With Continuum‘s third season on the horizon, there are plenty of unanswered questions for fans to think about in the wake of the season two finale. How will Kiera and the Liber8 members get away from the freelancers? What will the story look like now that Alec has gone back to save Emily? What’s going to happen with the potential Carlos-Julian alliance? Will Brian Markinson ever get the chance to smile on camera again!? You won’t have to wait much longer to see some of these events unfold. In the meantime, I got a chance to talk to Victor Webster a little bit about his character, Carlos Fonnegra, and Continuum in general:
TVOvermind: A lot of what sucks viewers into a science-fiction series is, I think, being able to sink their teeth into a world that’s different from their own, but most of Continuum takes place in our world. So, do you think that the idea or suggestion of what the future might look like can be as powerful for someone as actually taking part in that future?
Victor Webster: I think we do a really good job of giving you a taste of what the future’s like. A lot of the beginnings of our episodes are Kiera or one of the other characters in the future, 2077, dealing with a dilemma of some sort or having a problem or an issue or some sort of a life event happening. And then a lot of times, in the rest of our episode, in 2013 – or 2014, now – there’s a reflection of something similar that happens in our timeline. So, I think they get a taste of the future, plus Kiera’s got all the future tech – she uses her suit, her multi-tool, her weapon. But like you’re saying, I think the imagination of a person is so much more vivid than the picture we can paint for them. If you see a monster movie and you see hints of the monster, the monster you create in your mind is always so much more gruesome than the monster you can actually see in CGI or prosthetics.
TVO: Yeah, I think with Continuum, it’s not even just that – that there’s the hint of what the future looks like – it’s also the idea that’s not necessarily set in stone. Obviously, that’s a big part of the show: trying to change some of the things that ought to be changed for these characters.
Webster: And that’s another thing we throw into the mix this year, is what the repercussions of these actions could be. We touch on that a lot more and show examples of that in this season that we’re doing now.
TVO: So, when last we left Fonnegra, he was seen shaking hands with Julian. At this point, after kind of butting heads with Inspector Dillon and quitting his job at the PD, what do you think Carlos sees in Liber8 that might align him with them philosophically?
Webster: The interesting thing about that ending is we let the audience decide. We had two endings for Carlos, and we took an internet poll on which ending they wanted to see. And that was the one they picked, Carlos going to Liber8. So, that was an interesting thing. I had never heard of a show doing something like that before, and it’s a nice way to get the fans so involved. I think Carlos was so fed up and so upset with the way everything was going that there needed to be a change. He hasn’t quite figured out what that change is going to be. I think he was exploring the options and seeing what was available to him. We build on that more in season three, where Carlos is going with all of these obstacles that are in front of him and we’ll see which path he ultimately chooses.
TVO: Apart from Continuum, there’s been several other recent shows, like Sleepy Hollow, that have had a male-female partnership at their centers, and it’s a relationship that’s totally platonic. The big Kiera-Carlos goodbye that we got last season was just a handshake. Fans usually like seeing their characters get together. They call that “shipping.”
Webster: [Laughs]
TVO: But why do you think it’s important for Continuum to keep that relationship professional?
Webster: Well, I don’t know if it’s so much important for them to keep it professional as it is that Continuum just lives outside of the rules of most television shows. We kind of march to the beat of our own drummer. We do things that are A-typical of a television show and things that are not expected. I think the fans really appreciate that. Plus, Kiera has a husband and son back home that she’s desperately trying to get back to, and if she throws that away and has a love affair with her partner, which is the most obvious choice, I think the fans may lose a little bit of respect for Kiera.
TVO: Yeah, probably if that’s an ongoing thing. I think maybe some people will excuse that one lapse with Kellog earlier.
Webster: And you know what, we don’t show what happened.
TVO: Right.
Webster: You see her just getting out of bed in the morning, and we don’t ever see them together, so we never fully address that. We don’t know exactly what happened. So, I think that’s part of the ability to forgive, is that it wasn’t in our faces.
TVO: We don’t really spend much time with Carlos off the clock. I think I remember one mention of him sitting down with a beer and maybe a video game. But I’m just curious was Carlos does on a day off, if you could run me through that.
Webster: I think Carlos may watch a hockey game. He’ll probably hit the boxing gym. He’ll probably sleep.
[Both laugh]
Webster: I think this job is very draining, and he spends a lot of time and overtime with it. I think he’s got his buddies that he’ll hang out with. He’s just a regular guy’s guy, you know? He’s used to being consumed with work and doesn’t have a lot of time off, so there’s definitely a cold beer with the boys watching the hockey game in there somewhere.
TVO: Do we get a little bit of that this season?
Webster: We see a little bit. A little bit of Carlos out of the office, not working.
TVO: Great. Moving away from Carlos for just a second, there was a scene in this past season in which Kiera gets to talk to this visual projection of her son. It’s not exactly rare for me to cry when I’m watching something good, but that scene in particular really got to me. What do you, not necessarily as an actor but as a reader of these scripts, root for in Continuum? Is it Kiera going home? Is it seeing the bad guys go down? Is it watching characters like Alec take control of their lives?
Webster: It’s so tough with Liber8, because I don’t know how to feel. Liber8 are not necessarily bad guys, so to speak. They do the right things, but they go about it the wrong way. I understand when they’re fighting against the corporations, trying to bring them down. I don’t necessarily agree with their procedure in which they try and carry this out, but there’s something to the freedom fighting aspect of Liber8 that makes them kind of ambiguous bad guys. The thing with Kiera is you definitely want her to get home to her family, but you can’t let her go because the problem hasn’t been solved. If she’s going to go, she has to take all of these guys with her, and we’ve now unearthed so many new obstacles and we’ve come to find out that not everybody is who they say they are. I always, when I read the scripts, am looking forward to seeing what happens next, because I think they’re really good at surprising us. Though we’re in the show, I’ll pick up a script and read it, and I’ll be completely taken aback as to the direction they’re going with. There’s some things that happen in this season that’ll blow your mind, and you will think “How the heck can they get away with that?” [Laughs]
TVO: Just touching on that and without spoiling anything or getting into trouble, can you tell viewers maybe what to look out for this season? Is there a new area or direction the show hasn’t gone in yet?
Webster: There’s new characters coming in. Some really strong recurring characters. Kiera is torn with some decisions that she has to make regarding her life. Carlos goes to a really dark place with some new information that is presented to him. There are so many things I wish I could tell you, but I can’t!
[Both laugh]
Webster: This is a really pivotal season. Some really big things happen.
TVO: Lastly, I’m always interested in what actors watch, and I know you’re a fan of House of Cards, right?
Webster: Oh, big fan. House of Cards, Breaking Bad, True Detective, Banshee…
TVO: You’re a Banshee fan!?
Webster: I love Banshee. I’m a few episodes behind, but I binge watch. I’ll spend an afternoon or an evening and I’ll watch, you know, three or four episodes. I won’t be behind for very long.
TVO: [Laughs]
Webster: I love Luther. I’m catching up on The Wire in my trailer right now. Game of Thrones, of course.
TVO: Great. Well, that certainly gives me a good idea, there. Thank you for sitting down to talk. We’re all looking forward to this next season of Continuum.
Webster: Absolutely. Thank you.
The third season of Continuum will premiere on March 16th in Canada on Showcase and April 4th in the United States on SyFy. Follow Victor on Twitter here.
[Photo via Syfy]
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