'Drop Dead Diva': Brooke Elliott teases show's return

On Sunday, Drop Dead Diva returns for the remaining five episodes of its fifth season (9 p.m. ET on Lifetime). It’s an episode fans have probably been curious about since creator Josh Berman first teased it: Grayson (Jackson Hurst) is asked to represent a young man who was kicked off an airplane after he refused to open his window because, he claims, he’s a vampire and the sunlight will burn his skin.

“We wanted to find a Diva way in to a bullying story that would not seem like your typical bullying story,” Berman told EW before the season began. “We also wanted to write an emotional storyline for Grayson that ties into something that we’ve always suspected had gone on in his past. So Grayson ends up bonding with this boy who thinks he’s a vampire and it helps both of them gain closure on events in their past.”

Star Brooke Elliott (Jane) loves the episode because there’s drama at the firm — Parker tries to sell it out from underneath them — and Jane gets wrapped up in her own case trying to gain her client (Dawson’s Creek‘s Meredith Monroe), a former party-girl socialite turned do-gooder, access to money in her trust fund. “I kinda make some mistakes, and I’ve got to get my way out of it,” Elliott says. “I love the twists and turns. It’s different from some of the other episodes that we’ve done.”

Jane is still dealing with the discovery that Grayson is now dating Nicole (Annie Ilonzeh, pictured with Hurst) — “Of course, because now Jane’s available,” Elliott laments — but Elliott herself enjoys it when Jane’s single. “I think a lot of times we’re so told in our world that marriage is everything and having a partner is everything. If you look at our movies and things, it’s all directed around that love, and if you don’t have that love how sad you are. And that happens a little bit on our show as well, but I like it when Jane’s single sometimes and just figuring out who she is.”

The hour ends with a big twist. Come back to Inside TV Sunday night to hear Elliott’s take on it.