Lost Girl Q & A with Anna Silk, Kris Holden-Ried and Zoie Palmer
By , Contributor January 16, 2012
Syfy
Lost Girl cast (L-R): Rick Howland (Trick), K.C. Collins (Detective Hale), Kris Holden-Ried (Dyson), Anna Silk (Bo), Ksenia Solo (Kenzi) and Zoie Palmer (Lauren).
What would you do if you woke up one day and suddenly found that you were not the person you thought you were? That is the shocking revelation that the beautiful and dangerous Bo must come to grips with in the hit Canadian supernatural TV series Lost Girl. A succubus who grew up in an adoptive human family, she was unaware of her true nature and link to the supernatural world of the Fae. Bo discovers her succubus powers when she accidentally kills her first lover by draining him of his life force.
Forced to leave her family and friends behind, Bo goes on the run, moving from place to place whenever she kills again. Only when she saves the life of a human girl named Kenzi does she decide to stop trying to run away from who she really is. Confronted by the Fae elders and asked to choose a side (Light or Dark), she remains neutral and, instead, sides with humankind after Kenzi befriends her.
In Lost Girl’s first season, she uses her abilities to save the lives of innocents while trying to uncover more about her past and the Fae. Among her closest confidants are Dyson, a Light Fae wolf-shifter and police detective, and Lauren, a human doctor who works for the Light Fae. She and Dyson also share a romantic connection with Bo.
This past Tuesday, Lost Girl’s very own Anna Silk (Bo) along with cast mates Kris Holden-Ried (Dyson) and Zoie Palmer (Lauren) generously took time out of filming the show’s second season to speak with me as well as other journalists about what U.S. audiences can look forward to when Lost Girl’s first season premieres Monday, January 16 at 10:00 p.m. EST/PST on Syfy. The following is an edited version of that Q & A. Enjoy!
Could the three of you tell us what we can expect going into season one of Lost Girl since most people here in the U.S. haven't seen it?
Anna Silk: The first season introduces the audience to Bo and her journey into this whole Fae world that she's a part of. The various people she meets along the way become her sort of makeshift family, and Lauren, played by Zoie, and Dyson, played by Kris, are among the interesting characters that she meets.
Kris Holden-Ried: From Dyson's perspective, in the first season we meet Anna’s character of Bo, who’s been raised by a human family. She had no idea that she’s a Fae or that this entire other world of the Fae exists. Dyson and Bo end up crossing paths because of his job. He goes looking not only for criminals but also people who have done things they shouldn't have done, like the Fae, who are revealing themselves to humans. He finds Bo and a wild crazy 13 episodes ensues.
Zoie Palmer: Then I guess just to finish off, I play Dr. Lauren Lewis, who is a doctor to the Light Fae. There are two types of Fae, the Light and the Dark, and Lauren is a doctor and a scientist to the Light side. Bo comes to her for help on how to control some of the things that are happening with her as she begins to learn what it’s like to be Fae.
AS: Just to expand further, Bo did grow up thinking she was human as Kris said, and discovers not only that she's Fae, but actually a succubus, too. It's a pretty rude awakening early on in the season, and while it answers a lot of questions for her, it also opens the door to many more. So that's sort of what we explore in the first season - how Bo fits into this world and the relationships she develops along the way.
Can you give us an idea of what shows are similar to Lost Girl in terms of tone, style and content, just to give people an idea of how to approach it?
AS: Well, last season we often got the Buffy the Vampire Slayer comparison. We're well into our second season here in Canada, and we still get that comparison, which is a huge compliment, but I have to say that I really think that Lost Girlhas a unique voice. There's a lot of darkness as well as humor. It's a pretty sexy show, too. It's like nothing I've ever seen before on television. I mean the Buffy comparison is really nice. We get True Blood comparisons as well, and there's an investigative side to Lost Girl, too. So I guess it's a lot of different things all rolled into one.
Can you each talk about the appeal of Bo and what you guys love about the triangle relationship between your three characters as the first season evolves?AS: I think the appeal of Bo for me when I read the initial pilot is that even though she's a succubus as opposed to human and gets thrown into this crazy world, she's still a very relatable character. Bo is intensely vulnerable and has to sort of adapt and find her way, so there's a lot of growth for her in the series.
Having talked to fans and just even myself, that's what I related to in her and what I found appealing with the character. She’s strong, sexy and all of those things, but she's scared a lot of the times as well as vulnerable and has to figure out things as she goes along. As far as the love triangle that unfolds in season one, it’s pretty interesting.
ZP: Everyone who meets Bo, including Dyson and Lauren, are sort of taken with her for various reasons. I think my character it’s for reasons that she can’t entirely explain. Bo is obviously beautiful, but there's something about her that draws people to her, and that's sort of what Lauren finds right away. I think it's a surprise to Lauren that she feels that way. She works for the Light Fae and does her job, and then along comes this ‘creature,’ this person, this woman who does something to her, and I don't know that she’s quite sure what that something is.
KHR: The mythology behind Dyson's character has a lot to do with the fact that he's a protector. The wolf’s entire existence was protecting its liege or its king, whoever it was assigned to, and in Bo he sees a beautiful but also innocent and vulnerable woman that brings those instincts out in him. There's also some historical stuff involving Trick (a Blood Seer who can alter fate by writing in his own blood - played by Rick Howland) and Bo and Dyson that the audience will find out about and that also sort of plays into this as well. However, I think it's really those instincts in Dyson that make him want to protect Bo, and in doing so, he develops feelings for her.
