Rachel Nichols is grateful to the city of Vancouver. Not only was the west coast locale her transplanted home for four seasons of Continuum, but she met her husband there. With just four more weeks until the series finale, we sat down with Nichols to chat about this sci-fi roller coaster ride.
I’m sad to see Continuum end.
Rachel Nichols: I am too, but we’ve been given six episodes to bring it all to an end and I’ve never had that opportunity before. It is bittersweet because you do those final six episodes and you know it’s the end and that end comes so quickly. But, at the same time, we get to tie up some of the loose ends—it wouldn’t be Continuum if tied them all up—and we have this family between he cast and the crew. We’ve all been here together for the last four years.
I lived in L.A. before and came up here for the first season. And I came up here for Season 2 and met the man who is now my husband. I have so many things to be grateful for. The fans were so incredibly supportive and demanding of answers and wanting another season and wanting an end to the show. I wholeheartedly believe we wouldn’t have gotten a fourth season without them, so this season if for the fans.
It would have been awful if our final vision had been the Season 3 finale.
It would have been horrible!
What was it like to read through that final episode script?
I usually go on a script by script basis so I don’t read a lot in advance, primarily because I think it would scramble my brain and I need to focus on one block of episodes at a time. I had been hearing rumblings about the last episode and I thought at one point, ‘What if they kill Kiera? What if Kiera goes back to the future and dies?’ So, when I got the first draft of Episode 6, I went right to the end to see if Kiera was still alive. There are a lot of twists and turns this season.
It’s been hard to see the relationship between Carlos and Kiera, and Kiera and Alec erode somewhat over the last season.
It’s hard for Carlos because he’s taken over Dillon’s position. He’s an Inspector now. I’m happy to say that Kiera and Alec are back on track. Kiera was very much a lone wolf last season and trying to figure out how to manipulate the situation as best she could. Carlos is that loving, Type-A, football-watching, beer-drinking high moral standard type of guy. He’s never going to change. She doesn’t like lying to him, but sometimes leaving him out of the truth is the most helpful thing for him.
Things have also gotten complicated with Brad.
Oh yeah. We’ve quickly found out that the soldiers are Brad’s people. He’s come from a time where Kellog is a warlord, so the relationship becomes much more complicated. Plus, this season has become more about getting home and I always joke, ‘What am I going to do, show up back home with my new boyfriend and tell my husband to go and kick rocks?’Â Brad and I were people who had lost so much and found this bond because of everything they’ve been through … that takes a back seat to Kiera not wanting to stay anymore. She’s done. Liber8 has been disbanded.
You’re a producer on Continuum. Does this set up groundwork for you moving forward on your own projects?
I don’t know at this point. I want to learn as much as I can and be involved in the day-to-day things as much as I can. I want to direct and add another piece to that IMDB page that says you’ve done this before. I’m very protective of the crew and making sure they’re being treated fairly. Simon has been very gracious about the words and letting me make the words more natural. I’m the lead and I want everybody to want to come to work every day and be sad that it’s going to end. My dad woke up every day happy to go to work and I want that for everybody who works on the show.
I’ll probably direct a short film first and call on a lot a favours and ask a lot of questions. [Laughs.]
Continuum airs Fridays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Showcase.
Look for more interviews with Continuum stars Victor Webster, Erik Knudsen, Stephen Lobo and Roger Cross, and creator Simon Barry, in the coming weeks.
I tried to watch this show but found myself weeping with boredom after a few episodes. This is what is sad and pathetic about Canadian tv – a show that no one outside the industry has ever heard of can last for years before being cancelled.
A show that airs in Canada, the U.S., France, UK and Australia is definitely not “a show no one outside of the industry has ever heard of.” As for “weeping with boredom,” I appreciate and respect your opinion. I don’t agree with it, but I respect it.
That show certainly isn’t boring. It might have fallen off course in season 3, but overall it is still a great show. I especially appreciate a show that isn’t afraid to be Canadian.