The CW’s Beauty and the Beast is making its final return on Thursday, June 2nd and we’re dying to see how this 4-year-long saga will conclude. From newlyweds to new life chapters, this season will explore obstacles that our five favorite characters have yet to face. Not to mention the one question we’re all thinking, but too afraid to ask – who will make it to the end?
We recently caught up with one of the show’s fan favorites, Austin Basis to talk about the obstacles he faces both on and off-screen, the fate of his beloved character JT Forbes, and much more! Check out what he had to say about the farewell season and how being a type 1 diabetic has ultimately changed his life.
The final season of Beauty and the Beast will premiere on June 2nd at 8/7c!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9_Ms8GvEwc
“Everything happens for the best, so never give up. If you stay in the fight, you’ll win eventually.”
-Austin Basis
Celeb Secrets: Before we get to Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) and Beauty and the Beast, I want to get to know you better! Are you currently obsessed with any song or shows?
Austin Basis: “I like to listen to Meghan Trainor‘s songs. For some reason, I really like female vocalists like Adele. I do like my fair share of male vocalists too, but for some reason I like her song a lot. As for shows, my wife and I are watching The Path with Aaron Paul and Michelle Monaghan. It’s about a cult and it’s really mysterious, yet kinda great. So we’re watching that and of course Game of Thrones. Especially this season with all the twists, turns, deaths, and people coming back to life. Over the course of the past few years, I’ve been a TV watcher.”
Celeb Secrets: Without giving too much away, can you tell us what fans can expect from season 4 of Beauty and the Beast?
Austin Basis: “Well the fans will be more disappointed than excited to find out that the honeymoon will be over. The love of Catherine And Vincent will now be up against the threats and exposure of bounty hunters. And also, some entity is after Vincent – who they think is the beast. So simultaneously, they’re working on being newlyweds which is the positive end of it, but they also have to balance that with these new threats and figure out how far they’re willing to go. As for JT and Tess, their relationship is excelling and moving to the next level. But JT is at a crossroads in his life because his whole existence before was to support Vincent. His job at the university, his ability to get equipment, and to hack computer systems all came out of means of survival between him and Vincent. So now that their honeymoon is over, it’s leaving JT a little unfulfilled. It’s like the calm after the storm. Whether his previous life as a professor is going to make him as happy as he thought it would. So that’s the question that really affects his relationship with Tess – does he have a greater purpose in this world? Â That’s going to a little road block in their relationship. So JT is going to have to figure that out to maintain his loving relationship with Tess as well as dealing with Vincent and Cat.”
Celeb Secrets: In your opinion, do you think your Beasties will be satisfied with how it all ends?
Austin Basis: “Ultimately, yes. They’re married and that’s obviously different. They’re not getting a divorce although some of the trailers seem to allude to that. I don’t why they set it up like that though. The season as a whole will be an emotional rollercoaster, but not in a sense of Cat and Vincent as a couple. It’s mostly about the life and death struggle of five characters and whether they’ll make it through to the end is the ultimate question. And so for the last few episodes of the show end, that’s a question that needs to asked. Will all these characters make it to the end? I think the fans have really enjoyed that aspect of the show. The ups and downs. The ups are only as good as the downs. If you’re just going along at a leveled pace, your high isn’t as high as coming back up after the big drop. So to our fans, buckle up and enjoy the ride. Hold on through the tough moments because it’ll all be worth it in the end.”
Celeb Secrets: You’ve been with cast for a good amount of years now. Do you have a favorite memory with them?
Austin Basis: “I think the more they put the characters together, the more fun we have and the more I get scared that were not really doing our jobs. It becomes a little distracting when were all social. But it’s a good sign when a cast can come together and rock a scene. I think it was the celebratory times off set that were most memorable. Especially after season 3, we had a big party to kind of say goodbye and to celebrate the end. But it wasn’t the end. So we did it again after season 4 and I think those nights will stand out as really fun memories. There are Polaroids all over Instagram and Twitter. Although it’s great to get back to friends and family, there’s a little nostalgia in it. With the show coming back, you think about the memories and how the fans are going to respond.”
