Hut. Hut. Huuuuuut.

Another season of Friday Night Lights is about to be hiked. The critically lauded series follows the dramas — both on-field and off — of a small, football crazed, Texan town. Vancouver native Taylor Kitsch, 28, plays Tim Riggins — a troubled football star and the resident teen heartthrob in Dillon, Texas. Kitsch recently talked about FNL's third season and its unique, improvisational, on-set culture.

Q: What does Friday Night Lights get right about teenage life?

A: We look at it from a broader perspective (than just teens). From the get go, it's (about) how people deal with tragedy — dealing with things in their lives that have been taken from them.

A: It's the best coaching clinic, the best acting class you could have. I've grown more as an actor — or even as a person — in the last three years than I can remember. What we do is we have these three hand-held cameras going... they are going to pick up the little intricacies. They are close and personal shots. You can't fake what's going on... And the improv, the lack of marks, the lack of rehearsal — it just allows you to be even freer as an actor and to take those risks... The more comfortable you are and the more trust you have on set, the more risks you're going to take, and that allows those genuine moments to happen, to unravel... All I try and do before a scene is try and be... vulnerable to whatever happens.

Q: So you just give into your character's instincts as a scene develops?

A: Absolutely. I'm known as a guy who is very off the books, very off the page and off the cuff. I definitely throw curveballs... It's an ongoing joke even. If you're working with Kitsch, get ready. I'll throw shit that has nothing to do with stuff — but at the same time it will tie in — you know, just to see where the scene will go.

Q: What can you tell us about your character in the new season?

A: I think he's still growing and he's understanding more and more the repercussions of his life choices — especially in these huge growing years. It's his senior year, so the stakes are a lot higher.

Q: You have a character capable of doing something very honourable like saving the coaches daughter (Aimee Teegarden) from a potential rape, but who will also steal from a drug dealer. How do you play those dual sides of him?

A: I think the best thing about him is he knows (what's right), but he's just not there yet. The trust and roots of Riggins are what hold him back. The lack of parents, the lack of those things that would normally be instilled in a kid when he's going up. He's kind of had to fend for himself. He just withheld so much because he's been hurt. That's a huge base of where I draw (from) when playing him. I have so much fun playing this guy because I don't even know how I'm going to react half the time as Riggs.

Q: You grew up in Vancouver. How do you relate to someone very different from you — who grew up in a football town in the middle of Texas?

A: I think being in Texas helps. Now I can turn the accent on and off without even thinking... when it comes to the stakes on the field, I played a pretty high level of hockey — that competitiveness in me is definitely there... I never really studied the (alcoholism) part of it, I tried to get to the root of him — why he does what he does. Why does this cat want to escape so much? And once you can figure that out more is going to unravel for you.

Q: One of things critics of this show talk about is the dynamic between the Coach Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler) and his wife Tami (Connie Britton) as the anchors of the show... what do you think about that connection?

A: It's the spine of the show, the heart of it. I think they are very real and that's why everyone can sense it and relate to their relationship. The way they argue, the way they don't argue, the way they deal with their daughter Julie, the way the coach is a father figure to the guys on the field. (They have) this relationship where they work together to make it the best that it can be, and they have the freedom to work with and off one another so much — that improv really works. They trust each other inside out... They are not going to play anything that's not there.

Q: Having had this unique experience, when the series does end, how do you adjust going on in your career and to sets that aren't like this one?

A: Even going into Wolverine (Kitsch plays the mutant Gambit in the X-Men Origins film slated for a May release) or something like that, you're in a film now. And the process and patience and everything is tested more because the shots are so much more intricate... We are definitely spoiled on FNL... but I'd love to direct in the next five years, and I'd like to work with the actors. I'm a huge fan of improv. I'll take those things away from (FNL) as much as I can.

Q: What sets FNL apart from other teen-related shows like 90210 and Gossip Girl?

A: The realism. We don't glorify it. We make people work the way we cut our show... we don't show you what's going to happen to (each character), you come to your own conclusion... there is a scene at the end (of the coming season) where Riggins plays his final game, and your almost crying reading it, you know how powerful it's going to be... The scene went incredibly well. We shot with only wide angles and left it for the audience to guess what's going on his head. That can sum up everything FNL is about. We make you work. We don't hand things on a silver platter... and be like 'Oh, in this guy's life he's just about to cry and let's show him crying for 30 seconds... It's like 'Oh my god, I want to see his face right now. Don't just end it on (this)." But it's so good at the same time.

Q: Because it makes viewers interact with the show?

A: Absolutely. I think with the following for reality shows... it's simple, people come home from work, they're lazier and TV has become mindless... and our show has a lot of layers to it, and it's emotional and its real... (a long pause is followed by laughter) I'll probably get in trouble for saying reality TV is a lot lazier, but it's true.