Link: Dark Matter: Anthony Lemke previews an expansive world in Season 2
“The empathetic person you talk about as Three vs. Marcus Boone the mercenary are one in the same and have always been one in the same. In fact, Marcus Boone is probably a younger character, and that’s been really fun to discover as an actor and to layer in as the season progresses. I believe in episode 4 information will be brought out that will make that answer clear and that ripples forward.” Continue reading.Â
When we last left Dutch (Hannah John-Kamen) and Johnny (Aaron Ashmore), they’d vowed to find D’Avin (Luke Macfarlane) and spring him from Khlyen’s (Rob Stewart) clutches. Season 2 of Killjoys doesn’t waste any time in getting to that plot point, as the duo—aided by Pree (Thom Allison)—get busy finding their imprisoned brother and friend.
With the return of Space’s Killjoys just days away, we spoke to creator/showrunner Michelle Lovretta about what fans can expect from the rollicking space adventure, as well as what she’s looking for in potential writers.
Who have you got in the writers’ room this season?
Michelle Lovretta: We have Adam Barken, Jeremy Boxen, Jon Cooksey, Julian Doucet, Sean Reycraft and Priscilla White.
Talk about the importance of bringing new voices into the writers’ room. Some of the Season 1 folks, like Aaron Martin and Emily Andras, are writing other projects now, but do you see yourself as a mentor to newer writers?
I’m too tired and self-aware to be a mentor… [Laughs.] I’m teasing. I really do like working with new writers. What’s been bizarre to me to see second-hand is when you’re on a show and the head writer is being a dick and doesn’t have the backs of their writers. Anyone that I work with now, they look forward to showing new writers the humane way to do it; the way to be supportive. I’d work with all of these people all over again.
How do new writers get on a show run by you? Do you apply?
You do. I receive a pile of scripts through my agent and I’m somewhat infamous for reading everything that is appropriately submitted. I don’t read anything that hasn’t been vetted. It’s a long process and every year you need to construct a room from the top down. I know my strengths and limits; the next two people down from me in the senior positions need to be able to do the things that I’m not so good at, better. And then, when you go further down, I look at what my balance is with regard to pacing, structure and comedy. Sometimes you have to, from season to season, say goodbye to someone you love, because you’re looking for someone who’s funny because your funny person has left. It’s a cake I’m making with a new recipe every year and is contingent on the best ingredients I can get.
Michelle Lovretta
OK, let’s get into Season 2 of Killjoys. Where do we pick up when the show returns?
We pick up not too long after we left our people, as they try to find D’Avin.
What’s D’Avin’s mental state?
I think if I answer that too directly, it will take some of the fun away for the audience. One of the things that I love about Luke is that he’s very professional, lovely and game. There are cases when I’ve told him we’re going to put him in some very uncomfortable situations and he completely action-hero’s it up. D’Avin has not had an easy time of it in the first 10 episodes. He’s had some emotional turmoil and traumas, and there are a few more of them that he weathers this year. That puts him on his own path this season.
What’s so much fun about a second season is that in the first you’re writing in a bit of a bubble. You’ve already broken so many episodes ahead of time before you’ve ever seen anyone on the set interact with one another. By the second season you absolutely know, and the fun of it is not only you know what they can do, but you know them as people. I’d like to put Hannah’s real-life levity on-camera.
I like to make sure that we have fun and tell a larger story and that we find places within that story for our characters to have some challenges and growth. We have quite a few fun little moments that I think fans in particular will enjoy.
Can you talk about Pree’s journey this season? Thom Allison hinted there might be a dark side to Pree that we might see.
Yeah. One of the things I love about both Pree and Thom is that they both bring a joy when they are present. What’s interesting to me is to round that and give that character a little bit more heft and a bit more backstory that is kind of interesting and worthy. We’ve had a little bit more fun with that this season and Pree does get out from behind the bar and out into the broader world.
Khlyen was the big bad in Season 1. How much does he overshadow things in Season 2?
There is a twist with Khlyen and his relationship with Dutch. There is a continual unfurling of who the actual big bads are in our greater world, what their goals are and who is part of that plan. Khlyen goes on a bit of his own journey to explore that for the audience.
From what I’ve seen during filming, it appears things move very quickly in Season 2.
There’s certainly a lot that happens and every season is, potentially, your last season. I like to make sure that we have fun and tell a larger story and that we find places within that story for our characters to have some challenges and growth. We have quite a few fun little moments that I think fans in particular will enjoy. I don’t believe in writing specifically to what fans would want, but by Season 2 we’re also fans of the show, so it’s very fun to say, ‘Oh my God, can we do that with such-and-such a character?!’ If we are finding joy in that and think it’s a hilarious beat, certainly we hope the fans will as well.
