Robin Dunne's tales of the 'Sanctuary' dark side

According to Dunne, fans will see a lot more of Will's dark side this season. The actor says that last season Will had to decide if he wanted to remain with the Sanctuary and help Magnus in her mission to save abnormals, and humanity. He was learning, listening and not questioning too many things.

Not so in Season 2, Dunne said. He already has questioned Magnus' unreasonable search for Ashley, and will continue to challenge her.

"He is resigned to the fact that this is his home, this is where he lives," he said. "He has to fight to protect it; he has to take his place in the group of people who are trying to keep it from falling apart. He has to do his part.

"So there's none of that sort of wavering in Will this season. He's all in."

Dunne phoned me from Vancouver after shooting scenes for a video game based on the show. He talked about the joy of working with good friends on the show, being naked and how difficult Bigfoot has become.

What's this game you are working on?
They're making an online Sanctuary game. So, we're shooting all the stuff. It's very weird because it's "Sanctuary" and we're shooting here in Vancouver, but a lot of it is talking directly to camera because you're interacting with the "player" who's going to actually be doing the game. It's very strange. Like, you're whole career you're taught to ignore the camera, and then you have a few days like this where you're actually looking right down the lens and talking right to the camera.

Are they going to put that online on the Syfy site?
I think so, yeah. I think it will be early next year. I think it is so cool to be working on a show like this and just to be able to see all the ancillary things that come along, working on a Syfy show. It is the first time that I have worked to this extent in this genre. It's one of the best genres because there are just so many different things you can do. It's a lot of fun.

I think fans of this genre get into every aspect or angle they can.
Definitely, you see that very, very clearly when you got to things like Comic-Con. I can't wait for the day where we have a "Sanctuary" comic book. We have mock-ups now with things we did for Episode 5 [last week's "Hero"]. Chris Gauthier from "Eureka" plays a wannabe super hero. We did a couple of "Sanctuary" comic book mock-ups where you have "Nightness" and "Willow." It's very cool to see yourself in comic book form in those frames. I can't wait for the day that some of those other things start happening for "Sanctuary," particularly the comic book. I'd love to see that.

That would be great. I watched the bloopers from the Season 1 DVD, which brings this question: Are we going to see you this season dancing in that rubber vest?
Oh God. You know, that was a very funny day. You know what? Maybe in--maybe. There's definitely a lot of, you know, Will taking his clothes off. There's this kind of thing that has been perpetuated by Damian [Kindler, producer] and Amanda and Martin [Wood, producer] and I guess I'm also guilty of it as well, with me taking my pants off at any opportunities. I think between that and the rubber vest, yeah, there's going to be definitely some inappropriate behavior. It's just par for the course, you know?

I loved Martin's face in that clip when you did that.
Yeah. The thing that's actually too bad about those blooper reels is that so much of the stuff that we do, mistakes and gaffs and jokes, are a bit, how would you say, a bit risqué. So, a lot of the stuff that gets done we can't really put on the blooper reel because they're just too kind of out there and, you know, rude. But what I think would be funny is if, "the X-rated" blooper reel kind of got "leaked" accidentally on YouTube so people could see it there. The full extent of it. But definitely would have to have an "R" rating. Believe me.

What are we going to get from Will this season?
It's going to be a darker. You're gonna see the dark side of Will this year. And he's gonna go through some things that are really gonna beef up his character, strengthen his character. You're going to see a lot of strain on him. In accepting the fact that this is his home and he has to protect it, he's gonna take on the mentors, like, "OK, well now I have to really step up to the plate." It's going to wound him a little bit. You're going to see definitely the strain on Will and particularly when he has to deal with Magnus.

The season started out pretty hectic, sad and dramatic.
It's really a stressful time for the characters and particularly Magnus and Will, there's definitely a strain. You're gonna see the darker side of their relationship in Season 2 because basically what they are doing is trying to keep everything from falling apart around them. There's going to be an honesty, a brutal honesty, that is going to occur between the two and it's going to cause tension. But I think ultimately it's going to bring them closer together as characters because really, they really depend on each other for survival and that requires nothing but the most true honesty.

So, yeah I think you're going to see times where Will is definitely struggling to keep Magnus from kind of going off the rails and she is going through a lot and you're going to see her sort of transform.

