Cliff Simon foretells Baal’s future

He’s broken hearts as SG-1‘s smarmy Goa’uld System Lord, Baal. Having just returned from shooting at Bridge Studios in Vancouver, Canada, actor Cliff Simon sat down with GateWorld to share some of the juicy details about his character’s return in Season Nine, and what it means in the scheme of the series.

Beware of spoilers for the upcoming episode “Ex Deus Machina” in this report!

Baal is now hiding on Earth, the very lair of his enemy … and it may not be what viewers expected. “He’s in Earth clothes,” Simon told GateWorld. “He certainly blended in. He’s not hiding out, as in he has a huge estate with body guards around him that nobody can get to. He’s in plain sight. He’s hiding in full view. That’s a good way to put it.

“When you try to hide out the best place to hide is in your enemy’s hideout, if you could. If you’re looking at it from that point of view, that’s the last place that they’re going to look. They’ve got to look where they think he’s going to be most comfortable. And they would never think he’s going to be most comfortable on Earth, yet he is. That’s what’s so great about it.”

Curiously, the Goa’uld are once again hiding out in Seattle. The rogue Goa’uld Seth previously fortified himself near the same location (“Seth”). Fans may start wondering just what makes Seattle so appealing to the symbiote eye, but it could simply be a coincidence.

Cliff would be the first to tell fans that the direction that is being taken with Baal and his story arc could not have been a better one. “It was excellent,” he told GateWorld. “It’s brilliant. I think one or two of the scenes, the voice won’t be flanged. You’ll hear my real voice. Obviously I can’t talk to human beings in my actual Baal voice.”

What’s Baal doing while biding his time on Earth? “He’s actually a businessman,” he said. “He’s acquired a huge company and that’s actually what the whole episode is about. I won’t say more about that, but he’s involved in business. He’s acquired a huge company. He’s a business man, a very high-profile business man.”

Could Baal return? “I definitely think so. It’s left wide open. The last line I say in the episode leaves it wide open. I’m not going to say what it is, but it leaves it completely wide open. We’ll see.”

When GateWorld last spoke with Cliff (interview), he stated that “Reckoning” parts one and two were his favorite shows in terms of his performance. “I think it’s this one now,” he laughed.

“I tell you something, it’s just an amazing thing with the writing and with the writers getting to know the character and getting to know me, the person, how I play the character. They’ve written such amazing scenes for me that it’s now all just fitting so well. So I’ve really got to give it to the writers. They’re really writing amazing stuff. And I would say that this episode now is probably the best episode I’ve done. From the acting point of view, definitely.”

Simon said that fans will have a lot to look forward to in terms of Baal’s development as a character, and the overall story of “Ex Deus Machina.” “It’s really a great episode,” he said. “It’s never been done with a bad guy before, so [fans are] going to enjoy it.”

“Ex Deus Machina” will air this summer on The SCI FI Channel in the U.S. Stay tuned to GateWorld for more in the weeks ahead!