In anticipation for the second season of “Dollhouse” to premiere on FOX tonight, how about some insight into the guest stars of Season 2? Here are excerpts from a conference call interview with show creator Joss Whedon:
The guest-star lineup looks really impressive this season. You had Alan [Tudyk] on last season and Summer [Glau] this season. Are there plans to get the rest of Firefly on here at some point?
It’s a death match between Firefly and Battlestar and which of them is going to get all their people. The fact of the matter is, they’re people I admire and they’re people I know I love to work with, and this season I’m a lot less concerned with how the cast is perceived.
Last season, we felt like we wanted to make sure that this was new territory and that people didn’t think of it as just, “Oh, it’s just these faces and he’s doing his old thing.” Now I’m like, “I know these people can act,” and honestly, the people that are watching it are fans anyway. If they know who these people are, they’ll be thrilled. If they don’t, they’ll see good acting, so it doesn’t matter to me as much. So yes, I have no fear of throwing anybody that I have worked with or just want to work with in anytime I can.
I read that Jamie Bamber marries Echo early on in the season. (Added Note: Bamber’s character marries Echo in season premiere ep, “Vows”)
If you were those two, wouldn’t you get married? They’re so cute. He came in as the guest star in the first episode, which was just – besides a geek dream for me – an extraordinary experience, because he’s not just very professional and precise and talented, but he fleshed out a character that could have been a little bit of a cardboard cutout. He has such sincerity and gravitas that you feel terrible. He makes you feel you’ve betrayed him, even if he’s completely in the wrong. It’s something that he shares with Adelle. Maybe it’s a British thing; I don’t know.
Can you tell me a little bit about Alexis [Denisof] as a senator? I think I read he’s trying to shut down the Dollhouse.
Yes, he’s got his own crusade going. He’s a very different person than Paul, but he’s in a similar position except that he’s gone public with it. How much the Dollhouse loves a senator who has gone public with an attack on them, we will find out in later episodes. But he’s not the Paul of the season, because he’s going to have a different set of problems thrown at him, but he has a similar vibe, in terms of he’s very tenacious and righteous.
Can you tell us what Ray Wise [The Devil from “Reaper”] is going to be playing and when we might see him first?
Ray Wise, I believe, will be appearing in episode six, and he’s going to be playing the head of another house, so he’s going to interact with young Olivia [Williams], and it should be very exciting.
Can you talk about the casting of Summer Glau and also what’s in store for her character?
The casting of Summer was based on the knowledge that Summer existed, and the character was created with the hopes that she would play it, which she is right on stage right now doing. She’s playing the programmer of another Dollhouse. It’s a somewhat eccentric part, but hopefully different than what we’ve seen her do before. The most useful part of that is that the writers work twice as hard to make sure that the character really pops and pays off, because they know it’s going to be played by somebody extraordinary.
Is it safe to assume that Summer’s character works at the same Dollhouse that Ray Wise runs?
I think that would be safe.
We’ve got some glimpses at the back-story of some of the other characters like Sierra and Victor, but still a lot to fill in. Will we be delving into that more as the season progresses?
Yes, we will. We know how extraordinary those two performers are, and we are very curious about their stories, as much as we are about Caroline’s. So yes, we will definitely be seeing some episodes that highlight them and their pasts and where they’re heading.
We know that November/Mellie will be returning, but how she will return, since for her, it would seem that her time with the Dollhouse is over?
It would, wouldn’t it? I can’t tell you exactly how. I can tell you that she’ll be back early on and that we’re definitely not done with the character, and that probably means there’s going to be some pain involved. More than that, you’re going to have to wait for it.
I was really impressed with what Amy Acker did in this premiere. Is Dr. Saunders going to factor in a little more in the season?
Dr. Saunders would factor in much more in the season had we not lost her to another show. She will factor in as much as we are allowed to factor her in, which is exactly three episodes worth. They will, however, be three extraordinarily memorable episodes.
Amy Acker is ridiculously talented, and the character’s dilemma is fascinating to us. We grit our teeth that we didn’t have the funds, or the support, or the success, to just make her a regular, and now we’re paying for it. It means that every time we have her on screen, we’ll squeeze every drop out of her that we can. We’re seizing the day. We just don’t get to seize as many of them as we’d like.
In the EPK, you hinted that The Attic is heinous, and it’s an episode of Small Wonder that you can’t escape. I was wondering if you were being figurative or literal?
I’ve never even seen Small Wonder. I am a bully who picks on people who aren’t my type. It is going to be creepy, but I think, ultimately, what it’s going to be like, it’s going to be something that we’re going to hold onto pretty tightly. I don’t want to say, but it ain’t pretty.
Is the set a designer’s dream?
It depends on the set designer. It might be a dream where he’s screaming.
With Amy Acker gone, are we going to get a new doctor character to tend to the wounded?
We haven’t featured the doctor. We see somebody in the background. We will be seeing Dr. Saunders again, and the stories just haven’t lent themselves to bringing in another person in that capacity. So if we need to, yes, but not so far.
“Dollhouse” premieres Friday, tonight at 9/8 C on FOX.
[Source] Cinemablend
