The 32-year-old actor revealed to ET that we'll finally get to see a more vulnerable side of his character, Nathaniel -- and fills us in on what happened to the 'Greek' movie.
When Crazy Ex-Girlfriend returns for season three on Friday, there will be a lot more revenge -- but also a whole lot more Scott Michael Foster.
The 32-year-old actor was bumped up to a series regular this season, which means we'll be seeing more of what makes his character, Nathaniel Plimpton III, tick and even unravel. In the season premiere, we see a softer side right out of the gate, as Nathaniel finds excuses to see more of Rebecca Bunch, who is laser-focused not on her boss, but on getting revenge against Josh Chan, who left her at the altar in last season's finale. Nathaniel's icy exterior and narcissistic tendencies aren't disappearing entirely, his life will just be getting more complicated -- and set to music.
ET spoke with Foster as filming began on season three, and he was excited about Nathaniel becoming a bigger part of the drama.
"So far, it's definitely been revenge-centered. Nathaniel wants to be there for [Rebecca], because he has these feelings and emotions he can't explain, but at the same time, he wasn't privy to everything before. He came in mid-way through the show," Foster noted of the first few episodes.
As Nathaniel gets brought up to speed, fans will discover there's much more depth to the robotic lawyer with very little body fat.
"Nathaniel's whole MO is whatever gets the job done, whatever makes things run smoothly and efficiently. He came across as sort of not a nice person, because he didn't care about what was going on in other people's storylines," Foster mused. "He just wanted to do the job that he was sent there to do by his father, which was to have that branch make money. Now, in season three, he has emotions and feelings for Rebecca, and you might even argue for the rest of the people at [the law firm] Whitefeather, that he didn't really have before, so you sort of see him come to terms with that."
"It's like finding someone who never had emotions before all of a sudden having some, and you just don't know what to do or how to react or what to say," he added.
In the first few episodes of season three, Nathaniel truly struggles with his changed relationship with Rebecca, which eventually leads to an R&B-tinged song as he tries to cope with having feelings.
"My first song is silly. It's all about what does he do when he's feeling down, because he doesn't know how to deal with his emotions. It's basically him trying to go and relax," he revealed. "It's not clubbing, it's not buying things -- it's going to the zoo. So, there's a really great first song for him, and it's definitely tongue-in-cheek. I was very happy when I first saw that."
Back during his Greek days, Foster was in a band, but it's been a while since he's written or played for anyone besides himself, which makes Crazy Ex-Girlfriend's musical numbers a perfect outlet.
"I get to go into the studio and do all of that stuff, and they definitely cater towards me as a singer," he said. "It's very collaborative, so it's a nice little fix for not being in a band anymore."
But just because he has a musical past doesn't mean singing on the show is easy, especially when surrounded by pros.
"We've got people like Donna Lynne Champlin and David Hull and Gabrielle Ruiz who've all been on Broadway," he explained. "They come in and they sound absolutely incredible, and I come in and I'm like, 'I was in a band for a while?' I did choir in high school, but I didn't sing professionally anywhere ever. This is the most professional singing I've ever done, so it's definitely intimidating, but at the same time it's incredibly fun. There's no ego, there's no drama. Everyone's a team player who wants everyone to succeed."
In fact, the Texas native says that even though he was a late addition to the Crazy crew, he felt at home immediately.
"Honestly, this cast has been one of the most inclusive and accepting. Straight out of the gate, we were hanging out outside of work," he revealed. "It's really fantastic to be part of a show where no one has an ulterior motive or agenda. You're just there to do the work, and everyone gets along with each other and everyone's happy to be there. For doing drama and comedy, there's much less drama than comedy."
But with Nathaniel's uber-strict workout regimen -- this is a guy who uses a glucose meter on top of counting calories religiously -- Foster doesn't necessarily get to pig out at dinners with his castmates. "I was working out pretty regularly before, because I had to if I want to eat what I want. Now I can't eat what I want," he admitted. "I've got to tighten it up. They were like, 'You're going to be shirtless this season, and you're going to be doing all this stuff,' so, I've definitely adopted Nathaniel's workout regimen as of late."
It's a far cry from Cappie, the beloved Greek character many still associate with Foster, even though the ABC Family show has been off the air for six years. Sadly though, we won't be seeing a super-toned Cappie onscreen any time soon, as the kibosh has been put on a Greek movie.
"I'll be frank: I didn't know a lot about that process even when it was going on. They announced that they were doing a movie, but they hadn't spoken to any of us," he told ET. "We were kind of left in the dark about a lot of that. Our whole stance was, we would be willing to talk about it if we ever saw a script and had a conversation with the network about what they wanted to do, but they didn't really do that with us, so I'm just as confused as you are about it, because we never really got a full conversation."
If we can't see a post-collegiate Cappie, we can at least imagine who he's become. Hopefully, it's as idealistic as Foster's dream for his former character. "I hope he's selling tacos on a beach in Spain or something," the Chasing Life alum mused. "I hope he's just living his best life somewhere. You look at it and go, maybe sometimes Peter Pan has to grow up, but I think that's just in the eyes of modern American culture. I think if he's running a surf shop in Hawaii or doing something that he continually loves to do, that would make me very happy."
But Foster is focused on his future, not his past, and that's breaking out the tap shoes (or similar footwear) for some really fun numbers on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.
"We have an episode that has four songs in it, which we've never done before," he revealed. "When you think about it, this show has produced probably over 100 songs at this point in [filming] season three -- it's incredible what they do. And what amazes me as that the music continues to refresh. It doesn't feel like we've done the same thing over and over again. They continue to find new genres of music and styles of music to make songs, and it's really impressive to me. I'm very happy to be a part of the show."
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend returns to The CW on Oct. 13 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
