Tatiana Maslany is back at work playing multiple unforgettable characters on BBC America’s Orphan Black season four. The network announced filming is now underway on the upcoming season which will consist of ten 60-minute episodes. Filming will take place through March 2016 and the fourth season is expected to premiere next spring.
For those keeping track, Maslany played seven clones in season three. Over the course of the series, she’s played 13 different clones.
“Orphan Black has touched a remarkable chord with fans the world over and continues to delve into provocative subject matter with a sure and entertaining touch,” said Sarah Barnett, President and General Manager, BBC AMERICA. “Tatiana’s performance is quite frankly phenomenal, proving quite convincingly, there is nothing else like Orphan Black on television, and no one like Tatiana Maslany.”
“The cast and crew of Orphan Black are thrilled to start work on season four of our critically-acclaimed series,” said David Fortier and Ivan Schneeberg, executive producers of Orphan Black and co-presidents of Temple Street Productions. “The show continues to engage more fans from around the world with our gripping storyline led by the stellar Tatiana Maslany.”
Also returning for the fourth season are Jordan Gavaris as Felix, Maria Doyle Kennedy as Mrs. S, Kristian Bruun as Donnie, Kevin Hanchard as Art, Skyler Wexler as Kira, Ari Millen, and Josh Vokey as Scott. James Frain will also be reprising his role as Ferdinand, Allison Steadman is back as Kendall Malone, and Rosemary Dunsmore returns as Susan Duncan. New to the cast is Joel Thomas Hynes as Dizzy, “an edgy, self-reliant hacker who doesn’t conform to group mentality.”
Graeme Manson and John Fawcett created the series, with Manson writing and Fawcett directing.
The Plot:
The explosive third season plunged the clone sisterhood into dangerous territory where they faced the threat of extermination by forces old and new. Banding together, they defeated their most formidable foes – male clones who also happened to be their blood brothers. But while it appears their tactics and allegiances have left them all clear to move forward, the past will reappear to haunt their future.
Award-winning Maslany wowed audiences in season three, playing seven recurring characters including British street-wise chameleon Sarah, suburban drug-dealer and soccer mom Alison, love-struck scientist Cosima, Ukrainian wildcard Helena, disfigured professional Rachel, ghost Beth Childs – the detective who committed suicide at the inception of the series – and the newly introduced Krystal, a ditzy aesthetician trying her best to piece together the puzzle of her life.
Season four of the drama will see leader-of-the-pack, Sarah, reluctantly return home from her Icelandic hideout to track down an elusive and mysterious ally tied to the clone who started it all – Beth Childs. Sarah will follow Beth’s footsteps into a dangerous relationship with a potent new enemy, heading in a horrifying new direction. Under constant pressure to protect the sisterhood and keep everyone safe, Sarah’s old habits begin to resurface. As the close-knit sisters are pulled in disparate directions, Sarah finds herself estranged from the loving relationships that changed her for the better.
Matthew Macfadyen and Timothy Spall star in ‘The Enfield Haunting’ on A&E (Photo by Sky UK Limited 2015)
The supernatural miniseries The Enfield Haunting will kick off its three night premiere on October 9, 2015 at 10pm ET/PT. The miniseries is based on a real events and was directed by The Killing‘s Kristoffer Nyholm from a script by Sweeney Todd‘s Joshua St. Johnston, who adapted This House is Haunted by Guy Lyon Playfair for the three-part miniseries. The book and miniseries focus on the “most documented account of poltergeist activity in British history.”
The cast of The Enfield Haunting is led by Timothy Spall, Juliet Stevenson, and Matthew Macfadyen, and features Elliot Kerley, Eleanor Worthington-Cox, Rosie Cavaliero, and Fern Deacon. Adrian Sturges, Jamie Campbell, Joel Wilson, and Cameron Roach executive produce.
The Plot: BAFTA winner Matthew Macfadyen portrays Guy Lyon Playfair, an experienced investigator who approaches the case with skepticism. Following a personal tragedy, Maurice (Spall) is drawn to the house in Enfield after disturbing reports of a desperate family terrorized by malevolent unseen forces. Working together to get to the heart of the supernatural happenings, Maurice and Guy find that they cannot save the tortured family without first coming to terms with their own demons.
Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson will be reprising their roles as demonologists Lorraine and Ed Warren in The Conjuring 2 directed by James Wan (The Conjuring, Furious 7). New Line Cinema announced filming is officially underway on the horror sequel which will focus on another supernatural case the Warrens investigated.
The cast of The Conjuring 2 also includes Frances O’Connor as a single mom. Madison Wolfe, Lauren Esposito, Patrick McAuley, and Benjamin Haigh are playing her children. Orphan Black‘s Maria Doyle Kennedy, Simon Delaney, Franka Potente, and Simon McBurney are also set to star in the sequel. The original film scored the largest box office opening weekend on record for a horror film. Only The Exorcist earned more than The Conjuring rang up during its $319 million theatrical run.
