Brace yourself for some twists on ‘The Affair’s’ third season, says star Maura Tierney

If the second season of Showtime’s “The Affair” was an exercise in keeping track of viewpoints and time-jumping, it seems the upcoming third cycle will require even more mind juggling.

“It’s going to be back and forth a little bit more next season,” said series star Maura Tierney when she stopped by The Envelope’s video studio for a chat Tuesday.

Tierney stars as Helen Solloway, whose husband Noah (Dominic West) leaves her for grieving waitress Alison (Ruth Wilson). The first season alternated between Noah and Alison’s narratives, showing viewers how they view each other, their relationship, and their respective spouses.

The second season opened up the perspectives to include Helen’s point of view, as well as the narrative of Alison’s estranged spouse Cole. In hinting that those perspectives will continue, as well as the time flopping, Tierney also found herself backtracking on earlier statements regarding Season 3.

Tierney sparked headlines in January, following her Golden Globes win, when she teased that a significant and “exciting” change to the structure of the show was in store. But not so fast. Tierney takes it back!

“Oh, it’s not going to be that,” Tierney said when asked about her comments . Of course, she didn’t totally elaborate on what “that” would have been except to say it was going to be “kind of a radical shift in storytelling.”

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“That is not going to happen this season,” she added. “If we come back for a fourth, it might be implemented then. But I think they just decided to go a different way. This way is good, too. I don’t know that much. It was just going to be fun … it might still happen, so I don’t want to say.”

But Tierney wasn’t quite as cryptic on other topics. To watch her dash our hopes for a Helen-Cole coupling or to hear her tales of traumatic “ER” flashbacks while shooting that “Affair” scene involving a trip to the hospital, check out the video below. And stay for her thoughts on why she wouldn’t support a “Newsradio” or “ER” remake.

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yvonne.villarreal@latimes.com

Follow me on Twitter: @villarrealy