Found Interview: Star Shanola Hampton On How Gabi Justifies The Dark Secret In Her Basement

NBC’s new procedural, Found, is currently airing on the network with new episodes available to stream the next day on Peacock. The series follows public relations specialist, Gabi Mosely, who uses her own kidnapping experience to draw attention to missing persons who fly under the radar. However, Gabi’s team at Mosely & Associates isn’t her only resource. Unknown to law enforcement, Gabi is secretly keeping her own abductor captive in her basement and exploiting him for his criminal expertise.

The series was created by Nkechi Okoro Carroll with Shanola Hampton leading the cast as Gabi. Hampton has previously been featured in projects such as The Neighborhood and Through the Glass Darkly. She is most notably known for playing Veronica Fisher in Shameless. In addition to Hampton, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Kelli Williams, Brett Dalton, Gabrielle Walsh, Arlen Escarpeta, and Karan Oberoi make up the main cast of Found.

Screen Rant exclusively interviewed Shanola Hampton about what drew her to the character of Gabi, how she justifies abducting Sir, and Gabi’s will they/won’t they relationship with Trent.

Shanola Hampton Talks Found

Screen Rant: What initially drew you to a character like Gabi Mosely?

Shanola Hampton: One of the things that I really love is finding characters who I describe as beautifully flawed. She is such a beautiful human being who is battling so many demons and circumstances that are out of her control, but they define her present in a real way. And what I loved about that is it is such a human story. Everybody has a story, and so much of the past defines who you become as an adult. To see that in a character who also seemingly has it all together, and to be able to play her and continue to peel back the onion, and she has a man in the basement, I was like, “I have to play her.”

The twist with Sir really sets Gabi about from other protagonists in procedurals. Can you talk a bit about Gabi’s thought process and how you feel she rationalizes everything in her head?

Shanola Hampton: That’s a good question, because, as an actor, I really wanted to make sure I could get into her mind. What draws someone? Revenge is the automatic answer, but for Gabi, I think it’s a lot more complicated than that. I think she justifies it as A, this person ruined my life, and B, I don’t want him to do it to anyone else. How do I control that? I grab him. Yes, I also resent him, and I’m going to make him pay and feel the way I felt being captive. Gabi’s purpose and mission is to help other people.

What better way to help bring people home than to get into the mind of a psycho than having a psycho in your basement? That’s how she justifies it. Does the end justify the means? They are doing really good work together, aren’t they? So even as an audience, you see that they are solving these cases. You have 48 hours to find a missing person before it gets really, really difficult. So if you can get into the mind quickly, that’s going to give you a better chance at finding the missing person, and that’s how she justifies it.

The series makes you take a good look at who law enforcement and the media are prioritizing in missing person cases and those they’re letting slip through the cracks. Do you feel that the show can help draw attention to a much bigger and more real issue?

Shanola Hampton: Not only do I feel that it can, I feel like it has. We have had great viewership and people who, I would not have expected to be drawn to rethink some of what the exposure has been and the lack and the balance of that, have already come up to me and said, “I never even realized that.” I think that we’re not only having to start the conversation, but there’s no way a show that is this successful that is dealing with these issues doesn’t move the needle, and I think we already have.

Have you been able to have any conversations with the actor who plays the younger version of Gabi?

Shanola Hampton: Yes, Azaria Carter is phenomenal. She’s such a beautiful young talent. Believe it or not, she is the most vivacious girl. We have been able to have conversations. I actually called her last week. She is so committed to making sure she tells the young Gabi story in such a meaningful, truthful way, and she has done it so successfully and powerfully. Seeing young Gabi as she becomes older Gabi, you can see that intensity, and that starts with Azaria’s performance as young Gabi. It trickles into me as older Gabi, and you still see that passion and that fire and that refusal to let this man break her.

Of course, I have to ask you about Gabi and Trent. How was working with Brett Dalton to flesh that relationship out?

Shanola Hampton: What I love about this particular season is that you have the will they/won’t they, but Gabi is in no real place to be in a relationship. A lot of times, shows will force an interaction that the character really isn’t ready for. I think what Found has done successfully is show, yes, in another time, maybe this would have worked, or maybe this can work, but right now, this woman has too much on her plate, and she needs to fix her before thinking about being in a relationship.

Gabi and Lacey have a bond that many others can’t relate to. How do you both approach such a unique relationship?

Shanola Hampton: One of the great things, and even sort of in real life, is it’s a very big sister-little sister approach. Lacey looks up to Gabi, in a way, because she sees her strength, and she sees what she thinks Gabi was able to overcome. Little does she know that Gabi, as put together as she is, hasn’t healed herself.

Showing a love story, and that’s what I believe Lacey and Gabi have, between two women that’s not sexual and that is a family love story and a commitment to one another, it was just showing the purity, which really is Gabrielle Walsh. You look in her eyes, and you see that purity and that sweetness, and then that protection that Gabi has. We really wanted to approach it to say, “We get to tell a great female love story that is sister and sister. ” Big sister to little sister and mentor to daughter, and that’s nice.

Everyone on Gabi’s team has a past that brought them to where they are now. Is there a character, in particular, whose story resonates with you most?

Shanola Hampton: Well, of course, if you’re a mother, and you’re not feeling and heart bleeding for Margaret—it’s the story that breaks my heart. Every time she’s in the bus station, every time you see her comparing what he looked like before to what he would look like now and just thinking about the loss of a child—it’s almost too much to bear. We call Kelli Williams the legend, and she is, and she’s also one of my soulmates in this world. I love her so much.

Her performance and the heartbreak that is on her face when she holds up her son’s picture on the found persons wall, it’s just heartbreaking. So that’s the one that resonates the most to me. But all of them are heartbreaking. Zeke, what happened to him? What is that thing that happened that keeps him from leaving the house? That has to be some strong stuff. And Dahn going through what he went through—we got to see glimpses of that. Karan has just beautifully played those moments of breakdowns, but Margaret is the one that speaks to me the most.

Did you already film the entire season, or are you just now resuming?

Shanola Hampton: We are done. We were able to get everything done before all the strikes happened, so you have a full beginning-to-end season 1 that will satisfy all of your taste buds.

What can fans look forward to during the rest of the season?

Shanola Hampton: Things begin to catch up Gabi, and you’re going to start seeing that wonderfully put together Gabi become more unhinged. It will be a ride, so fasten or unfasten your seatbelts, whichever way you roll, and come on with us. It’s going to be great.

About Found

In any given year, more than 600,000 people are reported missing in the U.S. More than half that number are people of color that the country seems to forget about. A public relations specialist — who was once herself one of those forgotten ones — and her crisis management team now make sure there is always someone looking out for the forgotten missing people. But unbeknownst to anyone, this everyday hero is hiding a chilling secret of her own.

Check out our other interviews with the Found cast, as well:

• Nkechi Okoro Carroll
• Nikhil Paniz