GateWorld: We’re just a short time from Season Two but let’s just briefly chat about Young and Season One as a whole. Looking at his journey from “Air, Part 1” to “Incursion, Part 2”, what plot and character developments were you happy with? How would you like to see him fleshed out? Or, if it’s easier for you, how stressed is Young at having to keep this tenuous military/civilian peace going 24/7?
Louis Ferreira: What I do love is the dimensions and the layering of all the characters, not just Young. But for Young, specifically, the challenge is, I think, that you are on this particular spaceship going, “Holy …” It’s not some gleaming, shiny, fantastic, futuristic fun place to be, really.
And amidst that, he’s got his own personal problems. He’s figured out just a little too late that perhaps the relationship with his wife needed a little bit more attention. That’s a failure. He’s figured out just a little too late that he would have loved to have been a dad. And the baby and what that represents, that new spark — that’s what I was talking about in the beginning, that’s the spark at the very end. Just knowing that he could potentially be a father I think would reignite him. I think that’s a part of his soul, and I think that’s why he’s got the relationship he does with some of the characters.
It’s ironic, they call me “Papa Smurf” on set — which I now hold proudly. But initially it was like, “What?!” But I think he does that. Young is that father from almost the 50s that you hated, but in retrospect understood that he was really looking out for you. He’s almost got that way about him. He’s not there to impress you, to look for your approval, to make you laugh, to make you feel better. He’s there to get the job done, effectively.
Through that all, again it goes back to the place where there’s this real sort of sadness, and now he’s being challenged with everything else.
If you’re actually in a situation where you’re stuck on a spaceship fighting for your life, fighting for basic survival, everything has been taken away from you, stripped away from you — and you are the commander, but you’re looking in the mirror going, “Who am I now? What’s going on? Do the rules that apply on Earth actually apply here? Probably not. Why can’t I change the rules? Look at me, I’m programmed. What happened to me?” All those kinds of questions start becoming important, as well. In this season you’ll see the journey of him really hitting rock bottom.
GW: It almost seems like some of the command decisions he made in the back half of the season are suffering because of all the stress. Between Telford and …
LF: Absolutely! That’s just it. He’s starting to show the cracks. But one of the things I’ve always loved about the show — and this was Brad and Robert’s idea — was that we are both the protagonist and the antagonist, the hero and the villain. And it’s that duplicity, that duality that we all have, that you can’t have one without the other. There’s something kind of cool about that.
I think it was always interesting that people were going to go, “Oh, I like Young. Wait! No, no, I hate him! Wait a minute, no, I think he’s a good person. No, he’s not.” Not just with Young, again, with a lot of the characters. I think that’s really true to the reality of the situation.
Personally, I’d love to see more people losing their … you know, where do you go? You’d just lose your mind. There would be people snapping. And to have the responsibility and to really know that, at the end of the day, the best that he could do is to try to get these people home and somehow be a victim to this particular character, Rush, which he needs …
And then he found Eli. He’s like, “Hey, I know what. I can abandon this guy, get Eli programmed so he can take over” … and then realizing that maybe Eli’s not quite ready. There’s a helplessness in the situation as well, for Young. He’s not on the ground handling Icarus — like initially, in the pilot where he is in control of everything and able to really handle all of it. There are a lot of elements here that he’s not in control of. And I think, as a control person, that really challenges him on a lot of levels.
GW: With the long shooting schedules that SGU has, it has to strengthen the friendship bonds with others in the cast. Do you feel like that translates to the screen, as much as it can, given the plot?
LF: Well, I think those are two different things. I think that if people were to see the actual relationship — there’s a world that’s being created that we’ve got to stay true to. But I think between takes, we’re the best of friends. But we’re also there to do the job. The dynamics of the show, in order to work, the conflict is key.
I think actors inherently know the dynamics that have to happen between scenes, sometimes between characters. And that’s almost played out intuitively. It almost feels like, “This is the energy that’s got to be between us now for the next couple of episodes, so that’s the energy I’ll put out.” I think that that give and take, when you see good acting, that’s definitely a part of the dynamic.
GW: If Season One’s theme was the loss of everything that’s been in their lives before and learning to live in this new microcosm for the foreseeable future, what would you say are the major themes that are going to be coming in Season Two?
LF: I think deeper relationships that arise from the very thing you just said, that camaraderie you would have with people over time. It’s not unlike a new civilization that’s built from the ground up. I mean, we started from the ground up — we needed air, we needed water. I think, eventually, it’ll delve deeper into everyone’s individual stories.
And I think also a big part of that is the sci-fi element, which always puts out the bigger questions out there: Who are we? What are we here for? What is the purpose? And there’s something very interesting about the ship itself, Destiny, and what it represents and what that has to offer.
I can’t give away much, obviously, but I can tell you that’s a very, very, big, big part of Season Two — the Destiny itself.
GW: Robert Knepper appears right off the bat as Simeon, the Lucian Alliance guy, in the premiere, “Intervention.” What dynamic does he bring as a recurring guest star?
LF: Well, he’s an amazing actor. If you’re watching a regular TV show … I don’t want to say he’s a “villain.” But his character …
GW: He was phenomenal in Heroes.
LF: Yeah, he’s a phenomenal actor. And I think, ultimately, what he does is he represents the threat — I think very well — of what the Lucian Alliance actually would be to someone like Colonel Young, who’s got to protect his own people. What he embodies is the threat of the Lucian Alliance, to me.
It’s like watching a good guest spot and you’re like, “That villain was unbelievable!” He’s just a wonderful actor.
GW: He keeps you coming back to watch.
LF: Exactly. Let’s hope! Knock wood.
NEXT: Conventions, set pranks, and family
Very nice interview. I’m only just discovering Louis Ferreira. I’ve seen him in a few things as Justin Louis. I decided to look at some of his earlier work – Pretender & Highlander – he’s so young (no pun intended). I enjoy watching Col Young develop through LF’s interpretation. Keep up good work and go to conventions – they are a hoot.