Amanda Tapping answers 'Sanctuary' fans' questions

She and co-producers Damian Kindler and Martin Wood--the "brain trust," as she said--now have to secure funding for the season because, just as in the past, the production does not have the backing of a studio. Tapping said not being tied to a studio has advantages and disadvantages, but "we're still struggling with that."

"It's a double-edged sword really," she said. "In some ways, perhaps having a studio who understands the complexities of television and how to monetize it might be easier. But on the other hand we're sort of forging new ground and we've got these amazing benefactors who are willing to forge this trail with us."

She applauded The Beedie Group, a company founded by longtime sci-fi fan Keith Beedie. He has helped the show since its days as a Web series. "He's in his 80s and he's a big fan of 'Stargate' and has just been so tremendously supportive," she said.

So what will we see in S3 of "Sanctuary?" Tapping, who was on her way to record DVD commentary for the "Sanctuary Season 2" set as we chatted, said that S3 is just in the conceptual stage at the moment.

"We're just sort of trying to figure out how we're going to roll it out," she said. "Twenty episodes is a big order, so we want to make sure that we have an interesting arc to present."

@amandatapping was happy to spend extra time answering fan questions I collected from Twitter followers. Keep reading for those. Click here for her preview of the "Haunted" episode, and check back early next week to read what Tapping and co-star Robin Dunne have to say about the S2 finale coming Jan. 15.

Agam Darshi, Robin Dunne, Amanda Tapping and Ryan Robbins.

Are you planning on directing another episode? (via @kesland)
Definitely. Yeah. It's hard timing-wise but with 20 [episodes], I'll either do the one right after our mid-season break or I'll do the first one, depending on how the timing works out. But yes, definitely.

You had fun directing?
Yeah, I loved it. I love it.

Jonathon Young

Will Jonathon Young become a regular cast member as Nikola Tesla? (via @MissCheerfully)
I hope so. I don't know that he'll get regular cast member status--and that's not because we don't want him to--but it's Jonathon is so busy with his theater company. It's always really hard to get him. "Sleepers," for example, was supposed to be much earlier in the season, but Jonathon was unavailable because he was touring with his theater troupe. So he will be in as much as we can get him.

Good. Any chance Ashley is coming back? (via @PaganX)
I hope so, yeah. There's actually a story that we pitched out that would bring her back. So, yeah. All I can say [is] I would love to see it.

Will Gregory Magnus return? (via @MissCheerfully)
I'd love that. And in fact, we talked about that and we've talked about getting James Watson back too. In terms of going back in time and sort of doing episodes that deal with more of the inception of the Sanctuary Network and early days of the Five. I would love to explore that dynamic more.

Michael Shanks

Michael Shanks guest starred this season. Any chance you'll be able to get Richard Dean Anderson or Chris Judge on? (via @morjana)
I'd love to. I'd love to try to get Teryl [Rothery, who played Dr. Janet Frasier] on too. So yeah, the door's always open.

We can expect lots of good guest stars again, per usual?
Absolutely.

Can we expect to see more of Helen's back story and some period scenes from her early days? (via @sez101)
Yeah. I think it's because I love the ... moments where we go back in time because I think they inform so much about this character and about the concept of the show. And I think, for me from a historical perspective, I love delving back in time and I would love to go sort of decades and go, "OK, well this is what made her, this is what clicked her in the 20s and this is what she was doing in the 30s or in the Great Depression and this is what she was doing during the war." But it's not the "Helen Magnus Show," so if we could just pop back every now and again. But I hope that we get to do that a little bit.

Does Helen have any regrets and what is a big one? (via @majorsal)
Of course. She's 157 years old. [Laughs.] She shouldn't have had that ham sandwich that was in the fridge. [Laughs.]

Bad, bad. Of course she does. I mean, all the things surrounding Ashley--massive regret and huge guilt. And it's interesting because Helen is so tightly wound that you only see those moments revealed in brief bursts and then she reigns it all back in again.

I think what we need to see is a full-on Helen Magnus-emotional-screaming release where you get a sense of the depth of what this woman really feels because she is so caged. But she certainly doesn't regret giving birth to Ashley or bringing Ashley into this world or the life that Ashley led, but I think regrets not being as cautious.

You know, ... I think Helen took for granted that Ashley could take care of herself and that she was so capable. But as a mother she's always trying to protect her and I think that's a double-edged sword and we saw it in a couple of episodes where Helen sort of sits Ashley down and goes, "Just be careful out there."

But I think any time a parent loses a child, of course there's regret. I think it just will haunt her for the rest of her days.

Your husband, Alan Kovacs, appeared on "SG1." Will he ever be on "Sanctuary"? (via @Natfrs)
[Laughs] I don't know. He was such a cute fireman, I don't know what I can have him do. Yeah, I don't know.

If your daughter, Olivia, wanted to become an actress, would you let her? (via @GateworldRocky)
You know, I wouldn't stop her. It's interesting because she's four and a half and she does accents. She does British accents, a Southern accent, New York [accent]. She constantly is playing out scenes and it scares the crap out of me because I think, "Damn, she's actually pretty good." But we were asked by a casting director if she would do this part in a show and I sat her down and I described the part for her. I said, "Your lost in the woods and you're really scared and do you think you'd want to do this?" And said, "No, I don't think so. I don't think I want to be in the woods scared, Mommy. Thanks." So I phoned the casting director and said, "She's not interested. Thank you."

That's great. That's so funny.
So she's a strong kid. She'll forge her own path when the time comes ... Yeah, really it has to be [her choice]. It has to be.

If you had complete creative freedom over one S3 episode, what story would you want to tell? (via @Mrs2Shy)
Oh my gosh. That's a great question. I think I would go back in time. Yeah. And I would actually show Helen having some fun before the responsibility weighed to heavily on her. I would like to see this woman guffaw and maybe get drunk. I mean, I'm being silly, but I would like to see Helen loosen up. I'd like to see an early episode where the passion that she feels for the science, for the medicine, and for what she's doing is still very much sparked but there's a little more joy than what we see in her right now.

With the 20-episode order, is there any extra effort needed? (via @williamtefft)
Producing seven more hours of television? The effort, yeah it's huge. It's huge.