Do you have a favorite episode of Season !?
I think I'd have to say "Requiem." There's a lot of, or several close seconds. I think "Kush" was a great episode. There were a lot of great episodes in Season 1, but "Requiem" was special in the sense that it was a "two-hander" and I had never done anything like that before. We really shot it almost feeder-like; it was shot in sequence and obviously on one enclosed set. It was such an amazing experience to be able to go through that. I credit a lot of that to the writing, which was fantastic. Damian Kindler's script was great, and being so close with Marty Wood and trusting him so much as a director.

Also Amanda. I mean, God, what a treat it is for me to every day go to work and be able to work with Amanda Tapping, who is not only a wonderful actress but she is also so generous in the scenes and really has a generous spirit about working on this show. I really, really saw that up close in "Requiem" because it was such an intense shoot. While it was a very difficult episode to shoot, I think because of the trust that's there between all of us, I really felt safe to really try some stuff that [I may not have]. It's kind of scary when you're acting. But the best possible opportunity you have is when you feel completely safe to try things and possibly fail.

So, yeah that was a lot of fun. And also working in that environment and working with the water and again, it was difficult and tiring, but I think the end result is just magical.

It's by far my favorite episode too.
And Amanda's performance in that episode is just so nuanced and it was just amazing to be right there in those scenes. I had to ultimate front row seat to her performance because I was in the scene with her. Just to be able to see what she was doing was really amazing.

I was kind of sad you weren't on the commentary tracks for the Season 1 DVD.
Yeah, you know what? I think the guys keep me away from it because I guess maybe I have a reputation for being a little on the gauche side and maybe they get tired of bleeping things out. Or maybe Martin and Damian and Amanda just didn't want to have to sit in a small, dark room with me for that amount of time.

They took a lot of pot shots at you, so maybe they didn't want you around to hear those.
Oh I'm sure. I'm sure. [Laughs.] That's the thing too, when the person is not there to be judged in abstensia. That's taking the easy way out. But you know what? I think Season 2, I should have my own, nobody else in the room commentary so I can just have at everybody else.

Why not? Every time I hear you guys together or separately I can tell what great friends you are ...
That's the thing too. We get on very well. The four of us traveled around the world this year. We went over to Japan to do some promotional stuff and we shot some scenes. It was just so much fun because we are such great friends and we've become closer over the last two seasons, to the point where it was almost kind of "A Hard Day's Night" or something.

The Japanese people were looking at us and they were kind of worrying for us because we were like falling down in fits of laughter and playing practical jokes on each other. It was just relentless from the second we got on the plane.

There's something about being able to work with your friends every day that I really enjoy. It might not be something tangible that you can actually put your finger on, but I think when you have such a good rapport. That goes beyond the four of us; everybody really gets along and the entire crew is a pretty tight knit machine. And I think that comes through in the product. I think that kind of dynamic between everybody making a show, makes the end product that much better.

I think you're right, especially with scenes between you and Amanda because you're relationship on camera is supposed to be just as close almost.
Yeah, absolutely. It goes back to what I was saying about trust. When you trust your co-workers to that degree you're going to be able to do your best work. That's why I really feel privileged to be able to go to work with Amanda every day, because I really feel that she brings out my best work. She is so good and she is so there. That's also what makes her such a fine director, because she can see those things and really get an ideal performance.

And how is Kate? How's the new Agam Darshi character?
She's so amazing. Agam comes in and fits right into the group and it was really a lot of fun working with her this season. But in terms of Kate, I think Kate as a character brings a very different dynamic to the Sanctuary. None of us are really sure what to make of her at first or whether to trust her, but ultimately she becomes someone that we trust.

All right. Does Christopher Heyerdahl not only play John Druitt but also play Bigfoot?
No, Bigfoot plays Bigfoot. Let me tell you something: Bigfoot, he's one of those one-name stars, and it's all gone to this head a little bit. He's been really difficult. And I think also he's just signed up to do the Chewbacca life story, to play the lead character in the Chewbacca life story. So the ego has gotten a little out of hand there and it's a little difficult to deal with him sometimes. Because the Chewbacca thing just put him right over the edge. And we don't know what to do with him.

Yeah those early episodes when he's sick. Those were pretty dramatic. He's probably thinking "Look at all the dramatic stuff I can do."
Yeah, exactly. I'm sure he's got his Academy Award speech written. Acceptance speech.