‘Found’: Shanola Hampton Teases a ‘More Unhinged Gabi’ & ‘Pure Fear’ After Shocking News

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Found Episode 7, “Missing While Indigenous.”]

“Pure fear.” That’s what Gabi is feeling at the end of the latest episode of Found, according to Shanola Hampton.

“Missing While Indigenous” not only sees Gabi return to the farmhouse where Sir (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) held her, but it also ends with the last thing she wants to hear: Trent (Brett Dalton) tells her there’s a credible sighting of her kidnapper near her house. Could he have gotten out of the chains in her basement?

Below, Hampton takes us inside this episode, talks working with Gosselaar on their characters’ complicated dynamic, discusses Gabi’s key relationships, and teases what’s next.

The episode ends with Trent telling Gabi that there’s a credible sighting of Sir near her house after Sir had taken the camera in the basement offline. What’s going through her head at that moment? What’s she most worried about?

Shanola Hampton: Pure fear. She’s most worried about Sir not only escaping but hurting someone else, and that has been her major concern throughout. I think it’s one of the reasons why she not only — there is the resentment and the revenge aspect to it, but also if you can get him off the streets, then he will never do this to anybody again. And so I think that motivation of that pure fear is really what’s moving her.

What can you tease about what’s next and how this is going to affect Gabi going forward? Because there’s a sense of a loss of control — even if he’s not free, she has to feel that loss of control.

Yes. You hit the nail on the head. You’re going to begin to really see Gabi become unhinged. It’s a lot going on, not only saving lives but also battling the secret. And now, with Sir possibly gone missing, you will see a more unhinged Gabi. You started to see a glimpse of it as she’s been struggling with the choices that she has made, but now it’s going to go to a whole new level. If it was a five, it’s going to go to a 9.5.

There’s this constant question about who’s really in power at any given moment, Gabi or Sir. Talk about working with Mark-Paul on that dynamic because it’s so complicated.

It is. Let me just say, and hopefully, he doesn’t see this: Mark-Paul is the best partner I’ve had since Steve Howey, and he is a delight. It is very rare that you have actors who have been in this business this long that are still open to playing and not coming in with any sort of plan of how they want things to go, and they just want to rock with you. And we rock together very, very well. He’s now become a dear friend, and we have intense moments, so when the cameras aren’t rolling, it’s really, really fun. I don’t think people realize how fun our set is, but I am very much a person that doesn’t want to carry that energy when the cameras aren’t rolling. So Mark-Paul is phenomenal. I love his nuances. He’s so smart. He’s always prepared. It has been an absolute treasure to work with him.

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Cracks are starting to show in Gabi and Lacey’s (Gabrielle Elise Walsh) relationship because Lacey is so worried about Sir being out there, and Gabi isn’t telling her he’s in her basement. Was there ever a point where Gabi could have told Lacey, and it wouldn’t end badly? It seems they’re past that now.

It’s definitely past that now, and you never know. Hindsight, right? Everyone you assume the worst. The one thing that Gabi has been for Lacey throughout her entire life is her protector. The one thing that Lacey has seen Gabi as is strong. The one thing that Lacey also probably put on Gabi in a way that was not necessarily intentional was that she was healed because of her strength. I think that’s what happens when you see someone who doesn’t cry, doesn’t break down, and seems to be moving forward with their life — you don’t see behind those walls that there is a hurt being. And even though Lacey knows how badly Gabi was affected by it, there’s a part of her that’s like, but Gabi’s so strong, Gabi’s so strong. So now that Lacey’s starting to see some cracks, it definitely gets harder for them. And that relationship is really going to go through some things. I’m happy that we get to show that on television, this mother-daughter, this mentor, big sister-little sis, and the dynamics of that, especially when there’s something that’s just not quite right.

And Gabi needs Lacey to see her the way that she does, especially with what’s going on now, right?

Absolutely. In Lacey’s eyes, Gabi can do no wrong until she hears the lie, right? And I think there’s a lot of Gabi that prides herself on that because she’s the one that took Lacey out of the bathtub and went and healed Margaret [Kelli Williams] and all that. So, for Lacey’s view of Gabi to change, that definitely is going to be something to rock her, and like life does, it all comes to a head at some point. This last part of the season is going to take everyone for a nice ride.

Gabi goes to the farmhouse in this episode. Talk about filming that.

That was tough because I don’t film in the farmhouse, just me as an actor, and Gabi has not returned there since being kidnapped. So when you walk in and the set itself is very creepy and dark. It’s got the dust around, and it’s a very eerie set. So to have her walk back in and to see it again really is one of those moments that you lose breath. You lose breath, and you see her really revert back to that little girl again. And so, it was a very intentionally touching scene to shoot, but also, it was weird for me because it was a set that I hadn’t worked on before.

Steve Swisher/NBC

Gabi and Trent’s relationship is complicated, to say the least. He’s risking his job for her and says he’s patient, and she can’t let him get too close because of Sir in the basement. But how does she feel about him?

I think it’s complicated, to say the least. I think under different circumstances, if Gabi didn’t have all the things that she has going on in her life and so many things on her plate, it would be something that she would maybe entertain because, ultimately, he’s a good guy. But with her life being as complicated as it is, having someone else added to that doesn’t seem fair to her. Also, it’s a timing thing, and isn’t so much [of] life and relationships and when love comes in and out? It’s all about timing, and I just think it’s not their time, and Gabi knows that more than Trent, obviously.

What’s Gabi’s endgame with keeping Sir in the basement? Does she have a solid plan?

I think that’s why you start to see her crack and become unhinged. Because, what was the endgame? She has him there. And I don’t think she gave full thought into how it ends, but will we see this season? Maybe! Keep watching!

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How worried should we be about Gabi if she were to lose the work she does at M&A with finding the missing, especially with what’s going on now?

What she does is her lifeline, so you should be very, very worried. If she loses that, she loses her mission, she loses her purpose, she loses her faith. It would be the worst thing that could happen to Gabi. It would be worse than her being kidnapped for all those days.

Is there anyone on the team she thinks she could tell about Sir, and that person would completely understand?

I think that there’s a version of each person on the team at a certain time, her being able to tell them and there be some sort of understanding, not to sign off on it, of course. I think once it has gone as far as it has gone for Gabi and for as long as she’s done it, it’s hard for anyone who thought they knew her to the core to accept and to understand. I think that’s a tall order. But if there’s anyone that would have, I think it’s really tough for anyone. I think Dahn [Karan Oberoi] would probably be the most inclined because even when you see Lacey saying stuff to him and saying, “Doesn’t this seem weird? Doesn’t it seem—?” You see him always saying, “Let it go, let it go,” and “we don’t judge,” and that sort of stuff. So I think that that would probably be the person that would most likely understand. But even it would be hard for him.

Found, Tuesdays, 10/9c, NBC