The Canadian sci-fi drama Continuum, which stars Rachel Nichols as a detective from the year 2077 who suddenly finds herself trapped in the present day, has seen success on both sides of the pond. To celebrate the premiere of season 3 on Wednesday 28 January at 10pm on Syfy, we chatted to one of the show’s stars Victor Webster (Mutant X, Charmed). In our exclusive interview Victor talks about what to expect from Season 3, what makes the show so successful and teases what could be coming up in Continuum’s fourth and final season.
Where do we find Carlos in season 3?
Carlos is in a pretty bad place. There’s a lot of things that happen at the beginning of Season 3 that throw him into a kind of tailspin and he has to deal with that throughout the season and it’s a lot to deal with. He’s processing it as best as he can and it’s not necessarily in the best interest to everyone else around.
At the end of Season 2 we saw him going to Julian’s farm. Does he continue to stay with Julian and do his feelings change toward him?
There’s a big surprise in Season 3 that will answer that question and would be a spoiler if I told you. But, the way season 2 ends and the way season 3 begins are a surprise. I’ll leave it at that.
Well, everyone loves surprises!
Yeah, it’s a mind-boggler, it’s good.
Now that new timelines have been added, the end of season 2 sees Alec go back in time. Will we get to see an alternate Carlos or are you firmly in the present day?
Oh I think that would be too much for anybody to handle. I don’t think we could do that to the fans of the show.
Carlos has developed a really close relationship with Kiera, despite the lies that she told him throughout the first series. How do you think their relationship has developed, and will we see it change through the Season 3?
We definitely see it change a lot in Season 3. It continues to develop. I won’t say which way it develops but it changes quite a bit. Their relationship at the end of Season 2 is really close and they realise the only ones they can trust is each other. Especially Kiera to Carlos, beside Alec, he’s the only one that she can tell everything to now, and that’s a very, very strong foundation for a partnership and for a friendship. So they’ve become very, very close.
And how important is your off-screen relationship with Rachel Nichols and how has it developed?
I hate her! Can’t stand her, she’s the worst! (laughs) Nah, she’s fantastic. From a work standpoint, she comes to work always prepared, ready to go. She’s got all her dialogue memorised, she’s not late to work, she’s a dream to work with. And on top of that, we get along really really well. I thought we would because we both like to joke around, we’re very lighthearted. She’s just a sweetheart. It’s a treat when you get to work with people that you genuinely enjoy, and I think that chemistry shows up on screen.
How would you describe season 3 of Continuum in 3 words?
In three words? Ho-ly Crap. And the third word can just be an E!
Or an exclamation mark?
Yes, absolutely.
Is there a specific episode or scene in Season 3 that you’re excited for UK fans to see or are particularly proud of that you could tell us about?
There are a couple actually. One of them is in the very first episode in Season 3 where something is revealed to Carlos that starts his entire journey in Season 3. It’s a scene between Kiera, Alec and myself. It’s a pretty dark scene, and it changes the course of Carlos’ life forever and for Season 3 as well. There’s another one in particular, a scene between Carlos and Kiera in a refrigerator. And I’ll have to leave that one at that!
Is it weird talking about Season 3 again? It obviously aired in North America last year.
I feel like I’m in an actual time warp, because it’s coming to you guys and it was a year ago for us. So I feel like I’m stuck in the real world of Continuum.
Are you shooting Season 4 now?
About a month away.
Do you know anything about it and where it’s going to be going.
I know zero. And that’s how we run the whole show. We don’t know anything until we get the script, open it up and read it. Unless it’s something we absolutely have to know, they don’t tell us anything. I’m on a need to know. I ask Simon (Simon Barry, executive producer of Continuum) to only tell me something that I absolutely need to know. Other than that I’ll figure it out when I read the script because I don’t want to play what’s coming that I’m not supposed to know.
Is that also because you’re a fan of the show itself ?
It’s like a little mini Christmas present, every time I open up a script and see where all the characters are going. I don’t care about only my character, I’m really interested to see where Simon takes all the characters and he’s done such a great job with everyone’s storyline.
