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Tagged under:2011, Interview
Posted by on 8 March 2011

via TVLine:

This Tuesday at 9/8c, ABC’s V inches (slithers?) one step closer to its Season 2 finale, as Anna prepares to flip the switch on the Blue Energy reactor that will, unbeknownst to many, seal Earth’s fate. All the while, imprisoned queen Diana is conspiring with granddaughter Lisa take control of matters and do things her own way.

TVLine spoke with Morena Baccarin about the Visitors’ agenda, the very cool reptilian reveal to come, and the rather deadly season-ender.

TVLINE | I’m a fan of the show, but have been having trouble grasping some of the recent science. The Vs are stealing DNA excerpts from humans to, what, help their own evolution…?
Exactly. It’s very confusing. [Laughs] But yes, we are extracting the best DNA from humans and putting it in a big DNA machine, and we’re going to use that for our future generations to have a stronger evolutionary process.

TVLINE | And why is the Vs’ evolution threatened?
We had to flee our planet, so basically we’ve been searching for a new home. Earth is the strongest [candidate] of the planets that we found — it’s the one where we’re most viable and able to have our species continue.

TVLINE | But if y’all adapt, you’re going to want to come down out of your spaceships and live with us. It could get… crowded.
Uh-huh. Uh-huh. You’re onto something!

TVLINE | In this week’s episode, Anna readies to fire up the Blue Energy reactor, but apparently the device is not what it seems. What can you tease about its actual purpose?
Well, the shape of Concordia [designed as a docking platform for Visitor ships] is a big clue. There are like 529 Concordia cities being built, and there are [hundreds of] ships looming over Earth, but it’s beyond human technology to see them. We are not coming; we are here.

TVLINE | Does Anna’s mother, Diana, truly have the humans’ best interests at heart? Or is she simply angling to be the one to rule them all?
She was a queen, so for sure she wants to be queen again and rule them all. She also has this “emotion” thing that she thinks is a good tool to have. She would definitely overthrow me, so she’s not getting out of the dungeon as far as I’m concerned.

TVLINE | Do you think defiant Lisa has reached the point of no return, or might there be a way for Anna to get her back into the fold?
Never underestimate what Anna can do, but Lisa seems to be pretty far in the Fifth Column direction.

TVLINE | Speaking of which: How fun was the big ol’ slap fight you and Laura Vandervoort got to have a few weeks back?
Pretty great! It was pretty, pretty great. We kept cracking up, actually.

TVLINE | The show has pulled back on the Anna/Chad flirtation thing. Is that because attraction is a sort of emotion? Could Anna be attracted to Chad?
She could be, because attraction is also very animal. But it’s too soon to have that happen. You need to tease that.

TVLINE | As an actress playing an emotion-free character, how and where do you find your “moments”?
It’s very challenging. I have to be really specific and know what I’m saying and why I’m saying it and know the emotion behind it, so I can choose not to show it. I know that sounds kind of crazy, but when I have that behind my words you can kind of see it. You know when she’s pissed; I just can’t show it on the surface.

TVLINE | So the other week, when Anna warmly greeted that Live Aboarder’s daughter, that was all pretend?
Yes, because she knows that she needs that girl. She’s a master manipulator, so she’ll do what it takes – even finding out the woman’s name and naming her own daughter that. But within that, she’s starting to get closer to [Ryan’s] little girl, Amy — and I think that is genuine.

TVLINE | [V showrunner] Scott Rosenbaum tweeted that we are about to get a look at a Visitor in their full, naked, native state. Have you seen the final FX yet?
I haven’t, but I’m dying to. I’ve seen photos, but I haven’t seen the [full-motion version].

TVLINE | I imagine it looks like an erect lizard. Or a Sleestak.
They want to make it a conglomeration of all these different species. There’s something prehistoric about it but there’s also something predatory about it, so it’ll be cool.

TVLINE | The story is we’re getting three deaths in the March 15 season finale….
Are there three…? [Thinks for a moment] Oh my god, yes! It’s crazy. Totally nuts. And it’s really heartbreaking. I cried when I saw it.

TVLINE | If the show gets picked up for a third season, will it be strange returning to the set minus those three actors?
For sure.

TVLINE | What are your plans for the hiatus?
I’m going to Australia for a convention, so that’s go to be exciting. I’ve never been there. Other than that, I’m in a waiting period, so I can’t really take on much more than an episode of things here and there [such as an upcoming episode of The Mentalist]. I am just hoping that we’ll be shooting V at the end of the summer!