Cast and crew from Fox’s upcoming Red Band Society met the press at the PaleyFest’s Fall TV Preview event earlier this week. See what they had to say about the exciting new drama series.

There is a lot of buzz about Fox’s upcoming drama series Red Band Society, which follows a group of teenage patients living in a hospital.

If you haven’t yet, you can watch the pilot online on Hulu.com.

At this year’s PaleyFest Fall TV Preview event, executive producer Rina Mimoun and actors Wilson Cruz (Nurse Kenji Gomez-Rejon) and Rebecca Rittenhouse (Nurse Brittany Dobler) were present to preview the show, and talk about how they each got involved with the exciting project.

While the panel video is not yet online, the official Paley Center and Red Band Society Twitter accounts have provided some highlights (beware of mild spoilers):

Additionally, Mingle Media TV has done three great red carpet interviews with all three attending members of the Red Band Society team, which you can watch or read about below.

Mimoun has some great things to say about the origins of and inspirations for the show:

In the interview, Mimoun says that she wasn’t brought in until after the pilot had been filmed, coming in to, “help the stories get going.” She calls working on the show a “completely amazing experience,” and likens it to the old WB shows she used to work on. “This is sort of Dawson’s Creek times 10,” she muses.

Mimoun also touches on the obvious link between Red Band Society and The Fault in Our Stars, saying that while the show has been in development for a while, Fault proved that teenagers are interested in the subject matter and ready for more similar stories.

Finally, Mimoun talks about the balance the showrunners are working to find between the dark, serious subject matter, and the more lighthearted teen comedy.

“We’re working very hard to stay as true and honest to the diseases that we’re representing as possible,” she says, “but at the same time, […] we do want to have fun with it, and we don’t wanna focus too much on the dark-dark-darkness.”

Wilson Cruz previews his role on Red Band Society, where he plays Octavia Spencer’s fellow nurse:

Cruz describes his character as Nurse Jackson (Spencer)’s “right-hand man,” and we’ll begin to discover more about their complicated history as the show progresses.

“They keep each other real, but they also have each other’s backs,” he says of their friendship. Kenji’s backstory will also be explored, as we learn why he decided to become a nurse.

Cruz also speaks very honestly about his character’s purpose on the show, and reveals something interesting about his past. “I’m there to provide some levity at times, but also to provide a perspective on … well, he’s a survivor,” Cruz says.

And finally, Cruz’ fellow nurse Rebecca Rittenhouse gives us a hint about what we can expect from her character:

Rittenhouse describes Brittany as a new nurse who is “very inexperienced and naive.” She gets tricked a lot by the kids in the beginning, but Rittenhouse promises that, “she’s learning, and she’ll find her own way.”

She also praises the script, and says that after she read it, she immediately wanted to be involved. She goes on to talk about the original Spanish telenovela which Red Band Society is based on, titled Polseres vermelles.

Red Band Society premieres in exactly one week, airing Wednesday, September 17 at 9/8c on Fox.

Are you excited for the new drama series?