How are you similar to Carlos and how are you different?
Carlos plays by the book; I have a tendency to bend the rules a little bit more. I think Carlos and I are both similar in that when we get a bone we don’t let go of it. We get our minds set on something and we go after it until we get it. Carlos Season 1 and I are much more similar; we have a lot more lighthearted humour and humour about himself, he doesn’t take himself too seriously. That’s something I definitely share. Season 3 Carlos is pretty dark so hopefully I never get to that place.
There’s a lot of strong television programs being produced at present, what do you think is the appeal for Continuum and what made it a success?
First of all I think it’s a really intelligent show. A lot of these shows you can turn on, and you can miss an episode and it’s like ‘Oh okay, I’ll just watch the next episode and see what happens’. You can’t do that with Continuum. You have to be involved, you have to watch for so many little Easter eggs and twists and turns and it’s so smart that you have to pay attention to the show. You can’t (laughs) cook dinner and watch it at the same time cos you’ll be completely lost. I think the acting is great, the writing is incredible, these characters are very, very well developed. You see a lot of people go through struggles and I think you get sucked into those struggles as an audience. So the writing and the acting is great, the special effects are absolutely incredible. They’re the type of special effects you’d see in a feature film. And then the action, I’m a big fan of the action on the show. Kimani Ray Smith [the stunt co-ordinator] does an incredible job of putting together the fights. And he incorporates them into the story. It’s not like ‘fight, fight, fight okay let’s get back to the acting’, it’s just acting and story within the action and it pushes the story along.
And do you do a lot of your own stunts or do you leave it to the professionals?
I do all my own fight stuff; I do everything, for sure. And Rachel does. I would say 99% of all of our own stuff, because some stuff they just won’t let you do. I mean I’m not gonna be kicked out of a window, landing on the roof of a car, they won’t let you do that. But as far as all the regular fighting and stunts and you know you see our faces doing it and I think that’s great for the audience. If you can, if you have the ability to do it, I think actors should. And a lot of actors don’t want to do it, they’ll say ‘oh just let my stunt double do it’. I get such a kick out of it – literally (laughs). It’s a blast for me.
Going into the final season, do you still have that same passion for the show? It sounds as if you do, and how much are you going to miss it working with this particular cast/crew?
I’m actually pretty bummed that this is the last season. I think Continuum was originally conceived as a 5 season show, and the ideas that Simon had in his head were pretty creative. You know it doesn’t work out that way all the time, but I am very excited to go back and see everybody and I think it’s gonna be a bittersweet farewell. It’s gonna be sad to finish this show, but it’s gonna be exciting to look into the future and see what other opportunities are out there. Who knows what will happen in the future, maybe we can get some of us all back together again on another show.
Do you think Continuum could continue into a film or as a special?
You know, anything is possible. I wouldn’t say no to anything if people were motivated enough. Anything can happen in this business.
What are you a currently a fan of in terms of other TV shows and what would you like to get a guest part in?
I like Game of Thrones, I like Banshee, I love Dexter and Breaking Bad. Any of those shows, I have a tendency to lean towards the darker roles. So maybe a serial killer on Dexter, or some sort of crazy gangster on Banshee, some sort welding maniac (laughs) riding an elephant in Game of Thrones, I dunno!
And finally for our international fans waiting for season 4 what can they expect from the final season?
What should they expect? Woah. I’m sure Simon’s got something up his sleeve. Something that will make us smash our heads and ask ‘What the hell just happened’. I asked him, the other day I had dinner with him and I said ‘So what’s going on for Season 4?’ and he goes ‘Well, let me put it this way. It’s some of what you expect will happen and a lot of what you won’t expect to happen and none of it is the way you think it will happen.’ And I’m like ‘Well that’s a very cryptic, direct answer’ (laughs) so that’s all I know!
Continuum Season 3 starts on Wednesday 28 January at 10pm on Syfy.
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