Wan co-wrote the script with Carey & Chad Hayes, and David Leslie Johnson. Wan’s also producing the film along with Rob Cowan and Peter Safran. New Line’s aiming for a June 10, 2016 release.
The Plot:
“Reprising their roles, Oscar nominee Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, star as Lorraine and Ed Warren, who, in one of their most terrifying paranormal investigations, travel to north London to help a single mother raising four children alone in a house plagued by malicious spirits.”
Krysten Ritter stars in ‘Jessica Jones’ (Photo Credit: Netflix)
Krysten Ritter has the same reaction I do when ‘Lovin’ You’ by Minnie Ripperton comes on the radio: stop it as soon as possible by any means necessary. The new teaser trailer for Marvel’s Jessica Jones shows Ritter as Jessica Jones asleep in bed after what appears to be a night of partying. The song wakes her up at 3pm when the alarm clicks on, and Jessica’s reaction is to crush the radio.
Netflix hasn’t shown much actual footage from the upcoming series, but as the premiere date approaches it’s safe to assume we’ll see real clips arrive online from the comic book-inspired show. Marvel’s Jessica Jones will be available on Netflix on November 20, 2015 and in addition to Ritter, the cast features Mike Colter (Luke Cage), David Tennant (Gilgrave), Carrie-Anne Moss (Harper), and Rachael Taylor (Trish Walker).
Lennie James as Morgan Jones, Ethan Embry as Carter, and Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes in ‘The Walking Dead’ season 6, episode 1 (Photo by Gene Page / AMC)
AMC’s set to premiere season six of The Walking Dead on October 11, 2015 and in support of the return of the zombie series the network’s released a new trailer along with a sneak peek video. The new behind-the-scenes video features interviews with cast members including Andrew Lincoln and Norman Reedus who provide insight into what Walking Dead fans can expect from the new season.
Lincoln promises every episode plays out like a season finale, and executive producer Greg Nicotero says that the idyllic life is “gone” for those who reside in Alexandria because Rick Grimes and his group brought the reality of life outside the town’s walls inside with them.
Returning cast members for season six also include Melissa McBride, Danai Gurira, Chandler Riggs, Lauren Cohan, Steven Yeun, Sonequa Martin-Green, Michael Cudlitz, and Lennie James.
Moviegoers checked in to Sony Animation’s Hotel Transylvania 2 in record numbers, catapulting the animated comedy sequel to a first place finish at the box office. Hotel Transylvania 2 also earned the top spot in the record books for the highest opening weekend in September with $47.5 million in ticket sales. The number two spot went to Warner Bros’ comedy The Intern starring Anne Hathaway and Robert De Niro, which actually did slightly better than expected, pulling in an audience dominated by women to the tune of $18.2 million.
Jennifer Morrison and Robert Carlyle in ‘Once Upon a Time’ season five (Photo by Jack Rowand / ABC)
ABC’s hit fantasy series Once Upon a Time returned for a fifth season on September 27, 2015 with an episode that found our Storybrooke heroes, and a sprinkling of former and current villains, prepared to help Emma Swan fight off the darkness. “The Dark Swan” launched a new chapter of Once Upon a Time as it set up the potential for Emma’s complete transition into the Dark Swan, making this season’s first episode one of the best season openers of Once Upon a Time’s five seasons.
If you haven’t watched the episode, read no further unless you love spoilers. This is a recap and review, so all the episode details are about to be discussed.
“The Dark Swan” opens in Minneapolis in 1989 with a young Emma at the theater about to watch The Sword in the Stone. About to rip into a stolen candy car, an usher calls her by name and tells her not to do it. “When you do something you’re not supposed to do, even if you do it for the right reasons, bad things will happen, Emma. Bad things,” says the usher. She doesn’t understand, but he goes on to tell her that one day she’ll have the opportunity to remove Excalibur from the stone, but she must not do it.
Arthur (Liam Garrigan), Lancelot (Sinqua Wells), and Percival (Andrew Jenkins) ride through the hills to the location of Merlin’s prophecy. Sir Kay (Lee Majdoub) has beat them to Excalibur, and although Arthur warns him not to, Sir Kay attempts to pull it from the stone. He should have listened because as he pulls on the sword, he turns to dust and disappears.
Next up is Arthur who doesn’t hesitate, grips the sword, and removes all but the end of Excalibur from the stone. They have no idea why the sword is broken but decide not to tell the people anything other than that they have a new King. A quest begins for the missing half of the sword…and the other half is shown as the Dark One’s dagger with Emma Stone’s name now on it.
