‘Salvation’: Santiago Cabrera, Charlie Rowe Reveal They Read ‘Cosmos’ Before Filming Started

“Salvation” stars Santiago Cabrera and Charlie Rowe revealed that they both tried to learn more about physics before filming for the CBS series started.

“We were reading similar book,” Cabrera, who plays Darius Tanz on the show, told TVLine during an interview at San Diego Comic-Con last weekend. “I caught Charlie reading ‘Cosmos’ before we started shooting and I’d had a look at that. So we were both smartening up with our science.”

Rowe shared that it was his astrophysicist housemates who recommended the book to him. “Back home … there are six of us in one house,” shared the British actor who portrays Liam Cole on the series. “Three of them are physicists, astrophysicists, and they said, ‘You should read this book ‘Cosmos’ because it’s the book that made us fall in love with physics.’ So as someone who knows very little about physics that was quite fascinating.”

READ: How much of “Salvation” is based on actual science?

“Cosmos” is a 1980 popular science book by astronomer and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Carl Sagan. The book came out with a 13-part documentary series, titled “Cosmos: A Personal Voyage,” which Sagan co-wrote and presented. Thirty four years later, a follow-up documentary series, “Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey,” was released by Fox. The follow-up series was presented by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who appeared as himself in the series premiere of “Salvation.”

“He gives us credibility,” Cabrera said of Tyson’s appearance on the series. “He gives his thumbs up to the show.”

When Tyson filmed his cameo in the pilot, executive producer Craig Shapiro asked him why he agreed to appear on the show, and the astrophysicist said that he appreciates the show. “He said he liked the project because it took science and the scientists seriously and their work was treated as serious work and not just a throwaway plot point, and that the scientists were very human and were not robots in a lab somewhere,” Shapiro told Entertainment Weekly of Tyson’s impression of the show. “He really appreciated that. I appreciated him appreciating that.”

“Salvation,” which also stars Jennifer Finnigan, Jacqueline Byers and Ian Anthony Dale, among many others, airs every Wednesday on CBS.