What’s next?
My favourite thing to do as a writer is develop and create worlds. I love showrunning. It’s an important way for you to realize that vision and to work with all of these wonderful teammates and partners to bring it to life. It’s also your entire life and my brain, once I think a show is kind of settling in, I just start hearing the voices again. I don’t know where the next one will take me. I don’t know if I’ll even be interested in trying to sell it, or stay with Killjoys or be exhausted or what. I do know that it has started and I suspect it’s still going to be genre. I’m wondering if it might actually be more horror because those are the visions that are popping into my head.
Melissa O’Neil has the same questions for Dark Matter creators Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie as fans do. Who was the old man Alexander Rook (Wil Wheaton) was talking to? How will the Raza crew react to Six’s betrayal? What is Two’s back story? O’Neil has her fingers crossed she—and we—get some closure on those queries along with the original conundrum: who erased One (Marc Bendavid), Two (O’Neil), Three (Anthony Lemke), Four (Alex Mallari Jr.) and Five’s (Joelle Ferland) minds in the first place?
In our exclusive chat with O’Neil from the show’s set earlier this year, she spoke about Dark Matter‘s fans and Two’s Season 2 journey.
Visiting the set is surreal. The ship’s hallways are spectacular.
Melissa O’Neil: I know. [Production designer] Ian Brock did an amazing job on our sets. Wait until you see the design of the galactic prison. That was stunning and so streamlined. When we walked in we were blown away. It’s glossy and sexy.
The last time we spoke was before Dark Matter debuted for Season 1. Were you surprised by how quickly the fans embraced the show?
I think it’s the habit of the theatre performer to do your research and put in your work … and the rest of it is kind of out of your hands. You can’t really think about how people will receive it because you’ll just drive yourself crazy. What really surprised me with regard to the fans if that I love how interactive they are. I’d love to amp that up a bit this year with some of these new apps.
When we went to San Diego and they told us what conference room we were in I thought, ‘Who are they kidding? Who is even going to come?’ And when we walked out on stage, the room was filled. I don’t think I have much perspective on what I’m a part of yet. I keep drawing parallels to theatre, but when you’re up on stage you can see the audience in the seats. For people to tell us how many viewers we get every week in Canada or around the world, I still can’t really wrap my head around that. I guess the only real, tangible way to understand it is through my phone and the people who reach out.
The sexualized element to Two isn’t found in the way she interacts with other people in a sexually explicit way; it’s an undertone of femininity that’s already there
Two had a fantastic journey in Season 1. Cliffhangers every episode, the nanite technology, Will Wheaton as Alexander Rook, the old man…
The old man was creepy, huh?
What can you tell me about Two’s Season 2 adventure?
So far, we’ve found out that Two isn’t exactly human … but if you cut her open she looks like a human on the inside. But she can regenerate and heal a lot faster. Even though we’re up to Episode 205, we really haven’t touched on that. Where we’re going with her is still a mystery to me and I keep trying to corner Joe and Paul and find out. They think it’s better for me, as an actor, to be a little bit in the dark about who she is.
We’re also dealing with Six’s betrayal. I’m really the only one that sees him in that last moment. I wake up and have that knowledge that Six was the spy.
Will Two reveal what she saw?
That remains to be seen, but I think she still has questions about who she is and who the hell Rook was and what is Dwarf Star Technologies. She really didn’t get many answers last year. She felt she needed to escape from that place and apparently kill everyone in her path to do that. I remember something about the old man asking how old the body is…
I suspect the body he was in wasn’t his original body…
Yes … that’s not the first go-round, and this is happening in the same facility as the nanites. Who the hell knows what’s going on?! The other thing that hasn’t really been answered is who these people were before the wipe.
I love how the cast have as many questions as the viewers do.
It’s true. We’re just as much in the dark as everyone.
Talk about Two’s physicality.
In a lot of science fiction shows, a woman in this role would have a very sexualized element to her. And, not that there isn’t one, but the sexualized element to Two isn’t found in the way she interacts with other people in a sexually explicit way; it’s an undertone of femininity that’s already there in her diplomacy, in the way she fights, in her body language. I dig that about her and I know it’s designed by the guys. Being sexy isn’t a defining characteristic in her.