Regina (Lana Parrilla), Mary Margaret (Ginnifer Goodwin), David (Josh Dallas), Robin (Sean Maguire), Hook (Colin O’Donoghue), and Henry (Jared Gilmore) stand in the middle of the street, with Regina calling Emma stupid for recklessly saving her life. Mary Margaret and David defend Emma (Jennifer Morrison) and say she’s still good, and Regina hopes that’s true.
“It’s not like she rode off on a unicorn! She rode off on a vortex of evil!” says Regina, never one to mince words. Hook (who is looking even more handsome this season) picks up the dagger, tries to command Emma to return, and doesn’t understand why it doesn’t work. Regina, not so gently, explains why it didn’t. “Put that down before you hurt yourself, guyliner. I thought you knew the dagger’s rules,” says Regina. Emma is not in this world and, therefore, can’t be summoned.
Meanwhile, the portal opens and pops Emma into the Enchanted Forest. Rumple (Robert Carlyle) appears and Emma’s shocked to see him because he’s supposed to be in Storybrooke in a coma. Rumple says Gold still is and that he himself is many things, including the Dark One’s powers inside all of the Dark Ones. Rumple will be Emma’s guide as she becomes dark. She says she’ll never turn to the dark and he says the only way to stop it from happening is if she’s stopped permanently. Emma is done with this nonsense and wants to go see Merlin because he can destroy the darkness.
Hook and the gang go visit the Apprentice who tells them Emma is now where all darkness is born. He can’t take them there, but a special wand from the Sorcerer, from Merlin, could help them get to Emma. It has all the light magic but needs to be wielded by both light and dark. Regina picks it up and nothing happens. She’s no longer dark enough.
Hook tells her to stop waving it around, saying, “Enough. You’re going to embarrass yourself and waste our time.” Regina and Hook argue, and Hook tells her she’s done too much good. They need Zelena’s help because she’s still evil. Regina doesn’t want to turn to her sister, but Hook reminds her she owes it to Emma to return the favor and save her.
Emma gets her first taste of darkness by threatening a villager without realizing she’s doing it.
Belle (Emilie de Ravin) doesn’t want to leave Gold’s side in case he dies, so the Blue Fairy (Keegan Connor Tracy) puts a rose under glass. It’s linked to Belle’s Beast; if he goes, she’ll know. Off Belle goes to help the gang find Emma.
Zelena (Rebecca Mader) is meditating when Regina, Robin, and Hook show up and ask for her help. Zelena’s absolutely giddy over the fact they need her.
Rumple follows Emma through the forest, pointing out she’s lost. To find Merlin, she only needs to ask. There’s a magical force that can lead her where she wants to go; all she has to do is picture where she wants to go. She’s pissed he tricked her into doing magic to transport her to where a Will-o’-the-Wisp is floating around trees. He tells her to catch it.
Zelena hears them out, and then she and Robin exchange unpleasantries about whose responsibility the baby she’s carrying is until Regina threatens to rip out her tongue. Hook plays peacekeeper and Zelena agrees to help out, telling them they need something of Emma’s. Regina thanks her for that info but says she’ll never remove Zelena’s bracelet that keeps her from doing magic. After Regina leaves, Zelena tells Hook she may be the only way for him to find Emma.
Amy Manson as Merida (Photo by Jack Rowand / ABC)
Emma and Merida (Amy Manson) both race to get the wisp, with Merida calling Emma a witch. Merida needs the wisp for her people and says she’ll fight Emma for it. Emma won’t fight her, so Merida says she’ll let Emma use the wisp after she’s done with it. They head off together.
Hook goes to Henry and tells him to use the pen to write the darkness out of Emma. Henry can’t – he broke it. Henry won’t break the rules of the book because his mother wants him to be honorable. But, he will help Hook break Zelena out of jail.
Merida and Emma head through the woods, with Merida telling Emma she needs the wisp to get her brothers freed after they were kidnapped. Emma convinces her to rest for the night and then creeps her out by having a conversation with Rumple (who is only visible to Emma). Rumple tells Emma she can’t use the wisp because only one person can be its owner.
Henry distracts the nurse, and Hook enters Zelena’s cell. He asks her not to do anything unexpected, and in order to guarantee she doesn’t, he uses the potion Regina gave him years ago and tries to rip out Zelena’s heart. It doesn’t work because she’s protected it. She steals his knife and cuts off her hand in order to get the bracelet off. Once it’s off, she puts her hand back and disappears in a puff of green smoke.
Hook and Henry face Regina’s wrath after letting Zelena escape, with Regina asking if he’d like another hook. Mary Margaret is this session’s peacekeeper, telling them they have to put their differences aside to find Emma. Regina thinks Zelena would first go after Robin and she rushes home to tell him Zelena’s out. Regina’s frantic when she arrives home, but Robin kisses her saying he loves it when she’s concerned about him. Immediately he realizes he just kissed Zelena who says, “Well done. You really do love her, don’t you? Funny that you couldn’t tell when I was glamoured as Marion though.”
