"There were multiple conversations between us and our partners at Sony about how we could do this without the typical cast insurance," DeBitetto said. "And we, together, decided to do just that. … We both knew that we were taking a potentially unusual amount of risk given the situation. … Patrick and his representatives were great about keeping all of us posted about his treatment, and at a certain point we were given the opportunity to have some very honest conversations with his treating physicians."

In the course of production, which wrapped in November, Swayze missed only one day of work.

"He's proud of that. He ought to be," Romano said. "And we are, too. And we're taking our cues from his willingness to do this show. And it's inspiring."

"It's just been an absolute inspiration for me and I'm sure the other guys," Fimmel said. "He's an amazing guy. You can't help but to respect him. And I can't say enough good stuff about the guy. He's an inspiration. He makes a little thing seem so not important."

Fimmel and the producers all said that, while they were always aware of Swayze's struggles, it didn't affect the production.

"You can hardly tell with the guy. He's such a man," Fimmel said. "The sickest thing about him on the set is probably his jokes.

"He's there every day. You've seen the pilot. He's carrying me out. I'm, like, 190 pounds, whatever. The man's 56. It's amazing. He does nearly all of his stunts."

"As hard as it is to imagine, you forget about it when you're working 12 hours a day and you're on the set with him," Angell said. "And usually most of us would get tired before he would. So when you're going through the show and then you remember and you think of what this man was going through to show up to work every day. And it was, as Travis said, inspiring."

"It brought us even tighter together," Rotko said. "It would make you stop and think before you said, 'I have a tummy ache' in the morning because he's toughing it out through tougher conditions."

While no one really wants to talk about it, there's the question of what will happen to the show if it's successful enough to be renewed for a second season. "The Beast" is very much built around Swayze's character, so much so that it would be a very different show if he were unable to return.

"We have nothing before us that says that we just can't continue making the show we're making starring Patrick Swayze and Travis Fimmel," Romano said. "We're all aware how the show may need to grow around him. My feeling is that, as I said, we're taking our cues from Patrick. … He's giving us every signal that we're in a forward mode. And that continues, as far as I'm concerned, into a second season.

"We are following his signals that he is ready to work when we're ready to shoot again."

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