Sanctuary star on season two and Michael Shanks

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Sanctuary star on season two and Michael Shanks

Who says there's no rest for the wicked? As the homicidal John Druitt in Syfy's original series Sanctuary, Christopher Heyerdahl has gleefully tormented Helen Magnus (Amanda Tapping); her daughter, Ashley (Emilie Ullerup); and Will Zimmerman (Robin Dunne). But today, he's taking a well-deserved break.
Having already enjoyed a morning swim, the ever-friendly Vancouver, Canada, native is all refreshed and in the mood to preview the second season of Syfy's breakout hit. (Possible spoilers ahead!)

"Right now, we are shooting episode nine, so we're almost at the end of the season," Heyerdahl said in an exclusive interview. "This episode is called 'Penance,' or at least that's what it's called now. Basically, we have a special guest star, who is Michael Shanks. He's playing a wonderful departure from what we're used to seeing him. The two characters that spend most of their time together are Michael's character, Jimmy, and Kate Freelander [played by new cast member Agam Darshi]. They end up together and discover they share a similar past. They're a couple of streetwise wanderers who find their lives have a very surprising similarity. It's a pretty cool episode because it's a mystery search story, as well as those two characters getting together to fight for their lives."

Sanctuary follows the adventures of the beautiful, enigmatic and always surprising Dr. Helen Magnus, a brilliant scientist who holds the secrets of a clandestine population, a group of strange and sometimes terrifying beings that hide among humans. Along with forensic psychiatrist Dr. Will Zimmerman, they seek to protect these threatened phenomena as well as unlock the mysteries behind their existence.

Heyerdahl's Druitt has no interaction with Shanks' Jimmy, but he will figure heavily in the rest of the season. "From Druitt's point of view, he is doing his very best to play the team game," Heyerdahl said. "His abilities are going to come into play greatly with the battle against the Cabal. They are also going to be used against him. How playing the team game influences his next move. And let's just say he goes rogue."

On more than one occasion, Druitt has pitched in to help Magnus, and apparently that uneasy alliance only becomes more strained over time. "It just gets worse," Heyerdahl says. "Druitt's definitely a lone wolf. Working together with the establishment is always hard, so more conflict comes into play. In season two, nobody is safe. Every time someone feels they are on solid ground, the carpet is just pulled out from under them. His conflict with the gang is cranked up another level."

As in season one, what will draw Druitt back to the Sanctuary is his spitfire child, Ashley. "We definitely see some father/daughter conflict," Heyerdahl says. "There's a certain amount of bonding that goes on, because we're definitely going to see a bit of Ashley's dark side. I think that Druitt has to come to grips with his own dark side, the sins of the father, and how that reflects on his own daughter. The script I'm reading right now is very Druitt-centric. We did a major peek through the looking glass into his history and how and why he has become what he has become. It's big stuff."

If Druitt's time-and-space-warping abilities have caused his mental instability and murderous impulses, why not simply stop using them or search for a cure? "Well, that's a very good question," Heyerdahl says with a smile. "The best way I can describe it is that things are not always what they seem. Their idea of why and how Druitt's insanity has come about will become very clear in that episode, and things are not what we thought they were."

Sanctuary returns in the fall.

sci-fi wire...

No comments:

Post a Comment

Enjoy The Prologue From My Upcoming Book.. "Strolok"............by R.Goldberg

"WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOUR RACE WAS TARGETED FOR EXTINCTION?"

The Sun is a powerful force in our Universe. It brings us light, warmth and a promise of a galaxy beyond the stars. Often we associate massive flashes of light with the reflection of our Sun's light bouncing off of another surface.

This is not always the case though, especially if you believe that we are truly not alone in the Universe. When we witness things that we can't readily explain we sometimes turn our heads and shrug our shoulders in a display of apathy.

A display such as this occurred on Friday January 29, 1982 at the Crater Lake National Park just outside of Chemult, Oregon. The snow had been falling steadily for a period of four days. The winds had been whisking about at 40 miles per hour.
Then there was one of those unnatural flashes of light. This created an eerie silence as a lanky boy, just nine years old, seemed to appear from out of that flash. If he had walked to this point there would have been a distinct trail in the newly fallen snow.
There was no trail and as a matter of fact the only tracks in the snow were the ones that outlined his feet where he was standing.

He began to trudge through the snow wearing what could only be described as dark brown long johns. He seemed dazed yet, at the same time, very clear about the direction that he was travelling. This boy with no identity or name seemed to be on a mission that would take him to places he had never been before.
His main goal was to reach Chemult, Oregon and he had no intention of stopping until he accomplished this. As strange as it seems the extreme cold seemed to have little or no effect on him at all.

Why Chemult? What was so special about this town located at an elevation of 4,758 feet above sea level in a frozen winter wilderness in Oregon?

The town of Chemult was first opened to the local traffic in 1926 and here in 1982, with its population of only 241, offered little in the way of comfort for a nine year old boy who was all alone. This journey, although prompted by something deep inside of him, did not provide a feeling of comfort and yet he had hoped that he would at least experience a feeling of accomplishment once he reached the town.

The wind was getting stronger and he noticed a small piece of yellow paper tattered and torn from whipping about in the snow. He only stopped long enough to
pick up this paper..........it read:

.....With the winter season here there was a lot of fun to have. Travelling miles of open trails on snow mobiles skiing or simply hiking, but there are dangers of doing so. Please remember safety first. Do not travel alone and be sure someone knows where you are and where you are going before travelling our trails, and please read the safety rules and codes of ethics before hiking the trails...

Nightfall was near and he had already walked 38 of the 40 miles needed to reach Chemult. He was just off of Route 97 when he spotted an old barn just about 200 feet NE of his present location. Making his way to the barn he went in and found it to be totally deserted, it was a perfect place to rest for the night.

Morning had arrived and once awake the boy started to look around the barn in the daylight light to see if there was anything that was lying in the barn that he could use to assist him on his trek.

Over in the far corner of the barn he found an old metal locked box that had long been forgotten. It was all rusted out and the key was nowhere to be found. After several failed attempts to open the box the young boy closed his eyes, sat back on his tired limbs and placed the palm of his right hand on top of the box. All of a sudden a dull red glow appeared from his right palm and the box lid flew open. Strangely enough once the red glow disappeared all that remained was a faint thin black outline where the outside of the red mark had appeared on his palm. Inside of the box he found several items all of which were unfamiliar to him and it was obvious that they had been there
for a very long time.

The contents included a tattered passport with the picture missing, a pocket knife, a compass, an antique pocket watch with a broken crystal, a time-worn souvenir porcelain coffee mug with the words; "Atlanta, Georgia, The Peach State, A Perfect Place to Live", on it and a frayed map of the Metro Atlanta Area It was difficult to make out the name on the passport but with a couple of light brushes with his fingers he saw the name Jason Tredmore. This is now who this boy would become.

Sci-Fi Blast

Thursday, July 16, 2009