Zelena grabs Robin and meets Regina and the gang in the middle of the intersection in front of the library. Zelena wants to trade Robin for the Apprentice’s wand because she wants to go far away over the rainbow back to Oz, where they can’t get to her. Regina gives her the wand, Zelena opens the portal to Oz, and when Zelena is weakened, Regina slaps the magic-restraining bracelet back on her. Now our heroes have a way to get to Emma! They’ll take the portal to Emma, not to Oz.
Merida leaves Emma behind after overhearing her talking to herself about betraying her for the wisp. Emma uses magic to get to the hill of stones in order to beat Merida to using the wisp, but Merida beats her there.
The gang gathers at Granny’s Diner, which they’ll ride in through the portal to Emma. Using Emma’s baby blanket to locate her, they open the portal. Before it touches down, Leroy and two other dwarves arrive and demand to go with them to fetch Emma. They’re tired of being left behind and tired of never being asked to go along. The diner lifts off and up they go through the cyclone.
Rumple tells Emma she has to take Merida’s heart in order to use the wisp. Emma says she won’t as Merida fires arrow after arrow at her, which Emma easily catches. Finally, Emma’s had enough and rips out Merida’s beating heart. As she’s about to crush it, Hook and the gang arrive. Emma says crushing the heart is the only way to find Merlin, stop the darkness, and protect them. With the beating heart in her hand, Emma still listens to Rumple as Hook and her parents try to convince her she doesn’t have to be dark and Merida doesn’t have to die.
“We can find another way together. Look at us. Heroes and villains together for you because of you. If we can overcome, if we can overcome our demons, then so can you,” pleads Hook. Rumple vanishes from Emma’s mind as she thrusts Merida’s heart back into her body.
Emma apologizes to Merida, and Merida thanks her for showing her the darkness inside. Merida says she has darkness too and needs to find a way to show the people who took her brothers mercy rather than killing them. And off Merida goes, chasing the wisp.
Emma thanks her mom and dad for coming, and Mary Margaret tries to give Emma the dagger so no one else will be able to control her. Emma refuses it and wants Regina to hold onto it because she knows Regina will do what has to be done should Emma completely give herself over to the darkness. They take Emma to where Granny’s Diner landed, and out pops Granny, the dwarves, and Belle.
As Emma’s still reeling from that shocker, in rides King Arthur, Lancelot, and a group of knights. King Arthur reveals they’ve come specifically to find the time travelers, which shocks the Storybrooke crew. Arthur says Merlin prophesied their arrival a long time ago. Merlin’s been missing, but according to the prophesy, the Storybrooke people are destined to reunite him with King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.
They follow King Arthur to Camelot, with even Zelena looking a bit impressed by the castle. They go through the gates, but apparently not to a happy ending.
Flash forward six weeks later and everyone is back in Storybrooke with no idea how they got there or what they did while in Camelot. Their memories are gone. Then Emma appears but it’s obvious she’s now the Dark Swan. White hair severely back in a bun and dressed completely in black, Emma tells them they went to Camelot to get the darkness out of her and failed. She turns Sneezy to stone when he sneezes in her presence. “There’s no savior in this town anymore,” says Emma. And Regina discovers Emma is now in possession of the dagger. Emma threatens them, telling the group that because of what they did to her in Camelot, they’re about to be punished. Emma Swan is now The Dark One.
Episode one of season five did a terrific job of focusing on the key Storybrooke players as well as finally giving the dwarves something important to do. What happened during their six-week visit to Camelot will be revealed throughout the season, and it’ll be interesting to see what Zelena’s up to when they get to Camelot. She reluctantly accompanied the group in their quest to save Emma, so will she be working against the gang and pushing Emma toward the darkness? Season five kicked off with an episode that will make waiting for episode two (titled “The Price”) seem longer than just a week.
Graham Rogers, Brian J Smith, Johanna Braddy, Yasmine Al Massri, and Priyanka Chopra in ‘Quantico’ (Photo by Guy D’Alema / ABC)
ABC’s new Sunday night drama Quantico immediately introduces the dual timeline formula, with the first scene of episode one showing a woman alive amid the debris of a bombed-out building. The story then flashes back to nine months prior when that woman, who we learn is FBI recruit Alex Parrish played by former Miss World/current Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra, is on her way from Oakland to Quantico for training. We also quickly learn this gorgeous woman believes herself to be good at analyzing people, is unafraid to speak her mind, and has a healthy sex drive.
