his mother coincided with Casey and Sarah's own missions to bring down Volkoff Industries. Chuck did eventually admit to Ellie that he was searching for Mary but kept his return to government work a secret. In "Chuck Versus the Couch Lock" Chuck spoke to his mother for the first time—presumably, since she left the family some twenty years earlier—when she contacted him at the conclusion of his operation to extract information on her whereabouts from Casey's old special forces team. Chuck was stunned and disheartened when what he had learned suggested Mary may have been working for Volkoff all along. Ellie announced to Chuck that she was pregnant at the beginning of season 4, which was a contributing factor to him not telling her of the search for their mother. Ellie's pregnancy progresses as the season goes on, and in the Season 4 mid-season finale, Chuck's niece, Clara, is born. Character development Zachary Levi was the first actor cast for the series and was announced as starring in the title role on February 7, 2007. On January 16, 2009, it was announced that Scott Bakula would appear as Chuck and Ellie's father in a three-episode story alongside Chevy Chase. Interviews with Chris Fedak and Josh Schwartz have likened Chuck's development in the first two seasons to an origin story, describing Chuck as Luke Skywalker and born into his role as opposed to Peter Parker who stumbled into it. Season two especially has focused on Chuck's evolution from a regular guy to show that he has the potential to be a true hero. Zachary Levi has indicated that by the beginning of Season Three, two characters will have discovered Chuck's secret life. In "Chuck Versus the Colonel", Chuck reveals his work as a spy to Captain Awesome, but implores him to keep it secret. Zachary Levi has suggested that the new skills Chuck learns from Intersect 2.0 will fade again after use. Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak have confirmed that Intersect 2.0 will introduce a number of complications in Chuck's development as a spy. The most significant is that Chuck's emotional state will have a direct impact on the functionality of his abilities, as the modifications his father made at the government's request were designed for Bryce Larkin, a trained agent capable of controlling his feelings. Schwartz and Fedak have indicated Chuck's emotional state could lead to an unpredictable and potentially