BLAST: I think it was mentioned in the panel about how each of these characters is at some point both the hero and the villain. Have you already seen that in the episodes you’ve done?
Levesque: I think all of us have it in us to be both the villain and the good guy.
Huffman: I was asked that question yesterday and they were like, what do you mean? I think what he (Robert) meant by it was that, we’re human.
Levesque: We’re flawed and we make mistakes.
Huffman: And we’re in extreme circumstances. And there have been moments where there’s a bit of a divide. And there’s an episode called “Divided.” There is a big divide and there’s a reconciliation where we’re like, wait a minute, we’re in this together. It’s a relationship, it’s a family.
Levesque: Fundamentally we’re all the same. yeah we come from different backgrounds, different walks of like. When you break it down we all want the same thing: love, survival. Human connection is what we thrive on.
BLAST: How do your characters meet?
Levesque: I think for the most part in the beginning, all the characters except for maybe the military, pretty much are all meeting for the first time. I know Chloe doesn’t know anybody. This is the first time for her, obviously the only person she knows is her father. That situation changes.
Huffman: Oh yes it does! (laughs)
BLAST: Clearly I’m missing something.
Levesque: Can’t give too much away! But she’s so much a fish out of water, so out of her element. She comes from a completely different lifestyle than all the other poeple on board that ship. She’s the daughter and aide of a US senator, she’s kind of had a silver spoon upbringing, the best schools the best of that. She’s not regimented the way that a military person would be. I don’t think she’s seen a lot of hardship in her life whereas certain other characters have had their share of battles and demons when they come to this point where they all join together, so much has happened in their lives. I think in a lot of ways Chloe is very new to the world. I’m not saying that she is immature or naive, but I think she comes to it with a much fresher perspective. I don’t know.
BLAST: A common theme with survival stories is that everyone has to assume a role you’re not accustomed to. Is that the case with all of you?
Huffman: I am a medic in the military, … and therefore I’m responsible for everyone’s health and well-being. And Tamara’s green, you know, she really doesn’t know what she’s doing and she’s very limited in her resources. I am at one point asked to take on psych evaluations and the Colonel orders this and I’m like, “I don’t know what I’m doing!” The other civilians are asked to grow food, to figure something out there. We’re all asked to pitch in. There is no currency. Nothing really is worth anything more on the ship. Our currency is becoming food and the little things we take for granted.
BLAST: Well I’ve heard this show described as “LOST” meets “Battlestar Galactica.”
Levesque: I’m flattered to be compared!
BLAST: Yeah, no two better shows to be compared to. Are you fans of those shows?
Huffman: I’m a mom. I don’t even get to watch Oprah!
Levesque: I’ve seen the first season of LOST and I actually just started watching “Battlestar” for the first time.
BLAST: We’re so excited for you.
Levesque: I just started watching it and I was like, this is so sexy! It is so well shot and my roommate came in and science fiction is not her thing. She saw Tricia Helfer and she said, I like this show!
BLAST: Well at Comic-Con it’s really about people just being so passionate about something. Is there something for you that helps you to relate to that kind of passion from fans?
Huffman: True Blood.
Levesque: I’m a huge True Blood fan. I just saw Anna Paquin and I shook her hand.
Huffman: You did?!
Levesque: I wanted to go up to them and I wanted to get them to sign — there were these swag bags with the True Blood first season DVD set in there — and I desperately wanted to go up to them and have them sign, and when I said that our publicist looked at me and said, “That’s lame.”
Huffman: Ming would have done it!
(Ming-Na, the other female star, carried a camera into the panel documenting everything — according to Huffman she is a “Sci-fi fanatic”)
BLAST: That’s exactly the kind of thing that fans want to hear!
Huffman: I think in general we ask actors try and walk around be like, “Oh, we’re not impressed.” But ultimately it’s like, (gasps) and it’s so exciting.
Levesque: I saw Robert Pattinson in a coffee shop in Vancouver and lost my mind.
Huffman: Ultimately, we are all fans. Something’s gotta inspire you to be an actor. Maybe there is a population of actors that grow up and go, oh I just want ot be famous.
Levesque: Maybe?
Huffman: I think for the most part it’s about the work and it’s about the process. And for us, that requires us being inspired. And yeah you see that here.
Levesque: I’m inspired by life, man. For me that’s why I wanted to become an actor, I find people fascinating. That’s why this is amazing. Just to be a voyeur, to watch it all happening, it’s amazing.
BLAST: One of the things I keep hearing around is this notion of “Geek chic” becoming trendy, things like going to Comic-Con becoming cool. What do you think about that? Do you see that?
Huffman: Everyone says that, like the week before I got here they were like, “Are you ready for the geekery?” It’s almost like it’s supposed to be an insult, but it’s not. I think this is sort of like the Super Bowl for this fan base. It’s the Grammys. It’s the ultimate experience for the fan. And I think it’s great. I think it’s a celebration of how powerful the genre is. One of my favorite things about this genre is the fact that it’s fantasy. We can be political, we can be spiritual, we can step outside and there are no boundaries. It’s really limitless. I think that’s wonderful and I think it’s inspiring a whole generation of people.
The big pitch point around our show, SGU, is that’s it’s the more character-driven of the franchise and that’s because we’re able to explore emotions, and feeling, and relationships, and again there’s still aliens. There’s still the big epic thing that happens every week, the problem, the dilemma that we’ve gotta solve. But really ultimately it’s about how we deal with it, and how our characters develop.
Look for “Stargate Universe” airing on SyFy in October.
Great interview. I look forwarding getting to know these actors and their characters.