Mike Delfino has come a long way over Desperate Housewives’ eight seasons and the journey from mysterious criminal to dedicated husband has been one that actor James Denton relished every step of the way. In fact, his only regret is that he’s reaching the top of the staircase and the step-taking will end this May as Desperate Housewives wraps up its run. But before we wave good-bye to Wisteria Lane, there is still the small matter of murder, which entwines all the main characters — including Mike!
I caught up with Denton to find out how he’s feeling about the final season, what he hopes to see before the season ends and where Mike’s head is at now that he’s been dragged into another murder!
ETonline: How are you feeling about the final season of Desperate Housewives?
James Denton: It’s hard to be anything but grateful. But at the same time, it’s a little melancholy. I’m really close to this cast and this crew. Plus, the ratings have held up and the show is so huge internationally – I just was in France and they’re broken-hearted over there about the show going off the air. I understand the network’s position on it, but I think we could have gotten a little more out of the show.
ETonline: What are you hoping to get for Mike out of the final season?
Denton: Honestly, I’m seeing it, which is cool – I wanted Mike to get drawn into this mystery. Getting back to that side of him we had in the first couple of seasons. People tend to forget that Mike has the most experience with criminal activity out of anyone on Wisteria Lane [laughs]. It’s always more fun to be involved in the mystery. The best part of this character was his duplicity – presenting one side of himself to Susan, when he was trying to win her over, but another to the neighbors. I love when he gets in that stuff, so it makes the last year very fun for me. This whole year kind of has the season one feel.
ETonline: Last week, Mike found out that Susan helped hide the body and walked out of the room. Where’s his head at?
Denton: Mike has spent a lot of time avoiding problems with the law, so with that respect, he’s got an issue with Carlos dragging him back into this world. But now that he’s in it, Mike has to help Susan get through it and not do anything stupid. It puts him in such a tough spot.
ETonline: It’s clear you love the stuff you’re getting to do right now, but looking back, do you have a favorite episode from the show’s run?
Denton: Absolutely. It was the episode where Susan gets locked out of the house, naked. And not for the obvious reasons [laughs]. It was back when those two were in such a fun spot romantically. That’s also the episode of their first date, where she thanks him for not looking. And he says, “well to be perfectly honest, I did peek and for what it’s worth, wow.” That was such a sweet little moment. I loved getting them off the ground romantically and I think the show has missed that lately. Those scenes were a lot of fun for me and Teri [Hatcher].
ETonline: Obviously the mystery takes center stage, but do you have any idea if the final episode will be less of a resolution of the storyline and more of a retrospective of the series?
Denton: I was told early on not to ask, so I didn’t screw up and say anything stupid [laughs]. But I have a feeling we will spend some time servicing that part of the show for the viewers. But we gotta wrap this mystery up first, so I don’t know how much time they’ll have to deal with that because the mystery just keeps getting deeper and deeper. It’s not going away any time soon and we’re kind of running out of episodes.
