In a recent interview, Austin Basis, who plays J.T. on Beauty and the Beast, spoke about the future of J.T. and Tess' relationship in season 3 of the CW series.

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Speaking to Rickey, the actor specifically discussed J.T. and Tess' fate as a couple on the show. It has already been stated that season 3 of Beauty and the Beast will focus on Vincent and Catherine's love, so Basis suggested that his character's romantic life would need carve its own niche on the show.

The actor started by going back in time and contextualising J.T's romantic situation as always being tied to Vincent's somehow.

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"J.T. had that relationship with Sara in the first season, and it was adversely affected by everything that was going on with Vincent and, in turn, Catherine," he said. "And it actually sabotaged the relationship. Or rather, J.T. let it sabotage the relationship. Because, in those last couple episodes, he was supposed to meet her parents and get to that next level. But in retrospect, I feel like J.T. used [Vincent] as an excuse to not take that risk, and not take that leap. There was some sort of comfort in the fact that he was needed, and wrapped up in Vincent's drama. But then, coming into Season 2, by virtue of Vincent not being there, he started to have to - out of a survival tactic - start to find himself and deal with life by himself."

But he stated that in the second season his relationship with Tess (Nina Lisandrello) was, in some way, free of Vincent's (Jay Ryan) influence.

"So, in finding Tess and pursuing his relationship with her, I feel that the challenge for J.T. was twofold: to form your own relationship with a person, independent of the life you've known for the past ten years, and then learning how to manage your life - and that relationship - without it being adversely affected by Vincent's stuff," he said. "So the question was, "Can I have a relationship on my own, without Vincent? And then, "Can I maintain it healthily without all the stuff that's going on with Vincent adversely affecting it in a negative way that's going to sabotage it, or provide me with an excuse to sabotage it?"

Finally, Basis articulated the struggle and challenges that the couple might have to face and work out over the next chapter.

"So now that we're in a relationship and pursuing it, how do we keep it in a separate and independent world from everything that is VinCat?" he said. "I think both JT and Tess have that same dilemma. How do they have their own thing without being swept away by what is normally the main plot of the show. [Laughs] Now, they will be swept away by it, but the question is how they balance that in regards to their own relationship."

The season 2 finale, titled Deja Vu, featured the ultimate showdown between Vincent (Jay Ryan) and Gabe (Sendhil Ramamurthy) while Catherine (Kristin Kreuk) desperately tried to find a way to save her love and keep Gabe at bay. Catherine resorted to her family's mythology to get some secrets that could offer a solution.

Deja Vu aired on The CW at 8 p.m. on July 7.

Watch the preview clip here:

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