Alex Parrish meets her fellow FBI recruits and is shocked to see the handsome stranger she met on the plane and had sex with in his car is in her class at Quantico. Alex wouldn’t give him her name then (and didn’t care about his), and apparently, she’s not the hotshot personality analyst she thought she was as his appearance as a recruit in her class takes her completely by surprise.
In addition to Ryan Booth (Jake McLaughlin) who was supposed to be just a one-night stand, Alex’s fellow recruits include Simon Asher (Tate Ellington), a gay man who loves coffee and displays superior powers of observation. Shelby Wyatt (Johanna Braddy) is a pretty blonde sharpshooter who carries around a mysterious small metal object, and Nimah Anwar is a Muslim (Yasmine Al Massri) who gets a private room because of her religion and who immediately sparks the interest (non-sexual) of Simon. There’s also Caleb Haas (Graham Rogers), an extrovert with ripped abs, and Eric (Brian J Smith), Caleb’s Mormon roommate (Brian J Smith) who’s keeping a huge secret.
Teaching this class of recruits is Liam O’Connor (Josh Hopkins), an agent battling demons who’s turned to the bottle. His immediate supervisor is Miranda Shaw (Aunjanue Ellis), an ambitious agent who saved Liam’s career by re-assigning him to Quantico to teach. She sets the tone for the new class on day one by announcing, “It is not college. It is life and death.”
Quantico‘s dual timeframes – one set in the training class at Quantico, one following the bombing of Grand Central Station – serve the major plotline about a search for the terrorist who was one of the recruits in Alex’s class. The secret to not only the attack but who among her classmates is the terrorist is, for some reason, trapped in Alex’s memory, and the flashbacks are used to allow the character to recall day by day what the class did during training and what she learned about her fellow recruits. While that might sound a little contrived and like a lazy way to tell the story, the terrific cast led by Chopra pulls it off and makes it believable.
The series also seems a notch above most crime dramas in both style and effects. The quality of both is similar to what you’d see in an episode of Homeland rather than on network TV. And speaking of Homeland, if you’re still not sure what to expect of Quantico, think Homeland minus the bipolar disorder and baby storylines and with a younger, more attractive cast.
Based solely on the first episode titled “Run” and airing on September 27, 2015, the flashbacks to the Quantico training class are more entertaining than the action that takes place around the bombing in New York. That may shift as season one unspools and as we get to know each of the central characters better and become more engaged in their individual stories.
Quantico‘s whodunit story is interesting and pulls you in immediately, without giving away too much. There are sure to be multiple red herrings and with so many recruits to learn about, there’s easily enough material to fill out a full season.
Stephen Moyer as Milus Corbett in ‘The Bastard Executioner’ (Photo by Ollie Upton / FX)
Stephen Moyer is a huge fan of Kurt Sutter and Sons of Anarchy, and it was his love of that FX show that led him to taking on a role in The Bastard Executioner. Moyer and his True Blood co-star/wife Anna Paquin were at the San Diego Comic-Con for the final season of that HBO series when they posed for a selfie with Sons‘ Kim Coates and Theo Rossi. Coates and Moyer have been friends for years, and after snapping the photo Coates helped Moyer and Paquin post the picture on Twitter since they had no idea how to do it. Sutter immediately replied to Moyer’s tweet, asking them if they’d like to be on Sons.
“Anna and I are like crazy fans, stalker people and we went nuts. We were so excited, but unfortunately we couldn’t make the dates work with other stuff that we were up to. It just didn’t happen,” explained Moyer during a conference call in support of season one of FX’s The Bastard Executioner airing on Tuesday nights at 10pm ET/PT.
Sutter and Moyer continued to tweet back and forth about Sons and the two became friends, even though they’d never met in person. They kept in touch and finally set up a coffee date to meet in person. Within three days of their coffee date, Moyer was offered the part of Milus Corbett in The Bastard Executioner. “How fangirly is that?,” joked Moyer. “It’s one of those things that I’m so amazed and thrilled by that crazy turn of events.”
“Anybody that you really like, tweet them and tell them. You never know what’s going to happen,” said Moyer, laughing.
Stephen Moyer The Bastard Executioner Q&A:
Can you talk about what drew you into the project?
Stephen Moyer: “We met up, had a coffee, and he started talking about the show. He hooked me in with the story, the idea of the characters, and the mythology behind them. He let me into some of the bigger arcs within the story which were exciting – which I’m not going to tell any of you today. He said, ‘Look, go away, read it, and get back to me.’ He didn’t tell me any particular part at the time. I went away and read it and there was one that jumped out at me straightaway. I knew I was too old and grey to play the executioner so Milus would be the one that interested me.
I went back to him and just said, ‘This is amazing.’ I love this world. I did a medieval project for two years, and this was my period. That was also kind of a hook for me, because I already knew quite a lot about it. […]I just loved the idea of this character who is hanging onto his best friend’s bootstraps and getting himself into a position that otherwise he would never have been.”
