Drew Confessions
Source: Charmed Magazine
Article By: Ian Spelling
Transcribed By: Ayrlee
Date: February/March 2005 [Issue #3]

I loved playing Chris. I loved how mischievous he was, how much fun he had. He became such a strong part of my life." Drew Fuller talks success, spider demons, his shock Charmed demise and his surprise return with Ian Spelling.

"How good a time did I have doing Charmed?" Drew Fuller asks rhetorically. "Dude, it was the best time of my life. It was amazing to wake up and be able to go to work on that set every single day. That's all you can ask for as an actor, to do something every day that's really fun and with a bunch of people who are so great to work with. It was an amazing experience for me, especially coming from a place where it was all still pretty new to me. Relatively speaking, these are the beginning steps of my career, and so if I had a bad day I could always make up for it the next day. That was always something I really cherished because, obviously, you're not going to be on [form] every single day. But you always had tomorrow."

Fuller had tomorrow for a good, long while. He arrived on the set at the end of the show's fifth season to play Chris Perry, a somewhat mysterious figure and the latest Whitelighter to enter the lives of the sisters Halliwell, Phoebe (Alyssa Milano), Piper (Holly Marie Combs) and Paige (Rose McGowan). And he stuck around the entire sixth year. All signals pointed to the actor's return in season seven, when implications of Chris being Piper and Leo's (Brian Krause) son could be further explored, but it wasn't to be. Gideon (Gildart Jackson) killed the future Chris near the end of 'It's a Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad World, Part II,' just before Piper gives birth to baby Chris.

"I loved playing Chris," Fuller says. "I loved how mischievous he was, how much fun he had. He became such a strong part of my life. There were so many similarities between Chris and myself. He was always in the middle, instigating things, in a good way and in a bad way. It was fun to be the troublemaker. I got to be a part of a lot of really good episodes. By far, far and far away, my favorite episode was 'Spin City'. It was fun to play the spider demon, to get all dressed up in that costume and in that make-up. It was like two hours of make-up before work. I showed up at 4am or 5am to get my make-up done. I got to play the demon as this tortured soul who had a lot of emotions and anger toward his father. The episode just made so much sense to me from an acting standpoint, a physical standpoint and a mental standpoint. Everything kind of clicked for me in that episode. I also enjoyed 'I Dream of Phoebe'. That was the first one back after our Christmas break last year. It had been such a long time since I'd seen anyone. I thought the storyline was pretty funny. I don't know, but it's those two episodes that stand out in my mind."

"Then, during 'Spin City,' Brad called me. I remember the conversation so clearly, so vividly in my mind. He said, 'Listen, I want to talk to you. I don't know how to say this. There's only one way I can say this, but we're going to kill your character in the season finale.' Instantly, my heart dropped because I'd been pouring so much emotion, my heart and my soul, into this character. Brad was very sweet about it. I was thinking, 'Why?'. But obviously there were so many reasons. You can't have baby Chris and big Chris co-existing in the same place and time. It would have been weird if I walked in as big Chris and Holly was there breastfeeding baby Chris. But it still took me by surprise. I was completely shocked. I was upset. I just found out that I was not going to have a job. How does one take that? Especially when it's not a matter of leaving by choice. It's not like I was asking to get off the show."

"But for the greater storyline, for the greater good of the show, it made sense," Fuller continues. "It's kind of ironic that I'm saying that because it's pretty much what Chris said and did. But what they did made sense. They had to tie it all up. So, from an emotional standpoint I was angry and I couldn't believe it, but when you re-examine what happened with the character, where he was from and what happened to him, and when you remember that Holly was pregnant for real, it made sense. So, I said, 'I had a good run, and it was a great time. I'm very spiritual and I'm a big believer that everything happens for a reason, that you are where you're supposed to be. My tenure on the show kind of came to an end, and I accepted that."

Chris Crossed

So, what did Fuller make of the finished episode and also of Chris's demise?

"It was good," he replies. "It was sad. It was bittersweet, man. At the time we were filming it I was still very upset I wasn't going to be coming back next year, but the episode came out great. I was happy with my performance. I thought the death scene was really powerful. Brian did a really good job for me and Rose really hit some emotional moments. It was a good, beautiful scene. I couldn't have asked to go out in a better way." Upon completing 'It's a Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad World' Fuller posted a letter to his fans on a web site. He stated that his job was done, that Chris was gone for good, that there was no conceivable way Chris could return and that, as a result, it was time for everyone, including Fuller himself, to move on.

"That's true," Fuller notes. "But God bless the Charmed fans and the Chris fans. They were trying to come up with every possible way for my character to come back. At the time I just didn't see it happening. I couldn't see it being possible. No way. The fans kept asking and kept wanting to know if I was going to come back. Finally, I just had to make a mini-announcement, and so I wrote this letter to the fans saying, 'Thank you so much. I'm flattered. I'm blessed to have so many people support this cool, fun character that I was lucky enough to play.' They enjoyed watching Chris as much as I enjoyed playing him, and so I wrote them that note."

