Wednesday’s season finale of Dallas was full of a lot of jaw dropping moments, but the biggest one was when it was revealed that Rebecca Ewing is actually a Barnes. That’s right Christopher’s wife is his cousin and Cliff Barnes’ daughter. The day after the episode I was on a conference call with Julie Gonzalo and she answered our questions about her shocking lineage.
How long did the actress know she was Barnes? She said, “I knew before we shot the pilot. I remember getting the part and when we – after we all met and after reading the script and before we even took off to go to Dallas to shoot the pilot Mike and Cynthia let me in on the secret that I was a Barnes but that was it. That was all they told me. They were like you’re Cliff’s daughter but don’t play it and don’t tell anyone. So that was what I got. But that was it.” So did she tell any of her cast members or did she keep it a secret from us like TNT did? Shhh don’t tell, she revealed who she told her secret too, “I did spill the beans to Jordana because I was like I have to tell someone.” She then added what it was like keeping the secret from her cast, “But yes, no it was interesting. There were moments that like oh where’s this going, where’s this character going, where’s that going and I’m like I know where I’m going, I just don’t know how. But we never really talked it about. I think we were so invested in every script, we were so into like oh did you read it, did you read it last night, did you get it last night? I was like I got it at three in the morning but I still read it. We we’re so on the day.” Then she said how they reacted when they read the finale, “And myself Julie as a person lives day by day and moment by moment, like I don’t really get ahead of myself too much so to me it wasn’t about like we needed to keep it a secret like that because there was so much stuff going on in each script that I don’t even have. I think the impact will be when everybody reads it and it was and it was nice. It was really interesting to see it.”
So now that we know she is Cliff Barnes’ daughter and his sister Pamela was married to Bobby Ewing when they adopted Christopher that means she was married to her first cousin. How does Julie feel about that? She told us “Yes the reality of it all is that I am married to my first cousin, sure not related by blood but it is kind of weird. It’s interesting. It’s interesting to come from to know the reality of this role and I don’t know where it’s going and that’s to be completely honest with you. The idea that she is married to her cousin I don’t know. I think she is in love with him. She really is in love with him, she fell for him. She fell for her mark as we like to call it.” The she added more about the Barnes/Ewing rivalry that has been going on for decades, “And it’s great that Ken character Cliff had a line in the finale last night saying I can never trust you, you’re just like your aunt. I couldn’t trust her around the Ewings. I think there is. I think there’s like this superior energy that attracted the Ewings and the Barnes for evil and good and you see that in the original with Patrick and with Bobby and Pam and you see it in the Cliff and J. R. feuds and there is an attraction whether it’s positive or negative. So I do believe that Rebecca does have feelings for Chris, she did fall in love with him. But now I think the tables have been turned, the cat’s out of the bag and she might be a bit pissed. So I don’t know what the future holds, I really don’t. I wish I did but I can only be blessed that the writers are so talented and they’re so willing to write such beautiful storylines for myself and the rest of the cast. So I’m leaving it to their hands.”
Does she think Rebecca will get back with Christopher who dumped her when he found out that she lied about having a brother (he still doesn’t know they are cousins)? Her feelings on that are, “I don’t know. I don’t know. I think at this point she knows that things are pretty bad with Christopher especially that last scene that they both had. I think that there might not be a way out. I don’t want to say that she’s fully going into the dark side. I don’t know if she’s fully going to go evil. I don’t believe in villains. I believe that they’re all coming from a place that truth. Whether you want to take that as good or bad that’s your prerogative I guess. But I don’t know. I think she always saw it coming. I think that, you know, Elena has always been something very, very dear and special to Chris and she’s not stupid. Rebecca’s not a stupid girl. She’s a very, very smart girl. She’s a very calculating girl. You can tell that she’s going to be now. She can be very manipulative. In a way she fooled everyone. She fools Tommy, she fools Chris, she fools the audience, she fooled a lot of people so you can’t underestimate this girl. I just don’t think she’s going to be way too happy about it. But I wouldn’t want to be on the bad side of her.”
We will find out if we see her bad side when the show comes back to TNT in January? Is it 2013 yet because I can’t wait to find out what happens next on the first reboot to actually get it right!