There is more to Milus than just a villain character. Can you discuss the additional layers to the character?
Stephen Moyer: “I don’t see him as a villain. I see him as someone who’s trying to push himself forward and taking an opportunity where he sees it. We talked about the idea of somebody who…and, again, this was all sort of back and forth between me and Kurt, the ideas that he had and truthfully the whole backstory that I wrote for myself which truthfully was my own stuff […]which was for me to have a sort of rich past to draw on just for myself.
It’s funny. Denis O’Hare and I had become dear friends when we were doing True Blood. He wrote a 3,000 word backstory for his 3,000-year-old character, some of which was like you will never see any of this. And Alan [Ball] was like, ‘Oh my god, this is like a 10-year series just on Denis’ character.’ But, I was so taken with the idea of how far Denis went that in my head I had to sort of catch him.
Again, there are some elements that have crossed over which I’m not going to give away. I think we’ll see some of that. Kurt and I talked about it and he’s going some ideas. You will see and I will see just how much cross over there is in that.
But suffice it to say that is from a very, very poor upbringing. He’s found himself in a position where he’s the chamberlain of the court because his best friend was a warrior who was much-loved by Edward I. His best friend becomes the lord of the shire that gets created for him by Edward I as a gift for what he does in battle. And his best friend who was in command of the troops – my character – becomes the chamberlain. Now that the earl is gone, it’s up to Milus to work out where he goes from there.”
Are you still filming?
Stephen Moyer: “We are just in the middle of completing episode eight. Honestly, I’m sort of blown away by Kurt, truthfully I loved what he set up in the pilot. We all know how hard pilots are, to introduce characters and to introduce new worlds, and ideas, time, and place. And then the story and the backstory all in one hit, and then to keep to your audience. But the episodes that have come in from episode three onward are just extraordinary. I’m really excited. It just keeps getting richer and richer. I’m really excited for people to see it.”
What are the challenges of filming in Wales as opposed to Louisiana where True Blood was filmed? Is it much different?
Stephen Moyer: “My mom came on the set recently; she was on the set last week in fact and she was always blown away when she’d come to the True Blood lot and she saw it. We obviously did location stuff, but we shot the interiors in LA in studios. My favorite set of all time I think will always be Merlotte’s because it was a real working bar including the kitchen. I never thought it would be bested, but my mom was out last week and she was like, ‘I can not believe the detail!’
Our set designer’s father was the set designer for Lawrence of Arabia so he comes from very good stock. It’s extraordinary. We’ve got four studios and an entire village and castle were built for us, and we do stuff on the road as well. We’ve set up a complete world.
My family are with me. I flew the dogs over from LA and they’re with me as well. Truthfully, it’s not hard at all. The dogs come to set and we annoy everybody. It’s kind of beautiful. Wales is really incredible. I’d worked there 20 years ago and forgotten how beautiful it was to be honest. But we’re having a ball, to be honest.”
Did Kurt Sutter talk to you about what he has in mind for how many seasons we might see of The Bastard Executioner?
Stephen Moyer: “Honestly I do not know the answer to that question. We have the standard television contract which is six plus one. I don’t know. Knowing what I know, just the little bit about the idea of the world and the scope of it, it has every possibility of becoming that kind of size show [like Sons of Anarchy]. I can definitely envision five.
If you look at Sons…I loved Sons and I’ve seen it twice all the way through, it’s interesting when you watch it. I wouldn’t have necessarily thought that that would carry to a seventh year, but he did it seamlessly.
What’s kind of incredible about it is we shoot it in Caerphilly Castle and we shoot in a castle called St. Donat from 1256 and 1156, and so we are shooting in the castles that our characters would have existed in. That’s kind of a beautiful idea that 800 years on later we are walking the same stone floors that our characters and historical character which you will get to see exist. We are going to be crossing over with real things that happened in history. I think that’s just fantastic.
We’re sort of loosely, roughly based in 1312 and if you did a Wikipedia check on 1312 you see hints of politics and things like that that start creeping into our story which I love that aspect of it. What I suppose I mean by that is there’s a lot of history to latch onto and therefore story-wise I don’t think we’re lacking. I have to say it just starts leaping forward because as you get to know the characters and to understand the intrigue and the backstory, it just takes on a different life.”
Can you talk about the relationship between the Baroness and Milus?
Stephen Moyer: “I think that there are a number of things going on. Flora [Spencer-Longhurst] has sort of a remarkable beauty on camera that is mesmerizing, really. Given that she’s done so much theatre, she comes straight in and just knocks it out of the park in terms of the quality of the work she’s doing on camera.
