At this point in the series, how necessary is the original arc because Michael already knows who burned him?

Matt Nix: Well, I think it sort of depends on what you consider the original arc to be. I think that really, he kind of knew who burned him, in a roundabout way, in the middle of season one. So the question of who burned me is no longer the central question for him. It's really more, what do I do about it?

If the first season was who burned me, the second season is what do the people who burned me want with me? The third season is can I get unburned and if so, at what cost? So, we're kind of examining that question from different angles. I think people do sometimes look at the show and think, and I understand why, they'll talk like we're still asking the question who burned Michael, when in fact, it's not really a question that he's asked since season one precisely.

So, I think that there is something to Michael having an ongoing investigation into matters related to his circumstances for a lot of reasons. But no, as far as the who burned Michael Weston, there may be more to explore with regard to that question at some point, but it's not sort of what we're spending our time on at this point. And, indeed, by the end of this season, we answer a very big question about Michael's burning, as you will see. It's not necessarily the question that people would have thought to ask, although I think that it is a very interesting question to ask, but it is not who burned me.

How much will Crazy Larry, played by Tim Mathson, factor into the series in future episodes?

Matt Nix: Well as a director, certainly we love Larry. I think that one of the things that we're conscience of in working with characters like Larry and Jay Karnes' character, Brennan would be another example of this, the Michael mirror characters, the guys who are really in significant ways operating on Michael's level, and whose primary focus is on Michael, as opposed to some - I mean that wasn't true actually of Brennan's first appearance but it was true of the second. Those characters whose primary focus is on Michael, you just can't do that every week. In the writer's room, we always joke that Dr. House can't operate on himself every episode. Those are special episodes and you love them, but you can't do them every week.

So, the answer is yes, Larry will factor into the series in season four. We haven't exactly figured out how but we have a basic idea and we love him. He loves Michael. Part of what's fun about Larry for us is that he's a guy who's primarily motivated by his love of Michael, which is a really odd thing for a bad guy. He's sort of like, "I love money and I love killing people, but mostly, kid, I love you, let's just hang out."

Does he love matching wits with him? Is that what it is?

Matt Nix: I think he loves matching wits with him. I think at a really deep level one of the things that we look at in the series is the idea that this job is really lonely. If you're Michael, you don't get to go to spy conventions and talk to other people who do what you do. It's a profoundly lonely gig. Michael gets to hang out with people who are reflections of himself in a certain way. Sam has certain skills that Michael has. Fiona has certain skills that Michael has. They both have inclinations and a world view that is not precisely Michael's. But Larry looks at Michael and says, there's the one true friend that I ever had, there's the one guy who really understands me and yes, he thinks I'm a psychopath and he sort of hates me, but he gets me, man. That's worth something. That's what makes him so much fun to write. It's just not something you get to do a whole lot, a guy who's sort of arrogant but he wants to be Michael's dad.