From executive producer Josh Schwartz (The OC) and executive producer/director McG (Charlie’s Angels), the one-hour action-comedy series Chuck tells the story of Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi), a computer geek who is catapulted into a new career as the government’s most vital secret agent. When Chuck opens an e-mail subliminally encoded with government secrets, he unwittingly downloads an entire server of sensitive data into his brain. Now, the fate of the world lies in the unlikely hands of a guy who works at a Buy More Electronics store. Instead of fighting computer viruses, he must now confront assassins and international terrorists.

With the government’s most precious secrets in Chuck’s head, Major John Casey of the National Security Agency (Adam Baldwin) assumes the responsibility of protecting him, while Chuck’s partner is the CIA’s top agent, Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strahovski), both of whom will try to keep him safe, by trading in his pocket protector for a bulletproof vest. Also starring are Joshua Gomez as Morgan, Chuck’s best buddy, and Sarah Lancaster, as Chuck’s ever-supportive sister, Ellie.

Schwartz and star Zachary Levi talk to MediaBlvd Magazine about their new NBC series.

MediaBlvd Magazine> Zack, how did you get this part? Was it a complicated process?

Zachary Levi> I wouldn’t call it complicated, but I wouldn’t call it easy, either.
Josh Schwartz> It was easy for us. As soon as we saw his audition, we were like, “We found Chuck!”
Zachary> Any time you’re auditioning for a pilot, normally there are about four steps involved. You go and audition for the casting director, and then, if that goes well, you’ll come back for the producers. And then, if that goes well, you come back for the studio executives and the studio brass. And, if that goes well, then you come back for the network brass. And then, hopefully, God was in your corner, and you got the job. In this case, NBC was in my corner. I went in for  the casting director, and Josh was actually shooting the last episode of The OC.
Josh> His tape came over on the last day of the last episode of The OC.
Zachary> So, I was unable to do a producer session, but the casting director put me on tape and sent that video directly down to Josh, on set, and they said, “Hey, we found our Chuck.” The next Monday, they sent me to battle my way through the studio, and that was fantastic. All was well. The head of Warner Brothers was very supportive, as was everyone there. And then, the next day was the network test, which was more of the same, as far as all the suits sitting there, staring at you, and you having to entertain. But, I got the news pretty quick.
Josh> The good news was that we were so thrilled to get Zack. The show is called Chuck, and Zack was able to read with potential Morgans and Sarahs. So, when Josh Gomez walked in the room and those two guys read together, it was instant chemistry. We knew we found Morgan as soon as we saw them do scenes together.