[Kurt and I] talked about this and the idea was that he came in and was given this seat. She is a Lady of Wales from a very good family who was married off to Lord Ventris, the Baron. There was absolutely no question that there would ever need to be an affiliation with myself and her. That’s important to know from the start.
So what is growing relationship-wise between them is new to them as well as the audience. She has found herself with this chamberlain who she knows comes from this thuggish background, and he’s the one who is controlling the machinations at court. She probably has some feelings about that and that Milus, ultimately, he has the shire in his best interest. When push comes to shove, hopefully, he will look after the shire first and not himself. I think she’s wary of him. I think she’s wary of what he can do and I think she knows he’s not like some sort of graceful swan on the surface with his legs kicking. I think she’s aware of that.
On another level he is impressed with her. Since the Baron’s death, he’s seen her grow and start taking on the power of being a woman in this position that she’s been thrust into. The next episode deals with an element of this which I will not spoil because it really will. Anyway, the next episode sort of touches on that and the ideas of what female power means in 1312. That leaves Milus – you know, some of the decision-making that she made – leaves Milus even more impressed by for and taken in by the brilliance of her. And yet also from the side he also sees there is something he can’t quite put his finger on but from that very moment he saw Lady Love with Wilkin in the church, there’s also a connection between them that he’s going to try and utilize as well.
It’s just like anything that he views that happens within the village and the castle and the upstairs and the servants quarters that he can use or store for later he will. And, again, we’ll see that develop between those two characters.”
Lee Jones as Wilkin Brattle and Stephen Moyer as Milus Corbett in ‘The Bastard Executioner’ (Photo by Ollie Upton / FX)
Do you think there is sexual tension between Milus and Wilkin?
Stephen Moyer: “I think that given that you have seen my character with the French servant, I think it would be fair to say that there is something there. I think that would be fair to say. Again, this will be slightly blended in a little or penciled in a little bit as we go through and learn about him. His past will become clear and will explain some of his choices and desires. I think he gets his kicks where he sees them. I don’t think he’s very discriminating. But I think he’s intrigued by people of power and people of weighted thought. I think that intrigues him as much as sheer brutality.”
Is there any sort of correlation between his sexual activity (we’ve already seen a lot of it, including with twins) and the possibility of losing his position to Wilkin?
Stephen Moyer: “That’s a good question I hadn’t thought of. I think if you go back to the pilot episode… The moment with the servant in the pilot was one of those things where it was not stipulated that they were necessarily f**king behind the pillar. There was definitely something meant to be going on behind that pillar. I asked Kurt about it because [Milus] sees him in the toilet with the Baron and he’s literally the shit wiper and I said to Kurt, ‘What is that there?’ He’s obviously taken with this boy and Kurt said, ‘He’s new to the castle and he hasn’t had him yet.’ We talked about the idea that sex being power and obviously the more you know… We all know the maxim, ‘Knowledge is power.’
Milus comes from a place where if he can have dominion over everything around him […], he will. Any way that he can glean an advantage or something to hold over them in the future, he will.”
What is Milus’ view on torture and how will that play out for the rest of the season?
Stephen Moyer: “When I read the [third] episode, I had a number of feelings. We’re telling a story of this girl and I hadn’t realized that she’d accidentally broken the nose off the statue. I thought it was in the tussle of attacking the cart and that maybe the statute had fallen out. I hadn’t realized that it was as simple as she’d just landed and knocked the nose off. It shows the innocence of her and yet centered on this belief of holding on to your land and freedom, and how important it was to the Welsh. So, that was one thing.
Then when I was reading the script I remember thinking, ‘Oh, they are going to kill her.’ So as we were getting towards that punishment I remember thinking they were going to kill her and maybe we’re going to end every single episode with a death. Maybe that’s the thing. Maybe that’s what our little trigger is going to be for the audience. And then I got to the page where they cut her nose off and thought, ‘Oh my god. That’s hideous!’
It kind of hit me that it was almost worse in a way in medieval times where we don’t have the benefit of good surgeons to keep somebody alive but with something heinous done to them like that that you would see every day and is a reminder of what we did. And the fact that Lady Love makes that decision, she’s the one who brings down that because she knows that she has to keep in the eyes of the villagers and the eyes of the town, she has to be seen to be strong and to not allow rebels to go up against the castle. She has to take a stand.
My character’s take on it is that it’s not enough. It’s interesting because I only watched it [on September 24th] and I was looking at it thinking that my character looks out on the people who are watching the be-nosing, as we’re going to call it, and he sees the crowd being slightly upset that they only got to see a nose cut off. For the townspeople, that was their theatre.”
Do you judge your character’s actions?
