Orphan Black Preview: Season 2 Brings ‘Character Shocks’ and … a Traitorous Felix?
Could Sarah’s loyal foster brother on Orphan Black be — dare we suggest it? — her monitor?
TVLine ran that concern by Jordan Gavaris, who plays Felix, and co-creator Graeme Manson, and — gulp! — their response didn’t do anything to quell our fears that the droll gay fella may be more than meets the eye.
More from TVLine
Below, Gavaris and Manson predict that viewers’ jaws will be on the floor from the “character shocks” in Season 2, premiering this Saturday (BBC America, 9/8c), and preview the new faces joining the action.
Plus: Get ready to see more of Felix’s love life!
RELATED | Orphan Black Team Talks ‘Bigger and Better’ Season 2: ‘Nobody Will Say We Didn’t Go for It’
TVLINE | We’ve seen that Mrs. S might not be exactly who she appears to be. Considering that Felix and Sarah’s relationship is so sacred, is he off limits as being anything other than just her loving foster brother?
JORDAN GAVARIS | Is anything off limits in this show?
GRAEME MANSON | Not much is off limits. …Maria Doyle Kennedy is a wonderful actor. And her character was intentionally a bit of a sleeper in Season 1. So in Season 2, we’re really looking forward to going on a ride with Mrs. S. She’s got a lot of secretes, a lot of baggage, that lady.
TVLINE | I read a disturbing theory that Felix is Sarah’s watcher.
GAVARIS | Well, his upbringing and past is still very much open-ended.
TVLINE | Can you speak to some of the new faces that we’re going to see?
MANSON | Michelle Forbes (Chicago Fire, The Killing) — super excited that she’s coming on for a couple episodes near the end of the season. She plays a contemporary of Dr. Leekie. They’ve known each other a long time. I don’t really want to get into it much deeper than that. We have an amazing guest-starring role from Patrick J. Adams (Suits), who didn’t stop tweeting his love for the show and desire to get the job until we gave it to him. We found something really, really fun for him to do. And then Michiel [Huisman] (Nashville, Game of Thrones) gets wrapped up with clones.
GAVARIS | He’s a bit of a heavier player.
MANSON | He gets caught up in something where he’s not sure what the hell is going on. And he has an interesting ride.
PHOTOS | Orphan Black Season 2 Posters Hint at Shifting Alliances and a New Romance
TVLINE | Does Felix get some love in Season 2?
GAVARIS | What his love looks like, that’ll be the ride. We do see a lot more of his private life, which is really nice because, I’ve said before, there’s this weird tendency that pop culture sometimes has to desexualize characters that are LGBT. So it’s cool. That was something that attracted me immediately in the pilot — that he was very sexualized and it was out there. We aren’t network TV, but we’re not Cinemax either. We were cable, but we were doing it. We were going for it. And I’m glad we did because it just shows how unapologetic we are.
MANSON | And it’s close to the themes of the show in terms of human sexuality and biology and nature/nurture. It’s controversial and it shouldn’t be. We want to be able to just let those variations in human sexuality exist like they do. I mean, what’s the fuss?
GAVARIS | I love how they always say, ‘It’s unnatural.’ And I’m like, ‘We’re nature. It’s happening in nature. So technically it’s not unnatural, but sure. OK.’
TVLINE | What is the nature of Paul and Rachel’s relationship? Because it seems like there’s something going on there.
GAVARIS | He’s her head butler. [Laughs]
MANSON | Paul’s trapped between a rock and a hard place with Dyad. They’ve got the dirt on him. So to a certain degree, he has to do [their] bidding. His connection with Leekie and with Rachel is an interesting area to explore in Season 2.
VIDEO | Orphan Black Season 2 Trailer: New Enemies Attack Sarah & Co. — Plus: A [Spoiler] Clone?!
TVLINE | Season 1 had so many great surprises. The tail — I don’t think anyone saw that coming.
GAVARIS | And what a tail it was.
MANSON | I’ve got it in the writers’ room. It’s in a desk drawer and every now and then we just like pull it out.
TVLINE | It needs to be on display.
GAVARIS | In a case. We’re going to have enough for a museum.
MANSON | It’s in a Ziploc.
TVLINE | What do you think is going to surprise people about Season 2?
GAVARIS | Our mainstay to keep things interesting in this show is to lead you down the garden path and then take a hard left off the cliff. And we take a lot of hard lefts this season. So I think people are going to be surprised that there’s been some garden-path-leading happening [with regard] to the characters we’ve established. So now we’re going to get to the nitty gritty and the truth.
MANSON | There’s some shocking, shocking stuff that happens.
GAVARIS | Some of the character shocks are going to be the most fun.
PHOTOS | Exclusive Orphan Black First Look: Season 2 Posters Reveal the Clones From a New Angle
TVLINE | And finally, what is your favorite Felixism?
GAVARIS | My favorite line? Oh my God…
MANSON | It’s the one you wrote.
GAVARIS | “Fetch me something gay.”
MANSON | That was his improv.
GAVARIS | The running joke is that everyone loves that line. It wasn’t in the script. It was just one of about a dozen improvs we did that day because [Tatiana Maslany] and I adlib all the time, especially as Felix and Alison, not so much as Sarah and Felix. But Felix and Alison riff a lot. So that’s probably one of my favorites.
MANSON | I like, “Do not snap towels at me, Bobbie. I had a very traumatic childhood.”
Best of TVLine
Get more from TVLine.com: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Newsletter