GateWorld: Not a lot of Sanctuary fans were particularly happy with the disappearance of Ashley and the way she disappeared from the series.

Christopher Heyerdahl: Yes, she’s awfully enjoyable to watch. Most of the guys enjoyed those leather outfits and all those guns. [Laughter]

Come on! Admit it!

GW: I admit, I admit. But she was …

CH: In all seriousness.

GW: In all seriousness, she was a huge focus point in Season One.  Do you agree with the decision to bring in a character that was a little bit more — not that Ashley didn’t have her wild streak and disobey her mother — but to bring in Kate and have her be a little bit edgier than what Ashley was? Was that a plot device that you agreed with yourself? Or did you feel that Emilie having been there since the beginning, that it was difficult to see her go?

CH: From a character standpoint I found it difficult, because the way it had been set up that you have the leading character and you have the main nemesis and you have her, her daughter, his daughter, so there’s this triangle going on. It’s unfortunate because there are so many stories that could have been told about that advancing. She could have gone to the dark side with Druitt.

Emilie Ullerup's departure from Sanctuary was "disappointing" to Heyerdahl from a story standpoint, noting the initial mother-father-daughter dynamic.

GW: One great, big dysfunctional family.

CH: Absolutely. So, purely from … You look like you can recognize that dysfunctional family. You know what I mean? [Laughter]

So not seeing those arcs explored is definitely disappointing. And beyond that, I come in, I do my job, I find ways to have fun with the gang and the decisions that the higher-ups make is really none of my business. But definitely, it’s unfortunate that we didn’t get to see that arc. And definitely, Emilie looks great in leather and guns!

GW: No comment.

CH: She’s a great ass-kicker, that’s for sure.

GW: We just saw you just the other week on Human Target on Fox, and you got to be in an episode with Kavan [Smith, “Major Lorne”] …

CH: He was in the same episode, but I wasn’t there with him. Didn’t see him at all.

GW: Erick Avari [“Kasuf”] was in it, and he’s got some Stargate roots also, obviously. What else do you have in the works?

CH: There’s Caprica. I’m doing, I think, a 3-episode story arc in Caprica coming up. Whenever they come back from hiatus.

Case in point. I’m involved in a French television series in Quebec and now I’m doing Sanctuary, so that’s really taking me up until November. If I choose to be really foolish and do something in our 1-month hiatus then perhaps I’ll dive into a number of possibilities there, but we’ll see. I’ll probably actually just take the time off with my wife and enjoy it.

GW: If your days are over as far as your association with anything Stargate related, what will you take from the time that you spent there?

CH: Oh, gosh. I don’t know — probably about 365 hours of sitting in a make-up chair and having glue poured on my head! Mind you, I’m still continuing that. I just finished last night, doing Sanctuary, doing sort of a back-story, an A story, on the Big Guy. So I’m still covering myself with glue. Actually, with exactly the same guys, as well. It’s interesting, actually, an interesting friendship with the guys who do my make-up. Probably the most intimate time I had there was spent doing that.

Heyerdahl found working with Rachel Luttrell on Season Five's "The Queen" as one of his personal highlights from his time on Atlantis.

That being said, I think one of the fun things was working with Rachel [Luttrell] in the final season we did, “The Queen”. And to work with her in the first season, and then again in the final season, but as completely different characters — it was fun to work together and focus on something completely different.

I don’t know. There’s so much. It’s fun — you hang out with these guys in the green room. It’s like meeting old school buddies. There are the friendships, there are the relationships that were started with Martin Wood, Amanda Tapping — if I hadn’t met them, found out they were my neighbors, become friends, step-by -step getting involved in the shows and now working on Sanctuary together. It’s a full life, working with these people.

I think that’s what they have set up. No matter who you talk to, and even now in Sanctuary … When we came back for the third season — this is a true testament to the bar that they set — is that all the guys in the crew came back from six months being away and every one of them, I said, “Hey, how are you guys doing?” and every one of them, independently, said, “I feel like I’m back home.”

GW: It’s a family.

CH: It is. With all its bumps and bruises. It’s great. I think that’s pretty special.

Interview by Chad Colvin. Transcription by Lahela