Although you’re launching the first season here in the U.S., you’re nearly done shooting the second season in Canada. How hard is it for you to go back and talk about events without reveal too much about your characters and the stories you’re currently working on?
AS: Because we've kind of been living it and experiencing it for a while, it’s kind of hard to go back and try to explain or lay the groundwork for what's about to come. In some ways, though, it's easier because we have better understanding of the show as well as our characters and we've gotten to, like I said, live it for quite a while now. We’re really excited that American audiences are going to get to experience it from the very start and we're curious to see how they respond.
ZP: I kind of love remembering those early days because it was great for us, too. Back then it was as new for us as it will be for U.S. audiences. We were all meeting each other, and although we’d sort of known each other a little bit prior to the show, now we were now getting to know each other on the show and creating relationships between ourselves too.
KHR: Season one was such a great trip, because it was that sort of initial meeting, getting everyone together, seeing what's happening, learning who everybody is, etc. It's really quite nice to actually go back and remember where it came from, especially as we’re almost done filming season two.
I realize that there's the Light Fae and the Dark Fae, and it seems kind of like a political system of sorts. Can you talk a little bit about how that interacts with more of the personal side, and what's the balance between the two in the first season?
AS: Well, you're right in saying that it is a really intricate political system, and there's a lot of push and pull between the two sides. That's the world that Bo finds herself in. Not only is she in the world of the Fae, she's in a world that's divided, and there's a peace that has be kept between those sides, and that balance is really precarious. Anything could sort of tip the scales and lead to a lot of trouble. That's a really big part of the show and one that I feel makes it very interesting. It's certainly interesting for us as actors to play in.
KHR: All the characters interact with it in different ways. Dyson is an age-old member of the Light Fae., and I guess the main difference between the two is that the Light Fae try to live in a symbiotic relationship with humanity, while the Dark Fae are more interested in dominating humanity. That’s more or less the philosophical difference between the two.
AS: And as a Fae, you've got to align yourself with one side or the other. That's just what you do, and that's something that Bo has trouble with.
Is there like a clear line between what's good and bad then? Is it definitely that the light is good and the dark is bad?
AS: I would just say the Dark is particularly bad, but it's not necessarily about good and bad.
ZP: I feel like it's sort of everyone has their reasons for their behavior sort of thing. Like Kris said, the Light Fae try to live in harmony with humans in a way that the Dark Fae don't necessarily care about. I don't think they're necessarily concerned about that in the same way as the Light Fae, so that’s a fundamental difference. I think that they both would commit acts that most of us would consider good and bad.
KHR: Pretty atrocious acts, sometimes. From the human's perspective they would perhaps be darker and not as good, but within the Fae world, I don't think there's a real connotation of good and bad.
ZP: They do what they have to do.
KHR: All Fae need to survive off of some energy system, whether it's flesh, the spirit, anger, emotional, sexual, etc. Humans are the food source for all Fae. So, it just human mythology or the philosophies behind how it's done.
AS: One of the main rules of the Fae is to keep their world a secret from humans. That's another element to the show. There are certain humans that do know about us, and obviously Lauren is among those exceptions.
Anna, did you have much fight training before taking on the role of Bo?
AS: No, I did not have a lot of fight training, but I certainly prepared for the pilot once I got the role. I worked with a trainer just to try to get really strong and ready to do whatever it was I was going to be doing. Also, we kind of had to work out what Bo's fighting style would be. We didn't really know until we established it over the first season. Since then I’ve worked with a martial artist doing all sorts of really cool stick work, just to be a little bit more grounded.
So it's an evolving thing for me and something that I work hard at in order that the audience will see Bo becoming more and more capable as she embraces her powers.
What kind of a journey would you say your characters are on during the first season?
ZP: With Lauren we learn that she's indebted to the Light Fae, specifically the leader of the Light Fae, the Ash (Cle Bennett), for some reason that isn’t made clear. So we take that journey with her, and just the fact that a human is working for the Fae is a bit unusual. So it's a bit of a discovery about who Lauren, where she's from and what her story is. And, of course, there’s also the development of her relationships with Bo and the rest of the characters on the show.
KHR: I think for Dyson it's the discovery and the journey of Bo. He's been in the Fae world for a millennia, and the only thing that's really new for him is this young woman who's come out of nowhere and that's pretty much the center of his journey.
AS: As for Bo, her journey is huge. She's coming from a world where she grew up thinking she was human and has urges beyond normal teenage sexual urges. That resulted in a body count, so she's been on the run for a while, and the start of season one is when she learns that she's not human, but Fae. That journey is part of every episode, particularly in the first season, but even in the second season, she's constantly learning. So her journey is very much ongoing.
How important was it for you guys that there wouldn't be a remake of Lost Girl and that U.S. audiences get to see the original version as opposed to, let’s say, Being Human, which has very successful runs both in the UK as well as the U.S.
AS: I'm so glad that the concept wasn't sold and that our version is the one that’s going to be seen. Again, I think it's such a unique show and it was specifically cast. I can't really imagine anyone else in these roles. Maybe one day they’ll beLost Girl: The Next Generation, but right now I can't imagine it having the same feel without this cast of characters and actors.
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