The Hollywood Reporter teased some of its showrunner roundtable series, which features Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail next month.

One of 12 TV A-listers whose full conversations will appear in the June issue of Emmy magazine, Esmail answered questions about the challenges of finding his Elliot Alderson when Mr. Robot was still in the casting phase.

"Rami [Malek] was a nervous wreck — he was shaking," Esmail told THR, remembering Malek's audition. "He literally said the script breeds anxiety, and it was nerve-racking [to watch]. I was like, 'I don't know, is he going to get through this audition?' And by that point we had seen maybe 100 guys, and it was not right. It was the fsociety speech, and it felt didactic, and I was like, 'This is terrible. We've got to call USA and cancel this because this is not good.' But then Rami just did it. I [still] don't know if that was all part of the character."

The Golden Globe Award-winning showrunner also spoke to his personal connection to Elliot's character and pushing the boundaries in season one. Read the article here, and check out a clip from Esmail's roundtable:

Season two of Mr. Robot premieres July 13 at 10/9c on USA Network. Catch up on every episode now and enter the world of Mr. Robot here.