Cut to season seven, episode seven, namely 'Someone to Witch Over Me.' And who was back on the scene? Chris.

"I was flattered when I got that call," Fuller says. "I was flattered because Brad said, 'We really owe it to the fans and we owe it to your character. What do you think?' It blindsided a lot of people, which was the whole intention. But when Brad called and said, 'What do you think?' I said, 'Of course, I would love to do it.' That was my home. The WB and Charmed gave me this great home and such an amazing education. As I said, this is still the very early stages of my career. I'm still learning and progressing, and I think I'll learn and progress for the rest of my life in this business. But my being back on Charmed was a big 'thank you.' It was a thank you to the fans, a thank you to me, a thank you from me to everyone, and that's why I came back."

"Actually going back, I was a little nervous the night before. But the second I got there it was amazing. Everybody welcomed me back with open arms. It was such a beautiful reunion. Things just picked right up where they left off. Even in the scenes I wasn't nervous at all. It felt natural, I knew the character so well. It was great. And I liked the story. Leo had been going through a lot of pain and hardship ever since Chris died. He'd felt completely responsible for what happened and he'd not been able to get over it. He stopped trusting people. Gideon, his mentor and best friend, lied to him and betrayed him, and he was so angry. It was recommended, because he had killed a few Elders, that he go on a Vision Quest and find out who he really is and what he needs to do. Last season, Phoebe went on her Vision Quest and this season Leo went on his. And like the movie What Dreams May Come, the one with Cuba Gooding Jr. and Robin Williams, you need someone to guide you through a Vision Quest. Usually your spirit guide is someone you know in your life. And it just so happened that the guy guiding Leo through his Vision Quest was me, was Chris - or his vision of me.

"So, this was a different Chris," Fuller continues. "I don't want the fans to have the wrong idea. It wasn't the normal Chris. This Chris wasn't really Chris; he was a guide. It's not like he had my personality. It was very straightforward, more his presence than anything else. So I played it very differently than I had played Chris before. He was an entirely different character, the guide version of Chris. It was a complete 180 from the character the fans were used to. The old Chris always had strong opinions. In the new episode, I was a guide. It was all up to Leo. I actually had that line. I just pointed things out and it was up to Leo to make his own decisions. I was there just to help him along the way and to show him he's not alone. I loved working with Brian. I can't say enough good things about him. He's such a good man. I didn't work with the girls, which was kind of upsetting, but what are you going to do? For the character, the most important relationship was the one with Leo, with his father. For the episode, the character that made the most sense being there with Leo was Chris.

The Final Curtain

Since wrapping 'Someone to Witch Over me,' Fuller hasn't gone and posted any new note suggesting that Chris won't ever be back again. However, he admits, it's not likely. "I don't think the Chris you know and loved will ever return," Fuller says. "I think he's gone. I died. That means the future has not been written yet because I'm not there. I died in the past. So that Chris is dead and gone. This new Chris has emerged... I don't know. If Leo ever needs to ask questions or if he needs to go on another Vision Quest I guess they could bring this Chris back and have him be almost like an elder."

Additional Sidenotes:

What Chris Did Next!!

Drew Fuller talks about life after Charmed with Ian Spelling...

When his year-long stint on Charmed came to an end, Drew Fuller took three months off in order to travel, relax and catch up with friends and family. "I did nothing except progress spiritually and mentally, and I didn't worry about the acting or my career," Fuller explains. "Then, when I got back into town I got back into the work mindset. It's been good. And it's been difficult, because the competition out there is very stiff, which I love. There's nothing like good competition to motivate you. So I've screen-tested for a couple of studio films. I was offered a couple of things, too. I didn't take them, but that blew me away, to have someone feel they like your work that much that you don't have to audition for them. I have a company with a writer, a director and my producing partner, and we've developed something that we're going to pitch to Fox and the WB. So it's all been good and things will come together as they're meant to come together."

Quotable Chris

"What the hell is this? Goddesses gone wild?"

[To Leo] "Man, you are old!"

[To Baby Wyatt] "If I can't save you, by God, I will stop you."

Chris: "Phoebe, I need your help."
Phoebe: "I've been calling for you all week. Didn't you hear me?"
Chris: "The first couple of days, yeah, then I put you on mute."
Phoebe: "You can put me on mute?"
Chris: "Yeah."

Chris: "If Piper and Leo don't screw, I'm screwed!"

Leo: "Why do you hate me so much?"
Chris: "You were always there for everyone else: Mom, Wyatt, half the world, but not me!"