Amanda Tapping Talks About What’s Next On Sanctuary
December 5, 2008 by tcgames
Thank God Henry embraced his inner werewolf, otherwise what the heck would he be doing on SCI FI Channel’s Sanctuary?
Yes, in recent episodes we discovered that nerdy Henry (Ryan Robbins), who seems to get captured by bad guys every time they are around, is actually a werewolf.
Ashley (Emilie Ullerup) is pissed at her mom for not telling her that her father was, well, Jack the Ripper (Christopher Heyerdahl). Helen (Amanda Tapping) has a past that goes deeper than even her 157 years would imply. And Will (Robin Dunne)? Well, he’s still just trying to catch up!
While other shows are about to head off into the land of reruns, Sanctuary is gearing up with three new episodes for December with even more revelations for our heroes, star and executive producer Tapping told SCI FI Wire.
In the Dec. 5 episode, “Requiem,” Magnus and Will tangle with the Bermuda Triangle and each other. “‘Requiem,’ which I think in terms of character building and relationships, is, for me anyway and for the Will character, for Robin [Dunne], the most important in terms of how far we take these characters,” Tapping said. “It takes place on a submarine, and it’s a two-hander. We basically did a two-hand play for the episode.”
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The close-up study of Magnus and Will offered Tapping a chance to dig deep when it came to her complex character. “It’s the bravest work I’ve ever done,” she said. “I just put it out there. Helen kind of goes crazy,” she added with a laugh. “I really trusted Robin, and he trusted me, and the two of us just went for it. At the end of this episode, we were just exhausted, and [it was exhausting] for [director] Martin Wood, too. It was probably the hardest piece he’d ever pushed actors [for]. It’s just a really cool story. It’s well-written, but the characters really … if their relationship wasn’t forged before this, it really pulls them together in a huge way.”
Tapping is also thrilled about the possibilities now that the show has been picked up for a second season. “This is one of the things that I love about the way this show is progressing,” she said. “The relationships are all so organic. I mean, we’re letting them build really naturally. There’s nothing that seems ever, in terms of the writing, forced between the characters.”
In the next episode, “Warriors,” “we have a cool stand-alone,” Tapping said. “It actually brings in a character that I think people never thought they would see again. It’s a great episode for Robin. He does some amazing work in it. It’s the abnormal fight club. That is very cool, but it’s also, again, for Helen this remarkable blast from the past. So it’s a hugely emotional journey for her and for Ashley.”
The final episode of the year will be “Instinct,” which airs Dec. 19. “It’s kind of a Cloverfield,” Tapping said. “We shot it entirely on one handheld camera. It was shot like a play. It was a very cool way to shoot it, and for the actors, it was wild, because we would shoot three-and-a-half-page scenes in one take. The camera guy became a character in the episode. It takes place in a warehouse on a monster hunt.”
Tapping added: “I really think that this show actually, to be honest, found its feet later in the season. I think like a lot of new shows we were trying to figure what the identity was, what we wanted the show to be. I think our pilot, as much I loved it, was really broad strokes and homogenized a bit more than I would have liked. What often happens with new shows is they show you everything. We kind of tried to do that, but by the same token, now we’re pulling back a bit and going, ‘OK, let’s go down this avenue with the show for a while and take the audience on this ride.’ So I feel like our later episodes actually were a bit more grounded.”
Sanctuary airs on Fridays at 10 p.m. ET/PT. The final two episodes of the first season will air in January as a two-parter called “Revelations.”
Source: Scifi Wire
congratulations on renewal of sanctuary. i think sanctuary is awesome can’t wait for season two. keep up the good work also i think Amanda Tapping is a fantastic actress. Sanctuary shows great promise.