Stephen Moyer: “I know he’s ambitious. I know that he’s trying to save the shire. I also know that the King is not going to allow a woman to hold this position of the shire as she’s not worldly. She’s not a princess. She is from a very good family. I knew that Milus was going to have to do some stuff for himself, for her, for the shire, in order to keep his position and everybody else’s position.
From that place I obviously was well aware that I had stuff to do. There were deaths, and he would have to be the one to do it. There were conversations with Kurt where he said, ‘Everything single thing he does is thought through.’ I don’t want to spoil too much, but he is not just looking out for himself, he’s looking out for everybody but he does have a conscience deep, deep, deep within that hard shell. He has come up with a reason for doing everything that he thinks is for the good of everybody.
When Kurt told me this little bit of information I can’t divulge, it all made sense. I went back and I’m re-reading. I went deeper into every line. You read stuff and actually it’s all in there. It’s all there from the beginning; it’s just not explained yet.”
ABC’s ‘Blood & Oil’ stars Amber Valletta as Carla Briggs, Don Johnson as Hap Briggs, Chace Crawford as Billy Lefever and Rebecca Rittenhouse as Cody Lefever. (Photo by Kurt Iswarienkio / ABC via Getty Images)
Amber Valletta isn’t the only connection ABC’s new drama series Blood & Oil has to the network’s Revenge which ended its run after four seasons. Both shows are part of the oft-disparaged primetime soap opera genre and both shows feature a dysfunctional wealthy family.
Revenge had a Sunday night timeslot, and Blood & Oil is set to air on Sundays beginning on September 27, 2015 at 9pm ET/PT. Sundays have always been a popular nesting place for nighttime soaps, with Dallas leading the pack as the series all dramas of this ilk hope to live up to ratings-wise. And based solely on the series’ pilot, Blood & Oil has enough of a Dallas vibe to it that it’s possible ABC has landed on a new winning formula of big oil money, small-town intrigue, and Don Johnson.
The show recently underwent a change in showrunner that could have signaled its death before it even had a chance to catch on with viewers. Fortunately, the behind-the-scenes maneuvering doesn’t seem to have adversely affected the product on screen. Sure, Blood & Oil feels a bit ’80s-ish, but the cast – led by Johnson and Valletta and featuring Chace Crawford and Rebecca Rittenhouse – brings this deja vu-ish story to life.
Johnson, in particular, feels right at home as Hap Briggs, the patriarch of a wealthy oil family who has a strong work ethic and little tolerance for anyone who isn’t willing to work hard to earn a living. Unfortunately, Hap’s son Wick (Scott Michael Foster) doesn’t share his father’s desire to live an honorable life. Wick’s not the son Hap would have chosen, and their relationship becomes even more dysfunctional with the arrival of Billy LeFever (Crawford) and his new bride, Cody (Rittenhouse).
Billy and Cody wanted in on the oil boom in North Dakota, but their plan was derailed before they even had a chance to put it in place. Their dream of opening a coin-operated laundromat came crashing (literally) to an end, and they were forced to try and find jobs in Rock Springs, North Dakota, where they get off on the wrong foot with Wick.
Wick’s strained relationship with his father is pushed to the breaking point when he angers the local Native Americans, putting a deal Hap was attempting to work in jeopardy. As a way to teach his son the family business from the ground up, he sends Wick off to work on an oil rig. Wick also screws that up and is basically disinherited as Hap is unable to find a way to reach his incorrigible, privileged son.
Enter Billy, who it turns out is like the son Hap always wished for. He’s eager to learn the oil business, smart on his feet, and willing to do what it takes to make big bucks and take care of his friends and family.
The pilot also introduces Hap’s second wife and Wick’s stepmother, Darla (Valletta). Darla’s very business savvy and is just as adept at putting together deals as Hap. They’re a good team, something Wick’s jealous of and resentful about. Keston John and Yaani King play a Nigerian couple who help out Billy and Cody when they’re in need of a place to stay, offering food, shelter, and friendship to the handsome couple. Delroy Lindo puts in the briefest of appearances as the town sheriff, and India de Beaufort is also introduced as the owner of a bar who has her fingers in a lot of pots.
Blood & Oil isn’t nearly as titillating as Dallas, Knots Landing, or Revenge, or maybe it’s just the pilot that took a different approach to laying out the story and the series will ultimately play out along the line of its predecessors. There’s certainly a wealth of pretty people to pair up so perhaps romantic pairings, backstabbings, and other assorted tried and true primetime soap tropes will come into play in upcoming episodes.
Overall, the pilot seemed to have played it safe, and even bad boy Wick doesn’t come across as wicked as you’d expect (or want). It’s possible the tone and approach will change dramatically moving forward with a new showrunner and that Blood & Oil will feel less like a throwback and more contemporary. Given the current primetime lineup across the networks, Blood & Oil has to get grittier and develop an edge in order to survive.
