The Insider.com

Turns out Piper Perabo was not messing around when she told TheInsider.com the season three premiere "immediately kicks off with this explosive moment that actually shocked me. I kept asking, 'Where do we go from here?'"

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To find out where Covert Affairs goes in the wake of Jay's assassination, I caught up with star Christopher Gorham (who called me from set in Pairs, France! Oooh la la!) to talk all about the fallout from that murder and the subsequent splitting up of the newly reassigned Annie & Auggie!

TheInsider.com: First of all, Jay's dead? What?!?
Christopher Gorham: I know ... just goes to show that all bets are off this season. The stakes of everything that's going on with the missions and emotionally with the characters are so much higher. And the repercussions for what happens in the premiere are felt throughout the rest of the season.

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Insider.com: They were never close, but how does Jay's death affect Auggie?
Christopher: It's interesting. Obviously, in the very short term, everyone's dealing with the shock of losing him but Auggie has been through this before having been in the military and lost people. But by taking over his job, Auggie ends up going in and trying to figure out what Jay was doing. The premiere was just the tip of the iceberg in terms of finding out what happened and what Jay was poking around in that got him into trouble.

Insider.com: This job was somewhat forced on Auggie, is he happy to be taking over for Jay?
Christopher: It's a little bittersweet but mostly it puts him on guard. When he gets in there and discovers the volume of the things Jay had been working on, he's very surprised. It makes him a little nervous because he doesn't know what he's wading into and it's potentially lethal. What he ends up uncovering becomes very important to all the characters.

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Insider.com: We also saw Annie take on a new job that separated her from Auggie -- how does that affect their relationship?
Christopher: Next week, you'll see a piece of just how distant they've become. I mean, Auggie used to know everything that was going on with Annie, but now they don't spend as much time together. He can't talk about what he's working on, she can't talk about what she's working on … when they check in and realize they don't know what's going on with the other, it's upsetting. Episode 5 finds Auggie in a most unlikely location; he's going through huge changes and doesn't really have anybody to talk to about them because his best friend is not around. It does become an issue as we go further into the season, but we get to play with the new dynamics that arise from being apart.

Insider.com: Does absence make the heart grow fonder?
Christopher: It's maybe a situation where absence makes the heart aware in a way which it hadn't been in the past.

Insider.com: Do you like that the show isn't rushing them together, so we get to explore them as individuals before we explore them as a couple?
Christopher: It's funny – the audience has gone much further in their heads than we've gone on the show [laughs]. The way we've developed the relationship on the show is pretty realistic considering the lives these two are leading with their jobs and obligations. I really don't feel like we're rushing into anything – I think we're playing it pretty right on and pretty accurately in terms of how a relationship like that would really develop.

Insider.com: But next week is a big Annie/Auggie episode, right?
Christopher: Yes and it's also momentous in an emotional way. They get assigned to go undercover as a married couple and Auggie reveals something to Annie that has a profound effect on their relationship. The brilliant thing is that because he's blind, Auggie is unaware of how significantly he changes their relationship by sharing what he does – he kind of misses it again, but what happens between them on that mission allows Annie to be incredibly effective on her season-long mission.

Insider.com: Looking beyond next week, what are you excited for fans to see this season?
Christopher: The fans who've been watching the show are really going to enjoy the serialization of this season. While each episode has its own case that gets dealt with, there's an overarching mystery we're trying to unravel that goes from episode 1 through episode 10, and beyond. That is really something for fans to sink their teeth into. The stakes have gone up a lot this season. There's a real price to pay with the job they do, and we're reminding the audience of that this season – this is a dangerous job and sometimes bad things happen. Fans should know there are a couple more deaths coming!

Covert Affairs airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on USA.