As Thom Allison says, you never know how fans will react to a character until a TV series airs. After a season of Killjoys under his belt, Allison’s Pree is a bona fide smash with viewers. The wise-cracking, eye-rolling owner of Old Town bar The Royale made an impact the minute Dutch (Hannah John-Kamen), Johnny (Aaron Ashmore) and D’Avin (Luke Macfarlane) walked into his establishment, a pretty big feat considering the trio are the main focus of the show.
Now, with Season 2 of Killjoys returning on July 1, creator Michelle Lovretta has given Pree admirers an early Christmas gift: Pree is front and centre in Episode 1, helping Johnny, Dutch and Lucy find D’Avin and break him out of Red 17 on Arkyn. Along the way, we discover a little bit of Pree’s backstory (including some giggle-inducing aliases) and that he can hold his own when bullets start flying.
We sat down with Allison during a break in production on Season 2 to talk all things Pree.
The fans have really responded to Pree.
Thom Allison: He’s been a hoot to play.
How did you get the role? Walk me through the process.
The casting director called my agent and said, ‘I have a part for Thom.’ I went in to read and we had a great time, and they said, ‘Come back next week.’ I came back the next week … and that was it. It went really quickly, which can be rare. And it was just me going with the script. It was so crazy, zany and fun, but smart and sassy. I went to town and played around.
Played the right way, Pree can inject humour and attitude into a scene Played the wrong way and he’s a clown. Exactly. You have to care about him, and the key to that is Pree cares about [Dutch, Johnny and D’Avin]. That was where it landed for me. He’s like the older brother that says, ‘Fuck off, kid. Here’s a quarter.’ He’ll tell you when you’re being ridiculous, but he also loves you and wants you to be OK. Also, living in Westerley and owning a bar … he has an edge.
In every script so far, there has been something in it to make me excited for the fans. I was telling someone the other day, ‘The fans are going to shit their pants!’
How does the bombing of Westerley affect Pree going into Season 2?
We end up with a lot of fun opportunities. Clearly, he’s industrious and he’s also clever. It becomes, ‘What does he do now? Does he find his way back there? Is the bar still there?’ What I keep thinking, and it gets me excited to think about, is what does Pree become? And, along with that, what do we find out about Pree? What brought him there? I know some of the fans have speculated that he becomes a RAC agent. [Laughs.] I’m excited to find out about his past, and how that informs where Michelle goes with it in Season 2.
Have you come up with a backstory on your own? And is having a backstory in your mind help you play a character?
Certainly, yes. I have things in my head and little secret bits that I imagine. Because he’s so fancy, I picture him coming from some kind of money or wanted it enough that he owns this bar on this crazy planet. He was smart enough to know where to go to make money off people who need to drink. [Laughs.] But it’s a planet of pretty dark things … so there is a strength of character in that.
What I love about Michelle’s world is it’s not about the flamboyant idea that he’s a gay character. In her world we’ve already gotten past that. It’s not about that he had to fight against homophobia, which means we get an obvious thing out of the way and I love that. We get to play around and explore things that aren’t obvious. Obvious is boring in 10 seconds. Our fabulous costume designer, Trysha Bakker, said early on that she picture Pree as this flower—a bird of paradise—in a pile of shit. And that was one of my earliest indications as to where I could go with this character. Something that’s shiny in dark places.
What has the fan input been like?
I’ve never done sci-fi before, and the fans are so devoted. That’s amazing to me. They think through the story with you. They have their hopes and dreams and they share all of that online; they let you know when it feels inauthentic.
At the time we’re recording this, you’ve seen four scripts. What are your thoughts on them?
There is some good shit. I admit, there were moments when I made sounds. There are some little story plot lines and details that have been put in that make me smile because they are so smart. In every script so far, there has been something in it to make me excited for the fans. I was telling someone the other day, ‘The fans are going to shit their pants!’
Canada Day can’t come fast enough for us. Why? It’s the day Season 2 of Killjoys (and Dark Matter) lands on Space, ending a waiting period that’s felt, well, like an eternity.
As we prepare for next Friday’s premiere, we dug up a handful of gorgeous gallery and Episode 1 images courtesy of Space, along with the following synopsis:
“Dutch and Johnny risk everything to help find and rescue D’avin including going under cover in an outlaw-only barter town called Eulogy to hunt for specialized tech that will help them breach Arkyn’s defense shield. Meanwhile, in Akron’s secret Red 17 base, D’avin is the subject of a procedure involving a mysterious green plasma.”
Enjoy the images and let us know what you think of them!
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Killjoys returns for Season 2 on Friday, July 1, at 9 p.m. ET on Space.
