The Not-So-Quiet Confines of ‘Sanctuary,’ Season Two

What’s new at the Sanctuary this season? A giant mutated vampire squid, a sea scorpion, a superhero, and zombies, for starters. Not exactly a recipe for a tranquil little get-together amongst friends. (Wait - why is it called ‘Sanctuary’ again?)

In a recent conference call with journalists, Amanda Tapping (Helen Magnus) and Robin Dunne (Will Zimmerman) addressed how season two - premiering tomorrow night at 10 PM on SyFy - would follow up on the massive cliffhangers presented in season one’s finale.

Catch up on full episodes of Sanctuary here

“Season one was very much about introducing everybody - introducing the Sanctuary itself, the creatures, what everyone does and where they come from,” explains Tapping. “And so now Season Two is just - now we get to play within those parameters. Obviously we ended Season one with a massive cliffhanger, and start with this very highly intense two-part episode.”

New Ashley, for instance, has been given one hell of a manicure (and overall makeover) by the Cabal. Henry and Bigfoot do the alpha-male-dog thing and snarl a lot at each other over some right-to-die issues. Will has a new girlfriend he won’t get to see as much of as he’d like (and not just because she’s Invisible Girl from last season).

As far as new team members go, a newcomer named Kate Freelander (played by Agam Darshi) slinks onto the scene - but is her classification that of abnormal? Er - not exactly, unless you count those abnormally high levels of snark that she emits. But she does appear to be an agent of the Cabal, and a back-chatting Cabal minion isn’t at all what Magnus is in a mood to put up with given that her beloved daughter’s life is at stake. Subsequently, Magnus’ interrogation techniques would make Dick Cheney proud.

“You might want to spend a little less time with Jack the Ripper,” Will advises her later. “It’s affecting your manners somewhat.”

Tapping expands with, “The Kate Freelander character comes in and doesn’t mock us so much, but she points a lot of things out to everyone. It starts off quite abrasive, and I think that that’s always a cool dynamic to bring in because everyone to re-evaluate themselves and reevaluate how strongly they feel about what they’re doing. I have to say with Agam - she’s so sweet and she has such a wonderful energy about her that she just slid right into this cast. There was absolutely no ripple - she’s really lovely.”

Dunne agrees wholeheartedly. “When you have someone new come in who just is able to fit perfectly right into the mix and be one of us immediately was - it was really, really nice and really, again, a testament to Agam - how talented she is and also what a nice person she is as well.”

It’s not all out with the old, in with the new on the casting front, however - and happily so. Both John Druitt (Helen’s baby daddy, alias Jack the Ripper, as played by Christopher Heyerdahl) and Nikola Tesla continue to breathe life (the ‘larger than’ kind) into all scenes they appear in. Druitt of course has paired with Helen to track down their errant offspring.

So, what’s the overall plan here from Dana Whitcomb - Cabal Queenpin Extraordinaire? “The complete destruction of the Sanctuary network!” chortles the wicked witch. Ah, of course - that’s exactly the sort of thing a chortling villain can be expected to say. But when she poses the terms, “Your daughter or your work,” to a distraught Magnus, you can see that this particular Eeeeeeeeeeevil Plan was well chosen.

While it doesn’t happen in the first two hours, we have been assured that the Cabal gets what-for pretty early on this season. “We didn’t want it to become the ‘Cabal versus Sanctuary Show’,” Tapping says. “They’re an interesting adversary, and it’s not to say that they’ve gone away completely, but we didn’t want it to always be that dynamic. So we sort of take care of them. Or think we have.”

It’s a fast-paced, guns-ablazin’, two-part blitzkrieg straight into the gaping chasms that the Season One cliffhanger left in its wake. Refreshingly, not too much momentum is lost in backtracking for the benefit of new viewers - although the tale would still be a riveting one for any audience members just tuning in.

And: this is Sanctuary after all. What about that monster-of-the-week formula we’ve come to know and love?

“I think this season, we’re going to have major fights between two creatures that Magnus and Will will get in the middle of,” Dunne begins. “I think we have a vampire squid this season.”

“A giant mutated vampire squid,” Tapping offers up. “And a sea scorpion. We have a superhero. I think we have zombies this season too.”

Even less surprising is the news that the actor who breathes such life and menace into our favorite resident Victorian teleporting serial killer is in high demand elsewhere. More specifically, being surrounded by glittering Robert Pattison-shaped vampires. How will this impact his participation at the Sanctuary?

“I think anything that has the Twilight thing attached to it, it is an awesome thing,” Tapping says. “Chris [Heyerdahl] is one of those actors who works all the time. He’s always in demand. So for us it was “I’ve been asked to do New Moon - can we make it work? And figure out the schedule, and….?” Yeah, okay - it’s great. I mean his profile is going to go up, and that can only help the show. But I’d like to say that we had him first. He’s ours, we have first dibs.”

What with being in demand on two high-profile sets, those teleportation skills would come in awfully handy in real life for Heyerdahl. One can’t help but wonder what sort of superpowers Tapping and Dunne might like to wield if given the chance?

“Invisible would be fun,” agrees Tapping. “Yeah, but you’d be creepy if you were invisible, Robin - to be honest.”

“I would just do creepy weird things,” he admits. “To you.”

With such a jovial and wise-cracking cast, some of the best material is undoubtedly going to be found on the gag reel of the Sanctuary DVD set, right? Er….no? “It’s unfortunate,” Dunne explains. “Because a lot of the stuff that happens that should be on the blooper reel, we could never really put on because they might be a little bit too…”

“Racy,” offers Tapping.

“Racy,” agrees Dunne. “That’s the word I’m looking for. Racy.”

“We’re a very polite cast,” says Tapping. “But we’re also a very naughty cast.”

Sanctuary’s rollicking second season kicks off Friday, October 9 at 10/9 c on Syfy. (And if you need help remembering recalling everything that transpired in last season’s action-packed two-part finale, you can refresh your memory right here on Fancast!)

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