows the poetry she loves, and cares about his town, and is actually a little bit of a rebel". Riesgraf went on to indicate that, while they "don't talk about it [in the episode]", she, Schaer and Meyer did discuss Jack having a more complicated backstory.

"I think Jack has to be someone who wasn't always the straight good guy who fixes everybody's stuff," Riesgraf explained. "I think he was probably in a lot of trouble when he was younger, and maybe ended up back in this town, or got stuck in this town. It was like, 'There's a reason you decided to stay, and there's a reason you fight, and it's not just because of your sister.' She's a huge reason, and he does say, like,'I do it all for her,' but it's the idea of taking care of this town, it's his family, and helping people who are really good not get screwed over, and making the most out of a really tough situation."

Riesgraf also denoted that, in casting Meyer, "it was important that he not be like a Ken doll", but instead that their goal was for "him to feel real and lived in, like he'd grown up in this town", while also having "the bad boy quality" that would be "super fun" for Sophie to connect with. Even still, she points out that Sophie being interested in Jack is "hard for her to move through" in the wake of Nate's death, praising Bellman for capturing that level of uncertainty.

The moment when he's fixing his truck, and she walks up is some of the most beautiful acting that I think I've experienced on the show, watching the way Gina played that scene and their connection, and how she's breathing. I just thought they did such a beautiful job together.

Parker & Astrid's New Dynamic Was "Such A Gift" For Riesgraf To Explore

Their Near-Fatal Rooftop Fight Might Have Ended Differently If Not For 1 Thing

Looking to the rest of the season, Riesgraf's episode also comes shortly on the heels of "The Grand Complication Job", in which both Parker and Alexandra Park's Astrid are blackmailed to interfere with each other's efforts to steal the eponymous Marie Antoinette watch in order to save Sophie. Where they started the episode as rivals, and had an apparent fatal knife fight on a rooftop, the duo put aside their differences to save Sophie, and ultimately find themselves bonding by the end.

When it comes to that climax moment on the roof, we really wanted people to not know what had happened...

Riesgraf was "so excited" to get the opportunity to evolve Parker and Astrid's dynamic from season 2, comparing the episode's story to the acclaimed French thriller Run Lola Run, describing the episode as feeling "more dangerous and slick and cool and international feeling". She also expressed delight at how the episode had a "mirroring of our actions throughout the night", which she felt added to "the emotional stakes [being] so high between the two of them", particularly leading up to their rooftop scene.

"When it comes to that climax moment on the roof, we really wanted people to not know what had happened," Riesgraf recalled. "I think people would have bought, like, 'Oh, one of them really just got stabbed, right? Who is it? What's going to happen here?' I just thought Dean Devlin directed the heck out of that episode in such a great way."

Looking at Astrid and Parker's dynamic at the end of the episode, Riesgraf found there to be a "new sisterhood and camaraderie" between the two characters, also recalling how she and Park found themselves improving a few moments between them, including "the cake smash at the end". "She was totally ready to play and have fun," Riesgraf beamed. "The physicality of it, the stunt work was really challenging, we didn't have a ton of time, and she just did the dance with us, and it was so fun and so cool. She's phenomenal."

With all of that said, with the two having been more direct foes before the reveal of Astrid being Sophie's stepdaughter, there appeared to be a very real vicious rivalry between her and Parker that could have resulted in one of their deaths. When asked how the rooftop fight would have gone without the Sophie connection, Riesgraf believes "what is there to lose" for Parker to kill the Interpol agent, acknowledging that she didn't trust Astrid, and that she "would have had a really tough decision to make there".

Tara Is The Closest Thing To A Sister That Parker Has

It Was "One Of The Greatest Things" For Riesgraf To See Ryan Return

Another exciting development to come from "The Grand Complication Job" was the return of Jeri Ryan as Tara, who had been absent since season 4 of the original Leverage. Not only did Riesgraf call it "one of the greatest things" to watch her return to the role, but also delighted at watching her "kick a lot of a--, give us that smile that she has, and those blue eyes". She also shared that she has "so much love for her as a human being" that when they first reunited on set, they "just grabbed and screamed and laughed and had fun".

"That scene partner energy just clicks right back in, she didn't skip a beat," Riesgraf excitedly recalled. "She comes in, she literally kicks a--, and then she goes home. That's who Jeri is. Jeri's a total bada--, but also kind and generous and fun, and another person who's just down to play and go there with us, and knows the character backstories, and so effortlessly you get that in her subtext."

As much as Parker could say she feels like she has a sister, Tara is like that to her.

Riesgraf also shared her praise for the scenes between Ryan and Aleyse Shannon, with Breanna acting as a major fan of Tara and being tongue-tied in nearly every conversation with the original Leverage character. The star thought it to be "so amazing in the way Aleyse chose to play those moments", while also pointing out how the show offers the opportunity for "characters who've been there forever" to meet someone new, thus giving the creative team a chance to "introduce a new dynamic like that".

It just brought this whole other world, and sparked so many ideas. I'm like, "Oh, you could do a whole episode with just Breanna running a con with her. You can see a new path here, and it would be so funny, and action-packed, and all the things." So, yeah, she's awesome.

With the episode indicating that Tara's main connection with the team remains Sophie, Riesgraf did clarify that there's "a real love between" Parker and Sophie, and that "as much as Parker could say she feels like she has a sister, Tara is like that to her". Recognizing that Parker is "very protective over Sophie", the director/star expressed her feelings that her character sees the team leader as "more maternal in some ways", whereas Tara is "like a sister you get in trouble with".

"It's hard to say, because I could also say that about Sophie and Parker in their situations too, right," Riesgraf itted. "But I think just the depth of the emotional journey with Sophie has been so different, and the loss of Nate and everything that she's been through with her, she has such a fierce protection of Sophie, in a way. Maybe even sees her vulnerabilities, so while Sophie is not afraid to kick some butt too. Parker hasn't seen Tara's vulnerabilities in her life journey the way she has with Sophie. So, it's going to bring out a different dynamic."

More About Leverage: Redemption Season 3

In Leverage: Redemption season 3, the team pits themselves against a power broker stealing the clean water under people's feet and turning into dirty money, fight against a mayor who's literally the judge and jury of his small town, outrun a mark who's finally caught up with them mid-con, outhustle a pool hustler with a side business in international extortion, and bring down an industrialist exploiting child labor. All this while dodging an intricate plan of vengeance from a past enemy and working through the fallout of their new personal relationships. But no matter what, when someone needs help, they provide ... Leverage.

Check out our previous Leverage: Redemption season 3 interviews with:

• Gina Bellman & Christian Kane
• Aleyse Shannon & Beth Riesgraf
• Dean Devlin
• Jeri Ryan (Episode 6 Post-Mortem)

New episodes of Leverage: Redemption season 3 air Thursdays on Prime Video!