As the premiere date of the second season of Ray Donovan draws closer, a bunch of new exclusive behind-the-scenes stills were revealed by The Hollywood Reporter on June 12.

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The pictures feature Liev Schreiber, who plays Ray, Jon Voight, who portrays Mickey, and Elliott Gould who plays Ezra Gold on the show. But the main focus in the shots is on Schreiber.

The images are complemented with intriguing and funny bits from the cast members about working on the show. Schreiber spoke about what convinced him to come on board the Showtime drama and play the part of a professional fixer.

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"I've come to appreciate how hard people work in one-hour dramas," he said. "You're talking to a guy who after three months of doing a play, I'd totally fall apart. But it's fun to be in something that my friends watch. Usually I'm in obscure movies no one sees!"

Show creator Ann Biderman also spoke about meticulously conceptualising the entire show even before pitching it to Showtime, she suggests she even had the finale chalked out.

"I knew the end of season one when I first pitched the show to Showtime," she said. "I worked out a big bible for the series - [Showtime Networks president] David Nevins was very surprised! But I needed to know the whole cosmology of the show for it to work."

The second season will premiere on July 13.

Ray Donovan will air on Sundays at 8 pm ET/PT on Showtime.

Watch another recently revealed behind-the-scenes clip previewing the season here:

Tags: Ray Donovan showtime television