Celeb Secrets: Can you tell us more about Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) as well as how our readers can get involved?
Austin Basis: “For JDRF, I’m a regional ambassador for that organization and I’m also on the celebrity board for American Diabetes Association. Part of my participation is to bring awareness, raise money for type 1 diabetes, and to help find a cure by funding research that is getting closer and closer everyday. But in the meantime, were trying to expand and improve innovative therapies to help type 1 diabetics deal with it on a daily basis, whether it’s an insulin pump or continuous glucose monitoring. I do events and interact with people with the disease. I try to inspire them and let them know that there is a life beyond having type 1 diabetes and that they too can accomplish anything they put their minds to as long as they’re responsible and take care of themselves. If they eat well, exercise regularly and take care of themselves physically, there’s nothing they can’t accomplish. That’s primary goal, second is to find a cure so we don’t have to deal with this. That’s a little longer of a road, but not that long. When I started doing JDRF walks in the 90s, that was called the decade for the cure. Here we are two decades later and we’re not there yet, but we’re getting really close. The fans of the shows, Beasties, raised over $23,000 for JDRF and they’re doing another campaign to raise money. We have this fan who has created these fan art books of the show, kinda like a graphic novel, and she’s donating a portion of her profits. If you don’t have the money to donate, you can always do a walk or volunteer.”
Celeb Secrets: Did being diagnosed at such a young age affect your childhood?
Austin Basis: “Oh totally! When I was a really active 8-year-old, I was at the hospital because of all these side effects. Diabetes is a medical term, but to an 8-year-old, it’s just a word. My body couldn’t digest certain food to use it as energy, but all I heard was that I can’t have sugar and my dad owned a candy store at the time. That affected me greatly. He owned a candy store for four years and for two of those years, I had type 1 diabetes. That wasn’t the most ideal situation. But my parents were very pivotal in not making me feel like a medical case or that I needed special treatment. I did feel special, but not in the negative sense. It’s helped me achieve what I have achieved as an actor because I was given such a big responsibility at such a young age. I was giving myself injections at age 11 and testing my blood sugar on my own basically. That made a ripple effect in life.”
Celeb Secrets: What advice would you give our readers who may be going through a similar struggle?
Austin Basis: “Everyone is going to have ups and downs, but you need to see the bigger picture and realize that you’re not going to be given any challenges you can’t handle. The obstacles placed before you are there for you to overcome and to teach you a life lesson to move forward. If you look at the world in a bigger picture, there are a lot of people who are in worse conditions than us. Even though it’s a constant struggle, it’s stills manageable. Everything happens for the best, so never give up. If you stay in the fight, you’ll win eventually.”
Celeb Secrets: Are you working on any other projects at the moment?
Austin Basis: “I’ve been developing some projects with a couple of writing-partners of mine. I’m opening up to possibly producing a short film, but as of now, that hasn’t happen yet. I’ve been more on the writing and producing end. I’ve been auditioning for other stuff, but while waiting around, I’m creating my own material.”
Celeb Secrets: Since we are Celeb Secrets, do you have a behind-the-scenes secret you’d like to share with us?
Austin Basis: “In season 3, there was a scene when Cat and Vincent were trying to get married the first time. We shot all these scenes at the church for two days and it was almost the end of it. We had this one side scene with Tess, JT, and Vincent and we could not get through it.  They wanted us to do it one more time and they kept the cameras rolling. Jay Ryan has this habit of making people laugh when he’s not on camera. I don’t think he was trying to make us laugh, but he wasn’t making the effort to stop.  So in between Nina Lisandrello and I not being able to hold in our laughs and keep our sh*t together, we go to his coverage and he does it perfectly in two takes. Even when it’s done, we’re still laughing. So he looked like the hero, but in actuality, he was causing all the ruckus. It was a fun and torturous night.”
